After 9 tough games in 2006, the Tennessee Volunteer football team only has one more hurdle remaining to speak of, at Arkansas in Fayetteville this coming Saturday. They have far exceeded expectations in turning things around after a rare losing season last year, even after this weekend's heartbreaking loss. Here are the grades they have earned so far:

QUARTERBACK (A)

Erik Ainge's improvement under Offensive Coordinator David Cutcliffe has been remarkable. He has the confidence of his teammates and coaches, and his receivers are sure-handed, with an offensive line that protects him well. He leads the SEC in passing offense. Crompton stepped up & did well with 2 great TD throws vs. LSU.

RUNNING BACKS (C)

Injuries to both LaMarcus Coker and Arian Foster have left this unit decimated. Montario Hardesty combines power & speed nicely & has potential, but he is recovering from past injuries, too.

WIDE RECEIVERS (A)

Robert Meachem is a gifted athlete who is far more menacing after the catch. He leads the nation in receiving yards. He will most likely go to the NFL early. Jayson Swain is a money man. Bret Smith is a notch below them, but is sure-handed, too.


OFFENSIVE LINE (C)

While they give good pass protection, their run blocking is abysmal. Is that because they are more mobile & less beefier, something everyone cried out for them to be last year? They had minus rushing yardage vs. Florida for that game & minus rushing yardage for LSU for a good part of that game, both losses, of course. If Ainge didn't have such a quick release, there would've been more sacks this year. Crompton is more mobile & rolls out & moves the pocket or he would've been sacked more, too. Sears is great & McNeil is good, but the others are just average.

DEFENSIVE LINE (C)

The Vols' front 4 is weak now that Justin Harrell is gone, and they give up too many 3rd down conversions to opponents. They also don't get enough sacks. They have given up far more rushing yards than Chavis' units usually do. LB Ryan Karl is having to make tackles that ends Xavier Mitchell and Antonio Reynolds should be making. The youth of the line means it will be much better in 2007.

LINEBACKERS (B)

Ryan Karl, Jerod Mayo and Marvin Mitchell have all stepped in to fill the shoes of 3 star who are gone from last season & done very well for themselves. Mitchell & Mayo are among leading tacklers in the SEC. Rico McCoy is also a rising star-to-be in this corps.

DEFENSIVE BACKS (C)

Inky Johnson's injury forced Antwan Stewart and Demetrice Morley to both step up, but their weaknesses have been exposed. Talent is there, but no depth, resulting in spotty play when the starters tire. Jonathan Wade is a star and Morley is becoming one after his LSU game heroics. Jonathan Hefney had a big INT in that game & is a great tackler, too, but he is making tackles the DL should be making.

SPECIAL TEAMS (C)

Place-kicker James Wilhoit & punter Britton Colquitt are at the top of the SEC in talent. Kick coverage has improved somewhat but is still poor, and return yardage is still not good, either. Wilhoit is doing well on FG's, but missed a key one vs. LSU. Colquitt has a great average, but his net average is just average due to the fact that we can't cover.

COACHING (B)

We didn't keep enough fresh players rotated throughout the game against either Florida or LSU, resulting in blowing 10-point second-half leads in both games & bitter league home losses. Credit Fulmer for bring back Cutcliffe, who has certainly turned around the offense, doubling its output. Inexperience and injuries make Chavis' job very tough.

OVERALL (B)

No question this group is talented & capable of ringing up points if Ainge recovers from his injury, or even if he doesn't. Scoring 3 TD's on LSU is impressive. It's as much as Florida did & far more than Auburn did. Putting up 51 on Georgia was no fluke, either. This team has improved markedly over last year but for the 8th year in a row, UT won't be playing for a championship of any kind. They will be a decided underdog at Arkansas. However, with a bowl win, they lose to the Hawgs & still finish 10-3, doubling their win total in 2005. Fans will expect even more improvement for 2007, though, as it is time for UT to get back to Atlanta for sure.

Fresh off big wins over Alabama at home and South Carolina on the road, the Tennessee Volunteers return to Neyland Stadium this Saturday afternoon for a nationally-televised visit from the LSU Bengal Tigers. The Vols pulled off a miraculous victory in the hurricane-delayed game in Baton Rouge last season in sweltering Tiger Stadium, where the on-field temperature was over 100 degrees, with the heat index much higher.

Thus, LSU has revenge on its mind. It was the only big victory that UT had for all of 2005, and it kept the Tigers from having a perfect Southeastern Conference record and perhaps a shot at the National Championship. However, UT Quarterback Erik Ainge also has a lot to prove in this one. After showing a lot of panic and throwing a last-minute interception in the first half at LSU last year that led to a Tiger touchdown and put his team in a huge hole, he didn't play the rest of the game and was bailed out by backup QB Rick Clausen, who led Tennessee to its come-from-behind win.

You can bet that LSU will go after Ainge with all they can on defense, showing blitzes to rattle him. However, these Tigers don't appear to be as toothy as last year's edition. For one thing, they lost their only two big tests of the year to nationally-ranked Auburn, 7-3, and to SEC East-leading Florida, 23-10.

The rest of their schedule has truly been a bunch of also-rans, UL-Lafayette, Arizona, Tulane, Mississippi State, Kentucky, and Fresno State. They have piled up big numbers on offense against those weak defenses, and have held their inept offensive opponents to less than a touchdown on average. For those 6 games, they have won each by an average score of 44-6, so for the most part, they are truly untested except for their 2 losses.

LSU Coach Les Miles should be highly motivated to prove he can win big games against Top 10 teams on the road. However, with LSU QB Jamarcus Russell running hot and cold and unable to score even a touchdown against Auburn and only one TD against Florida, it doesn't appear that the LSU offense presents much of a problem for John Chavis' Vol defense, which was proven to be stout.

Since LSU relies almost solely on the pass, with no running game to speak of, the UT secondary will again get a workout. Pass interference penalties, both those that were called and those that weren't, in the past couple of games, indicate that the Vols need to shore up that part of their "D".

As for whether Tennessee can score on the Tigers, it will be up to Ainge to prove he can withstand the pressure, not let his adrenalin get the best of him, and stay calm in the pocket. As teammate wide receiver Robert Meachem has pointed out in post-game comments after each of the last two wins, Ainge is a much better QB when he is calm. He overthrew a number of receivers in both the Alabama and South Carolina games that could have made those much more comfortable wins for UT.

This may be a game in which both teams virtually rely solely on the air attack. The Big Orange has still been unable to establish any consistent running game of its own, and key injuries at tailback make it unlikely they will be able to do so until a weak defense like Kentucky comes up on the schedule for them to feast on and gobble up yardage on during Thanksgiving weekend.

LSU is virtually out of the championship race again this season. Tennessee, on the other hand, is not only in the SEC picture, but could easily back into the national championship game with some help down the stretch. Thus, you should give the motivational edge to the Volunteers, which should trump any revenge emotions that the Tigers bring to Knoxville.

Florida could easily lose another SEC game, even at Vanderbilt this weekend, but certainly when they host South Carolina the next Saturday. Nothing would please Steve Spurrier more than to beat his alma mater in his first trip back to Gainesville since becoming head coach of the Gamecocks.

If the Gators lose another SEC game and UT keeps taking care of business against its final four SEC foes, they would face Arkansas or Auburn in Atlanta, with a chance to play their way into the National Championship Game by winning the SEC Championship. Even if Florida doesn't falter, if the Vols win out, they will most likely get a BCS bowl bid of some kind. While the winner of the SEC Championship Game will either play in the National Championship Game in Arizona or in the Sugar Bowl in the newly-refurbished Superdome in New Orleans, the loser of the game in Atlanta will most likely be relegated to the Citrus Bowl in Orlando.

It would be a huge turnaround for UT to be in the BCS after last year's losing season, in which they didn't go bowling at all. It would mean that Tennessee was back with a vengeance nationally. It would give them a huge leg-up on recruiting and a title run next year, especially if they win a big bowl game in the Fiesta, Orange, Sugar, or Orange Bowls. Hungry fans would flock to any of them, too.

History is on Tennessee's side in the upcoming game against LSU. UT is 11-1-1 against the Tigers in Knoxville. Even LSU's best team ever in 1959, with Heisman Trophy winner Billy Cannon, came away from their trip to Neyland Stadium with a loss that denied them a perfect season and the national championship. LSU's only win in Knoxville came in 1988 when the Vols had another rare losing season. The Bengal Tigers have only beaten the Vols 5 times total in the entire history of their football program.

What will the upcoming 2006-07 off-season hold for the the Tennessee Volunteers? Robert Meachem is likely to leave early for the NFL, decimating a receiving corps that will already lose top talent to graduation. UT Quarterback Erik Ainge will certainly have to find some new targets in 2007.

Will this be the time for Associate Head Coach and Offensive Coordinator David Cutcliffe to make a move back up the coaching ladder to the head coaching ranks? Talk is swirling that UT Athletics Director Mike Hamilton might offer Cutcliffe a $1 million annuity bonus if he stays around another 5 years, something that would also surely have to be offered to Defensive Coordinator John Chavis, too.

If Cutcliffe were to leave to take the open North Carolina job, for instance, he might try take a bunch of the UT staff with him, including stellar recruiter and defensive line coach Dan Brooks, who is from the area. Kentucky AD Mitch Barnhart might fear losing Cutcliffe to UNC and dump their head coach, Rich Brooks, and try to woo him to the Bluegrass.

It is certain that Cutcliffe has brought a whole new mentality to the UT offense this season. He has settled Ainge down and made him into a top SEC QB. He has doubled the point production of the Vol offense, which averaged only just over 16 points per game last season through its first 8 games and is now averaging over 32 points points per game against quality competition at the same point this year. He has instilled discipline in the entire team and has been innovative in his play-calling.

If UT Head Coach Phillip Fulmer were to lose Cutcliffe again after only a year back on The Hill, it would be very critical to replace him with someone else that knows the Tennessee system that Fulmer will undoubtedly want to continue to run. Would Walt Harris be given a call? He has a wealth of head coaching experience, has West Coast recruiting ties, and appears to be on his way out at Stanford, where he is winless this season. Perhaps most importantly and critically, he could keep Ainge settled and productive as a signal-caller. Tampa Bay Buccaneers Head Coach Jon Gruden says Harris may be the best quarterbacks coach in America.

For now, Fulmer and the team must be focused on beating LSU at home and then get motivated to play a huge game on the road against Arkansas in Fayetteville. That one a week hence will be a big hurdle to clear, as the Hogs are steadily climbing in the polls and may even be in the Top 10 by the time UT gets them. Arkansas has won every game since their opener and lead the SEC West with an undefeated conference record. Even if they lose to the Vols, they could still win the SEC West and play UT again for the SEC Championship in Atlanta, since they own the tiebreaker with Auburn.

VOLS ROLL TIDE FOR 10TH TIME IN LAST 12 SERIES GAMES DESPITE POOR OFFICIATING

Despite the fact that Alabama got virtually all of the officiating calls that were made going their way, even those that were reviewed upstairs, it was not enough for the biggest cheaters in Southeastern Conference football history to beat Tennessee Saturday afternoon at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, as UT won, 16-13. It was a glorious afternoon with perfect football weather on the Third Saturday in October, which ought to be declared a National College Football Holiday for the beautiful Great Smoky Mountains setting in which it is played, if for no other reason.

The slave traders, who have bought players for years, starting in the Bear Bryant years, and who have had all of their so-called "championship" tainted as a result, couldn't compete on a level playing field with UT. They were held to a mere 53 yards rushing and only 158 yards passing, both lows for the season. The Tide managed only 11 first downs in the game, and only got 3 of those rushing. They converted only one of 10 third downs after the first quarter, as the Vol defense was magnificent.

Bama Head Coach Mike Shula once again left Neyland Stadium a loser, now having lost twice in his only two visits as a coach. Tennessee played a terrible game overall on offense, but even though they yielded 3 interceptions, none of them got turned into points by the inept Alabama offense.

The Vols have now won 10 of the last 12 in this storied series that dates back to 1901 and is used as the measuring stick for supremacy in the SEC. Now that the team in Crimson is having to play by the rules, they simply don't have the horses to stay with UT.

The officiating was downright deplorable. A pass interference call against Bama was waived off for no apparent reason. A blatant late hit on UT Wide Receiver Robert Meachem was ignored. A reception that Meachem had was denied, even after CBS-TV replays in high definition showed he clearly caught the ball. A third play involving Meachem denied him a first down, even though he clearly was beyond the first down marker with his forward progress. A touchdown catch by WR Bret Smith was denied, even though those same replays clearly showed both the ball and Smith's knee crossed the goalline plane.

This game was more evidence that crime doesn't pay. The Tide, even on their best day and on an emotional high, simply couldn't make the plays when it needed to do so. It is only a matter of time until they cheat even more to try to get back on top.

Mal Moore, the Alabama Athletics Director who should have been fired long ago if the school was serious about playing by the rules, who was one of convicted slave trader Logan Young's biggest friends by his own admission, was standing in the south tunnel as the game wound down, the first Tider to head to the visiting team locker room. He watched the last 3 minutes of the game from there, when Neyland was as loud as it has ever been.

As long as Mal Moore is the AD at Bama, there will always be a culture of cheating that pervades that whole department of the university. He allowed it to happened and participated in the coverups of it. The NCAA probation report was crying out for him to be fired. The NCAA has no power to order Bama to fire anyone in the athletic administration, but the sanctions were heavier because they chose to keep Mal as AD and chose to keep gambling magnate Paul Bryant, Jr., as their main trustee, in charge of selecting coaches, a la Mike Price. Bama remains an embarrassment and a black eye to the whole SEC and all of college football. They will never be able to compete for championships without cheating. Undoubtedly, they will go on probation again at a minimum.

Yes, justice is sweet. Tennessee owns Bama. UT will most likely win 10 of the next 12, too. Vol fans just wish Logan and the Bear were still around to see it. Perhaps they are, and are spinning in their graves.

Bear Bryant spawned a culture of cheating that has resulted in the longest NCAA probation ever handed down against an SEC school and very nearly resulted in the Death Penalty. He openly admitted his longstanding cheating and buying of players in his book about his life and times as head coach at Texas A&M prior to coming to Alabama. Bear fixed games with Wally Butts at Georgia and was caught redhanded doing it. Logan Young once boasted publicly that Bryant taught him everything he knew about buying players. The culture led to Bama having to forfeit all of its games as recently as 1993 for having knowingly started an ineligible player in every game under Bear's prime protege from the A&M days, Gene Stallings, who was one of his successors as head coach in Tuscaloser.

The series between the two bitter rivals is now tied at 20 games each in Knoxville. While Alabama will always have a 7-game edge in Birmingham due to the fact that the Bear cheated to win so many of his big games there and the game is no longer played at Legion Field, Tennessee has an edge in Tuscaloser by one game, 4-3, a margin that is sure to expand in the years ahead.

In the big Tennessee win in Tuscaloser in 1928, UT's "Flaming Sophomore", Gene "Wild Bull" McEver, ran the opening kickoff back for a touchdown enroute to the 15-13 Big Orange victory. That put Vol football on the map for good. Before that one, arrogant Bama fans were wagering that Alabama would get more touchdowns than Tennessee got first downs. Their legendary arrogance has been ridiculed to the point now that it is actually amusing to listen to their ridiculous assertions.

No longer will Alabama arrogantly claim to rule the SEC. Their fans proved how classless they truly are Saturday evening when they were chanting while UT Running Bank LaMarcus Coker was down on the playing field with a serious injury that may cause him to miss the rest of the season. They simply can't stand to lose with dignity and have denigrated what was once a proud tradition before Bear and his cheating successors took over.

Bama used to have a modicum of respect among their peers. Now they have none. It is only a matter of time until they get themselves put on probation for recruiting violations again. It is the only way they know to truly compete. They have been relegated to also-ran status in the SEC West, and it will be years before they ever play for a championship of any kind unless it's something like Music City Bowl champions.

Tennessee, on the other hand, has won more league games than any other conference member in the last decade. They've also won more than any other SEC school in the past 20 years. They have more players in the NFL than any other SEC institution. They have won more games overall than any school in America since 1926, when General Neyland took over on The Hill. They have far supplanted Bama as the class of the Southeast and of the college football world.

A famous professional barber-turned-wrestler from Upper East Tennessee, Ron Wright from Kingsport, who is now an icon in that sport, used to brag that he was going to put a good ole fashioned East Tennessee dog-whupping on his opponents in the ring. I thought of that last night when the Tennessee Volunteers and their famous bluetick coonhound, Smokey, who predates Georgia's bulldog mascot by 3 years in tradition, absolutely astounded Georgia's football team, outscoring them 44-9 down the stretch on their hallowed home turf between their fabled hedges to win over UGa for the second time in a row in Athens.

With the so-called experts like me predicting a defensive struggle between two stingy defenses, the Vols turned the game into an offensive rout. A Georgia team that had given up less than a touchdown on average in each of their previous games yielded 7 of them to Erik Ainge & Company, proving that David Cutlcliffe's offense may indeed be the best in the South & perhaps the nation. UT scored 51 on the Dawgs, only the second time they had ever had that many points put on them at home, in the highest scoring game in the entire series between the 2 teams.

The Big Orange improved vastly offensively since it's heartbreaking home loss to a Florida team that may prove to be the best in the nation this year as far as discipline and toughness is concerned. The offensive line, while it may not move the chains to effectively rush against top team, provided Ainge perhaps the best pass protection ever. The defense still has holes to fill, but with punt and kickoff return yardage taken out, they only gave up 19 points,  which is enough to win most any game in the Southeastern Conference.

Special teams, the hallmark of General Neyland's football dynasty that he built on The Hill for a quarter century, simply still aren't "up to snuff," to use another East Tennessee expression. Placekicking and punting are good, but there has been virtually no improvement from last year's disasters in covering or returning punts, nor in getting any consistently good yardage at all in kickoff returns, either. The long kickoff and punt returns that Georgia had, both for touchdowns, simply aren't acceptable for UT fans.

Florida had to come from behind to beat UT and is a legitimate national title contender laden with talent. The Vols, with all of their shortcomings, are now ranked in the Top 10 nationally, and have cashed in on their chance at redemption in the SEC Championship race.

The Vols were able to pull off a surprise victory at Georgia the last time they went to Athens in 2004, the first time they had won there since 1998. This time UT beaten an SEC team that was ranked in the Top 10 since 1999, something they had to start doing that if they are to be able to win championships themselves again.

Georgia had won 5 of the last 6 against Tennessee, after the Volunteers had won 9 in a row against the Dawgs. Now Tennessee has won 2 of the last 3, and perhaps the game may still determine the SEC East Champion.

For Tennessee, this Georgia win may determine the course of the season. They still have a fighting chance of winning their first championship of any kind whatsoever since they won it all nationally nearly a decade ago.

John Majors lost 4 SEC games in a row twice in his career as head coach at UT, in his first year in 1977, after the program had hit rock bottom under Bill Battle, and in 1988, when he fired some coaches in mid-season and went 5-6, the same record as Fulmer had in 2005. The following year, Majors bounced back to win 2 SEC Championships in a row, and won the Cotton Bowl and Sugar Bowl in consecutive years with his revamped staff, in addition to achieving Top 10 national rankings both seasons in 1989 and 1990.

Fulmer, who has now been at the helm nearly as long as Majors was, lost 4 SEC games in a row for the first time in his career as head coach last season. After a similar coaching staff revamp to Majors', he may be headed back to championship football again himself, and recruiting ought to look up in talent-laden Georgia after the drubbing he put on them.

No one has ever questioned Fulmer's work ethic, his loyalty to his alma mater, and the fact that he is a great ambassador for the University both statewide and nationally. Everyone wants him to succeed. Cutcliffe, his right arm on offense, is back to run that side of the ball. The Chief, Chavis, is still scheming well enough to stop most offenses.

Thus, there are no excuses for not having vast improvement in 2006 over last season's disaster. Fulmer appears to havfe found a way to win again and show that a foundation has been laid to turn the program around and get things back on track in a storied program with solid support still behind it.

There is a still a lot of Tennessee Pride on The Hill that must be salvaged. The donors that are starving for championships must be fed. Fulmer simply must get the main ship of the Vol Navy righted and on course again. It appears he may have done so. There is no other substitute for victory. In the big game of substance that really mattered in the teeth of barking Dawgs, he passed a test with flying colors.

Now the Vols can enjoy a week off and prepare for archrival Alabama to come to Neyland Stadium, followed by a trip to Columbia to take on Steve Spurrier and his South Carolina Gamecocks. It will be a chance for Fulmer to avenge 2 devastating losses from last season and get the program back on track before LSU,  a team themselves bent on revenge from last year, comes to Knoxville. Perhaps the biggest game still looming, however, for UT,  is the visit to Fayetteville to play the SEC West-leading Arkansas Razorbacks.

For sure, the SEC race is certainly anyone's to win in either division now, and Tennessee is just as poised and ready as anyone to make it to Atlanta again. They need some help, and Auburn might just provide it with a win over Florida this coming Saturday night. If that happens, Vol fans just might be able to make some BCS bowl plans, too. At the very least, they will have something that they can point to, as a championship may be on the horizon once again.