University of Tennessee Athletics
UT Head Coach Phillip Fulmer's Tuesday Media Day Comments
September 16, 2008 | Football
Sept. 16, 2008
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"You could feel the anticipation leading up to this football game, starting on Sunday when we did the corrections from the UAB game and got right into to the Florida game. Our guys have shown focus; they've been around the office watching a lot of tape on their own. That was good to see.
"Our continued improvement is very important. I'm not going to let go of the fact that we did not play well in the first ball game and we were our own worst enemies. That's something that our team has to continue to focus on and correct. I do think we've made some strides in that direction. You certainly have to avoid losing before you can win a football game, in particular when you're playing a team like Florida.
"We made strides in the last ballgame to build on. Keeping them out of the end zone was a real plus. Going against similar styles, we should have some carry over there from a defensive standpoint that will help us as we start our week of preparation today.
"Offensively, we found a bit more of a personality as we went along. That's something we will continue to work toward, but I do think that all of the perimeter game is important for us to be a balanced football team.
"I am really pleased with the number of positions that worked hard to get themselves better, but there are areas that every position on our football team needs to continue to improve in. There's a lot of work to do.
"If you look at Florida, they're a huge challenge personnel-wise. They do an outstanding job recruiting. Tim Tebow is a returning Heisman winner, and that's no accident. He makes them go. He does a fantastic job of running the offense, but he's most dangerous when things break down and he's out there making a play running the ball or throwing the ball. He's tough.
"Speed on their offensive team is a concern. It's certainly something that we'll have to work like heck to get contained. The offensive line and tight ends are very good players. There are no obvious weaknesses.
"It's no question that the kicking game will be a big part of this game. It has been every year that we've played. We're aware of Brandon James' ability to return. Our return game has been good as well this year. That should be an interesting match up to watch.
"The defensive team has its own personality. They do a good job with people; they do a good job with schemes. They do a job with their people, and they have a very aggressive approach to how they play. It should be a good match up.
"We're looking forward to it. When you look at the opportunity out there to start off with a big SEC game this early in the year, I think we'll find out a lot about ourselves and our football team as we go through this week."
VOLS ADVANCE IN AT&T GREATEST TEAMS TOURNAMENT
ATLANTA - The Southeastern Conference has produced some of the most prolific teams in the history of college football, and now fans can voice their opinions on the best of all time. It's all a part of AT&T's "All-Time Greatest Team Tournament," a 10-week program available through SEC Mobile, a portal accessible via AT&T handsets that allows fans to vote in a playoff-style competition where they choose the greatest teams to hit the gridiron. Entering the interactive portal, which allows fans instant access to the school and team they love, is as easy as texting SEC to 567890 from an AT&T handset.
The teams that fans advanced this week are as follows:
1992 University of Alabama. Competing against four nationally-ranked teams, including No. 1 Miami in the Sugar Bowl, Alabama went undefeated in 1992. The team held opponents to just nine points per game and featured six future NFL players. 1962 University of Mississippi. Ole Miss featured a defense that never gave up a touchdown the entire regular season in 1962. The offense averaged 24.7 points per game and defeated two ranked teams on their way to the No. 3 rank in the AP Poll. 1998 University of Tennessee. Tennessee went undefeated and were crowned National Champions after beating five nationally-ranked teams and averaging 33 points per game on offense. In addition, six players were drafted in the 1999 NFL Draft. 2003 Louisiana State University. The Tigers averaged 34 points per game while en route to a 13-1 season which culminated in the BCS National Championship. The defense only gave up 20-plus points one time during the season and seven players were drafted into the NFL.
SEC Mobile allows fans to choose from the 32 most-accomplished in SEC football history. The teams "playing" each other span all the way back to University of Tennessee's 1938 squad and are as recent as the 2007 National Champions, LSU and includes the best teams in the SEC between those years. Fans get to decide who would win if the two teams were to face off today.
Fans can check out the latest seeded matchups online at www.mysecmobile.com and then vote via an AT&T handset. In addition, each week, AT&T will post the SEC Matchup Challenge, which will challenge fans to test their SEC knowledge to correctly pick the winner of each week's SEC matchups. Fans can also test their SEC history and team knowledge by participating in the weekly SEC Trivia, with five questions per week.
Week Two's matchups are as follows:
'80 Georgia vs. '55 Vanderbilt
'58 LSU vs. '42 Georgia
'06 Florida vs. '83 Auburn
'73 Alabama vs. '50 Kentucky
For More Information, Contact: Dawn Benton, dawn.benton@att.com.
UT PRE-GAME FACULTY SHOWCASE FOCUSES ON TREE RING SCIENCE, WILDFIRE IN SMOKIES
WHAT: This week's Pre-Game Faculty Showcase at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, is "Will Our Great Smoky Mountains Someday Go Up in Flames?" featuring Henri D. Grissino-Mayer, associate professor of geography. Grissino-Mayer is an expert in climatology and analyzes tree rings to reconstruct past environments. This process has been used to determine that wildfires were very frequent in the southern Appalachian Mountains before fire suppression was a common practice.
WHO: Students, faculty, staff, all football fans.
WHEN: 1:30 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 20, before UT's game against Florida.
WHERE: University Center Ballroom.
COST: Free
The UT Pre-Game Faculty Showcase, now in its 19th year, is held two hours before every home football game. The College of Arts and Sciences selects a top faculty member for each presentation.
Grissino-Mayer is the director of the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Science in the Department of Geography. The lab is well-respected internationally for its research, teaching and service. Grissino-Mayer and his students have appeared in several documentaries on the History Channel, Discovery Channel, Weather Channel and Court TV.
The study of tree rings in the Smokies has been used to reconstruct past wildfire events going back hundreds of years. A major fire occurred about once every five to seven years. Grissino-Mayer will discuss how suppressing fires has had a negative effect on forests and has made them prone to very large fires in the future.
A UT faculty member since 2000, Grissino-Mayer has won several campus awards including the Chancellor's Award for Professional Promise in Research and Creative Achievement and the Outstanding Teaching Award from the Department of Geography.
Each program lasts 45 minutes, including 30 minutes for the presentation and 15 minutes for a discussion period. Light refreshments will be served.
The Pre-Game Faculty Showcase is sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences with the support of the UT Alumni Association, the UT Knoxville Office of Alumni Affairs and UT Athletics.
The College of Arts and Sciences is the largest college on UT's campus with 600 faculty and 23 departments and schools encompassing the humanities, fine and performing arts, social sciences, life sciences and physical sciences. The college places special emphasis on academic outreach, and its faculty and students are actively involved with the community through the Faculty Speakers Bureau, service learning and other programs.
The University Center is located at 1502 W. Cumberland Ave., a short walk from Neyland Stadium. The ballroom is in Room 213 on the second floor. For more directions, visit http://www.utk.edu/maps/campus/.
