SEC Mess

With Florida and Alabama already locked into their SEC Title game spots, the SEC desperately needs another team to garner media attention. Wait, they have one in that carnival sideshow of a program...Tennessee! The latest "news" is that frosh DB Nyshier Oliver was caught shoplifting an expensive polo shirt of all things from a Knoxville mall in early November. That is normally not too big of a deal as Oliver is not the first teen to swipe a shirt. But, Oliver was caught four days before coach Lane Kiffen bragged about the lack of arrests in the program, although there is some doubt as too the coach's knowledge of the incident (what is worse?). And that speech was a few days before three of Oliver's teammates attempted to rob a parked car outside a convenience store. All four of the players in question, two of whom have been thrown out of school, are members of Kiffin's first recruiting class.

These criminal misdoings have been just the latest chapter for a program that is being defined by the outrageous statements tossed out by a coach with a desperate need to get his name in the paper. Getting attention for a challenge to Florida's supremacy in the SEC East is a bit different from talking to the press about player arrests. Are these isolated incidents, or is Kiffin doing anything to win and stumbling a few times in doing so?

And Kiffin is fully aware that all of the bluster and recruiting coups and player screw ups is secondary to the product on the field. The Volunteers returned some talented players, including one of the best defenders in the country in S Eric Berry (pictured). The defense, which has played well this year until the Mississippi game, was ranked in the top five in the country last year. RB Montario Hardesty and QB Jonathan Crompton, who have paced the offense, are seniors. Going 5-5 with a schedule that featured both road games with Florida, Alabama and Mississippi and an easy non-conference schedule that consisted of home games against four teams with a combined 14-26 record is just okay. Sweeping the remaining games to go 8-5 will be better, certainly, but the Vols may have to rebuild next year after losing a great many key players after this season. That effort got tougher with the losses to the freshmen class.

Where does Tennessee go from here? They will remain aggressive in the pursuit of football talent. They say that they will be tough on their kids when the players mess up. We will see. We also know that Kiffin better start winning soon or the bluster and criminal activity will swallow up his efforts.