Coach Dooley

Derek Dooley’s time is running out after 41-31 loss to Mississippi State

October 14, 2012 by C.J. Hurt 1 Comment

Tennessee went into Saturday’s game against Mississippi State trying to make a statement, trying to get their first conference win of the year, and trying to quiet the rumors that their head coach might not return to the sidelines next year. Unfortunately, the Vols suffered the same fate that they have so many times before under Coach Dooley, a loss to another top 25 team. With Saturday’s 41-31 loss to fellow TAM team Mississippi State, Dooley is now 0-13 against top 25 teams and 4-15 against SEC foes since taking over at the University of Tennessee.

The rumors are growing louder and some are beginning to speculate that Dooley will not return for a fourth season as the Volunteers head coach. “I do not read it or look at it,” Dooley said about the rumors circulating his future with the program. “I am going to be watching Alabama, and try to give our players a good chance. That is all you can do in this profession.”

He can try to ignore the whispers all he wants, but the fact of the matter is the Vols (and his coaching career) are in serious trouble. Coming into Saturday’s contest Tennessee allowed an abysmal 425.8 total yards per game, which was second worst in the SEC. And in their three conference games this year they are giving up a staggering 492.7 total yards per contest.

“We are not very good right now. You are what your film is,” Dooley said. “Three SEC games we are giving up a lot of yards and a lot of points… When you give up a lot of points and a lot of yards it is usually a combination of a lot of things.”

Coach Dooley needs to figure out his defense’s problem quickly because allowing 43 points per game to conference opponents is not going to get the job done in the SEC.

However, the fact that is job security grows more uncertain with every passing day will not deter Dooley, “All you can do is try to get over the hump next week. That’s what athletics is. You never know when it is going to happen. You have to keep coaching, correcting, evaluating, and play your way through it.”

That is a very positive outlook, but if the Vols do not find a way to get over the proverbial “hump” they will not be bowl eligible for the second straight year, have three consecutive losing seasons, and Coach Dooley will be out of a job.

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CJ Hurt covers college football for MemphiSport. Follow him @churtj09 for live tweets from different college football games throughout the Mid-South.

Filed Under: SEC, The Big Features, Web Exclusives Tagged With: Coach Dooley, coaches on the hot seat, Hail State, Mississippi State football, SEC Football, Tennessee football

Harsh Reality of SEC Football: 2012 Schedule Breakdown

January 1, 2012 by C.J. Hurt 4 Comments

Watching reality TV is becoming one of America’s favorite pastimes. We all do it. From Jersey Shore to American Idol, everybody has at least one reality TV show that they enjoy watching. So needless to say I was actually watching my favorite reality show (Billy the Exterminator) when news broke that the SEC had released its 2012 conference football schedule. Immediately questions began racing through my mind like “Who has the toughest conference schedule?”, and “Which poor teams get to travel to Missouri to play in November?” just to name a few. However, the question that made me laugh was “Which reality TV shows would I use to describe our TAM teams SEC schedule?”, and that got me to thinking. Here are the results from that burning question.

Ole Miss: Tabatha’s Hair Salon Takeover
Here is a brief breakdown of this reality TV show for those of you who have never had to sit through an episode. Basically there is a hair salon on the brink of going out of business and Tabatha Coffey comes in, gives the owners new rules and guidelines to follow and saves the salon. If Ole Miss football was a hair salon, it would no doubt be on the verge of shutting down. The Rebels have missed a bowl for two straight years, and they are riding a 14 game SEC losing streak. However, here comes Tabatha in the form of new head coach Hugh Freeze. Coach Freeze turned a struggling Arkansas State program around this past season, and he is looking forward to doing the same thing at Ole Miss. The schedule is anything but easy for the Rebels. They play all four of the best teams in the SEC on the road with trips to Alabama, Georgia, Arkansas, and LSU. Fans are going to have to be patient in Coach Freeze’s first year as conference wins are going to be hard to come by. Yet you can expect Coach Freeze to save Ole Miss football, just like Tabatha saves salons.

Tennessee: The First 48
We all know about this particular reality show because it was based out of Memphis for a while. The show’s premise stems from the fact that if detectives do not get a lead on a murder case in the first 48 hours (or two days) their chances of solving the case gets cut in half. IfTennessee wants to return to a place of prominence in the SEC then they better win their first two conference games on the schedule. Otherwise, the Volunteers’ case of the missing SEC championship will remain open for another year. They play two important eastern division games against Florida and Georgia right off the bat, and if they do not show up in their first two Saturdays of SEC play, their chances for an SEC east championship will too be cut in half. After the season the Vols had last year, starting 0-2 in conference play will place Coach Dooley squarely on the hot seat.

Vanderbilt: Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
This is one of those feel good reality TV shows that helps less fortunate families and communities by renovating their house or school, turning it into a splendid spectacle for all to behold. No school in SEC football has been less fortunate than Vanderbilt, as the Commodores have only gone to five bowls (including this year’s Liberty Bowl) in their 121 year history. However, the Commodores fortunes appear to be changing. They have a very manageable conference schedule in 2012 with no games against Texas A&M, LSU, Alabama, or Arkansas. So Vandy might get a chance to go to back to back bowls for the first time ever. Thanks to Coach Franklin and a favorable conference schedule, the house of Vanderbilt is getting some serious renovations and is beginning to look like a solid program.

Arkansas: Big Brother
The Razorback’s schedule reminds me of the TV show where contestants are confined to house with cameras everywhere, facing random evictions, and the winner gets a fabulous prize. No prize is more precious than an SEC championship and a trip to a BCS bowl forArkansas. Cameras will be all around the Razorbacks next season, who will face lofty expectations after coming off of a 10-2 season and finishing the regular season ranked in the top 10 of the BCS. The schedule shapes up nicely for the Razorbacks who avoid the best teams in the east (Florida,Georgia, andSouth Carolina), while playing their most difficult divisional games at home (Texas A&M, LSU, andAlabama). They should also bring back the best quarterback in the SEC (and the TAM player of the year) Tyler Wilson to lead yet another explosive offense under Coach Petrino. Arkansas must avoid being eliminated from the BCS house early on when they faceAlabama, but the Razorbacks should be position for an SEC west championship by the end of the year.

Mississippi State: Punk’d
This MTV hit takes me back to my younger days, when watching pranks being pulled on unsuspecting people made me happy (wait it still does!). The recipe for a great prank is to get the person being pranked to believe that everything is going better than it should, and then you pull the rug from under them, crushing their world with a series of mishaps and traumatic experiences. Mississippi State has an easy first three games in conference play facing off againstAuburn,Tennessee, andKentucky. The Bulldogs could very well be 3-0 in conference play, and feel comfortable talking about an SEC West championship. However, be warned Bulldog fans, Ashton Kutcher might not be in his van waiting to hop out and laugh at you for being foolish enough to believe that Mississippi State can win a SEC championship next year, but I am. After a relatively easy first three games in SEC play, the Bulldogs next four games will be against some of the best teams in the SEC, when they take on Alabama, Arkansas, LSU, and Texas A&M. I warn Mississippi State fans now do not believe the hype until after their October 27 game against Alabama when we should see what the Bulldogs are really made of. If you choose not to heed this warning Bulldog fans, you should get prepared to sit on a metaphorical whoopee cushion by the end of the season.

Click here for the 2011 College Football TAMs Awards

The Mid-South is full of fans with allegiances to different area college football programs. Which FBS program in the three states surrounding the Memphis area is the best? To help end some arguments and start others, every week MemphiSport ranks all the college football teams in Tennessee, Arkansas and Mississippi . We call it the TAMs Rankings.

C.J. Hurt covers college football for MemphiSport. Follow him @churtj09 for live tweets from games.

Filed Under: SEC, The Big Features, Web Exclusives Tagged With: Arkansas football, Coach Dooley, Coach Franklin, Coach Petrino, Hugh Freeze, Mississippi State football, Ole Miss Football, Tennessee football, Tyler Wilson, Vanderbilt football

Arkansas Tops First Ever TAMs Rankings

October 5, 2011 by C.J. Hurt 2 Comments

The Mid-South is full of fans with allegiances to different area college football programs. Which FBS program in the three states surrounding the Memphis area is the best? To help end some arguments and start others, MemphiSport is proud to debut the TAMs Rankings, a weekly poll ranking all the college football teams in Tennessee, Arkansas and Mississippi (TAM). This new rankings system also doubles as a tribute to the Bluff City’s ABA heritage. Without further ado here are the rankings for week of October 5, 2011…

Rankings compiled by MemphiSport. Updated every Wednesday.

1. Arkansas (3-1): Critics wondered how Arkansas would respond coming off of an embarrassing loss to Alabama and the Razorbacks responded emphatically with a thrilling come form behind win against Texas A&M. These Razorbacks are just as potent offensively as last year’s squad ranking 7^thin the nation in passing yards and averaging 39 points a game. Arkansas cannot rest with the defending national champions SEC West foe No. 15 Auburn next up on the schedule. This is a must win game if Arkansas is going to keep their hopes alive for an appearance in the SEC Championship game. We look forward to the second half of the Razorbacks schedule as they will play four of the other members in the TAMs Rankings.
Best Win: 42-38 vs. Texas A&M @ Cowboy Stadium
Worst Loss: 38-14 vs. Alabama @ Bryant-Denny Stadium
Wins Against TAMs Teams: 0
Losses Against TAMs Teams: 0

2. Tennessee (3-1): The Vols are off to fast start this season thanks to a prolific passing attack led by super sophomore Tyler Bray. Tennessee has the 11^thbest passing attack in the nation and is scoring 37.8 points a game. However, the running game has not faired as well and Coach Dooley has to find some balance offensively if the Vols are going to get back to the SEC championship game. We will find out what this Tennessee team is made of in the coming weeks as they have a tough four game stretch against Georgia, No. 1 LSU, No. 2 Alabama, and No. 18 South Carolina. November is TAMs month for the Vols as three of their four opponents in the month are TAMs teams.

Best Win: 45-23 vs. Cincinnati @ Neyland Stadium
Worst Loss: 33-23 vs. Florida @ Ben Hill Griffin Stadium
Wins Against TAMs Teams: 0
Losses Against TAMs Teams: 0

3. Vanderbilt (3-1):Vandy is one of the most surprising stories of this young season so far. Coach James Franklin has this Commodore team dominating opponents on the defensive side of the ball. They rank 11^th in the nation in total yards per game and are only giving up a staggering 15.8 points per game. The Commodores are coming off a bye week and their last game was a disappointing 21-3 loss to South Carolina . Vanderbilt hopes to right the ship and pull off a huge upset against No. 2 Alabama this week. The Commodores man-handled TAMs team Ole Miss earlier this season and they have two TAMs teams left this season (Arkansas and Tennessee ).

Best Win: 30-7 vs. Ole Miss @ Vanderbilt Stadium
Worst Loss: 21-3 vs. South Carolina @ Williams-Brice Stadium
Wins Against TAMs Teams: 1 (Ole Miss)
Losses Against TAMs Teams: 0

4. Southern Mississippi (4-1):

Southern Miss is off to an impressive start to the 2011 season and their defense should be given most of the credit. No team has scored more than 27 points against the Golden Eagles and they are only giving up 19.4 points a game. They will be challenged in their next two games (Navy and SMU), but the schedule is favorable and Southern Miss has the opportunity to play for a C-USA championship. The Golden Eagles only play one TAMs teams this year and that is Memphis in the “Black and Blue” game at the end of the season.

Best Win: 30-24 vs. Virginia @ Scott Stadium
Worst Loss: 26-20 vs. Marshall @ Joan C. Edwards Stadium
Wins Against TAMs Teams: 0
Losses Against TAMs Teams: 0

5. Mississippi State (2-3):

Hopes were high for the Bulldogs coming into this season after a stellar campaign in 2010. However, Mississippi State is dead last in the conference and Coach Dan Mullin still has yet to beat an SEC West opponent not named Ole Miss. If the Bulldogs simply beat the teams they are supposed to beat the rest of the season they can still go to decent bowl, but an SEC title is out of reach. For what it is worth the Bulldogs did throttle TAMs team Memphis in the first game of the season and their last two games of the season are against fellow TAMs teams Arkansas and Ole Miss.

Best Win: 59-14 vs. Memphis @ Liberty Bowl
Worst Loss: 21-10 vs. Georgia @ Sanford Stadium
Wins Against TAMs Teams: 1 ( Memphis )
Losses Against TAMs Teams: 0

6. Arkansas State (3-2):

The Red Wolves have won three of their last four thanks in large part to the play of standout quarterback Ryan Aplin who is dominating opponents through the air. Aplin has the team poised to make a run at their second Sun Belt Conference championship and a trip to the New Orleans Bowl. Arkansas State absolutely dominated TAMs team Memphis early on in the season and they look forward to playing MTSU in their second to last contest of the year.

Best Win: 47-3 vs. Memphis @ ASU Stadium
Worst Loss: 26-7 vs. Virginia Tech @ Lane Stadium
Wins Against TAMs Teams: 1 ( Memphis )
Losses Against TAMs Teams: 0

7. Ole Miss (2-3):

To say the Rebels are struggling offensively this year would be an understatement. Ole Miss is dead last in the SEC in scoring, averaging a measly 22.6 points per game. The schedule does not get any easier for Coach Nutt and the Rebels as their next three opponents are all ranked in the top 15. Ole Miss already has an embarrassing loss to TAMs team Vanderbilt on their resume, they will play Arkansas in two weeks, and they end the season with Mississippi State.

Best Win: 38-28 vs. Fresno State @ Bulldog Stadium
Worst Loss: 14-13 vs. BYU @ Vaught-Hemingway Stadium
Wins Against TAMs Teams: 0
Losses Against TAMs Teams: 1 (Vanderbilt)

8. MTSU (1-3):

MTSU has struggled all season due in large part to an inept defense which is giving up an unimpressive 36.3 points per game. The Blue Raiders defense could not stop Memphis, who came into the game averaging 15 points per game, from putting up 31 points. The lone bright spot to the season so far for MTSU is the play of quarterback Logan Kilgore who is 19^th nationally in passing yards (second in the Sun Belt behind Corey Robinson of Troy State). They are undefeated against TAMs poll members having already defeated Memphis and have Tennessee and Arkansas State on the schedule as well.

Best Win: 38-31 vs. Memphis @ Johnny Floyd Stadium
Worst Loss: 49-21 vs. Georgia Tech @ Johnny Floyd Stadium
Wins Against TAMs Teams: 1 ( Memphis )
Losses Against TAMs Teams: 0

9. Memphis (1-4):

The pollsters could not agree on much, but one thing we could all agree on is that Memphis is the worst of the TAMs teams. The Tigers have yet to beat any FBS foe and rank in the bottom of every FBS football statistic. They are only averaging 15 points per game while their defense is giving up 38 points to the opposition. Memphis has already played three TAMs teams and lost every game, giving up an average of 48 points per game to TAMs teams.

Best Win: 27-6 vs. Austin Peay @ Liberty Bowl
Worst Loss: 47-3 vs. Arkansas State @ ASU Stadium
Wins Against TAMs Teams: 0
Losses Against TAMs Teams: 3 (Miss St., Arkansas State, MTSU)

CJ Hurt covers college football for MemphiSport. Follow him @churtj09 for live tweets during University of Memphis home games.