It's a Long Fall from Rocky Top

As the hours ticked by following Tennessee's embarrassing loss to SEC foe South Carolina, I went to bed, defeated and broken.  Surprisingly, I woke up yesterday, and was still alive after all.  The world had not ended, though that may have been a better feeling.  As I got out of bed and began to move through my morning routine, I crossed my room and donned a new UT hoodie I received for my birthday a few weeks back.  I made my way to the living room, and caught Sunday morning football from London.  And there, I brooded.

It's funny how our minds work sometimes.  I have often watched disgruntled fans of different teams in different sports from around the globe take out their frustrations on shirts and jerseys of the teams they claim to love.  I've done it myself, tossing a newly purchased pair of gloves and a beanie into the trash after Tennessee's loss to Vandy in 2013.  It's as if we can't stand to be affiliated with such garbage.  Yet when we lay down our heads at the end of the night, and awake fresh and new the next day, we go right back.  That's what true fans do.  We may be a breed of our own.  I'm pretty certain that my wife rarely knows what to make of my behavior.  At this point, she's just learned to accept it for what it is.  Trying to make sense of any of it is just a waste of time.  When things are going well, I'll likely be making grand speeches about new heights to be reached, but when things are looking down....well I'm not as peachy.  So while I may wake up on Sunday morning and throw on my fresh, new Tennessee hoodie, it's because I'm a fan.  I love my team, and nothing will change that.  That doesn't mean I'm a happy camper.

Of the many things I brooded on as I watched yet another NFL tie unfold before me eyes, was this topic of team loyalty.  Admittedly, when I first grabbed hold of my UT hoodie, I almost went for another instead.  But I stuck with my decision.  I will always be a loyal fan, even when things are looking down.  Yet loyalty does not equate to blind sunshine pumping.  As any other fan of the sport could attest, Tennessee looked god awful Saturday night.  We lost to a team that was able to escape the stigma that comes along with being the worst offense in FBS after they secured a narrow win over UMASS.  That got them the coveted rank of 127 out of 128.  After that showing Saturday, Tennessee likely helped them crack the top 120.  Way to go guys!  Even the South Carolina players have to be sitting back in their dorms looking at each other and saying, "How the hell did we pull that off?  We're terrible!"  And I say that because it's true.  They are a terrible team.  Yet that terrible team just beat Tennessee, so what does that say about us.  To me, it says a lot, but to Butch it says, "Well a 9-3 regular season is an improvement from 8-4 a year ago."  Though he hasn't flat out said that exactly yet, it's only a matter of time.

That's right, Butch, another armchair quarterback here to gripe and tell you how I feel.  And guess what?  It ain't good.  When Butch was first hired on here, I appreciated that he embraced our traditions.  I was excited about what he had to say, and I bought in quickly.  Now I haven't thrown in the towel, and I won't call for heads to roll, but I will say that Butch needs to do some serious soul searching in the coming days.  I understand you want to build a certain identity as a coach, and that's fine.  I have no problems with that...as long as you're winning.  But when that identity takes a team as talented as this Tennessee team, and loses to a team as bad as South Carolina, then it needs to be reconsidered.  If the talks are true, his stubbornness to evolve in any way as a football coach may very well lose us our star running back in the coming days.  And I can't say that I blame him.  He also has a future to look out for, and this staff certainly isn't calling plays that do him any favors. 

I can sit here and appreciate the rebuilding job Jones had when he took this job.  It was tremendous, and he's done a great job at building the quality depth he needs to be successful.  But now that he has it, he seems completely lost as to what to do with it.  I don't think this season's expectations were too big for any player on our roster, but I do think they were too big for Butch Jones.  The one constant praise that Butch has received over the past few seasons is that his teams refuse to quit.  But what we saw Saturday was the same team that quit during the 4th quarter of the Alabama game.  Nick Saban sucked Butch's soul out of his body and left it's shell here on earth to just wander around in an infallible manner.  No one on our team looked up to the challenge of defeating South Carolina.  And if that game's too big, then forget the rest.  Forget winning the East, at this point I don't want it.  All that entails is another beat down of epic proportions that I don't even want to think about.  Let Florida have it at this point. 

So where does that leave us?  Where do we go from here?  To be honest, I really don't know.  I for one am thrilled to not have to make that call.  I can appreciate that our injuries haven't done us many favors this season, and I can allow that as an excuse to not being able to hang with the best team in the country.  But we could have gone out and found the top intramural flag-football team on campus and beat South Carolina with them, so that's no excuse.  The feel right now is that things are going to get much worse before they get better.  The signs certainly seem to be pointing that way at the moment.  I let Dooley fool me far longer than I should have.  I won't let that happen again.  You have a lot to prove to me, Jones.  But as things stand right now, I'm not impressed.  I do not feel good about the future of this program, and I doubt anything you say this week will change that.  In fact I could probably give your press-conference myself if I had to.  We all know your clichés at this point. 

Regardless of what happens from here on out, though, I'll remain a fan.  Even after embarrassing losses, I'll wake up the next day, and don my UT gear like always.  I'm not ashamed of my fandom of this team.  Regardless of what others say, I know there's talent there, and I know what they're capable.  Whether or not the coaches will allow them to shine is beyond me.  If they don't, then history suggests there may be need for a change on Rocky Top.  Some fans already want it.  What that would mean for this program, no one can say.  To me, it wouldn't bode well.  Unless they can bring in the fabled Jon Gruden with a Jim Bob Cooter OC, then I doubt anything positive will come from it.  And we all know that will never happen.  All we can do for now is watch.  Watch and hope to hell that we never have to see something as bad as last week ever again.