AUBURN, Ala. — At first glance, it’s hard to believe Tennessee quarterback Jonathan Crompton could have had a worse Saturday afternoon on the football field.
The guy missed 15 of 23 passes against Auburn and threw for just 67 total yards. He was charged with the biggest fumble in the Vols’ 14-12 loss. He was booed loud and long by Big Orange fans as he jogged off the Jordan-Hare Stadium playing surface.
But before the Big Orange Nation gets too giddy over UT coach Phillip Fulmer’s proclamation that, “If changes need to be made, I’m not afraid to make them,” it needs to slowly soak in the following words from its men in orange:
When pressed further about a possible demotion for Crompton, Fulmer fell back on the noncommittal “Tomorrow, and as the week goes on, we will break down film.”
Said Crompton, when asked whether he or snakebit running back Arian Foster was responsible for the fumble that Auburn recovered in the end zone for a 14-6 halftime lead: “I have no clue. I’ve got to watch film to see what happened.”
There was also this from offensive coordinator Dave Clawson: “I don’t want to say anything until I’ve watched the film.”
Who’s the head coach here? Fulmer or Roger Ebert?
Either way, it’s apparent the UT coaching staff is about to watch a horror movie. It just can’t seem to decide who the villain is yet.
But that doesn’t mean its No. 1 suspect isn’t Crompton, the redshirt junior who has now thrown two touchdown passes and four interceptions in his four games as a starter this year, completed 64 of 123 passes, been charged with game-changing fumbles in losses to Florida and Auburn and generally been blamed for everything but the economic crisis and gasoline shortages since the opening loss to UCLA.
“Tough times come and go,” Crompton said. “We’re in tough times.”
That’s one of the few times he’s been on target all season. The Vols are now 1-3 overall, which hasn’t happened since 1994. They’re 0-2 in the SEC, which last occurred in 2000.
Those teams went on to 8-4 final records, but they were also quarterbacked during the last half of those seasons by Peyton Manning and Casey Clausen.
“We’re killing ourselves,” center Josh McNeil said. “When Ole Miss beat Florida (early Saturday afternoon), I thought, ‘What an opportunity for us to get a win.’ Instead, we just keep shooting ourselves in the foot.’”
But does that mean Fulmer and Clawson are about to give Crompton the boot?
Clawson admitted that it had been discussed during the third quarter, as the Vols kept squandering great field position.
“But then Jon had a really good run for a first down,” Clawson said of his QB’s 15-yard scamper on third-and-14 to the Auburn 26 on the Vols’ lone touchdown drive. “We decided to stick with him.”
But if they had made a change on that final drive of the third quarter, would it have been to insert Gerald Jones, Nick Stephens or McCallie School graduate B.J. Coleman?
“Nick,” Clawson said without hesitation. “Both Nick and B.J. are making really good progress. But Nick’s been getting more reps with the 1s (starters). B.J.’s been getting reps with the 2s (backups).”
There is another option that has rarely been discussed, at least partly because sophomore defensive back Eric Berry is clearly the Vols’ best defender.
But Berry also ran for more than 1,500 yards and threw for more than 1,000 yards during his senior year in high school. As good as Jones might become as a full-time quarterback, unless Clawson can find a way to have Jones throw the ball to Jones — who is arguably the Vols’ best receiver — it might make more sense to give Berry a try.
Just ask him.
“Oh, I’d love to have a chance,” Berry said early Saturday evening. “I could learn it. I could learn it this year. I’d really like a chance to get back on offense. I just miss handling the ball. But right now the coaches just seem to want me to make plays on defense only.”
The only problem with that is that right now the defense appears to be the only half of the team making plays. It held Florida to 243 total yards last week. It held the Tigers to 226 total yards.
But when the offense is gaining just 191 yards — as it did against Auburn — and when the quarterback is now 0-3 for his career in SEC starts, there’s only so much the defense can do.
Even Clawson was forced to admit, “When we play like we did today, it’s hard to feel like we’re really close.”
If the UT offense keeps playing like it did today, Fulmer and his staff might find themselves really close to pink slips.
Mark Wiedmer started work at the Chattanooga News-Free Press on Valentine’s Day of 1983. At the time, he had to get an advance from his boss to buy a Valentine gift for his wife. Mark was hired as a graphic artist but quickly moved to sports, where he oversaw prep football for a time, won the “Pick’ em” box in 1985 and took over the UTC basketball beat the following year. By 1990, he was ...
Crompton should have been pulled out of the first game. If U.T. does not have a better QB in the wings then we deserve to lose the rest of the sec match-ups.
The play calling is terrible. I refer you to Epps article last week showing Fulmer's dismal record since 1998 with and without Cutliffe
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