Readers worry NCAA could block Tennessee football's path to national championship | Adams
My literary contributors are deep thinkers, which means they can look beyond the obvious joy of a historic Tennessee victory over Alabama and imagine dark clouds gathering on the horizon.
Mark writes: Great win, but ….
So, we slew the 15,000-pound elephant in the stadium, but what about the 800-pound gorilla in the room?
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Will the NCAA penalize us with a postseason ban?
My response: The NCAA will award Tennessee a “elephant-killer exemption” and make it eligible for postseason play.
Shemp writes: Everyone has forgotten about the NCAA investigation.
What happens when they come out with penalty not to participate in postseason this year (assuming we are eligible?)
My response: You are apparently unaware of the “elephant-killer exemption” in the fine-print section of the NCAA rule book.
Book hotel rooms for the College Football Playoff semifinals. You can always cancel.
Karl writes: I thought I would never see Paul Newman again, but I have decided coach Heupel should be known as, “Cool Hand Luke.”
My response: That was a great movie. Other potential Heupel nicknames from Newman movie titles: “Hud,” “Hombre,” “The Left Handed Gun,” “The Hustler,” and “Nobody’s Fool.”
Safe to say, Heupel was nobody’s fool in hustling Alabama’s Nick Saban on Saturday.
Penney writes: As someone whose blood runs ETSU blue and gold, I am (almost) as happy as anyone in Knoxville/Tennessee over the win on Saturday. I wanted to thank you for your columns, which help a not-very-sports-minded soul understand the nuances of sport – the big picture of NIL, SEC politics and lots more.
Perhaps sometimes, you can explain to me whether all college fans at home games boo the opposing band when they enter the field, and again anytime they are playing, or whether UT is special.
My response: Booing opposing bands isn’t universal. But hostility runs deep in the SEC’s most heated rivalries. Sometimes, it doesn’t take a longstanding rivalry, just a game of significance.
I once witnessed a Georgia fan barking at an elderly woman in a New Orleans hotel elevator before a Sugar Bowl. I also observed Georgia fans barking at small children dressed in West Virginia colors before another Sugar Bowl.
But I won’t just single out Georgia fans.
Suppose the cutest 5-year-old girl in the world had dressed in Alabama colors, sung the National Anthem and delivered a pregame prayer before Saturday’s Alabama-Tennessee game at Neyland Stadium. She would have been booed vociferously.
That’s SEC football.
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Mike writes: Remember the Jan, 2021 Vol Football Exodus? One of the deserters (linebacker Henry To’o To’o) started for Bama on Saturday. More are scattered around Power 5 programs. What are they thinking now that Tennessee is No. 3 in the AP Poll and No. 4 in the coaches poll.
Life (and Eternity) is simply the consequences of sequential binary choices.
My response: I will forward your email to media relations directors at all schools where those former Vols transferred. If any of the players should choose to explain their sequential binary choices, I will get back to you.
Larry writes: In your “big-picture” comment, you wrote about chancellor Donde Plowman hiring athletics director Danny White, who hired coach Josh Heupel. That needed pointing out amid our justified Tide rollover hysteria. Hopefully, the Big Orange faithful recognize Plowman's leadership and decision-making impact on UT sports, from shrewd NCAA investigation management to White's hiring.
Thanks, Donde.
Heupel's hiring, while questioned by many, has produced the quickest results I can recall. Thanks, Danny.
Saturday speaks for itself. Thanks, Josh.
My response: And thanks to me for pointing that out.
Mark writes: Chase McGrath deserves a huge pat on the back for that kick, the pressure that kid was under had to be absolutely unbelievable, and as a kicker myself, a million years ago, I know exactly how he must have been feeling. That dude literally changed the state of mind of thousands, if not millions of people for the good. Whatever the Vols do from here on out, beating Bama will never be forgotten. Nor will Chase McGrath.
My response: I’m sure some fans also remember your kicks, Mark – just as they remember Jeff Hall’s clutch kicking during Tennessee’s national championship season in 1998.
I once asked a half-dozen-or-so position players if they would want to swap jobs with a kicker. All emphatically declined.
Phil writes: NOBODY beats Tennessee 16 times in a row.
My response: Great point. In fact, my guess is Heupel concluded his pregame prep talk with those words: “Nobody beats Tennessee 16 times in a row.” And before the Florida game, maybe his final words to the Vols were: “Nobody beats Tennessee 17 times in 18 games.”
John Adams is a senior columnist. He may be reached at 865-342-6284 or john.adams@knoxnews.com. Follow him at: twitter.com/johnadamskns.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: UT Vols fans worry about possible Tennessee football postseason ban
