Guest Clay Travis

As I alluded to earlier this week, author, Deadspin columnist, lifelong UT fan and fellow attorney Clay Travis agreed to answer some questions I posed this week about UT, the upcoming game between our squads and the SEC in general. The answers are certainly better than the questions, and it was fun to get his insight. If you are looking for a way to pass the time between the college football regular season and the bowl games, pick up his book Dixieland Delight. It is a must read for any young man (or woman, really) who is a fan of SEC football. I appreciate Clay (who I do not know personally at all and agreed to do this based on an out of the blue e-mail) agreeing to participate, especially since I was pretty upfront about how few people are actually reading.


Some columnists are making noise that the Tennessee job may scare top coaches away. Expectations are high, and the SEC East is a hornet's nest to step into. You are the AD. What is your pitch?
Tennessee has the biggest stadium, the best facilities in the country, is the only national program in the SEC (defined as playing a national schedule and recruiting as such), and plays in the best conference in America. So Tennessee recruits itself. Now, that doesn't mean a coach won't have to work hard to get the best players, but we don't need to turn water into wine here. We just need to point out what already exists. If any coach can't see that pretty quickly then I don't think they need to be in Knoxville.

Despite the letdown against Wyoming, Phil Fulmer reportedly has the support/sympathy of his team and many at the school. What is Volunteer nation's overall feeling?
Phil Fulmer is a fatherlike figure. Watching him cry at the press conference was like watching your dad cry. People are sympathetic and like him. But they don't like him enough to keep losing to Florida. I think the vast majority of fans felt like it was time for a change.

It cannot be explained by superior talent alone or else UK would have many such streaks, so how exactly does a school beat another 23 years in a row?
I have a ton of UK friends who are my age (29) and can't even remember a time when UK beat Tennessee. Neither can I. Three things jump out at me about this streak:
1. Tennessee is typically better. How many times out of these 23 games has Kentucky been favored? Maybe once (2007 by a point or so, I can't remember but I know that line was close)...maybe not at all. Compare that to how many times UT has been a double-digit favorite. 2. Tennessee, perhaps more importantly, is typically deeper. By the time this game gets played in late November (for most of these years it was the final game of the season for both teams) attrition has eliminated some of UK's best players. I think the scheduling differential exacerbates the talent differential. (ed:this is a crazy good point)
3. There's something to be said for the idea of losing not entering into UT's players heads. Psychologically they expect to win and don't even think they might lose. In a close game this can be pretty significant.

Who is the one player Cats should ought to fear the most?
Eric Berry. I think he's the best defensive player in the country. He plays defense and he might be UT's best offensive threat this season. Even while playing defense. This is not hyperbole. If he gets a pick against the Cats he'll set the all-time record for NCAA interception return yards. As a sophomore. He's a Heisman candidate next year if UT has a decent season. I really believe that.

UT looked good manhandling bowl bound Vandy on Saturday, which has me wondering; was this season's failure the result of a lack of talent, schematic problems, or just an unfortunate series of events? Even as a huge UCLA fan (I went there for undergrad) I have to say that was the flukeiest loss a team could have. Did that game just set a bad tone that the Vols couldn't shake?
Looked good? Would we have had to pass for 15 yards instead of 21 to look bad? I thought our offense looked positively antediluvian. Each week we've gotten worse on offense.
You're right though, the UCLA loss was crushing. In particular because I think Jonathan Crompton never settled down and played like UT expected him to play at quarterback. From then on he was pressing.
Talent isn't the issue. Dave Clawson's offense is. UT's defense has played well enough to win the SEC. Truly. The offense has not played well enough to win a state football championship. As a result Dave Clawson's offense has to go down in history, and I truly believe this, as one of the most epic failures in SEC coaching history. This is an offense that was one of the tops in the league last season and returned everyone: the whole line, the top six receivers, the top three running backs. The only change was Erik Ainge leaving. No one foresaw this offensive failure. No one.

A weird year in the SEC, with few traditional powers having down years. Was this truly a down year, or just a testament to how much better Florida, Georgia and Alabama were than everyone else?
I think what we're seeing is that as the SEC becomes more NFL-like in terms of top to bottom competition (everyone keeps getting better) each year. So quarterback play, just like the NFL, becomes more important than ever and determines who is truly good. Look at the SEC this year. Alabama, Florida, Ole Miss, and Georgia all have proven/good quarterbacks. After that there's a tremendous drop-off. The bottom 8 teams in the league have the worst quarterbacks in my memory and as a result those teams have looked bad at times. Next year could be really strange since Jevan Snead may be the only person coming back who is proven. Does that make Ole Miss an early favorite in the SEC West? Amazingly, yes.

Have you had a chance to visit Lexington in October since your book was written? You really should.
No, I haven't. I've been on the road now for three consecutive seasons. 2006 for Dixieland Delight, 2007 for the book tour, 2008 for the new one that I'm writing, On Rocky Top, and now I'll be on the road again, probably, for the book tour in 2009. So the fall has been pretty tight. I'll get up there sometime. I promise. Keeneland is calling.

Admit it, even as a UT fan, doesn't Rocky Top sometimes get old?
No, never. Every time I hear it, the hair stands up on the back of my arms and I'm ready to run through a brick wall. It never gets old. At least not for me. Now the girly wooo that has emerged? Well, sometimes that can get old.