Excuses all over as Vols get handled
By JOHN ADAMS
DALLAS -- If the Cotton Bowl had been a crime scene, a smart detective would have arrested everybody in orange.
Players, coaches, offense, defense, special teams: you name it. Everybody was a suspect in the 35-21 loss to Kansas State.
And almost every field-level witness had a different explanation for what happened. It was the cold weather. Or the option. Or just a bad day at the office.
UT quarterback Casey Clausen blamed himself after completing 7-of-25 passes and throwing three interceptions. UT wide receiver Cedrick Wilson blamed Clausen, too.
"I was a quarterback in high school," Wilson said. "We used to throw 50 or 60 times a game. Sometimes you were just off. Casey was just off."
UT head coach Phillip Fulmer said the Vols didn't give Clausen enough help. Said Wilson: "He wasn't talking about us (the wide receivers)."
No? Well, maybe he meant offensive coordinator Randy Sanders, always a popular scapegoat when the offense performs as clumsily as it did Monday morning on into the afternoon. As Fulmer said: "We should have been more patient in our play-calling at times." Translation: Don't blame me. I'm just the head coach.
Sanders and defensive coordinator John Chavis had better post-game plans than game plans. They took the fifth. But how could you blame them for failing to show up for post-game interviews? Their time could have been better spent elsewhere.
The Vols have become experts in how not to defend the option, which K-State ran effectively, though not with the same devastation as Nebraska (see 1998 Orange Bowl and 2000 Fiesta Bowl). In fact, the Vols have proven so inept against the option, they're going to start showing up in coaching-clinic videos, following the announcement: "Don't do this."
The Wildcats didn't need a clinic to figure it out.
"Our coaches watched film of Tennessee's (Fiesta) bowl game against Nebraska, and saw the way Nebraska pounded them with the option," K-State tailback Josh Scobey said. "We started mixing it up inside and outside, and they didn't know where we were going."
For the Wildcats, the option is a nice change of pace, a sharp-breaking curve when they think the defense is looking for a fastball. The Wildcats mix deep passes with power football. And they run everything from a variety of formations.
Talent isn't the only reason the Wildcats have averaged 11 victories a season for the last four years. This was a well drilled team that drilled UT more decisively than the score suggested.
The Vols were a step behind the Wildcats all day long -- on the field, on the sideline and in the booth. Coaching was only one of the mismatches.
As talented as he is, Clausen is still a freshman. K-State senior quarterback Jonathan Beasley doesn't have Clausen's arm or potential. But Beasley's surrounding talent isn't his only asset.
Ask offensive coordinator Ron Hudson about Beasley, and the coach puts his forefinger to his temple. Beasley is probably smarter than some coaches (I won't name names). And he didn't just run for 98 yards and pass for 210. He read the UT defense as though it were a first-grade primer.
The lopsided loss doesn't mean the Vols can't contend -- or even win -- next year's national title. But it shows they haven't progressed as far as you thought during the winning streak. They had a chance to prove something against a top 10 team Monday. They proved they weren't ready.