John Clay's Sidelines

Seen around town:

A couple of e-mails from two who got up on the wrong side of bed this Monday:

From Kevin:

Tennessee would be the same whether dear ole’ dad (Monte Kiffin) was there or not. Had the VOLS not fired John Chavis, he would have stayed at TN, even if his mentor and close friend Phil Fulmer had not been let go. To that end, we would still have had a top 10 defense this year.

I get a little tired of all the sports columnists at the Herald-Leader constantly taking potshots at the VOLS. You Wild-RATs fans just can seem to accept you will never have the football tradition that the VOLS will and it just eats you up doesn’t it?

Continue reading ‘E-mailbag: Bad mood Monday’

(AP Photo/John Raoux)

Is top-ranked and defending national champ Florida vulnerable?

ESPN’s Pat Forde seemed to think so after watching the Gators’ 23-13 win over Tennessee.

Wrote Forde:

Florida’s wideouts were not dramatically more involved, as it becomes clear this team is still searching for ways to replace Percy Harvin and Louis Murphy.

And another:

And perhaps Tebow should touch it less often if he’s going to survive an entire season in the high-impact SEC. He’s close to indestructible, but injuries do happen. Ask Oklahoma and USC how much fun it’s been playing without their starting quarterbacks.

Even with Tebow, Florida did not look invulnerable in its first big test of 2009. This game had to give a glimmer of hope to the folks in Tuscaloosa, Baton Rouge, Oxford and anywhere else they’re dreaming of an SEC title.

Hope in Lexington? Probably not. It should be an interesting game, but I don’t see the Cats having much chance Saturday, especially when the Gators will have spent all week hearing how they may not be the team they were in 2008.

“Seems like we always get them when they’re mad,” said UK coach Rich Brooks at his press luncheon today.

Update: According to this Tweet from Wes Rucker, of the Chattanooga Times Free Press, Kiffin fires back: wesruckerAlso, Kiffin said the next time #Vols don’t play well, he’ll blame it on the flu. Zing! Still taunting the #Gators in defeat…

Florida coach Urban Meyer took a bit of a shot at Lane Kiffin’s Vols, saying that Tennessee wasn’t really trying to win Saturday, that the heavy underdogs from Knoxville were only trying to keep it close.

Said Meyer:

“I didn’t feel like they were going after the win,” Meyer said. “They wanted to shorten the game. I think that was the plan. There are 10 minutes to go and they’re not in a no-huddle. It’s 23-6 and no urgency (on Tennessee’s part).

“The way we lose a game there is throw an interception. Why put yourself in that position? Let’s find a way to win the game. We’re not trying to impress the pollsters. We’re trying to win the game. A lot of it had to do with the way they were playing. It made our life a little easier.”

Here’s the complete audio from Rich Brooks press conference today at Wildcat Den where he discussed Saturday’s game with top-ranked Florida.

Sporting News basketball guru Mike DeCourcy has come out with his top 10 college basketball point guards for 2010.

He ranks Kentucky freshman John Wall as the No. 2 point guard in the nation.

He ranks Kansas’ Sherron Collins at No. 1.

Writes Mike:

Sherron Collins, Kansas. Collins is the Tyler Hansbrough of short, squat guys. He has been a team-changing player for three seasons and is about to make it four. He could end up winning NCAA titles with two completely different lineups around him.

DeCourcy does say that he expects Wall to have a more immediate impact than Derrick Rose did his freshman year at Memphis.

Be sure and read the entire list.