Vols didn’t have spark in devastating loss

The Tennessee Volunteers fell from fourth to 11th in both of the major top 25 polls and to 12th in the Seymour Herald poll after the devastating loss to the Florida Gators Saturday at Neyland Stadium. The Vols came into the game as almost a unanimous pre-season selection to win the Southeastern Conference Eastern Division Championship over the Gators for the second year in a row. Tennessee upset Florida last season at The Swamp for the first time in 30 years before losing to LSU in the Conference Championship Game and manhandling Michigan in the bowl game. The Gators lost some key personnel from last year’s team, most notably Head Coach Steve Spurrier, and had been unimpressive in their first two games, a blowout loss to top ranked Miami and a lackluster win over the University of Ohio. Tennessee fans always have the Florida game circled because of the ramifications that it holds, but this year the Orange Nation were looking for some revenge from years past. The losses to the Spurrier-led teams are still fresh in Vol fans’ memories and this year looked to be an opportune time to get some pay back. With new coach Ron Zook in control and the Gators seemingly limping along, this would be the year. Or so it seemed. But it wasn’t. Florida slugged it out with the Vols in a defensive battle during the first quarter before delivering what turned out to be the knock-out punch when they took a 24-0 lead in the last five minutes of the second quarter. The Vols came out and put two touchdowns on the board in the third quarter but could not get any closer as Florida added a score in the fourth and went on to win 30-13. The Vols did in fact return the majority of the team that shocked Florida in The Swamp and pounded Michigan in the bowl game, but they are also the same team that blew a chance to play for a National Championship by losing to LSU in the SEC Championship Game. In fact, it shouldn’t have been a mystery at all when the Vols gave up 24 unanswered second quarter points, couldn’t remember how to make a tackle or execute a proper center-to-quarterback exchange. This is the same team that had a chance to play for their second National Championship in four years last year but came out flat in the championship game and saw a team that they had beaten earlier in the year ruin those chances. The Vols are a team that have been meticulously put together by tireless recruiters who travel coast-to-coast in search of talent worthy enough to play in the system for a couple of years before moving on to greener pastures in the National Football League. Kind of like an NFL farm team. The 1998 National Championship team was made up of such talent too. But that team also had guys like middle linebacker Al Wilson. Wilson’s performance in the 1998 Florida game, which the Vols won 20-17 in overtime, will go down in history. He forced three fumbles, one on a goal line stand, and virtually carried the rest of the defensive unit on his back at times. Wilson was selected a team captain before the season and made a couple of pre-season All American teams. He injured his shoulder early that year but lived up to the pre-season hype by playing through the injury like a man possessed. His play in the win over Florida has become a part of Vols’ folklore. That brings us back to this year’s team. Wide receiver Kelley Washington was selected as a pre-season All-American but suffered a knee injury in fall practice. He sat out the first two games to give his knee a chance to heal. During Saturday’s loss to Florida, his first game of the season, Washington played like a man possessed (with himself). Washington, who was cleared to play by coaches and trainers, saw the Florida game and its national media coverage as a chance to make his much-anticipated return to the team. He stripped down to pose for ESPN the Magazine, he declared himself the best receiver in the country and told Florida media that the UF defensive backs couldn’t earn a scholarship at UT. He then went out and led the team in receiving yards and earned the praise of Head Coach Phillip Fulmer as well as Offensive Coordinator Randy Sanders for his play. But the fans saw something different. They saw Washington catch a five-yard hitch pass and strike a pose in celebration. They saw him catch another pass and slide like an aging quarterback at the first sight of a Gator defensive back. They saw him catch a pass for a nice gainer deep in Florida territory with some open space in front of him, but when a Gator defensive back closed in, Washington stepped out of bounds. Washington’s abnormal size (six-foot-four, 225 pounds) for a wide receiver was much talked about last week as experts speculated about how he was a prototype NFL receiver. The popular opinion among spectators at the game was that Washington was not quite full strength yet. But Washington maintained that he was in playing shape even though he looked to be limping after a couple of catches. That being said, the Vols probably are better off with an injured Kelley Washington than no Kelley Washington at all. He is a unique talent and deserves his recognition as an All-American. If in fact Washington was still hurting Saturday then maybe that excuses him for pulling up at the end of plays. Or maybe he just didn’t want to miss the opportunity to sell himself in front of a national audience. The Vols will need Washington to live up to his expectations during the rest of the season if they stand any chance of recovering from the loss. Washington, like it or not, has to be this teams version of Al Wilson. He was not selected as a team captain, in part because he is still a sophomore, but his play will be the difference between a one or two loss season and a three or four loss season.