No surprises: Tennessee fires Butch Jones

There was a smell around the Tennessee program that was putrid, and absolutely undeniable. It was that of garbage, desperation, and giving up. It was joked that Tennessee’s players had given up on Butch Jones way before his firing on the day after the school dropped 50 points to Missouri. It was obvious the fans had. There was a social media tidal wave of fans saying: “Fire Butch Jones” (aside from the wags – mostly in the SEC East – with signs begging Big Orange to keep him), and there was even a failed attempt by the fanbase to show displeasure against the current management by emptying Neyland for the Southern Mississippi game – ironically the last game that the now-departed head coach

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Is LSU really the third best team in the SEC? Week 8 Rankings

LSU suddenly look as though it has something to make its fans excited about. After the Troy disaster, the Tigers have won three straight (Florida, Auburn and Ole Miss), and even Danny Etling does not look as bad as Gary Danielson makes him out to be (some people think Gary Danielson’s better than WE think he is). But are the Tigers the third best team in the SEC? It’s between them at Texas A&M. A&M was on a bye week, but with LSU’s road victory – albeit an Ole Miss team that is inept at stopping the run, they move up to third. Auburn’s also pretty good, too. So here you are. Alabama: Nick Saban will probably be yelling at backup

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Can Tennessee survive Alabama? Week 8 SEC Predictions

We’re going to make a massive prediction this week and tell you that someone might make a comment about Philip Fulmer when Tennessee comes to Tuscalossa. Apart from that, this – on paper – isn’t a wildly interesting slate with Auburn going to Arkansas, LSU going to Ole Miss, Kentucky going to Mississippi State, and Idaho visiting Missouri. So here are the games in the level of interesting: Auburn (-15.5) vs Arkansas: If things were going to be smooth for Bret Bielema and Arkansas this season, things suddenly became a lot less smooth when it was reported that Bielema’s buyout was in fact $5.9 million NOT the $15 million as earlier thought. That’s a hell of a jump. Apparently, a reporter

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After the mayhem of Week 7, Auburn and Tennessee fans are unhappy

After the unbridled craziness of Week 7 (see Clemson, Washington and Washington State all getting upset) Alabama and Georgia still rule the SEC. While Alabama rolled, it wasn’t the most convincing of performances from Georgia, who only woke up in the second half of their game against Missouri. Elsewhere, Auburn blew a 20-pt lead on a horribly hot day at LSU and really, really pissed off their fanbase in the process (To LSU fans, ‘Coach O’ is now God), the Tennessee soap opera continued with a 15-9 home loss to South Carolina in one of the ugliest games you’ll ever see, while Texas A&M now like Kevin Sumlin again after the Aggies won by 2 points in an electrifying atmosphere

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Who should go: Bret Bielema or Butch Jones?

If you had one choice of who to get rid of who would it be? Would it be Tennessee head coach Butch Jones, who seems to pour out vomit whenever he speaks or Arkansas head coach Bret Bielema, who is looking increasingly inept as his team falls down the tubes? Tennessee is currently 3-2 overall (0-2 in the SEC), while Arkansas is 2-3 overall (0-2) in the SEC. It’s the 0-4 combined record in our beloved conference that the fanbases won’t stand for. We put out the cases for both: THE CASE FOR BUTCH JONES The saddest thing for Butch Jones is that he doesn’t measure up to the stars of the past for Tennessee. Before he was run out

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Georgia loses Marshall and Scott-Wesley for the year

Georgia’s news after the Tennessee was as bad as feared: star running back Keith Marshall and star wide receiver Justin Scott-Wesley are both out for the year. Both players were injured during the breathless win at Tennessee, and left the game immediately. Both players tore their ACLs. Wide receiver Michael Bennett- Georgia’s safest pair of hands when it comes to catching a throw from Aaron Murray – also left Neyland with a knee injury, and he’s getting ‘scoped’ later this week and will be out for the Missouri game, coach Mark Richt said. It’s now emerged that Bennett has a torn meniscus and will undergo surgery tomorrow, and will be out 3-6 weeks. That will mean he’s definitely not playing

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Will Butch Jones redeem the Vols?: Tennessee 2013 Preview

Butch Jones has arrived in Tennessee, and  it’s his job to right a ship that pretty much sank under the ‘stewardship’ of Derek Dooley. The good news is is that he still has some playmakers and weapons playing for him – they didn’t all decide to transfer. The bad news is is that the Vols are playing catch-up in a nasty SEC and an even nastier division – the SEC East, where the ‘haves’ are Georgia, South Carolina and Florida….and former ‘little brother’ Vanderbilt are becoming the conference’s hottest story. So how will things work out in 2013. Here’s our preview. LAST YEAR It’s strange, because last year wasn’t a truly awful one for Tennessee….at the start, anyway. The Vols

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Tennessee (Finally) Fires Derek Dooley

Tennessee fans today got the news that they weren’t surprised or shocked about: Derek Dooley has been fired as the Volunteers head coach. After his team was drilled 41-18 by Vanderbilt, Dooley was told that he wouldn’t be returning. And he wouldn’t even be asked to coach the team’s game against Kentucky, either. And to make matters worse, but buying out Dooley’s contract will cost Tennessee a cool $5 million (FIVE MIIIIILION DOLLARS!). Dooley’s highlights included (per The Clairon-Ledger): A 15-21 record A 0-15 record against ranked teams (we start to think what might have happened to Mark Richt if UGA hadn’t beaten Florida) An 0-7 SEC record this year, despite being a dark horse for the SEC East title

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Rogered: Tennessee WR Da’Rick Rogers suspended indefinitely

Huge news in Tennessee: Standout wide receiver Da’Rick Rogers has been suspended indefinitely by coach Derek Dooley for an unspecified violation of team rules, according to ESPN. It is not known what he did to gain such a suspension, although Bruce Feldman, college football reporter at CBS was told that it was a string of troubling incidents that prompted the staff to make the move. In one tweet he said: “After what I’d been told by sources inside Vols program last yr, was surprised Dooley allowed Da’Rick Rogers to stay w team.” He added: “In 2011 Da’Rick Rogers had a series of incidents, incldg a complete meltdown at UK gm that sources say COMPLETELY crossed line w UT staff.” And

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SEC Prediction: Is Tennessee A Dark Horse for the SEC East this year?

If you haven’t heard, Derek Dooley’s out of his job as head coach of the Tennessee Volunteers. When? About December, 2012. We jest, but you get the point: Mr Dooley’s under huge pressure to get the 2012 right at Neyland Stadium after two years of debacle, and our thought is this: Shouldn’t we be thinking of the Vols as a dark horse for the division, rather than an also ran? LAST SEASON As awful as people who like you to think Tennessee was last year, we’d like to put this out there: The Vols were also hellish unlucky with injuries. They lost their best wide receiver Justin Hunter in their third  game of the season against Florida. Their QB, Tyler

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