By Justin Goar- Blogger
They grow up so fast...
 
Ever since my daughter’s arrived, I’ve been forced to lie to you in the title of this column. This isn’t the “Weekly” Brain Seepage. It’s more like the “Bi-weekly” Brain Seepage or the “Whenever I Have Time, I’ll Get to It” Brain Seepage.
 
In fact, even though she’s only five weeks old, she uttered her first words over the weekend. They were:
 
“You know father, in my own unofficial college football poll I jumped Texas over Oklahoma weeks ago. That’s the great thing about the poll, Dad. I can vote for whoever I want every week. If I saw a potential cluster-F (don’t worry she said “F”, not the whole word) coming in the Big 12 South (I think she means the Big XII, she’s young), I would’ve realized that any voter with a college football soul should vote in the team that won in a head to head battle over the team that tries to run up the score for style points every week. Don’t the pollsters take into account what’s happened over the whole season?”
 
“That’s what the computers are for, honey,” I replied.
 
“Oh right, but haven’t the powers that be limited what the computers say in favor of the humans?” she asked while making spit bubbles.
 
“That’s true, sweetheart,” I said.
 
“Then it’s up to the humans to do what’s right since they can’t control what the computers do?” she asked while fixating her gaze on a nearby lamp.
 
“Well, I guess so,” I said.
 
“Then all these people complaining about the BCS could’ve actually done something about it with their vote? They could have jumped Texas over Oklahoma if they felt that the Longhorns deserved to be in the conference title game,” she stated while soiling herself.
 
“I guess they could have,” I agreed.
 
“But that would counteract their agenda of wanting a playoff if everything works out, right? So maybe voters are voting for what would cause the most chaos in order to cause controversy. Entropy benefits their cause,” she said while crossing her eyes.
 
“Where did you learn all these words? Is this that Baby Einstein?” I asked.
 
“Oh daddy, come on, even a baby can see what’s going on here,” she said while starting to cry.
 
“It’s time to change you, isn’t it?” I asked.
 
“It’s time to change something,” she said poignantly.
 
Out of the mouths of babes.
 
After a clean diaper, I asked her, “What about Texas Tech?”
 
She just rolled her eyes at me (for the first of probably many times, if her mother is any indication).
 
Pretty advanced for a baby with underdeveloped neck muscles and little to no trunk control, eh?
 
 
 
Better than Shreveport...
 
An actual text I received from a buddy (and LSU fanatic) last night:
 
“If you told me during halftime of the Troy game that we’d eventually end up in the Chick-fil-A Bowl, I would have taken it in a heartbeat...”
 
Agreed. But the price of going to such a bowl after a disappointing season is facing Paul Johnson’s option attack in Atlanta. You need a disciplined defense to halt such an attack. Uh-oh.
 
Has a team ever rushed for 700 yards in a game?
 
 
 
The battle lines are drawn...it really just comes down to which coach you hate less...
 
Whether or not you agree with the matchup, it’s going to be a great game indeed. What’s the over/under going to be on this game? 100? 110? 120?
 
Alabama did one of the better jobs of shutting down Florida since they’ve been on their post-Ole Miss streak. The Gators still put up 31.
 
Oklahoma has been scoring on people like a game of Xbox. It’s been ridiculous.
 
The Big 12 (oops, my bad—I mean the Big XII) and the SEC have been on a collision course all season. We knew the best from each conference would end up in Miami.

But if Florida wins the game, fans of the Longhorns and much of the nation will wonder what if...
 
For me, the game comes down to one thing: defense. Actually, opposing defenses.
 
Florida and Tim Tebow have gone up against 10 defenses in the Top 50 this year. Ten! That’s insane, and what’s even more insane is that they won nine of them. Three of them were in the Top 11 (Alabama, South Carolina, and Tennessee).
 
Want to take a guess how many times Oklahoma has gone up against a Top 50 defense?
 
Once.
 
TCU was the only one.
 
Florida is No. 9 in total defense. Oklahoma is No. 65.
 
Sure, add in your Big 12 (oops, my bad—I meant Big XII) arguments here about the league being offensive, and on top of that, the SEC being a defensive league in order to say that the stats don’t matter.
 
And they don’t really, but Florida has seen what some of the best defenses in the land can do, and they still keep trucking. Just some food for thought.
 
 
 
Next to American Idol, it’s a pretty big award...
 
I don’t have a vote for the Heisman, and I hardly really get caught up in the race. Woodson beating Manning way back when kind of turned me off to this whole voting thing, but for what it’s worth (which is nothing), my votes are below. I’ll try to make it sound official by messing with their names to make them sound more official:
 
1) Timothy Tebow
 
(I’m just trying that on. I don’t think it flies. I think I’ll go back to “Tim” or “Tim-ahhh!!!”)
 
I dislike Florida, I really do, but I like Tim Tebow. I can’t help it. Dude’s a player.
 
2) Samuel Bradford
 
I kind of like Samuel in this instance. I think if you went up to a typical 13-year-old kid knows nothing of sports and asked him who Samuel Bradford was, they’d say, “Didn’t he lose to Abraham Lincoln or something?" I weep for the future.
 
Of course, if I knew nothing of sports and you asked me who he was, I’d probably say, “Wasn’t he one of Dick Van Patten’s kids on Eight is Enough?”
 
3) Colton McCoy
 
Like I stated earlier in the season, Colt McCoy is one sweet name. In fact, if there was a Heisman for names, he’d win every year. If I didn’t know anything about sports (I apparently like this premise, and I’m sure some of you think it’s not a premise as much as a fact), and you wanted to sell me a gun (which I also know nothing about), and you said you wanna buy a “Colt McCoy,” I’d be like hell yeah, I do!
 
Then I’d buy some chaps, spurs, and a cowboy hat because I don’t own those things—not even recreational versions of those things, if you know what I mean.
 
Then I’d saunter around my backyard and shoot anything that moves with my sweet Colt McCoy handgun.
 
Oh, and a duster. I’d need a duster.
 
 
 
What about Sam Winters...can I vote for him?
 
OK, while I’m in the voting spirit, I’m trying to decide my coach of the year ballots. I’m trying to come up with one reason why I shouldn’t have Nick Saban as No. 1...
 
I’m waiting...
 
Maybe Joe Pa.
 
Maybe.
 
But Joe Pa’s unlikely season was derailed by Iowa. Saban’s perfect run was ended by a Heisman winner and the best team in the SEC (and maybe the country). Even the game itself was a testament to Saban’s coaching since most predicted the Gators would win big, and for most of the game, the Gators played Bama’s style of football.
 
Pete Carroll, Bob Stoops, Mack Brown, Urban Meyer, Gary Patterson, Chris Petersen, Brian Kelly, Mike Leach, Paul Johnson (who should take “coach at a new school” honors), Brady Hoke, Skip Holtz?
 
Nah, I gotta do what I gotta do. Bama was a year or so away. Saban made it happen early.
 
1) Nick Saban
 
2) Joe Paterno
 
3) Mike Leach
 
Honorable Mention: Paul Johnson
 
Maybe you can convince me otherwise.
 
 
 
Duck Duck Duck...Goose!!!
 
Oregon State. Tsk Tsk Tsk. I was pulling for you guys against the Ducks (and I like me some Ducks), and all you had to do was win and go to the Rose Bowl. The ROSE BOWL!
 
Mike Bellotti’s bunch put a whipping on the Beavers and knocked them all the way back to the Sun Bowl.
 
Now the Ducks get to go to sunny San Diego for the Holiday Bowl against the Oklahoma State Pokes, and the Beavers head to El Paso to take on Pittsburgh.
 
No offense to El Paso, but I’m thinking San Diego would’ve been the better trip. Beavers win the “biggest fall” award. The good news...”Da Quizz” is only a freshman.
 
 
 
Don’t you hate it when...?
 
I think we’re pretty much all agreed that there’s not many things worse than someone talking about their fantasy football league/team, especially if you’re not in the league with them. In spite of this, I’m going to do it right here.
 
At one point, I was 2-5 in my head to head league and looking forward to next season’s draft. Last year ended in heartbreak as I missed the four-team playoff by a tiebreaker in the final week. But then after the 2-5 start, the Colts started winning, so Peyton’s stats got better.
 
Michael Turner has been stellar all year, and my most problem spot all year (second running back) was filled in nicely by Chester Taylor in the past weeks. My WR combo of Andre and Calvin Johnson, along with Lee Evans, has also been solid, and the Ravens' D (thank you Ed Reed) is always consistent.
 
I won six of my last seven games, including taking down the league leader in the final week of the regular season. After the Saints and LSU this season, I was in need of some football karma.
 
So watch out for the Deep Snappers in the playoffs. Peyton has the Lions this weekend. The rest of the league is on notice—the Snap Attack is back.
 
Did I lose every single reader I had in this section? Probably so—it’s time to wrap up.
 
 
 
“The most wonderful time of the year...”
 
Coming soon for the fifth year now and first time on Bleacher Report, The Annual JWBS Bowl Picks Extravaganzpalooz-spectacularrrrrr!!!
 
After being undefeated for the first three years, I picked against my wife last year, and she beat me by a game. In order to avenge my loss to the fairer sex, I took on Bleacher Report’s Lisa Horne in her weekly picks one week.
 
I got destroyed. Badly. I’m still a bit sore from the beating I took. I get recurring headaches now, and my jaw clicks when I open my mouth too far.
 
But to put all that behind me and prove last year was a fluke, I’m taking on the wife again because she wants to defend her title, and she’d like something to do while on maternity leave.
 
My wife brings the insight of a person that watched only five hours of football this entire season.
 
She’s been pretty hard to live with over the past year, as I’ve heard such trash talk as:
 
“Are we going to do that bowl thingy again this year? I won last year, right? Or was it the year before? I don’t remember. How did I win?”
 
Boy, she’s just relentless, I tell ya.
 
See you next week.
 
Go Tigers!!!

Ed. Note.
Contrary to Popular belief, we are not dead, nor did we jump into the thanksgiving fryers. We will be back, as soon as it stops hurting.

by Justin Goar- Blogger

With college coaching casualties run amuck in 2008, it's widely believed that LSU will add its co-defensive coordinators (Doug Mallory and Bradley Dale Peveto) to the chopping block as well. LSU message boards are a buzz with many names to fill the upcoming vacancy. One of the most mentioned is former Tennessee Volunteer defensive coordinator John Chavis.

John Chavis was not retained by new head coach Lane Kiffin, who has sights set on his father Monte to coach the defense.
That leaves Chavis looking for a job and LSU having an opening.
When Nebraska hired Bo Pelini last year I got an email from a Nebraska fan wanting to pick my brain about Pelini since he was the defensive coordinator at LSU.

I think I wrote back more than what was expected and the Husker fan thanked me because the info that I gave was far better then what he was able to find on his own.
I was brutally honest on what I thought Pelini's  strengths and weaknesses were and more or less thought he was a great hire in Lincoln.
So with so much being said about Chavis here in Louisiana, I thought I'd turn the tables and ask someone who really knows his way around the Volunteer Nation about the possibility of John Chavis joining Les Miles' staff.

I turned to Bleacher Creature Will Shelton. To be as concise as possible about Will, I like his writing because he knows his stuff. He's one of those few writers that I will check out his new stuff as soon as I see it no matter the topic. Will is the founder of the Southeastern Sports Blog and a well respected writer here on Bleacher Report.
LSU fans want to hear what Vol fans have to say about Chavis. I pick Will's brain on Chavis and the goings on in Knoxville.

JG: As a Tennessee fan and writer, how do you feel about Chavis' tenure in Knoxville?
WS: Personally, I was and I remain a huge fan of John Chavis.  Tennessee defenses since his promotion to DC in 1995 have been in the top tier of the SEC almost every single season - his consistency to me is one of his greatest strengths.  There's a percentage of Tennessee fans who've voiced displeasure at what he's done over the last few years, but when you look at the numbers to me those concerns came more out of a general dissatisfaction with the program instead of specific issues with the defense - the Vols are 4th nationally in total defense right now with an offense that's ranked 116th in the same category.  With very few exceptions that can be attributed to inexperience and having to play Florida early in the season, I think John Chavis has been absolutely outstanding over the course of 14 seasons.
If you like numbers, in his tenure as UT's defensive coordinator the Vols gave up less than 300 yards per game (294 on average) and less than 20 points per game (18.8 on average).

JG: "Soft zone" is a dirty word in Baton Rouge, how would you characterize Chavis' "style of play" or scheme?
Is it at all dependent on personnel or opposing offenses for that week?
WS: It's funny, soft zone might be the biggest complaint about Chavis' style.
There was an NFL scout a few years back, and I can't remember his name, but in talking about Tennessee's defensive players he said "The Tennessee guys always have the run-hit philosophy:  they're fast, and when they get there they're in a bad mood."
Chavis has always employed a 4-3 defense that utilizes speed and athleticism.  When Tennessee was on top of the college football world in the late 90s, their defense was so tough to deal with because it combined these incredible athletes with an offense that allowed them to be super- aggressive and take chances; when Peyton Manning was your quarterback, you knew you could go full-tilt and gamble on defense and he had your back.  And they did.  All the Tennessee sack records that don't belong to Reggie White come from this era.
When Manning wasn't under center or the Vols didn't have an explosive offense, the defense could throttle back some but was still very capable of carrying the entire team - the Vols won the National Championship in 1998 with an inexperienced quarterback and the loss of Jamal Lewis because their defense put them on their shoulders the entire season.  That team established a mentality that Vol defenses have upheld, for the most part, ever since:  you will not drive 80 yards on us.  Whether by someone making a play (again, speed and athleticism) or by your quarterback making a bad decision against our coverage, you won't go 80 yards against us.  Long drives against Chavis defenses are few and far between.
Under Chavis, the Vols have put guys like Leonard Little, Shaun Ellis, Darwin Walker, Al Wilson, Deon Grant, John Henderson, Al Haynesworth, Gibril Wilson, Jason Allen, and now Jerod Mayo in the NFL as starters.
Chavis has always been more about players than scheme, but even in the last few years when Tennessee's talent level has decreased, he still finds ways to maximize what's out there.  Even if he doesn't have NFL athletes, he'll put the right guy in the right spot to make a play with alarming consistency.  And putting guys in the right position is why Eric Berry has seven interceptions this season on a team that's really not spectacular on the defensive front and doesn't pressure quarterbacks to make hurried throws.
Getting back to the "soft zone"—Tennessee defenses were typically aggressive under Chavis, except in third down situations.  The biggest complaint Vol fans would have about him is what some would call "Third and Chavis", where the Vols employed their "Mustang" package—three down linemen, two linebackers and six DBs—and trusted athleticism in the secondary to make a play instead of going after the quarterback.
Some of Tennessee's most heartbreaking 4th quarter losses can be attributed to the use of this package in late game situations—we helped make JaMarcus Russell the first pick in the draft using some of this package in 2006.
 
JG: I think JC used to coach from the sidelines but has since moved to the booth. Has this been a good move?
WS: Again, Chavis is so consistent I haven't noticed any difference whatsoever.  There's a great level of trust between Chavis and his defensive assistants (Dan Brooks, Steve Caldwell, Larry Slade) that helps him manage wherever he wanted to be on comedy.  Those assistants had also all been on staff much longer than most SEC schools keep guys around, which helped build that consistency.
 
JG: LSU's defensive discipline has dropped off this year not only with some brain lapses but also some lapses in the fundamentals mainly tackling. What's Chavis' coaching style individually with his players? Is he a hands on guy? An in your face guy? More of a guru? Has any of this changed with his move to the booth? Is he the kind of guy that commands respect from his players?
WS: Chavis is capable of being all of the above—he's very protective of his players, never ever threw them under the bus or called a guy out publicly.  He's also very hesitant with individual praise, so when he says something like "Eric Berry is the best defender in America", you know it's serious business with him.  The players respect The Chief from day one as far as I can tell - there have been issues with guys on the second team not working hard enough or being mature enough, but I think you find that problem to a degree anywhere.
Chavis just does what he does—during Fulmer's last week, when everybody kept asking him how he was going to respond or get emotional, he said he'd just finish the game, change clothes, and go home.  He's just business like with a reputation that precedes him, and he worked on a staff that was very family-oriented—he and Fulmer meshed really really well together.
I wouldn't call him a guru, but he's certainly capable of being hands on and in your face.
 
JG: Chavis has seemed to excel against pro style offenses in his career. With the advent of the spread offense especially in rival Florida (LSU plays Florida every year as well), how effective has Chavis been against the spread keeping in mind that most DC's in the country are working to gameplan against it effectively in recent years.
WS: The first two years Chavis saw the spread, the Vols crushed it—they gave up 16 points to the Gators in 2005 (and gave away 10 of those from special teams errors), and 21 in 2006.  Problem is, Florida won both those games.  But Chavis had the guys ready and put his athletes in the right spots.
Same thing happened this year—Florida won 30-6, but scored a touchdown on a punt return and got another three on a cheap turnover inside our own 30, and Chavis held the Florida offense that looks so ridiculously unstoppable right now to less than 250 yards.  We just never ever helped him out on offense against Meyer's Gators.
In 2007, Tennessee was so young on defense that Florida torched them for 59 (45 actually given up by the defense).  But an important quality to know about Chavis is that his defenses always, always get better during the course of the year.
Admittedly, Chavis is not the best in the world at the halftime adjustment - the Vols do what they do and if you can figure out a hole in it, or if you drastically change what you do, Chavis is either stubborn or something else and we never adjust.  Why did LSU beat Tennessee in the SEC Championship Game in 2001 when Rohan Davey and LaBrandon Toefield went out?  Because we didn't make any adjustment to Matt Mauck.  Why did UCLA beat us this year?  Because when Kevin Craft stopped throwing deep over the middle after his fourth interception and just went to the short dumps, we didn't make any adjustment.
But Chavis is one of the best I've ever seen, ever, at making a defense better from September to November.
In his first season, the Vols gave up 62 to Florida in September.  In January, they completely shut down Eddie George and Ohio State in the Citrus Bowl.  In '98, Donovan McNabb picked the Vols apart in the season opener.  Tennessee went on to win the National Championship on the strength of that same defense.
The same defense that got shredded by Florida and Cal in September '07 put the clamps on Georgia in October, shut down Darren McFadden and Felix Jones in November, and played LSU off its feet in the SEC Championship Game.
He's too stubborn to make a solid halftime adjustment.  But I promise you he'll adjust better Monday-Friday than anyone else.
And back to the question, the spread isn't what Chavis had the most trouble with - it's the power option.
Go back and watch the two bowl games against Nebraska, the 2001 Cotton Bowl against Kansas State, or a 2006 game against Air Force where the Vols had to stop a two point conversion to win 31-30.  The Power Option is undefeated against John Chavis.  Don't schedule Georgia Tech.  
 
JG: That's funny if LSU's bowl projection rumors are true. Ok, role play time: You're Phil Fulmer, I'm Les Miles. I'm calling you b/c we have our DC position open and we wanted to look at John Chavis to possibly fill it. Would Chavis be a good fit for LSU and how glowing would your recommendation be?
WS: I'd say Phillip Fulmer would give Chavis a five-star recommendation, and if Fulmer wanted to coach again right now (which I don't think he does, not this year anyway) he'd take Chavis with him in a nanosecond.  He'd also take the defensive assistants.
Letting Chavis recruit defensive players with Les Miles and the more talented state of Louisiana to pull from?  Oh, I'd like that very much.  The Vols had a history of going out and getting the best players and Chavis was a big part of that - on that list of NFL starters I used earlier, only Al Wilson and John Henderson were from the state of Tennessee—everyone else Chavis went out and got.  With a better talent pool to start from, I shudder to say it, but Chavis defenses could be even better.
Chavis is going to give you rock-solid defenses.  It's not a cute style and he's really boring at the podium.  But those kids are going to come to work for him every day and every single play, he's going to put them in the right spots, and let their natural talents do the rest.  If I was LSU I would love to have him, and as a Tennessee fan if this happens I'm glad we don't play you next year.  And I won't be glad when we do in 2010.
 

JG: Let's move to the Tennessee side of things. Were you in favor of Fulmer's "retirement" this year? How will he go down in Tennessee lore? Any chance you'll be attending games in Neyland-Fulmer Stadium one day?
WS: Fulmer would never go for Neyland-Fulmer Stadium, and under AD Mike Hamilton we've started naming everything else under the sun; when Peyton Manning only gets a street (which Fulmer already has) and the locker room named after him, you know we've been busy.

I was in favor of Fulmer, as early as the week after the Florida loss, announcing that 2009 would have been his last season.  You don't want your guy to go out at 5-7, but you can't stay as divided and frustrated as we were.  Hundreds of Alabama fans in season ticket holder seats sealed Fulmer's fate as much as the outcome of that game did.
I think this was just the move that had to be made—I hated it the day it happened, but watching him ride off on the shoulders of his offensive linemen was a good moment.  And now we've moved on because the new guy is already out there telling four star kids they're not for us.

He'll still go down in Tennessee lore as the guy who took us to the promised land. Almost none of the fans who follow the Vols today were old enough to be there in 1951 when we last won it all, so 1998 for almost all of us was the best moment of our sports lives.  And Fulmer (and Chavis) get all the credit for that.

I hope that Fulmer takes a year off and then comes back and says "You know what, I'd love that administrative position you offered me."  Not sure that's realistic, but I can't see that man wearing something other than our shade of orange.  And I'd love to have him as Lane Kiffin's psuedo-mentor.  But if I got what I wanted we wouldn't be 5-7 right now.

JG: You approved of the Kiffin hire in your latest article.
So far, it seems Kiffin has done a great job of assembling what's there so far of his staff. Kiffin has proved that he can recruit at USC but USC practically recruits itself. One knock I heard on Fulmer from Tenn fans was that recruiting had fallen off as of late under Fulmer.
Tennessee doesn't have the in state talent of some other SEC schools. Is Kiffin's biggest challenge going to be getting four and five-star out of state athletes to come to Knoxville? Or will it be something else?
WS: Kiffin's biggest challenge, I think, will be survival.

He's in a great position right now because Tennessee won't possibly face anything harder next season than we went through in 2008—even if we're 0-12, you won't have the emotional turmoil and divided fanbase over firing a guy who's given you 35 years of his life and a National Championship.  And the Tennessee offense was so atrocious this year - again, 116th in total yards—Kiffin could do better by accident.
But his name—and it's not his name, it's his father's name, it's the names of the NFL coaches he's worked with, Pete Carroll and the names of every USC player from the first half of this decade—the names have evaporated any shred of patience Vol fans might've had with a new coach.  Had it been Brian Kelly, we would've bought into a rebuilding process more.

With Kiffin, those faint beliefs that we're still a good football team right now will only be amplified.  And in an SEC that clearly throws coaches to the wolves and where you can go from the Georgia Dome to home for the holidays (and likewise, from 6-6 to No. 1), Kiffin will need to do something big early to survive.  When Mike Shula was at Alabama, I thought what he did in 2005 qualified as big.  I was wrong.

That starts with recruiting, yeah.  Tennessee had the 6th best class nationally (according to Rivals) before Fulmer's announcement; we've lost some kids and now it's down to 10th.  And Kiffin has already told a four-star QB commit that he doesn't fit our new system—and I love the honesty, it's just that when you look at how totally inept our quarterback play was all season in 2008, if we're telling a four star kid he doesn't work, I hope Kiffin's got something else up his sleeve.

He also needs to understand that "locking up the state" is great...but Knoxville is six hours away from Memphis and much closer to Atlanta, Cincinnati, Charlotte, and Louisville.  So getting the in-state kids is always good, but Tennessee's success has been built on recruiting not just the south, but nationally - some of our best players in the last ten years have come from west of the Mississippi.

Nonetheless, to his credit Kiffin said in the press conference that people say it's easy to recruit at USC, and it is...now.  When he started USC was 6-6 and coming off a loss to Utah in the Las Vegas Bowl.  They have the same facilities there now they had when OJ Simpson was playing (his quote).  He helped establish that culture, and he was the one who got them recruiting nationally (LenDale White, Mike Williams, etc.)

The SEC is a crowded field, and he's got his work cut out for him.  Bruce Pearl said when he came to Tennessee that new coaches need to win all the games they're supposed to, establish the culture early, and win some of the ones they're not supposed to.  That's a great model for Kiffin—win the non-conference, keep beating Kentucky and Vanderbilt and you've got six wins right there.  Get a big win early (and at this point UCLA would qualify next year) to establish that good things can happen.

And then just win a couple of those bigger SEC games—that was Fulmer's problem this year, he never beat anybody of enough merit to stop the snowball from rolling downhill.  If Kiffin can establish himself well enough to survive the first three years, I think he'll be fine.  And in those three years, if he recruits well the Vols can build the talent base back up so that we'll have more than six games that we should win.
 
JG: Which happens first: The Vols in a BCS Bowl game or the Vols in the Final Four?
WS: Yikes...good question.
The Final Four thing all depends on who we catch in the tournament.  Last season the Vols were as good as they've ever been, but the draw was a total nightmare - even if we'd gotten past Louisville, North Carolina would've been waiting.  But in Pearl's first two seasons, the Vols got spectacular draws and just failed to take advantage of them.

The SEC is screwy in football and while I think Florida and Alabama are safe in Atlanta again next year, if the rest of the conference falls off again an SEC team that went 10-2 in the next couple of years could have a shot at the BCS.  I'll roll the dice on a favorable draw and say the Final Four, cause I think Pearl and the Vols aren't going anywhere on the basketball court.  Kiffin could sneak in there at some point sooner than people think, but I need to see it first.
 
JG: Lastly, how deep do the Vols go in the NCAA tournament this March?
WS: Again, the draw.  This is a team that's playing four freshmen and a juco transfer heavy minutes—they're going to get better as the season progresses.  And they're already pretty good.  The SEC is down and the Vols are, in my estimation, clearly the best team in the conference right now.

It's hard to build in basketball when you're good because players leave early, and this will be the last year for Tyler Smith (who just got the first triple-double in program history last night)—so part of me wants to say they'd better go deep this year because they won't do it without him, but we're already doing it without Chris Lofton.
Everytime I underestimate Bruce Pearl I'm wrong—I thought there was no way the Vols would take Georgetown in the Old Spice Classic, and they won by a dozen.

I think winning the SEC will set the Vols up with nothing less than a 3 seed - I'm gonna say the Elite Eight simply because that's our current ceiling - we're 0-4 in program history in the Sweet 16.  I think this team can break that barrier...and depending on the draw and the shooting touch come March, who knows...