Meanwhile in Knoxville, Tennessee's QB situation is resolved

Justin Worley named #Vols starting quarterback. Quote from Butch here: http://t.co/fdlnnhyFfg (FREE READ) #Bolts
— Wes Rucker (@wesrucker247) August 14, 2014

Based on Justin Worley's 2013 season, a lot of Vol fans had hopes that Joshua Dobbs would beat out Worley for the job. Dobbs, who started a few games when Worley was injured, generally fits better into Butch Jones' zone-read offense.

Worley does not. Which leads me to believe Dobbs and Nathan Peterman, who is a mail order catalog magnate, must have had terrible fall camps. Worley has thrown more ints than tds, and isn't a very good runner.

He did, however, turn it up against Georgia and South Carolina, so maybe Jones is trying to capture some of that magic again.

TD

See also:
-Climer: Vols make safe QB choice (State Run Media)

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Florida-Tennesse Game or Why I Think It is Ok to Root for the Mayans to be Right

This is a weird week. CBS isn't covering Florida at Tennessee. They will be at Alabama-Arkansas, a game they picked many weeks ago, and I am sure they'd like to have the option to reconsider that decision. The coaches aren't smack talking. It seems that my father's always prophetic 'the sun don't shine on the same dogs ass every day' is now true. This ain't your 2000 Tennessee-Florida game. Both are rebuilding and both are looking to show they belong back at the top of the SEC East.

Still. Still, I can't find myself wanting one team to lose more than the other. Perhaps it is because this game always (well, almost always) has been the first SEC game of the season for either. Needing one team to lose has a way of making strange rooting interest. I honestly don't want either team to win. I want them both to lose. Badly, if at all possible. A 32-30, quintuple overtime game that ended at 9-9 in regulation would suit me.

So, I guess I hope Pwnn Wagers is in Knoxville and finds a way to penalize both teams into the stone ages. Oh, and I hope Dooley's hair gets mussed. That would be awesome.

TD

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Bruce Pearl to Receive a Show Cause?

Andy Katz at ESPN is reporting it.  His former assistants will each get one year, with Pearl getting a multiple year show cause.

In all likelihood, this is the end of Pearl's collegiate coaching career.  His assistants might get another shot, but it'll be a while.  They'll be like the plague for a number of years, but guys that can recruit as well as Jones won't be out of the game forever, even if it means working the Ohio Valley Conference.

NCAA is sending the message.  Don't lie to us. 

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One Difference Between Richt and Dooley

Sorry, not drawing a comparison between Vince and Richt.  Richt and Derek Dooley.  Perhaps you have heard about the arrest of Vol's senior Austin Johnson last month for basic stupidity. You know, the kind that would get you two games and a weekend of steps in Athens. 

In Knoxville, it gets you court costs and 'internal punishment.'  The snarkiest among you would say that the difference is a police force that views behavior one way, versus the other way. 

The chief difference is the way they view publicity over the player punishment:

"If we could go back three days and just erase everything (media outlets) wrote, it'd be great news but we can't do that," Dooley said after Thursday's practice at Haslam Field, according to the Tennessean.

I imagine it would.  That way Precious could just pretend like it never happened.

Say what you want about Richt, but if you want a good example of soft on player conduct, look north.  Richt might not want the bad publicity, but he doesn't blame the media's handling of news as a way to divert from the issue of a "team leader" banging up cars and starting a fracas and how the head coach handles that behavior.

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Derek Dooley on the Germans

There's a lot of message board and twitter buzz about Derek Dooley's comparison of the Vols to the WWII Germans. The sound bytes read like a lunatic was talking, but if you actually watch the video...it's quite funny and lucid.



I'm all for mocking Precious and kicking the Vols when they are down, but this actually had me busting out laughing with him. Not at him.

Imagine Les Miles' socially awkward self trying to pull this off. Now that would be comedy.

PWD

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Bruce Pearl Fined $1.5 million by UT

Bruce Pearl fined by UT for providing misleading information to the NCAAs. More important to UGA basketball fans, Pearl will be banned from off campus recruiting for a period of 1 year beginning Sept. 24th.

UPDATE: The Vols assistants are being taken off the road as well!

Hamilton also reduced each of Pearl's assistant coaches' salaries by 25 percent. Beginning Sept. 24, assistant coach Jason Shay will not be permitted to recruit off campus for three months, associate head coach Tony Jones will be prohibited from off-campus recruiting for nine months and assistant Steve Forbes will be prohibited from off-campus recruiting for a year.

As Bulldog in Exile said, Hamilton had to make an example out of somebody to save his own ass. And unfortunately for Bruce Pearl's (and his crocodile tears), it's the basketball coach.

PWD

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Tennessee Basketball Under NCAA Investigation?

Per ESPN, the NCAA is going after the Vol basketball program. Bruce Pearl is an extremely aggressive and successful recruiter of Atlanta area talent. NCAA attention on the Vols can only help Coach Fox's attempts to build a recruiting base in Atlanta.

PWD

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Da'Rested

I have been all over this on twitter all day. Wasn't in a position for most of the day to access this site. Have been having a blast with the idiocy of this story.

On Twitter the guy you need to be following is Wes Rucker. He's the Vol beat writer for the Chattanooga Free Press. He broke the story last night, and he's been all over it all day.

PWD

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Hoops: Albert Jackson on the UT Win

After the big win over UT, Albert Jackson shared his thoughts with the media. David Ching of the ABH used his blog to carry the length of those comments. My favorite portion:

"That feels amazing to knock off two big-time teams. It’s a credit to the change in the program and I’m just glad my senior year I get to be a part of that change. It’s not known as the Georgia program of old – people getting in trouble, people getting kicked off. It’s Georgia basketball – they play hard, they play tough, they follow rules, they look clean-cut, they’re grown. It really feels good being a senior and have seen the worst to the best...

In a year’s time, everybody calls this year a rebuilding year for us and coach Fox. I personally, I don’t believe in rebuilding years. I feel like we can go as far as we want to go. With all the losses we have, I still feel like we can go as far as we want to go. I’m just excited about the next game coming up and the games after that, because I can just see my team and my teammates growing."

He also talked about the importance of the big crowd. Nick Parker of the Red and Black also wrote about the crowd's influence on the outcome of the game. Parker's article is good, but you should click on it mostly for the outrageously good picture of Travis Leslie's break away dunk. Travis Leslie is the Mayor of Posterville.

PWD

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So...about that monsterous win over UT

Been away from the computer all weekend, but I'm back for a little lunch time posting. So...about that game on Saturday. I really felt like the Vols were a bad match-up for Georgia. Their full court pressure, their length and athleticism combined with their intensity just made me uncomfortable with the match-up. Boy was I wrong.

The Dogs totally demolished the Vols in every aspect of the game. After it was over, Coach Fox said (paraphrase):

"This is what college basketball is supposed to be. It's supposed to be fun. It's supposed to be a big home crowd going nuts supporting you as you topple a very good, highly ranked team. This is fun. And we've got more of this in our future.

I also liked that he continues to say that we can play better. The fact that he's not even remotely close to being satisfied is incredibly encouraging.

(Video Above: Leslie makes SportsCenter's Top 10 Plays again. What is that...his 5th or 6th appearance? In Felton's 6 years, we may have made the Top 10 Plays five times...and 3 of those were following the tornado at the Georgia Dome)

The reaction locally, regionally and nationally to the win...especially on the heels of the close losses to open the season...has been incredibly positive. My favorite comments came from Bruce Pearl (ABH-Ching):

"We didn't get beat because we came in overconfident. We got beat because we got beat," Pearl said. "They're a good team and they showed it tonight. It's only an upset because we came in ranked higher, but (Georgia) is a really good team.

"I was saying before the game that there were five teams that could make the tournament, but I think there may be six. I told my team that Georgia will definitely not finish last in the SEC."

Here are some of the headlines of interest from the weekend:

• Like a Fox - ESPN/Mark Schlabach
  
• Georgia's Success not Good for Vols - Knoxville News
  
• Mark Fox's Process just went into High Gear - AJC
  
• Electricity Returns to Stegeman - ABH
  
• Dogs Crush Vols - ABH
  
• Bulldogs Dominate Vols - Macon Telegraph
  
• Georgia Smacks UT in front of capacity crowd - Red and Black
  
• Bulldogs Overwhelm Vols - UT Student Paper
  
• Roundball wrap-up - DawgSports.com
  
• Georgia is the conference sleeper - Lexington Herald

PWD

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