University of Tennessee Athletics
Vols Keeping Focus as Crucial Week Begins
November 04, 2007 | Football
Tennessee once again staged its now familiar Sunday evening practice, a brief affair that???s been good the Vols during a two-game winning streak.
More good fortune is necessary, however, if UT is to maintain the inside track toward the Southeastern Conference Championship Game next month in Atlanta. Next up for Tennessee is Arkansas on Saturday in a 12:30 p.m. Eastern time kickoff.
???Getting back into the conference is a big deal,??? head coach Phillip Fulmer said. ???We prepared well last week, working a lot on fundamentals, and it showed. Hopefully, it will carry over into this football game with Arkansas.???
The Vols and Razorbacks enter Saturday???s contest with identical 6-3 overall records, both teams having won five of their last six after 1-2 starts. But it???s Tennessee that controls its destiny in the SEC East with a large hill to climb this weekend against Heisman Trophy candidate Darren McFadden and Arkansas, which is coming off an impressive 48-34 win over South Carolina.
???Arkansas just mauled them,??? Fulmer said. ???That many rushing yards (541) in a game is not an easy feat by any stretch of the imagination. It goes back to big plays. When you give up big chunks of yards and big plays, it???s a problem.???
What Fulmer doesn???t think is a problem is Tennessee???s focus heading into the crucial three-game stretch of Arkansas, Vanderbilt and Kentucky.
???Our team knows that every week is a challenge. We???re certainly capable of meeting the challenge, but we???ve got to have ourselves centered. We???ve done a good job of that the last couple of weeks.
???I don???t see where our players are looking past anybody. You put that film (of Arkansas) on and you think, ???Gosh, how are we going to get those guys off the field.??????
NELSON RELEASED AFTER WRIST SURGERY
Tennessee head athletic trainer Jason McVeigh reports that sophomore defensive tackle Chase Nelson was released early Sunday morning from UT Day Surgery after undergoing successful surgery to correct a right wrist dislocation.
McVeigh said Drs. Robert Ivy and Russell Betcher of the Knoxville Orthopedic Clinic handled the procedure. Nelson, who was injured in Saturday???s win over Louisiana-Lafayette, is out for the rest of the season but expects to make a full recovery in time for spring practice.
InSIDe the Vols -- FULMER NEARING ELITE COACHING LIST
Here???s an interesting enumeration -- Bobby Bowden of Florida State, Joe Paterno of Penn State, Jim Tressel of Ohio State, Chris Ault of Nevada and Steve Spurrier of South Carolina. That???s it.
Those are the only five active coaches in the NCAA???s Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) who own a won-lost record at least 100 games over the .500 mark.
Saturday, Tennessee head coach Phillip Fulmer has his first chance to join that elite fraternity as he enters the Arkansas game with a career record of 143-44.
The dean of SEC coaches is in his 16th season at the Vols??? helm.
Saturday???s contest on Lincoln Financial Sports is part of a split regional telecast. The UT-Arkansas game will be shown primarily in the states of Tennessee, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky and South Carolina. The Alabama-Mississippi State game will be shown primarily in the states of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. Check local listings for the games shown in each market.
