Tennessee can’t help thinking about Auburn rematch
KNOXVILLE — Even though Tennessee can’t start making its travel plans for the Southeastern Conference championship yet, the Volunteers are clearly looking forward to facing Auburn again.
No. 15 Tennessee (7-2, 5-1) can clinch a berth in the SEC title game by beating Vanderbilt on Saturday. If the Vols lose, they can still go with a win next week over Kentucky.
Tennessee hasn’t lost to either team since the early 1980s. The Vols have lost to both teams in the same season, but the last time was in 1964.
Auburn has already clinched a berth in the SEC title game, and Tennessee is relishing a chance to avenge a 34-10 loss earlier this season.
With a win over Alabama this weekend, Auburn would enter the game undefeated and hoping to somehow jump into the national championship game.
That’s what Tennessee linebacker Kevin Burnett hopes.
“That gives us a chance to ruin their season,” Burnett said. “To be honest with you, hopefully we take care of our business and nobody ruins our season. We’ve had our season stepped on before so I’m ready to step on somebody else’s.”
Some of the players watched Auburn’s 24-6 win over Georgia last week while Tennessee was idle. Georgia’s loss gives the Vols a chance to win the East division outright without being tied.
“They were looking for us to lose. So why not? Yea, I’m happy they lost,” Burnett said about Georgia.
The Vols were less enthusiastic about Notre Dame’s 41-38 loss to Pittsburgh. The Fighting Irish beat Tennessee 17-13 two weeks ago.
“I didn’t want to watch them play just because we let that one get by us. They outplayed us,” receiver Tony Brown said.
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WINGS ON ME:@ As Tennessee’s new starting quarterback, Rick Clausen had an important task last week. He took the receivers out to eat for some bonding time and picked up the tab.
“We just went and got some buffalo wings. We didn’t go anywhere extravagant,” Clausen said.
“We really didn’t talk too much football. Just kind of sat down and joked around for a while, just trying to get comfortable with those guys again, trying to get a little unity amongst us.”
Clausen will be the Vols’ third starting quarterback this season on Saturday at Vanderbilt. He replaces Erik Ainge and Brent Schaeffer, who are injured and likely to miss the rest of the regular season.
Clausen sat out last season after transferring from LSU, where he started one game.
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MUNOZ UPDATE:@ Senior offensive tackle Michael Munoz suffered a concussion against Alabama and missed the South Carolina game. He returned to play against Notre Dame but didn’t practice so he could recover more from the concussion side effects.
Munoz didn’t know he had a concussion during the game and only later pieced together what happened.
“It was over a series of plays. I initially dinged it pulling on a linebacker and we hit head to head. Then I kept putting myself back in (the game). There were more plays that I would come down on linebackers and hit them,” Munoz said. “It wasn’t one particular play.”
He realized something was wrong when he got sick in the fourth quarter of the game. The next week he tried to practice but couldn’t keep any food down. Finally, Munoz stopped trying to practice and “laid low” for a while until he was better.
Munoz said he had some hesitation about whether he was better during the Notre Dame game, in which he didn’t play very well.
“It wasn’t where I want to be. I don’t know what that was. Personally, I think it was not being able to practice those two weeks,” he said. “I feel better now.”
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SECRET BALLOT: With the BCS headed for more controversy this season, there has been a call for coaches to publicize their ballots for the coaches’ poll at the end of the season.
But their votes will not be made public this year. Most members of the American Football Coaches Association are not for it, and neither is Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer.
“If the coaches’ association voted to do that then I wouldn’t care one way or the other. But I really wouldn’t care to do that because when you go through the season that could create all kinds of different issues and just be another media frenzy type thing and be a distraction,” he said.
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LEAK AGAIN: Fulmer praised C.J. Leak’s work last week during practice after he was moved back to quarterback. He had moved to other positions, most recently linebacker, after being demoted in August. Leak will back up Clausen.
“He’s done a good job. Obviously we would try to limit the plan he would have if he were in the ball game, but he can throw it. He’s done a good job throwing it on time which was one of his issues before,” Fulmer said.
“I jokingly said after practice maybe we need to move all our quarterbacks to linebacker for a week and then they’ll throw it quicker.”
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SAFE AT SAFETY: Junior Robert Boulware was Tennessee’s fourth starter at strong safety this season when he took the first snap against Notre Dame.
The Vols have been trying to find a reliable starter, and Boulware looks like it. He had four tackles in the game.
“Boulware did a good job, he really did,” Fulmer said. “Hopefully he’ll continue to grow at the position and we won’t have to worry about that any more this season at least not as a starter. Obviously depth is a concern.”
Boulware is the cousin of former Florida State star and current Baltimore Ravens linebacker Peter Boulware.
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SMOKEY SEZ: “Regardless of the situation, if they can’t score, they can’t win. That’s every defense’s mentality,” linebacker Kevin Burnett said when asked if there was more pressure on the defense to shut out opponents since Tennessee’s offense has been sluggish.