The South was cold last week.

It appears that Justin Wilcox will be Tennessee’s defensive coordinator next season.

After tomorrow’s cold front, the weather will be bland for the next week, as we finally see a stretch of temperatures that are just seasonable (20s/40s). But by next weekend, another winter storm could threaten parts of the Southeast.

Most models have tossed out the idea of a storm system passing through the South around Jan. 8-9. A couple of models are being relatively consistent with the idea. It’s way too soon to speculate on the specifics, but there is at least a chance that another winter storm sets its sights on East Tennessee in the 8-10 day window.

Some models continue to want to take the North Atlantic Oscillation into at least neutral territory in the medium range (7-14 days), but it remains to be seen whether this -NAO regime has any intention of relinquishing its influence on the Northern Hemisphere’s weather patterns any time soon.

For now, predominate signals suggest that our weather will be cold through at least mid-January.

Tennessee lost to College of Charleston today, 91-78.

The loss was the fourth in six games for UT after the Vols were ranked in the Top 10.

In some respects, the Vols’ play actually improved today, but Charleston (which is one of the top mid-majors in the country) was simply lights out from 3-point range. Andrew Goudelot went Chris Lofton on Tennessee, nailing shots from all over the court. Already this season, Charleston has already come close to defeating Maryland, North Carolina and Clemson.

Bruce Pearl got a head start on his looming 8-game suspension when he was ejected with about five minutes remaining. Pearl had received one technical for arguing with the officials after a series of ticky-tack calls went against Tennessee, then received a second technical for apparently having a discussion with the scorekeeper.

It’ s intere

sting to note that a 17-point lead had been trimmed to nine when the ticky-tack calls started going against Tennessee.

Could former Notre Dame coach (and current Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator

) Charlie Weis be headed to Florida as Will Muschamp’s offensive coordinator? Some say it’s as good as a done deal.

Several tornado watches are out from the Gulf Coast to the Great Lakes and extending as far east as the Tennessee border. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a tornado watch for the Memphis to Jackson region next. This system has already spawned a deadly tornado in Cincinnati, Arkansas.

No severe weather is expected this far east, but NWS Morristown has issued a special weather statement to highlight the possibility of gusty winds and heavy rain tomorrow.

UPDATE: There are now six confirmed tornado fatalities, with three in Missouri added to the three in Arkansas.

There is only one logical conclusion, and that is that the officials totally bungled the ending what should have been the ending of last night’s Tennessee-North Carolina game.

1.) As I pointed out last night, North Carolina was making substitutions. By rule, the umpire is supposed to stand over the ball and not allow it to be snapped until the substitutions are in place. The snap should never have been allowed, the game should have been over. End of story.

2.) Even with that glaring mistake set aside, North Carolina was penalized for an illegal substitution. That’s a dead ball foul and a 5-yard penalty, allowing UNC one more try under the ridiculous college rule that enables a team to be rewarded for a penalty. But North Carolina did not huddle, therefore they could not have been guilty for an illegal substitution, which is having 12 men in the huddle. Instead, they should have been penalized for illegal participation. That’s a 15-yard penalty, which would have made the field goal attempt a 49-yarder rather than a 40-yarder . . . a significant difference. But it would not have mattered because illegal participation is not a dead ball penalty, therefore the game would have been over.

No amount of griping and complaining is going to change the outcome, but Tennessee has serious reason to raise hell about the outcome. Officiating crews have been suspended for far less. The Big 10 crew should be suspended as well.

From Clay Travis:

As Tennessee fans rained down bottles and other paraphernalia on the officials leaving the field, North Carolina’s coaching staff exploded out of the coaches booth screaming along in tune to Rocky Top: “Sloppy Top, Sloppy Top, you’ll always be a**holes to me!”

Go read the messageboards at UNC’s Scout website and you’ll discover that the coaches and fans in Chapel Hill apparently act a lot alike.

Here’s some more fat for UT fans to chew on.

Remember when the referee declared that last night’s game was over, sending the coaches to midfield to shake hands and the players to celebrate? This from the NCAA rulebook:

ARTICLE 3b. The game is ended and the score is final when the referee so declares. SECTION 1. Jurisdiction The officials’ jurisdiction begins 60 minutes before the scheduled kickoff and ends when the referee declares the score final.

What do you do when 5 inches of snow are in the forecast? Some break out the sleds. Some get ready to make snow cream.

Some gather dressings for snowmen. Some make hot chocolate and stay inside where it’s warm.

Some go paddle the river. I always enjoy a float trip on the Big South Fork, but this takes a special kind of dedication that I ain’t got.