For The Record: Week 9
For the record…
Homecoming. Easy opponent. But, in-state opponent. Opponent’s Super Bowl.
Danger of not being up for this one leads to the possibility of a major setback. A setback that could have a ripple effect through the rest of November.
All games are big games when there are only a dozen contests. This one is big in that Justin Worley must gain confidence by doing things well. Confidence is gained through repetition of success. He must have moments of success. Many moments. So that they can be strung together to make a thread. Then, we can use that thread to weave something bigger.
We must pound MTSU in the second half. Push, push, and push some more, as if it mattered. It does. Must shed the second half blues. They’re killing us.
Tennessee vs MTSU Predictions:
NorCalVol: 31-7 Tennessee (+24 / 38 total pts) Orangebobber: 31-17 Tennessee (+14 / 48 total pts) RockyTop78: 31-17 Tennessee (+14 / 48 total pts) TK: 31-27 Tennessee (+4 / 58 total pts) Bert: AWOL Billy: AWOL DW: AWOL Sandy: AWOL Scoop: AWOL
Vols in the Fall 
I just got back from the game, and a few comments (since the official VITF recap is not up yet).
First, I thought that Justin Worley played a very good game: although he overthrew a few receivers, on one occasion the receiver (headed towards the north end zone) seemed to be slow, and sped up only after the ball was nearing him. Generally, good throws — strong arm — and the post-game show mentioned that he was 23-32 and threw to 9 different receivers, with Da’Rick getting 9 receoptions. DeAnthony Arnett made a couple of nice receptions as well.
Second, JaRon (sp?) Toney, a freshman walk-on from Alcoa, was very impressive from the tailback position; he ran with effort, made some nice cutbacks, and generally seemed to be the best running back on the team tonight. Tauren Poole may see his playing time reduced if Toney continues as he did tonight. Tough running up the middle again tonight.
Finally, I heard an amazing story as I was listening to the post-game show, when Tim Priest was interviewing Derrick Brodus, who was Tennessee’s kicker tonight. I remember seeing him kick off, and, not recognizing him, noticed that he was a small black kid; I wondered why Chip Rhome was not kicking if Palardy was injured, and thought that Tennessee had never had a black placekicker before. Well, Brodus made all of his PATs, and kicked the field goal at the end of the first half. Good job. So, during the post-game interview, Tim Priest asked Brodus how he came to be kicking for Tennessee tonight; Brodus said that he was sitting on his couch this evening watching football on television, when he got a telephone call at 6:10 p.m. (game time was 7:00 p.m.), and someone asked him if he could come over to Neyland Stadium and kick in tonight’s game — the kid had kicked in high school at Alcoa but wasn’t even on Tennessee’s team, he had tried out in the Spring as a walk-on, and failed to make it. So he got a friend to drive him halfway to the stadium, he got a police escort for the rest of the way, and arrived at Neyland Stadium at nearly 6:30 p.m.; he suited up, got in a few practice kicks, and the rest, as they say, is history. The only thing better would have been if he could have made a game-winning kick (although I’m glad that the game wasn’t that close)! Pretty wild.