The CheckerBoard

Without Bray it will be a bad season now. Georgia showed up to stop Bray and we didn't adjust. That's where we miss David Cutcliffe. With him we find a way to win. No, Tennessee's defense isn't anything special but they play tough. They got to play better on the other side of the 50 but they are playing good. Had 2 bad plays tonight that hurt but cant' complain about the defense. The interference call on Vereen at the goal line killed us. Not one to complain about the refs usually but that call killed us. Hopefully Bray is healthy next week because I feel we match up better with LSU then we do Georgia (as long as the guys come out ready to play and Bray is healthy, two big IF's). Still proud to be a VOL.

I want to win the big ones so bad that I can't hardly stand it. I see improvement over last year, but losing closer still sucks big time. I didn't really think we had turned any major corners, but I was hoping for a "Hollywood-type" script for this year anyway. I guess we have to face reality and accept the cold hard fact that we are still 1 -2 years away from being truly competitve.

Damn! OK, I know we're young and have to take our lumps. The receivers have got to learn where to line up. The delay of game penalty killed us. The defense played OK. Yes, we got burned on a couple of deep throws, but I can't complain too much. We just don't have the beef up front or the depth to provide a descent pass rush. We need a running back that can break a tackle and get two to three yards after the first hit. Finally, I remember when everyone was questioning Coach Dooley for signing another kicker.

We're better than we were last year, but we have a long ways to go. It's going to be a long October.