FanNation - The Republic of Sport

Heheh, that is a good question to end on.

I was thinking the same thing: the coaches should shoulder the biggest blame.

Wow... there's nothing wrong with Foster and everything wrong with that coaching staff. I've seen more disorganized offenses, but I can't remember when. UCLA was outmanned at every position and UT's coaches couldn't figure out how to get past them on O, nor stop them on D. After Craft revealed that he can't throw past 10 yards, the UT DC responded by putting his safeties in very soft coverage for the second half. That was a coaching failure of epic proportion.

And frankly, if the QB stunk (he did) it's Fulmer's fault for not having a better player ready to go. He recruits and develops the squad.

Some people just get beat. UCLA outplayed them. Without Foster and his running skill, it is inlikely Tennessee would even have been ranked in the Top 25. A mistake is a mistake, but it takes at least 22 people to lose a game.

What a sorry excuse for a human being, there was a lot more wrong with Tennessee than one fumble. It's amazing how praise and criticism quickly shift places, considering the kid could become UT's all-time leading rusher. This is at-best a 22 year old college kid, he'll make mistakes. Hopefully Foster knows how much he means to the team and ignores this bitter old man

Well, if you want to be TRUTHFUL, wasn't it the kicker who went wide-right in OT (with a chance to send it to a 2nd OT)??
But back to Arian Foster's mom...
To her, I say BRAVO!!! You have EVERY right to defend your son, and to remind all of us we ARE dealing with living, breathing HUMANS (regardless of what sport we talk about).
Maybe we should take lessons from this, and apply 'em on here. Ah, who am I b.s.ing here??? LMMFAO

It's funny how all these sportswriters take an underhanded swipe at the SEC as a whole. From this guy to Mandel (who happens to be my favorite of the bunch). It's funny. It doesn't matter what school it is, there will always be nasty comments made for those who lost when they shouldn't have. I'm willing to bet you would find a post or two from an upset Michigan fan that could rival that of any SEC fan. Seems to me that these writers are trying to suck up to non-SEC fans so they won't get called stupid things like "SEC homer" (whateva the hell that means) and the likes. Time to get over it and accept things for what they are, folks.

How Bout Dem Dawgs! Nothing makes a holiday like watching tiny Fulmer lose one he shouldn't. You are either ready to play or you aren't. Just look at Clemson. Being ready to play falls squarely on the coach's shoulders. Sure am glad we din't just give our coach a never ending contract--especially when he has not lived up to his paycheck for the last several years.

Hunkerdown

That very board is also a site where very few opinions, especially those that don't tote the line, stay up long. The mods are very quick to delete posts that are contrary to their views. Even posts with-in the confines of the rules are deleted when a particular coach or booster is called out. Even the above mentioned post was eventually deleted. So much for freedom of speech.

Unfortunately, both Mr. Adams' party guests and Ms. Foster were correct.

So, on a Tennessee message board, if fans cannot criticize players---there was no mention of profanity, except on the part of Ms. Foster---

then why have those message boards?

Also, is mentioning very poor performance (Crompton) or major mistakes (Foster) going to get parents riled up and defending their offspring, without putting anybody who is unhappy with lackluster UT performance, in a position of being intimidated?

Do players' parents always have to be protected on message boards? Nobody cursed her or her son or Crompton. And that board and others have have numerous occasions in which those who disagreed with her, or whom she or other parents complained about,

being thrown off the board. Many times she was the heavy handed one, playing victim, complaining to board monitors, getting people thrown off the board. Another (former) player's parent who has gone after those who disagrees with him---by going to board monitors---is the father of Kevin Simon.

That boad itself lends itself to capricious behavior. Too much money is involved for the owners and moderators not to police it with an iron hand.
So they err on the side of caution, protecting players' parents or program employees, because their symbiotic relationship would be jeopardized if the board monitors did not protect them, even when they tell posters to kiss their (rear).

Previously the Crompton family was vey, very controversial on that board, in their criticism of David Cutcliffe, former quarterback Casey Clausen's family, and others whom they believed conflicted with their son's interests.

There is a good solution, though: Perhaps if Ms. Foster's son and the Cdromptons' son would play better football, then there would be fewer complaints.

That board protects players' parents whenever they complain. Chief among those protected are Ms. Foster and (former) player Kevin Simon's. There are others who get to be more overbearing than even the moderators, although on that board the moderators are heavy handed to the extreme.

In the exchange mentioned, Ms. Foster told Mr. Adams he could kiss her (rear.) Anybody else would be banned, because it is against board rules.

Adams once was thanked publicly on that board for giving them money when they were young and struggling.

The Cromptons spent months posting negative invective about players, coaches and others whom they believed were at odds with the advancement of their son's playing time. They were critical of former OC David Cutcliffe, and the family of former starting quarterback Casey Claussen---no relationship to Dave Clawsen, the current Offensive Coordinator.

There is a solution to it all: If Crompton and Foster would play better, then none of that would have happened. Perhaps, though, if David Cutcliffe were still at UT, he would have had a now healthy Montario Hardesty in as running back, so Foster would not have fumbled, which he sometimes does. And some believe Cutcliffe would have started another quarterback instead of Crompton, becaususe Cutcliffe seemed to do that most of the time, when coaching in Knoxville.

The kid fumbled trying to play his heart out. I agree with Fleeman, it was a team loss for TN and a team win for the Bruins. Both teams played a messy season opener with the Bruins making more key plays than the Vols. Even if TN would have won, the Vol fanbase would have still been unhappy. It was an exciting game to be at.............I'll still supportmy team this year.

If he is a booster he has access to the players. He can say it to his face if he wants, but the whole message board is either rah rah or vent and there isnt much in between. I am sure this is happening all over the country on messages boards for every team that lost this week.

I watched the whole game and TN had many chances to put the game away.One player did not lose this game.But I am more interested in how Roy Adams keeps bragging about his 100.00 handshakes to vol players .He brags about doing it for years.Why not a story about that??

What about the missed field goals? What about the porous offensive line that was so good last year? What about some of the play calling? and so on and so on. There is plenty of blame to spread around. Do not just put it on two that is not fair to anyone. They just were not ready to play plain and simple.

I think the biggest reason the Vols have skidded so much this decade is because of the enablers like Adams, Athletic Director Mike Hamilton, big time boosters, and the board of trustees. They have enabled the Tennessee program to slide because of their blind trust in Fulmer. Awarding him those giant contract extensions essentially holds the program hostage. Big programs make big decisions and keeping the status quo is working. I call for Mike Hamilton to be removed. He's done a great job of upgrading facilities but a lousy job of directing the football program.

Y'all...we simply were not prepared. UT wasn't prepared for the two defensive tackels that dominated our seasoned O-line, UT wasn't prepared in the kicking game, and we certainly were'nt at QB.

These boosters are pious gas-bags that like to hear themselves talk. Boosters should give to the university for the right reasons. I.e scholarships, improving facilities, and etc... If they can't do that, should keep their money and opinions to themselves! Does he think he's some Jerry Jones mini me??? Get over yourself.

Do we really think getting rid of Fulmer is the answer??? So what's next, hiring some money grubing, non-loyal coach for a quick, short-lived success. The grass is always greener on the other side.

Roy Adams...why don't you take your opinons and $$$ to the grove. Ole Miss is only an hours drive from Memphis.

Tennessee has some of the worst fans of any college football team and Roy Adams admits to handing out cash to players at his gatherings. Hopefully the NCAA will one day quit turning their backs to the latter.

Wonder what some of the Tennessee boosters would have said to their QB at half if he'd thrown 4 interceptions? These are kids; unfortunately they often have more maturity than the people in the stands.

Do you remember what you were doing at that age? I do and I can assure you I wouldn't have held up to the scrutiny of the SEC chatboards. The largest number of people I ever played in front of was about 15,000 - 20,000 and the first time they directed their boos and jeers at me personally it threw for me off my game although I like to think I cleaned it up. I don't know have any idea what it's like to play in front of 100,000. And truth be told, most people have no idea what it is like to play any sport at a high level. I'm impressed with all of them. And there isn't that much of a difference between the talent levels at the two schools.

This one has nothing to do with Arian Foster. Personally i feel like Tenn was given the game and still found a way to lose it. The kicker missed 3 field goals and it would have been four if not for the delay of game plenty. The coaching was terrible in critical situations. Personally if your kicker missed 2 why try to make it 3. Arian did a great job averaging over 7yrds per carry. What i don't understand is...If you know you need a touchdown to win the game when the defense held UCLA to 3pts in OT. Why call the play the game conservative and complacent. Throw the ball in the endzone and try to win the game. You already know you cannot rely on the kicker. Tenn was put in a situation where the game was given to them and despite the poor second half play, Tenn still had a chance to win this game. Don't blame the defense, Arian, Crompton, or the receivers. Just take it as a loss and move on. Tenn fans i know you're hurting....but let me tell you this..They better perform like this in SEC play or else it's not going to look good.

Go Gators!!!

It's always easy to find one glaring mistake and focus on it. But I'll bet on EVERY offensive play, we could find a mistake of some sort that ended up costing the offense some yardage. And if they get that yardage, the game completely changes from there on out: different plays are called, different thinking happens, the morale is different.

Last year, my 9-year-old son struck out with two outs in the final inning with the tying run on third and the winning run on second; it was a playoff game. I had to remind one of his teammates that two other guys made outs that inning, that in the top half of the inning another teammate made an error leading to runs scored, etc., etc., you get the point.

It's amazingly idiotic that anyone can point to a single play or player and blame a game on him. Someone like that has all the intelligence of...well, of my son's 9-year-old teammates. For that matter, this applies to single good plays and wins also. When will we learn to look through hype and analyze looking at all the facts?