sami

Calipari has said as much often through the years, and even alluded to "impacting young people and their families" during his post game presser. The question you ask about his job description is very relevant, and it appears that Barnhart isn't on board with the idea that producing NBA players is the priority. The questions are - can they get the $33 mil plus the buyout of his replacement plus a new staff? Who is out there and available that is a viable alternative?

Ha! I said exactly the same thing before ever seeing your post. Great minds …

Agree. To me, the perfect situation would be four regional divisions (or 'conferences') of 14-16 teams, 12-game schedules with 9-10 games in your own division, then a four-team playoff in each division played at college sites resulting in a Final Four to be played at neutral sites. This means that two teams would play four additional games while the most anyone else would play is three. It eliminates "automatic" bids and any subjectivity, as well as meaningless conference title games. This will never happen because 'the good of the sport' isn't a consideration, only greed and power, which is why the SEC and Big 10 would never agree to anything that lessened the revenue, power and control of the sport they currently have.

Kentucky might not necessarily agree with that.

That is fantastic news. Bru brings veteran leadership to what will be a young group in many areas. I'll disagree with Gillam, however, in that the top 3 WR's right now look to be Bru, Squirrel, and Brazzell. Keyton needs to work hard on his consistency this off season.

@GatorinBama I agreed with your entire post until the final part. The NFL hasn't had a great product in a long time. Parity has produced mostly mediocre teams playing games that are far too often an overlitigated mess with way too many rules and hideous officiating. It is close to impossible to watch. The powers that be in CFB are doing their best to emulate the pro game, and are on the fast track to completely ruin it. But at its best, CFB is still a far more watchable product than the dreck the NFL produces today. And I live at the Jersey Shore in the NY/Philly area - I couldn't help but laugh at the suggestion that pro ball fans are 'smarter' or have better sportsmanship than college fans. Based on what we see here and other like sites, it's at best a wash, with the most vociferous virtually always being the most pathetically ignorant.

That horse left the barn loooooong ago. Actual history hasn't been taught in public schools in probably 20 years. Hell, 9-11 is barely mentioned any more, and is not much more than a rumor to most kids under 25 years old.

And if they just said that, there would be no controversy. Obviously, that would never happen, and they can count on most of the lapdog leech media to rationalize the picks.

Georgia and Alabama without a doubt and regardless what happens in Atlanta are among the four best, but I'm not ready to say the same about OSU and UM given the schedules they play. On a neutral field, I can easily see Oregon or Washington beating either team. Hell, Michigan lost to TCU last year and OSU blew a two TD lead in the 4th quarter. I know it was last year, but championship level programs don't lose those games.

The impact of Barnes bringing in guys who can consistently shoot and create with volume cannot be measured. Together with the usual lock-down defense his teams play, this has the potential to be a special season. Fingers crossed for good health. Totally agree that 8-4 is a very respectable finish for the football Vols, and I see 2025 as the 'judgment year' for the CJH program as well. By then he will have a few recruiting classes leading the program and Nico hopefully fully grown into the leadership role. Another 8-4 finish next season with that schedule wouldn't be the disaster many will make it out to be.

The Big 10 bias by the national media has always been obvious and nauseating. What is very telling is that newcomers Oregon, Washington, and USC will immediately be among the best teams in the conference. Penn State showed anyone paying attention what they are and have been all about against Ohio State, which is a bully program that fattens up against creampuffs (the entire Big 10 aside from OSU and UM) and is outclassed in the only teams they play all season. Yet they are in the NY6 talk because of the hype that the national media gives the Big 10. It's an absolute joke.

Really tough break for the kid, he had taken a major step up this season. We're going to miss him.

@drumlin .... You beat me to it.

@docgator ... Truth, thank you.

"The Vols found a way to win against the Aggies outside of their traditional identity" Andrew, when did you start watching college football - 2021? Tennessee, under Majors and Fulmer, were run oriented teams that featured nasty defenses, with the possible excaption of the Manning years. This is a different UT group, and Heupel is adjusting to the idea of leaning on the run game, defense, and special teams. Hopefully Milton can avoid awful decisions like the pick against A&M and manage the game the way Tee Martin might have.

I've been saying all season that they need to get this kid the ball in space via jet sweeps or bubble screens a few times a game. He's a big play waiting to happen.

Listen, I couldn't stand Jones, hated the hire, and always saw him as a phony huckster during his time here. But at some point the vitriol and piling on becomes unseemly, like shooting a dead horse over and over again. The man certainly doesn't belong on a D1 or D2 sideline in any way, shape, or form, and I'm sure will be fired before this season is done, never to be heard from again. Let it go.

I know that Swinney has two titles, but I just have a problem putting him at #3 when he routinely plays a schedule with one and occasionally two tough games. But then the same can be said for Day and Harbaugh in that joke of a conference. But columns like this are clickbait anyway, and all the replies here bear that out.

Traditional for UT means orange and white, and always with the white helmets, period. I'm fine with all orange or all white, but it has to be just those colors. Leave the goofy alternate unis to upstart schools with no real tradition or history. If I never see those grey or black uniforms again it would be just fine.

I'm still waiting for the NCAA to assess penalties to North Carolina for having over 3000 student athletes getting passed for non-existant classes to remain eligible over a couple of decades. Any day now that ruling should be coming.

Man, has the media pushed hard to make Eli Manning into a personality. Guy is a block of wood.

It will simply take some UT QB's and WR's being successful at the next level for the asinine questions to stop. Until then, low information media hacks like those in NY, most of whom have probably never even seen UT play, will parrot the same garbage that they've been fed over and over.

Seeds and rankings at this point mean very little. What's important is to be healthy and playing well going into the tournament. For UT the question remains the same as it has been for the last few seasons - can they shoot well enough consistently to win four games and get to a Final Four, and then for a couple more games? If the answers are yes, there's no limit to how far they can go this year.

If that was to happen, the Colts will live to regret passing on Bryce Young. And unless Houston is dumb enough not to pick him, Indy will be regretting it twice a year for a long time.

Kiper has Levis going #1. The NFL has always been more about potential and measurables than college performance, which is why you get some major busts like Russell and Leaf at the top of the draft. To me, Richardson as a 1st is even more bizarre - I can see him being a mid round flyer as a project for a team already set at QB, but 1st rounders are drafted to be franchise QB's. That just doesn't make sense, as he's the ultimate work in progress.

McElroy is working the Orange Bowl on ESPN, so including UT is a bit of promotion for the broadcast. I don't see this as being a '13th game' as much as a pre-season 2023 game since we are going to see a lot of kids who will be counted on in bigger roles next season. IMO that is what the bowls have become in the age of opt-outs and the portal. More than anyone else, the pressure will be on Joe Milton to show that he is on the right track with his accuracy issues and intends to make the QB1 spot his own in 2023.

Young and Anderson opting in has put a bit of pressure on the Tide to beat K-State, which I think they will do in a big way. I see a Bama rout that will put an exclamation mark on this season and kick start 2023.

Truth. Emmert is a leech who oversaw the final embarrassment and destruction of the NCAA as a "governing body", and should be the last person to comment on anything destroying college sports.

It's highly doubtful his stock will ever be higher than it is right now. Much as I love him as a player and VFL, I'd advise him to shut it down and prepare for the combine and draft.

Alabama is the only team in the top 10 that would have had a shot to beat Georgia because they have the best player. Georgia wants no part of them, whether they admit it or not. They're going to build the CFP up as they always do, and it will turn out to be two Georgia blowouts, because the other three teams are all pretenders. My only question is at what point we stop pretending that the Big 10 is any better than the Big 12, Pac 12, or any other conference that isn't the SEC? When Michigan gets curb stomped by Georgia yet again, will that do the trick?