Tennessee had a visitor at its team practice session Sunday, but in a lot of ways he’s been with them since the season began. Rapper Lil Jon, whose song “Turn Down for What?” has been converted to “Third Down for What?” at Neyland Stadium before opposing teams’ third down plays, made a surprise appearance in Knoxville.
As head coach Butch Jones played the song Lil Jon walked in, sending the Vols’ players to their feet.
“Yeah, it’s me,” Lil John said. “I’m in town so I had to say what up to ya’ll and commend ya’ll on what you been doing on these third downs.”
The Vols (4-5, 1-4 SEC) should be commended for their third down performance. Opponents are only converting 35 percent of their attempts. To put that into perspective, No. 4 Alabama’s opponents are converting 36 percent of their third downs. Opposing teams are converting 41 percent of their third downs against No. 3 Florida State.
Still, Lil Jon, ever the perfectionist, wants more from his new favorite college football team.
“But we got to tighten it up a little bit more, though. Kentucky coming up,” Lil Jon said “And I just wanted to say what up and give you some love right here in the place.”
Bye Bye, Drama
The bye week for Tennessee wasn’t without some accidental controversy. At Monday’s press conference Jones talked about sophomore quarterback Joshua Dobbs’ consistency, but the perception was that the second-year coach was criticizing his quarterback. Jones made it clear that was not the case.
“I never said he (Dobbs) didn’t practice well, I said consistency in performance which he hears everyday,” Jones said Tuesday. “So that is just consistent messaging. Josh is fine. It is our job as coaches to elevate them.
“If you want to be great, you expect greatness everyday.”
While some in the media wanted to make the original comment mean more than it was intended, Dobbs wasn’t giving it another thought.
“Obviously everyone has room for improvement and I’m working on it every day,” Dobbs said. “My goal is stay consistent and make the plays that are there, continue to execute. Coach Jones wants to push me every day to be the best quarterback I can be. That’s his job.”
‘The Fast and the Furious’
Dobbs’ job is to run the Tennessee offense for the next three games and, presumably, the next two seasons. Last week against South Carolina the Vols ran 95 offensive plays, 20 more than the previous week against Alabama and over 30 more than against Ole Miss two weeks before. Even in their 45-10 victory over Chattanooga the Volunteers managed just 71 offensive snaps.
So the improvement in execution and scoring is obvious and, according to Dobbs, it all comes from amping up the tempo.
“We call ourselves ‘The Fast and the Furious,’” Dobbs said. “Obviously tempo is a big part of that. Being fast, having sub 20-second snaps, that’s our goal. We push the tempo a lot. If we do that we’ll be able to sustain drives and put up points.”
Rivals? Not quite.
As a rivalry goes, it hasn’t been much of one. Saturday’s game will be the 110th meeting between the Volunteers and Kentucky Wildcats (5-5, 2-5) and the Big Orange have dominated the match-up for more than a century. Tennessee is 76-24-9 all-time against the Wildcats and has won 27 of the last 28 games. Kentucky’s last victory came in 2011 in the second-year of the disastrous Derek Dooley era at Tennessee in a 10-7 snoozer.
The Wildcats are in a bowl drought of their own, needing just one more win to become bowl eligible for the first time since 2011. Tennessee hasn’t been to a bowl since 2010.
“Both teams haven’t been to bowl games in a while, so our goal is the same goal,” Dobbs said. “We need to get to five wins and they stand our path. We have to do what it takes to get them out of the way. Coach Jones has said this is a three-game playoff. We want to win this one, obviously, so we have to come out ready to play.”
The Pick: Tennessee (-8.5) vs. Kentucky
After beginning the year 5-1, the Wildcats have lost four straight including a humiliating 63-31 loss to Georgia last week. Kentucky won’t give up 60 this week, but that 8.5 points looks like a safe bet. Contributors pick – Tennessee 44, Kentucky 27[divider]
–Other SEC Saturday Games and Picks–
South Carolina at Florida (-7)
Steve Spurrier brings his Gamecocks (4-5, 2-5) to Post-Apocalyptic Gainesville, Fla. to face the ruins of the team that made him famous and its worst coach not named Zook. The Gators (5-3, 4-3) have accidentally won two games in a row and, if they keep it up, will have no excuse to fire Head Coach Will Muschamp after the season. I say Spurrier does Florida one more solid. Contributor’s pick: South Carolina 38, Florida 31
No. 1 Mississippi State at No. 5 Alabama (-8)
The marquee match-up of the week in all of college football comes with a little added insult to the No. 1 team in the country. That eight points is a smack in the face to the Bulldogs (9-0, 5-0), who have bullied their way through their competition like Rosie O’Donnell in line for the chocolate fountain at the Golden Corral.
If you can’t see Alabama (8-1, 5-1) quarterback Blake Sims serving up three turnovers in this game with a side salad and fully loaded baked potato, don’t worry. Saturday night you’ll be able to see it from outer space. Contributor’s pick: Mississippi State 48, Alabama 24
No. 9 Auburn at No. 15 Georgia (-2.5)
This game comes with another mystery line for me, Georgia – 2.5. I don’t see how the Bulldogs (7-2, 5-2) are favored in this game when two weeks ago everybody had Auburn (7-2, 4-2) in its final four. Is Mark Richt still coaching at Georgia? Ok. Contributor’s Pick: Auburn 34, Georgia 28
Missouri at No. 24 Texas A&M (-4)
Missouri (7-2, 4-1) is primed to take the SEC East for the second season in a row. Last year it was a 28-21 win over the Aggies (7-3, 3-3) that helped the Tigers punch their ticket, but this year the Missouri offense has been downright pathetic. Last week quarterback Maty Mauk threw for a career-high 164 yards against an SEC opponent. Yes. 164 yards. That’s his career high.
Texas A&M freshman Myles Garrett has 11 sacks coming into this game and should be all over the Tigers’ QB. Contributor’s pick: Texas A&M 34, Missouri 16
No. 17 LSU at Arkansas (-1.5)
I’ve not seen an offense called as poorly as LSU’s last week since my dog jumped on my controller while I was playing Madden. The Tigers (7-3, 3-3) would have been better off punting on first down over the final quarter than actually running the plays they got from offensive coordinator Cam Cameron. Arkansas (4-5, 0-5) is favored in this game? How? The Razorbacks have lost 17 consecutive SEC games and LSU always wins the game after an Alabama loss. Do the bookmakers not have Google? Contributor’s Pick: LSU 55, Arkansas 31
