RockyTopTalk’s Will Helton does a nice job breaking down Tennessee’s 2007-2009 recruiting classes and painting a picture of why the Vols are suffering their current trials and tribulations.

This was just about the most entertaining part of last night’s UT-South Carolina game.

(And besides the long interception return, probably drew the loudest cheers.) Former UT coach John Majors makes a cameo with UT students in a flash mob.

1.) A glass-half-full kinda guy would say a 14-3 loss to the nation’s No. 14 team isn’t bad when you’re as crippled as Tennessee is from an injury standpoint. A glass-half-empty kinda guy would point out that South Carolina is probably the most over-ranked team in the SEC.

2.) I mean, seriously, is there anyone who can say with 100% confidence that Tennessee will beat MTSU next Saturday? MTSU is not a bad team this year, and Tennessee’s offense is stuck in neutral (no touchdowns in the past 10 quarters). I would not be surprised to see Tennessee lose to MTSU next week. I really wouldn’t.

3.) I hope the Da’Rick Rogers hype is finally laid to rest. Rogers is excellent when he can play second fiddle — one of the best in the SEC, if not the entire NCAA. But since Justin Hunter went down with a season-ending knee injury, Rogers has failed to deliver. Not only is he failing to get separation on his routes, but he has dropped passes in nearly every game Tennessee has played since Hunter was injury. The dropped touchdown pass tonight was crucial.

4.) Justin Worley played about like you would expect a true freshman to play when he’s throwing the first passes of his collegiate career against one of the nation’s better pass defenses. The two interceptions were critical mistakes — especially the second one — and he had some other mistakes as well. But he also showed flashes of what made him the Gatorade national high school player of the year last year. He had a couple of seam passes to DeAnthony Arnett that were really nicely thrown and the should-have-been touchdown to Rogers was a thing of beauty.

5.) Tennessee’s defense continues to play fairly well overall, but their bend-but-don’t-break approach also tends to get them in trouble sometimes. South Carolina’s 99-yard, 11-minute touchdown drive in the third quarter tonight pretty much sealed Tennessee’s fate. The Gamecocks converted all five of their third downs on that drive. (South Carolina was eight of 11 on third downs in the second half.)

6.) Tennessee had to burn four — count ‘em: FOUR — timeouts tonight because the right personnel wasn’t on the field at the right time. Was this the first game of the season or the eighth? Youth and inexperience are excuses that only carry you so far, and right now they’re not cutting it. Some shortcomings by Tennessee’s coaching staff are beginning to become too glaring to ignore.

7.) It isn’t just having the wrong personnel on the field, which seems to happen just about every game at some point. Tennessee continues to get burned by opposing coaches in critical situations. A couple of cases in point from tonight’s game: South Carolina’s first touchdown came on a 4th-and-one pass.

If anyone knows anything about Steve Spurrier, they know that one of his many specialties is a play fake and a deep pass on 4th-and-short, when the defense least expects it. Few other coaches have the nerve to try plays like that, but Spurrier has patented it. Apparently, Tennessee’s defense doesn’t know much about Spurrier’s tendencies in those situations, since there wasn’t a defender within 10 yards of the receiver. The second case in point is Carolina’s second touchdown. After Shaw’s interception, it was obvious that Spurrier wasn’t going to feel comfortable letting his inexperienced quarterback throw the ball much. But he did let Shaw use his legs to his advantage. On third-and-goal from the five, there should have been no doubt that a quarterback draw was coming — especially the way USC was spreading the field. Tennessee was ill prepared for it.

8.) Which leads me to say this: Derek Dooley had me from his introductory press conference, but he’s losing me a little bit right now. I’m one of those who thinks Tennessee fans have to be patient and give him the time to build the program up…and I have no problem with losses against superior teams (honestly, if anyone truly expected Tennessee to beat South Carolina — or Alabama or LSU — they were looking at the games through orange-colored glasses), nor do I have a problem with the margin of defeat. Let’s face it: 8-4 was expected to be a great year for Tennessee, and that was before the Vols lost their best player on defense and two best players on offense. What I do have a problem with is a lack of fundamentals: being unable to get the right personnel onto the field at the right time, for example. I want Dooley to be the coach that resurrects this Tennessee program; I like what he says and I like the integrity with which he conducts himself on and off the field. I’m just not as confident right now as I was a few months ago that he will be that guy. You can’t win the Kentucky Derby with donkeys, but you can teach donkeys to run. Tennessee’s donkeys aren’t doing a whole lot of running right now.

9.) While Dooley should be given some time to turn the program around, a big part of that turnaround has to be finding the right pieces to put into place. One piece that just isn’t fitting right now is offensive line coach Harry Hiestand. The coaching staff might need some shaking up in a few other areas, but Hiestand has to go. He has to. Tennessee’s offensive line is the worst I can ever recall in the SEC…on any team. Pass blocking continues to be pretty fair, but run blocking is absolutely horrid. Sure, there is some youth and inexperience there, but the guys that are out there are the guys this staff wants to have out there; guys they recruited. No one expects this offensive line to dominate the line of scrimmage, but there is no excuse for the way they’re getting whipped. Not only are they completely unable to block and open running lanes, but they blow assignments, there are major snapping issues, the center can’t seem to remember the snap count…etc.

10.) The bottom line is that until Tennessee’s offensive line improves, Tennessee won’t win many games. The Vols certainly won’t beat Arkansas, probably won’t beat Vanderbilt and I certainly wouldn’t pencil in wins against MTSU or Kentucky just yet. Tennessee’s offensive woes begin and end with the poor play of the offensive line. When an interception set up Tennessee with a first down at South Carolina’s three-yard-line in the third quarter, the Vols should have been able to take a 10-7 lead that would’ve changed the course of the game. Instead, South Carolina picks off a pass at the one-yard-line two plays later. Sure, a freshman quarterback made a critical mistake. But he should have never been in a situation to make that mistake. When you have a first-and-goal at the three, you should be able to pound the ball home. Instead, South Carolina blew up Tennessee’s OL on first down, tackling the ballcarrier two yards deep in the backfield. There’s no excuse for that. South Carolina tried to give Tennessee the game. There was the fumbled punt at the 17-yard-line and a poor punt to the 41-yard-line in the first quarter. After the muffed punt, Tennessee had a first-and-goal at the six but was unable to run. There was the interception at the three and a fumble at the 24-yard-line in the fourth quarter. That’s three turnovers inside the red zone. Tennessee had one field goal to show for it.

Oneida 47, Jellico 0 — Oneida is just the second team this season other than Oakdale and Kings Academy to not score 50+ on Jellico. (North Greene scored 46; every other team scored at least 56.) But don’t read too much into that. It was 40-0 midway through the second quarter when Oneida called off the dogs. Credit the Indian coaches — who emptied their sideline before halftime even arrived — for pulling back a little early. Oneida coach John Brewster was actually upset when his team blocked a punt and returned it for a touchdown with three minutes to play in the first half.

Stone 7, Scott 3 — The Highlanders led 3-0 at halftime but Stone put a score on the board in the third quarter and Scott wasn’t able to mount another scoring threat.

Wartburg 7, Sunbright 6 — This may be the biggest upset of the year in all of Class A football. The Bulldogs shouldn’t have finished within five touchdowns of Sunbright, but on a rainy, cold night in the capital city of Morgan County, they pull off a stunner. A missed extra point was the difference, but it was more than that. Sunbright’s self-inflicted wounds were too many to overcome, and Wartburg played outstanding defense, twice turning away Sunbright inside the 20-yard-line in the second half.

Sequoyah 14, Sweetwater 6 — With the additional tiebreaker point of having another .500 team on the schedule and, more importantly, a win over a .500 team, a Sequoyah win helped Scott in the playoff race. Ironically, though, the Chiefs’ win also moved Sequoyah ahead of Scott in a race that already carried a razor-thin margin of error for the Highlanders.

Cosby 28, Unaka 0 — Cosby wraps up a Class 2A playoff berth, assuring that the first quadrant will consist of Oneida, Oliver Springs, Cosby, Hampton, North Greene and Rockwood.

Grace Christian 3, South Pittsburg 0 — Just how good is South Pitt?!

Brainerd 20, East Ridge 14 — This was one of the minor upsets Scott needed to keep its playoff hopes alive even with a loss. The problem is that Brainerd could potentially move ahead of Scott in the standings once total wins of opponents are calculated.

Macon County 27, Westmoreland 14 — Scott needed an upset in this one and didn’t get it.

Stratford 21, David Lipscomb 14 — Another one goes the way the Highlanders needed it to go.

Oliver Springs 41, Williamsburg 22 — This win pretty much assures that Oneida and Oliver Springs will meet next week at Oliver Springs as the No. 4 and No. 5 seeds in the first quadrant.

Giles County 21, Page 20 — Another one goes in Scott’s favor in the playoff race.

For the first time this season, the National Weather Service is sneaking the “s” word into the forecast for the northern Cumberland Plateau:

Tonight: Rain showers before midnight, then a slight chance of rain and snow showers. Low around 35. North wind between 5 and 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. Little or no s

avidia bank routing code

now accumulation expected.

Nothing to get excited about for locations outside the mountains, but the mountains themselves could pick up some light snow accumulations tonight and early tomorrow morning, for anyone anxious enough for winter to take a road trip.

Meanwhile, the next cold front is already taking shape on the models. The GFS is advertising a fairly potent front to swing through in about six days. (For deer hunters, that’s perilously close to opening day of Tennessee’s muzzleloader season…if it winds up being delayed just a bit from what models are currently projecting, it could be a bad weather opener.) As pointed out yesterday, teleconnections don’t currently support anything other than glancing blows of cold air. The sustained cold will have to wait until the broader pattern over the Northern Hemisphere aligns itself a little better.

An awesome photo from the Smokies last week where fall met winter in elevation:

The mountains got a little snow accumulation last week behind a strong cold front that sent a blast of October Canadian air into the Southeast. A similar cold front is on tap for later today and the GFS projects highs of just 50 tomorrow and 55 Saturday with a light freeze possible on the Cumberland Plateau by Sunday morning.

The mountains could once again pick up a little snow accumulation, while our first bonafide snow storm of the season could be on tap for parts of the Mid-Atlantic region.

If you’re looking for an early start to winter, don’t hold your breath. The cold shots of air with mild weather quickly returning looks to be the norm at least through early November. The GFS is projecting the Arctic Oscillation to spike strongly positive around the first of the month and the North Atlantic Oscillation will be neutral at best if the GFS is correct. With a strengthening La Nina pattern in the Pacific, there probably won’t be much sustained cold in our neck of the woods until those two — the AO and NAO — go solidly negative. There’s nothing to suggest they won’t do that…it’s just a matter of when.

Michael Silence says Newt Gingrich bit the hand that has fed him when he attacked the news media during the last GOP presidential debate:

Attacking the people he’s lived off of for years? Well, he is, if nothing else, an opportunist. Hey, Newt, how did that whole ‘Contract ON America’ thingy work out?

Well, Gingrich is a hypocrite in true Washington fashion. But this time he has a point. The news media sold themselves out for candidate Barack Obama in 2008.

(Just ask Hillary.) Is there really any reason to think it will be different this time around?

Plenty of Oneida fans remember last year’s postseason debacle, when the Indians defeated Oliver Springs in their head-to-head matchup and finished ahead of the Bobcats in the district but Oliver Springs went to the playoffs and Oneida stayed home.

Oneida is safely in the playoffs this year, but it appears that T$$AA’s confusing, crazy playoff system is about to claim another victim.

Actually, it will claim several victims this year, if teams are seeded as they’re expected to be seeded once the final games of the regular season are completed Friday evening.

In Class 2A, there are six teams that will likely be in T$$AA’s first quadrant, based on geography: Cosby, Hampton, North Greene, Oliver Springs, Oneida and Rockwood.

Hampton (8-1) is currently No. 6 in the 2A playoff standings (once Grace, which is ineligible for the playoffs this season, is tossed out). Oliver Springs (5-4) is No. 13. Oneida (5-4) is No. 14. Rockwood (5-4) is No. 17. North Greene (5-4) is No. 18. Cosby (5-4) is No. 20.

How is a 5-4 Oliver Springs team ranked seven spots ahead of a No. 20 Cosby team? Through T$$AA’s complicated formula, which ranks teams according to wins, then the number of teams on their schedule with a .500 or better record, then the number of teams they beat with a .500 or better record, then the total wins of their opponents combined, and so on down the list of 16 different qualifiers.

Oliver Springs has played seven teams with a winning record and defeated two of them. Cosby has played only five teams with a winning record and defeated none of them.

Those playoff standings determine the 24 teams that make the playoffs (32 teams in Classes 3A-6A). They also determine how teams are seeded, right?

Actually, no. Under the so-called “Z-Plan,” adopted by T$$AA in 2009 and modified after each season since then, the guys in Hermitage make the call.

But T$$AA would seed them according to their playoff standing, right? After all, the “Z-Plan,” as it currently stands, is designed to reward teams that play better teams.

Actually, no. As it turns out, T$$AA arbitrarily seeds the teams as it sees fit.

“We were under the impression that the teams would be seeded based on those playoff standings,” Oneida coach John Brewster said Wednesday.

So did a lot of other teams. But that  apparently won’t be the case. Though Friday’s action can still change a few things, it appears that T$$AA has already made its preliminary seeding decisions. And there are more than a few perturbed high school coaches as a result.

In Class 2A’s first quadrant, North Greene is apparently going to be seeded second, behind Hampton. Rockwood will apparently be seeded third, Oliver Springs fourth and Oneida fifth. Cosby will bring up the rear in sixth.

That means that despite playing a tough schedule and finishing with a record that is the same as North Greene’s despite playing in a much tougher conference, North Greene gets a first round playoff bye and a second round home game, while Oneida — which had assumed it would get a first round home game — will go on the road in the first round.

Not only will Oneida go on the road in the first round, but if those seedings play out as T$$AA has indicated, according to area coaches, the Indians will play Oliver Springs in the first round.

Supposedly, one of the goals of this playoff format was to avoid pitting district foes against one another in the opening round.

T$$AA’s justification for seeding North Greene second is the fact that they finished second in Region 1 and, thus, received an automatic qualifier to the playoffs. (Hampton is the only other team in the first quadrant to finish first or second in their district.) No word on the justification for seeding Rockwood third, unless it’s because they will finish second in their district once Grace Christian is removed.

It isn’t just Oneida that is getting hosed. If the playoff seedings were based strictly on the playoff standings — as they would be in any rational world — Oliver Springs would have been the two-seed and gotten the first round bye. That would have meant a second round home game against Oneida, which would have hosted a first round game against Cosby. Instead, Oliver Springs will have to face Oneida in the first round. If they win, they have to go to Hampton in the second round.

Rockwood, meanwhile, has the luxury of drawing a weak Cosby team in the first round before traveling to a not-much-better North Greene team in the second round. Despite having a team that is No. 4 in the standings among the first quadrant teams, Rockwood will receive a de facto berth in the state quarterfinals.

Some will argue that Oneida deserves whatever low seed it gets after losing three straight games the past three weeks. There’s no denying that this Indian football team has some issues that it needs to sort out if it has hopes of winning in the postseason, but playoff determination should not be based on two or three games. A team’s whole body of work should be considered.

After all, the playoff standings are set up to reward teams that play good teams as opposed to filling the non-district schedule with cupcakes. And Oneida’s non-district schedule was plenty tough. The Indians played a good Greenback team (7-1), a good West Greene team (7-3) and a good Williamsburg team (7-2) outside their district. The only non-district team Oneida played with a losing record was Cumberland Gap, which is 2-7, but which is also a 3A football team. Oneida took Greenback to overtime — the closest any team has come to defeating the Cherokees other than Grace Christian, which could beat any team in Class 1A, 2A or 3A, handed Williamsburg one of its two defeats thus far this season, and handed West Greene one of its three defeats thus far. The Indians have played far from their best the past three weeks (though those three teams are obviously nothing to sneeze at) but it’s still been a successful season as a whole for the Indians.

Oliver Springs played Greenback, Williamsburg, Kingston (6-3) and Sweetwater (5-4) outside the district. Every non-district team on Oz’s schedule is a very good team with a record well above .500 except Sweetwater, and they’re a 3A team.

North Greene, by comparison, played no one good outside their conference other than West Greene. The other non-district teams they played were Tri-Cities Christian (2-4), Jellico (0-9), South Greene (5-4), Chucky-Doak (6-3) and Hancock County (2-6). Two of those have winning records, but they’re not exactly great football teams.

How much difference is there between North Greene and the two District 4 teams they’ll be seeded ahead of? Oneida defeated West Greene 24-20. North Greene lost to West Greene 35-7. In a head-to-head matchup, Oneida would defeat North Greene at least nine times out of 10, as would Oliver Springs.

Yet North Greene finished second in a very weak region (Hampton is the best 2A team in East Tennessee but there’s no other team in the region that could compete with any of the top four teams in Districts 3 or 4), therefore they get a two-seed?

In what world does that make sense, other than T$$AA’s hopelessly mixed up world that revolves around the almighty dollar?

ON A MOSTLY UNRELATED NOTE: It appears that Scott High will probably be unable to make the playoffs without a win over Stone Memorial this weekend. The margin is razor-thin for the Highlanders, despite their 5-5 record. Ultimately, several 5-5 teams will get in in Class 4A, but Scott’s enemy will be its schedule.

The Highlanders are currently No. 28 out of 32 playoff teams. Either Frayser or Kingsbury will get an automatic bye because of their district standing, which leaves just three teams behind Scott. One of those is Stone Memorial, which would slip ahead of the Highlanders with a win Friday. That means just two more teams can get by Scott with wins before the Highlanders are left out in the cold if they do not beat Stone Memorial.

Of the teams behind them likely to win, Macon County will likely win, Trezevant will likely win and Jackson South Side will likely win. Brainerd is a toss-up, Whites Creek is a tossup, as is David Lipscomb and Stratford (which play each other…either winner would slip by Scott in the standings).

That’s one definite winner (the Stratford-Lipscomb winner), a couple of tossups and three probable winners. To expect four of those five teams to lose in upsets is probably asking a bit too much.

The only hope for Scott if the Highlanders do not beat Stone Memorial is for Sequoyah to defeat Sweetwater in an upset AND Loudon to upset Kingston. (Ironically, that would push Sequoyah ahead of Scott in the standings, but would likely help the Highlanders ultimately make the playoffs.)

The chances of all of those things happening Friday night are probably only slightly better than being struck by lightning tomorrow. Bottom line: Scott’s game at Stone is a must-win game.

Sometimes, political candidates do things that seem like a good idea at the time…but they’re things that wind up sinking a candidacy.

Remember the “Dean Scream” in 2004? Howard Dean surged to the front of the Democrat presidential field, but his campaign was undone by his moment of lunacy.

Will the above ad be the undoing of Herman Cain’s campaign? (Taken from Michael Silence, who says it’s, “well, weird.” And it is.)

Cain’s right-hand man, Mark Block, spends a little time talking about why Herman Cain is going to take back America, and then ends the ad by popping a lit cigarette into his mouth, taking a draw and blowing smoke.

It’s one of those moments in politics that leave you saying, “Huh?”

In fairness to Cain, the whole smoke-blowing thing isn’t nearly what the liberals are making it out to be.  They’re starting to turn on him with their entire arsenal because they’re realizing that he is captivating the American right. And that makes him a threat.

What Cain was trying to do — seemingly, at least — is show a little subtle (if there’s anything subtle about smoking a cigarette in a political ad) libertarianism. It’s a way to say, “Hey, I’ve spent years fighting for your right to smoke in restaurants and not be shunned to some dark corner of society, and I’ll do the same thing once I’m president.”

An effective message? Perhaps. An effective delivery? Not even close.

In Dean’s defense way back in 2004, his scream was an unscripted detail in the heat of the moment. There was nothing unscripted about Cain’s ad. The fact that it got by his advisors show that he has dummies for advisors or he’s willing to take a gamble. But if it’s a gamble, it’s a terrificly huge gamble, and why would he need to resort to such a gamble when he has surged to the front of the field of GOP presidential contenders?

Herman Cain is in many ways a breath of fresh air in presidential politics. If you missed his sit-down with CNN’s Piers Morgan last week, it’s well worth a watch. Cain is charismatic and likable.

But if you hadn’t already convinced yourself that he isn’t a viable candidate to oppose Barack Obama, the “cigarette ad” should tell you all that you need to know.

New details emerge about the death of Gadaffi. Be sure to watch the videos, if you can stomach them.

It would be nice if we could build a fence around the entire region and just leave them to their own means. There is no hope for those people.

None.