by Martin Jacobs

Created on: September 20, 2009   Last Updated: September 29, 2009

A LITTLE BIT OF VINDICATION

As much as I am a University of Tennessee football fan I am also a fan and supporter of former Coach Phillip Fulmer. I, along with many others appreciate the job he did at the helm of the football team for seventeen seasons and admire him for his class and the way he taught his players to be men and not just football players. To Coach Fulmer his players were more than that; they were men and they were his children, not just his players. He cared about them in a way that many coaches today don't care for their players. I was among those who were hesitant to accept and embrace Lane Kiffin as the new coach. I have "gone on record" as saying he would never be able to fill Coach Fulmer's shoes. I stand beside that statement with a bit of an addendum to it. We, as Tennessee fans shouldn't expect him to be Coach Fulmer; they are two different men with two totally different styles of coaching.

While still holding Coach Fulmer in the highest respect and knowing and believing there will never be another coach at Tennessee like him I must offer Coach Kiffin my respect as well. He has embraced the traditions that, over the years have made Tennessee football great. He deserves a chance to prove himself based on his own merits and not be compared to Coach Fulmer. That being said, I have to gloat just a bit. I am a Volunteer fan. My blood runs orange and always will. I doubt if anyone was any happier to see a 63-7 victory over Western Kentucky University. That victory for me though was tempered with a note of reality. I realized (no offense to WKU, their players, coach or football program) that even as the Vols trounced the team that it was a victory over an outmanned, less talented and smaller team. This is Western Kentucky's first year in Division 1 football and they couldn't have been expected to play on the same level with an experienced and well established program like Tennessee. It was a victory but a less important one than an SEC conference game would have been in many respects. This win was followed by a close loss to UCLA and a hard fought game and another loss to Florida.

In those two games the offense struggled as much as they did last season. Quarterback Jonathan Crompton "returned to form" and played far worse than he did against WKU. There were bright spots on the offensive side (Montario Hardesty and Brice Brown at running back) but the offense still showed that the problems that plagued the team last season haven't been fixed.

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