Poll: How would you rate UT's start?

This year will be worse than 2005.

This season looks to be worse that '05 as vols99 said.

Its not just local talk now that Phil should be fired. I am in Atlanta and I am not from Knoxville.

UT needs a fresh start with a new coach.

We'll never have another 'great' season until Fulmer leaves. Unless of course 'great' means not being competitive with top 20 teams.

We still can neither tackle anyone nor cover a kickoff or punt. We will lose several more games if this trend continues. Fulmer will definitely get the boot if UT loses to Vandy and UK in the same year we lose to UF and Alabama. I'm hoping that we can use our bye week to fix some things and hopefully pull off the win against UGA. Keeping my fingers crossed. Go Vols!

I be always proud of the Orange I ain't no fare weather fan like youall.

I love the VOLS, and I always try to be an optimist. -- But I am also a realist. I was watching other SEC teams on our future schedule play well this past week-end. Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, Arkansas, Kentucky. The way we are playing now, I really don't see us winning out in the SEC. Fulmer and company have made their positive mark on Tennessee football, and I have supported them every step of the way. But our glaring problems now go far beyond the resignation of Randy Sanders. Offense - Mediocre: No running game; No long-yardage plays against quality opponents; Defense: Poor: Can we tackle anybody? Special Teams: Pathetic!!! I still can't believe that we were ranked #3 in the nation in 2005 and didn't even go to a bowl game. So where do we go from here? Are we content to be 8-5 every year? -Or is it time to move on? Because in our current situation, we will never be taken seriously by the national media again.

I just looked up the stats for the Arkansas St./Texas game and it turns out that we gave up fewer yards than Texas did against them. It's not much but it's a sign of improvement on the defensive side. We also scored more than double the amount of points that Texas did. I'm just trying to think positively.

Reading some of the comments my question is how long do you support a coach before its enough? I mean does a National Championship by a coach 10, 15, 20 years? What if UT goes 5-7 this year (VERY POSSIBLE) what about 7-5. With the talent that Florida, Georgia, LSU and others have that are sophmores and freshman what are the honest possibilities of where this program can go in the next 3-4 years. I look at the Freshman and Sophmores we have and compare them to other teams and don't see us getting any better. Lets look at 1 position QB and the 4 teams we spoke about UT, Florida, Georgia, LSU and why not South Carolina.....Thats Crompton, Tebow, Stafford, Perilloux, and Smelly out of all those QB's ours has the least experience and looks the worst when in games. That right there should show you where our program is headed, possibly 5th best in the SEC

Every team left on our schedule has question marks. Bama, Georgia, Miss. St, SC, AR, KY and Vandy. Some more than others but ALL have holes just like we do. In my view, they are all toss-up games. Just depends on turnovers, penalties and injuries by the time we play 'em.

The Vols could win out and it still doesn't answer the question of competing with the high level teams. And unless two teams jump up and beat FL (might happen) and we win out (unlikely), it's just another year of Peach or Music City Bowls and no trip to Atlanta. As the poll says, "same old, same old" and that's no longer good enough.

I have to say it is time for Phil to go. It is so painful to watch the Vols get their butts handed to them in every aspect of the game every week. We are no longer in the "Top Programs" conversations nation wide and it is very hard for me and I am sure everyone else to swallow. I will tell you who we need to hire as a coach and think about it before you comment..Rick Neuhisel(sp). He is a forward thinking coach and a great recruiter. Everyone knows he got shafted when he was at Washington. He can out plan and out coach Urban Meyer and Nick Saban and everyone else in the SEC for that matter. He can win and I know he can put is back were we belong on TOP!!!

I see this year as I have the last five or six. We will be mediocre, just good enough for Phil to hold on yet again. In order for us to ever be an important team nationally again, he has got to go. FIRE FULMER!!!!

CRVOL, thanks for pointing out the 1500 or so that have responded to this scientific poll....now if you could just get the other 100,000+ that attend the games to respond. You must sit around all day and wait for a new article to post so you can be the first to make some dumbass comment. Its nice knowing we have someone like you watching every move made by anyone associated with UT.

On to other items. I drove down from Louisville on Saturday to watch the game and bring my 6yo and 3yo to their first UT game in Neyland and was expecting the big boycott that was led by CRVOL and his/her family but it never materialized.....

A couple of observations though..

1. The offense is good. However we need to keep trying to throw downfield.
2. Austin Rogers drops a lot of balls.
3. The O-line is better in the second half when it comes to run blocking, but they aren't very good early in games.
4. The defense sucks. I really don't think its a scheme problem. We had guys in the right spots to make plays, they just can't tackle. Period.
5. All of the teams UT has played so far run the spread option. None of the remaining opponents will run it, so the defense will look much better than it has so far, but that won't be enough.

Bottom line is UT isn't bad enough to lose out nor are they good enough to win out. They could beat all of the teams left on the schedule the problem is they lack the consistency to do so. My prediction is wins over GA, Vandy, UL-LAF, Miss St. and Ark with losses to So Car, Bama, and Ky.

7-5 and some crappy bowl game they'll embarrass themselves in. I will always support the team no matter what happens. Change is coming, I just hope we don't wait to long and miss someone special.

Let's see, pre-season no. 15 or so. Today no. 38 and 39 in the AP and USA polls respectively. Behind such notables as South Florida, Hawaii, Cinn., Kansas, UCF and UConn. So much for national respect!

heels_fan_23, Now look what you did! How about a pie?

Key Lime is my fave......good thing is I'm neither dem or republican, but am more dem that republican....Iraq would not be a success no matter who looks at it. Now about 70% of Republicans think it was wrong and those kids should come home. The biggest problem with the Dems is they won't take a stand. The republicans will do that no matter if its wrong or not.

Anyway, hopefully UT can turn this around but very unlikely

sjt18, agree with both points in the 2:00 post. Foster has just made too many glaring mistakes and I was complaining about his lack of speed after the Cal game. Had Coker been available and running the ball, he takes it in for a TD instead of the 4th down stop where they lined Taylor up in the shotgun. I also believe Hardesty's days are about numbered as well. He can't stay healthy and when he does get in the game, he seems to lack field vision. As for the secondary, it just makes you wonder what all the practice is for and why they signed the JUCO guys if they didn't think they were ready.

I'm dissapointed in the program this year also, I just don't see the fire from Fulmer I see in Spurrier, Miles and Urban. The only problem I see is who could we get. Unless it is Cowher, Gruden or Spurrier are we any better off???
I will always Love the VOLS!!!
TXVOLSFAN!!!

sjt people today will tell you that Vietnam was something that didn't need to happen. Our country was sent to war this time on lies, there were no WMD's and the last credible info our country had of Sadaam having WMD's came in 1991, 10 years prior to this new info. If you want to debate this more email me at heels_fan_23@yahoo.com

I see there is some talk about the war in Iraq. I would love to join this conversation. I am in Iraq right now, so if anyone has a question about some of the things happening such as whether or not the 'surge' is working or things like that feel free to ask. I will do my best to answer those questions.
Go Vols.

OK. The answer on the surge is easy. It was never needed. If the soldiers over here now were put to use, then there wouldn't be any need for more forces. There are alot of soldiers over here that really don't do anything. Some are here for the sole purpose of cleaning up the office at night and taking out the trash. I'm not kidding at all. I know a few of those guys in my immediate area. I would like to point out as well that, at last count, the number of soldiers in Iraq was number at around 160,000. To put it into perspective. The number of civilian, government contracted personnel over here topped out over 180,000. If we are to believe that this war is just that, a war, then I think it would make sense to have more soldiers than civilians. Oh yeah, those civilians also make about 5 times as much money as the soldiers on ground here, tax free. I have been able to speak with a few of the civilians who have told me just that. I was only 15 in 2001 when the WTC was hit, so I was very naive about things. I was only 17 when Iraq was invaded. I believed most of what was told to me about the war on terror and what we were fighting for in Iraq. I am now 21, I have been here to see first hand what is going on, and my view has changed. To start with, the things soldiers are required to do over here is carried and performed very well for the most part. There aren't many failures in execution. I don't want to be misunderstood about what I am about to say, so I wanted to get that out of the way. The soldiers do good things. Now, about the purpose of the war in present day, a little iffy. There are, as I said, a large number of contractors over here. KBR has its name on everything in this country. The Blackwater company has been in the news lately for killing Iraqi civilians, and there are several other corporations doing business over here presently. That is what this war has become, if it didn't start out that way. I don't know I wasn't here in the beginning. As of now, the majority of things I see here is all about making money. If you don't know about the Big Dig in Boston, it's worth reading. Bechtel Corp. saddled Boston with a huge contract and for a tunnel then the business deals got shaky. I fear that will happen here. I fear the U.S. contractors on going to put big contracts on Iraq , then change the deal and increase the price, thus crippling the economy and putting Iraq forever in the pocket of the U.S. which will then have free reign on the resources of Iraq (maybe oil?). I see lots of shady practices coming from the high end people making choices for Iraq. I can't reasonably compare this war to others in history due to my lack of knowledge in those cases. Hopefully, what I can tell you will help you. In short, this war is all about a certain few making alot of money. I don't know if I answer you satisfactorily or not, sjt18. If not, I would be happy to try again.

ok TRUE vol fans here is the real deal and how far this program has fallen - yep we got killed by the number 3 & 6 teams in the country - my problem is that we are no longer a number 3 or 6 team for the past few years we hardley crack the the top 25 to me that is a problem what happened to the days when we were a top ten team year in and year out - im just sick of hearing about cal and fla high rankings - this program should be right up there with them

6-6