A short-sighted money grab?
With much fanfare – or at least as much as one can generate out of a press release – Tennessee and UCLA announced Tuesday the move of their football game from Sept. 6 to Sept. 1.
“The opportunity to play unopposed on national television against such a quality opponent as UCLA was something we couldn’t pass up,” Tennessee athletics director Mike Hamilton said in an Associated Press story. “It’s a great time slot for a national game of interest like this one.”
That, as well as collecting a nice paycheck from ABC and ESPN for agreeing to move the game, are the pros of this move.
As for the cons, well, let me count them from the Volunteers’ perspective:
1. So much for easing the new quarterback, whether it’s Jonathan Crompton or B.J. Coleman, into the first start of his varsity career.
Playing UAB in Knoxville on Aug. 30 would have been perfect for whoever wins the job; this won’t be. Not that UCLA’s defense will remind one of an SEC unit, but a road game three time zones removed isn’t easy for an experienced quarterback, much less a first-time starter.
2. So much for easing the new offense into its first test.
Playing UAB would have been a perfect forum for coordinator Dave Clawson, because the team could have afforded a few slip-ups and probably still left the season opener with 35 points, maybe more, and an easy win.
Now that opportunity isn’t there. A unit with a new quarterback will have to be sharp right off the bat. Although UT’s defense should be better this year, you don’t want to put too much of the burden on it in an opener that’s 2,500 miles from home.
3. A loss here will reopen speculation about coach Phillip Fulmer’s future. And no, it’s not too harsh to make that assumption after the first game of the new season.
Face it, if ever a program needed a smooth start to the 2008 season, it’s the Vols. After all the off-field turmoil in January and February which had media questioning Fulmer’s ability to exert discipline upon his athletes, the last thing UT needs is an 0-1 start with the SEC schedule awaiting it.
Now comes this newly scheduled opener, which is full of danger. And in an environment like east Tennessee, where every big game has become a referendum on Fulmer’s future for a couple of years, an early loss is not what the program needs.
Sure, the opportunity to play on national TV with air running against it appealed to Hamilton and will add six figures to the university’s athletic department.
But if the Vols fly back across the country late Labor Day night and the next morning after a loss, that hefty paycheck probably won’t mean so much to their legion of fans.