Vols/Blazers Thoughts

My first game at Neyland Stadium in several years was a hot, sweaty, fairly frustrating afternoon as the Vols put away a pesky UAB team.

Did I mention it was hot?

After grabbing two tickets from a scalper, Martha and I entered Neyland Stadium to find much of the upper deck empty. In all of 10 seconds, I went from thinking I got a good deal to thinking I could have paid much less for my tickets. In all my years of going to Tennessee games, including several years with season tickets and four years with student tickets, I can't ever remember seeing the stadium so empty. While AD Mike Hamilton is chalking it up to gas prices and high definition television (really, Mike?), the palpable feeling of frustration in the air probably had more to do with the empty seats.

My dad got our family season tickets back when I was a middle schooler and nothing in the pregame show has changed a bit. I do remember a year or two when they gave the male cheerleaders a microphone for a couple of cheers that led to massive groans rather than the desired "orange/white" silliness. They killed that nonsense and have stuck with the tried and true set-up ever since.

It did not take long for a sun-soaked crowd to get fussy with the inconsistent Vols. Our section was overly supportive at times. An orange-clad idiot in front of us yelled, "I'll take that all day!" after Arian Foster rushed for...nothing. 2nd and 10. I'll take that all day.

(Martha and I spent most of the 2nd half proclaiming we would take various Vol failures all day).

By the 2nd quarter, the boo birds were out in our section. Actually, there was only one boo bird in our section - me. Not sure why our section was so kind to the terrible Tennessee team, but it was just me letting them have it. Most of my anger was directed at Jonathan Crompton, but Luke Stocker got his share as well (though I blamed Crompton for continuing to throw it to him). Crompton missed wide open receivers and the interceptions were just awful.

The good news from my view is Section AA was the secondary's stellar play, a slightly improved pass rush and the running game in the second half. Do I feel good about the Florida game after beating UAB?

Are you kidding?

My expectations are so low for Saturday I'm going to be pleasantly surprised with any points at all.

Monday Morning thoughts coming, well, tomorrow.