BY MARK WIEDMER
Chattanooga Times & Free Press
Columnist
DALLAS -- When the University of Tennessee football program gets around to making a few slightly tardy New Year's resolutions this week, it might want to place the following one at the top of its list: No more bowl matchups against the Big 12 Conference.
We ask that this be considered as both an opportunity to sell future bowl tickets and as a way to ensure that the Pale Orange Nation never again be subjected to the kind of whipping it endured in Monday's 35-21 Cotton Bowl loss to Kansas State.
That's right. No longer can Volniacs shrug off their previous poundings against the Big 12 by simply pointing to the red block "N" on the side of the opponent's helmet and shrugging, "We just can't beat Nebraska."
The evidence is now irrefutable that the Cornhuskers aren't the only bullies on the Great Plains Gang's block. Instead, that grouping might reasonably include the entire Big 12, given that all three of UT's bowl defeats in its last four bowls were administered by Big 12 members, and Nebraska accounted for but two of them.
"It does seem like anytime we play the Big 12 in bowl games, we make them look pretty good," UT senior punter David Leaverton said late Monday. "We've lost the last three bowl games we've played against them, and none of them have really been that close, I guess."
You could say that. Or you could listen to Kansas State wide receiver Quincy Morgan, who said of the No. 11 Wildcats' walkover, "It was a lot easier than I expected."
Not convinced? Try this from KSU running back Josh Scobey, who ran for 147 yards, then said, "I don't know if they (Tennessee) were confused, if they weren't prepared, or if they were just exhausted, but it was pretty easy the second half."
So just what was it that happened to the Vols on their way from a No. 21 ranking to their push for a preseason Top Five spot next August? Why does it seem that every disciplined team with a strong running game undresses UT at January's dawn?
Is it possible -- and please forgive me in advance for asking this -- that the Southeastern Conference is a tad bit overrated these days?
We briefly visit with Kansas State coach Bill Snyder, who summed up his team's gaudy 507-298 edge in total offense thusly: "We knew we had to run the ball, and we thought that we probably could."
"... We thought that we probably could."
Let those words soak in as you consider that Snyder planned this assault against a UT defense that finished first in the SEC and third nationally against the rush.Then consider this: Giving up but 74 rushing yards a game before Monday, the Vols surrendered 297 to the Wildcats.
"This was one of our worst games," said Outland Trophy winner John Henderson. "Some guys' minds just weren't into it. I could tell by looking in their eyes."
Some will no doubt blame it on KSU's run-driven option offense, which UT so rarely sees in the SEC. Some will surely analyze Henderson's words of frustration, blaming UT players and coaches alike for this meltdown. Some will focus on the snow and ice, and Scobey's belief that "the weather helped. It's like this every day in Manhattan (Kan.). We've seen Knoxville on TV. The sun's always shining there."
Any and all theories have merit. But this statement from UT coach Phillip Fulmer may have best explained this rout: "They basically took us behind the woodshed and spanked us."
And no one, of course, spanks the Vols like the Big 12.