"My Bid" by Joe Biddle

You can’t spell Butch without UT.

I’ll say one thing about the newest Tennessee football coach. Butch Jones owned the press conference last week.

OK, Middle Tennessee. Are you ready to go bowling?

Oops, I didn’t mean Middle Tennessee, as in MTSU. The Blue Raiders were bowl eligible and are one of the few college football teams in America not invited to a bowl game.

Who is the SEC’s Coach of the Year?

It would be easy to say it’s Vanderbilt’s James Franklin. But nothing is easy in the SEC. Ask any football coach about that.

Now the spotlight shines on Tennessee Athletics Director Dave Hart. He will be the person most responsible for trying to stop the bleeding on the Hill.

While Tennessee was inventing ways to lose at home to Missouri, Vanderbilt was making up a 17-point deficit to beat Ole Miss in Oxford.

If the present trend continues, Titans Coach Mike Munchak and Tennessee Coach Derek Dooley can meet at a designated coffee shop on their way to file unemployment papers.

Circumstances could not have been any bleaker than they were last weekend when Troy came within a whisker of upsetting Tennessee. A day later, it was Da Bears who blew into Music City and handed the Titans what was arguably their most embarrassing loss in franchise history.

With Tennessee, Dooley is all but dead man walking. When Troy took a lead late in their game, sources report a number of folks sitting in the President’s private box engaged in some hush-hush conversation.
 
If true, it’s doubtful they were discussing East Tennessee’s beautiful fall foliage. Nor do I think they were making plans for a future golf trip.

If the men of Troy had been successful, I think Dooley would not be coaching this week against Missouri. I would think even Dooley would agree.

The Vols must run the table for the decision makers to give Dooley another year. The first thing he needs to do is send defensive coordinator Sal Sunseri packing. He may be a great position coach, but he has been an abject failure as a coordinator.

While Sunseri may, or may not, have a perfect scheme is up for vigorous debate. But his inability to teach it to Tennessee’s players is plain as day. Most shots of Sunseri I have seen during TV games show him yelling to his players. Obviously the results prove he is not getting his message through.

If they should dump Dooley some time between this week and the end of the season I don’t see a slam dunk candidate to replace him. And even if Tennessee is of mind to pay Nick Saban type money for Dooley’s replacement, I’m not sure anyone who can get the job done would take it.

A new coach would be starting in fourth place in the SEC East with sound programs in Georgia, South Carolina and Florida with a wide gap between them and the rest of the SEC East. Trust me when I say those programs will not surrender their status without a street fight.

Tennessee is not the job it once was. Some fans and media wearing orange tinted classes claim it is a top 10 job. Please. I will tell you it’s no longer a top 25 job. They have to recruit nationally, as South Carolina and Clemson have locked up what was once a fertile Tennessee recruiting state. Georgia and Alabama get the cream of the crop in their states, while Tennessee has seen in-state recruits such as Alabama All-American Barrett Jones and ex-All American linebacker Dont’a Hightower left the state. Current recruits Max Staver and Jalen Ramsey of Brentwood Academy chose to go to Florida and Southern Cal respectively. Top 20 teams invade Tennessee and take the best players home with them.
As for Munchak, he has more rope. He grew up in the organization, as a player, offensive line coach and the last two years as head coach.

Twenty-five years ago, owner Bud Adams would have fired Munchak after the Bears massacre. The 89-year-old Adams is a more kinder, gentler sort, and not as quick on the trigger.

It will be worth watching to see the plot thicken at Baptist Sports Park, as well as on the Hill.

Contact Sports Columnist Joe Biddle at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

When South Carolina running back Marcus Lattimore was tackled by Tennessee linebacker Herman Lathers and defensive back Eric Gordon, it became obvious something had gone wrong with Lattimore.

It was gruesome to watch on TV. His left leg was pointing in different directions. Lattimore had gone through extensive knee reconstruction in 10 months to be able to play this year. That occurred on his other knee, and he knew this one was season ending.

At that point it didn’t matter which team you pull for. It didn’t matter how much you hate South Carolina.

No one likes to see what happened to Lattimore happen on a football field.

“Oh, man, it just absolutely took my breath away. I was watching it and it just breaks my heart. I just hurt for him and his family and teammates. This is a guy who represents all the good things that college football should be about.’’

That quote wasn’t from South Carolina Coach Steve Spurrier. It was from Clemson Coach Dabo Swinney, South Carolina’s most hated rival and vice versa.

Marcus Lattimore is special. The night before the Tennessee game, Lattimore spoke to his team. One of the things he told them was to always play every play as if it is your last one.

As medical people worked on Lattimore, players from both teams came out on the field and surrounded him. Many took a knee in prayer.

The news was not good although not as bad as was painted in social media outlet, Twitter. He did not have a broken femur as tweeted.

Doctors reset a dislocated kneecap, but he has multiple ligament damage, the extent of which has not been released,

Hopefully, Lattimore will take a redshirt year to rehab and play two years from now. He was projected as a high round NFL draft choice. These type injuries will lower his stock.

“He is such a good young man,’’ South Carolina Coach Steve Spurrier said. “Good things are going to happen to Marcus. I don’t know exactly where or how, but good things are going to happen to Marcus Lattimore.’’

Lattimore crossed my mind when I was writing in the LP Field pressbox after the Titans game Sunday.

There were three or four youth football teams playing each other on the field, after the Titans game. I don’t know their ages, but they looked like ants from the press box. I guessed they couldn’t have been more than 10 years old.

Do parents need to subject kids that young or younger to football? It is a contact sport.

At any age, injuries are going to happen. Pediatricians tell you a child’s bone structure is not fully developed until much later, putting them more at risk for injuries.

You also should be cognizant that kids are subjected to concussions and we are seeing what they have done to college and NFL players.

Let them play other sports, like soccer, swimming, tennis, basketball, golf until they are fully developed and then they can choose to play football or not.

Too many youth coaches and parents live out their failed athletic youth through their children.

We saw what happened to Lattimore. It could happen to your child. Think about it.

What is the rush for them to compete in football? What if that was your son writhing on the field instead of Marcus Lattimore? Is it worth it?

Contact Sports Columnist Joe Biddle at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .     

I saw something last Saturday I never recall seeing before.

Vanderbilt’s football team didn’t play its best game, yet managed to beat Auburn at Vanderbilt Stadium.

I saw something last Saturday I never recall seeing before.

Vanderbilt’s football team didn’t play its best game, yet managed to beat Auburn at Vanderbilt Stadium.

Things are rocky on Rocky Top.

Three years into Derek Dooley’s attempt to put Humpty Dumpty back together again reached its’ shakiest point late Saturday night in Starkville.

Tennessee’s football team has another opportunity Saturday to gain national attention. The Vols have had a week off to lick their wounds from the seven-point road loss to Georgia.

I wonder who had the worst hangover Monday -- our Ryder Cup team or the Titans?

At least the Titans have 14 more games to play. The Ryder Cup team has two years to stew on the Medinah Massacre.

The team in two-tone blue finished September at 1-3, no better, no worse than predicted.

While everyone is focusing on who the Titans quarterback will be this Sunday in Minnesota, they need to be focusing on finding someone who can tackle opponents.

Defensive coordinator Jerry Gray’s matador defense has given up a total of 151 points in four games as the Titans rank next to last in the NFL in total defense.

Out of one side of his mouth, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell preaches about protecting the (NFL) shield at all costs.

Out of the other side of his mouth, Goodell allows these traveling circus clowns disguised as NFL replacement officials, to continue to make a mockery of the game.

With the real NFL officials locked out, NFL games are left in the hands of lower level collegiate officials who every week continue to bring attention to themselves by their myriad of mistakes.

If Goodell continues to allow this to happen, he is not only putting the players’ health at risk, you have to add the coaches to the list of victims.

Seriously, some of these coaches are going to stroke out on the sidelines. Did you see the confrontation New England Coach Bill Belichick had as he tried to stop line judge Esteban Garza from leaving the field after Baltimore kicked what we believe was the winning field goal as time expired Sunday night?

You’re Derek Dooley. You’re Tennessee’s football coach. What do you do?

You see your team come apart like a second hand suit in the fourth quarter of a 37-20 loss to rival Florida.

You see your highly touted quarterback suffer a mental meltdown. Tyler Bray sprayed the ball all over the field in the second half, but few of his passes wound up in the hands of the intended receiver.

You caught Bray’s best pass of the second half, but you were standing well behind the sideline stripe. Nice catch, but you risked a celebration penalty when you spiked the ball. But, hey, it was all over but the booing by then.

My NCAA Tournament bracket was really bad after the first two rounds. How bad was it? It was so bad that when I tried to feed it to the shredder, the machine rejected it.

While the state of Ohio placed four teams in the tournament field, they are sending all four teams to the Sweet 16. That is playing some hoop.

Ohio State, Xavier, Cincinnati and Ohio all advanced to the next round.

Tennessee did not fare as well. Far from it.

The Volunteer state had three teams make the field -- Belmont and Vanderbilt from Nashville and the University of Memphis.

Belmont and Memphis were one and done. Vanderbilt bowed out in the second round. Not very impressive.

ESPN college basketball analyst Greg Anthony projected Vanderbilt to make the Final Four. He must have based that pick solely on the Commodores beating Kentucky for the SEC Tournament title.

Wow, did the fat man with the red suit and white beard make this my best Christmas ever?

Saint Nick dropped off a dozen Air Jordan 11 Retro Concord sneakers and left them under our tree. You know, the $180-a-pair Nike Jordans that first came out when His Airness and the Chicago Bulls were at the top of the NBA world.

I understand they were hot items in stores around the country this month.

Stop with the excuses

The theme running through the Titans locker room after laying a giant-sized omelet Sunday in Lucas Oil Stadium was all too familiar.

“We just came out flat.’’ No joke.

A lot of athletic teams use that as a flimsy excuse.

Tell me you stunk the joint up like a 24-hour cigar bar. I would buy that.

Is Tim Tebow for real?

Is he from another planet? If you cut him, would he bleed? Seriously.

He is becoming Rev. Billy Graham in shoulder pads.

He’ll run over you one minute and pray for you the next.

Just hours after the Titans botched an opportunity to post a signature win at LP Field Sunday, I was driving home and tuned into the final minutes of the Denver-Chicago game.

Down 10-0 with some five minutes left, Superman, uh, Tebow found another improbable way to rescue his team from the jaws of defeat.

With 2:08 left in regulation, here he was again. With all his mechanical flaws, with all the naysayers harrumphing that there was no way he could pull out this game.

After all, the Bears aren’t called the Monsters of the Midway for nothing. Surely Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher, who eats quarterbacks for breakfast, would put a knot on Tebow’s head the size of a grapefruit.

But, no. Tebow gets Denver to the outer limit of field goal range and kicker Matt Prater nukes a 59-yarder through the uprights with three seconds to spare. It forced overtime and the Broncos were still breathing.

After Chicago failed to score on its first possession, here came Tebow riding in on a white horse. This time Prater needed only 51 yards to decide the outcome. It was just another chapter added to Tebow’s legend, which is spreading around the NFL world like kudzu.

“If you believe, unbelievable things can sometimes be possible,’’ Tebow told reporters afterwards.

Can I get an Amen?

Adjectives fall short of describing what Tebow has done since his arrival in Denver. Doubters included his coach, John Fox, and Broncos executive vice-president of football operations and Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway.

The Oklahoma Cowpokes are bellyaching in their beer this week. They don’t get to play undefeated LSU in the BCS Championship Game.

Ah, the BCS. An imperfect system at best.

The Harris Interactive Poll, comprised of 115 voters (including this writer) from various walks of life, submitted their final top 25 votes Sunday.

LSU was a consensus No. 1. The brilliance of the panel is overwhelming, no?

No.

Alabama came out second, with Oklahoma State third. That’s the way my poll read, but I recognize there is legitimate room for debate that Oklahoma State deserved to jump an idle Alabama and grab the coveted second spot at the table.

Tennessee Coach Derek Dooley could not have had his players pick a worse time to quit on him than the final game of the season.

Vols fans has to be embarrassed by the fact players mailed it in against a woeful Kentucky team that beat Tennessee for the first time in 26 years.

The story is even more worrisome because Tennessee had something meaningful to play for – a post-season bowl game.

If successful, it would mean an opportunity to finish with a winning record in a season where a lot of things went wrong.

More importantly it would have given Dooley and his team another four or five weeks to practice. Heaven knows that team could have used more practice.

But the players were admitting they weren’t into the game. Some said they didn’t want to go to some minor bowl game, perhaps referring to last year’s Franklin American Mortgage’s Music City Bowl game in Nashville.

So they bailed out. They didn’t compete. For athletes, that is the cardinal sin.

So they lolly-gagged around while Kentucky used a wide receiver that had not played quarterback since he was in high school five years ago. Unlike Tennessee’s football team, Matt Roark took advantage of the opportunity he was given. Roark ran for 124 yards, as Kentucky won, 10-3.