University of Tennessee Athletics
Inside The T Mailbag: The Bye Week Wins
November 06, 2014 | General
Each week, UTSports.com's Brian Rice answers questions from Vol fans on a variety of topics in and around Tennessee athletics. Send yours to him on Twitter: @briancrice or to UTSportsMailbag@gmail.com.
Before we kickoff this week's mailbag, I have an addendum to last week's edition. I had a question on who had the worst football visitor's locker room and I said they were all about the same. I have to give South Carolina credit, they've stepped up their game. There are two flatscreen TVs in the opponent locker room that added a nice touch, especially as we cheered for certain teams as we waited for the team to arrive on Saturday. It also didn't smell. And we celebrated in it. So it's pretty much the best.
Now that's settled, back to the questions:
Leslie: How are you spending the football off-week?
I've spent the first week of November the last several years as the public address announcer for the Southeastern Conference Soccer Tournament in Orange Beach, Alabama. So I drove to South Carolina separately from the team and headed down here Sunday after a victorious night's sleep in Columbia.
It's good to get away for a few days, even if it's a "working" vacation. There are definitely worse places to write a post-practice feature story than on the balcony of the 12th story of one of the condos the local host group put us up in for the week.
While having to stay neutral on the microphone, the trip has given me the chance to document one of the great runs by a UT team in a very long time. Backs against the wall down the stretch in the regular season, the team has fought and fought to a four-match unbeaten streak, which was extended with a 1-1 draw against Florida on Wednesday. As you've probably seen (and hopefully read http://1tn.co/1GrzjcM), Tennessee advanced to the semifinals on penalty kicks following the draw.
It's hard to say for sure if the work has been enough to earn them a spot in the NCAA Tournament, but it would be tough to make a case against their inclusion in the field at this point. Regardless of what happens Friday against Kentucky, I've very happy that I've had the opportunity to see this run in person and to be able to help tell their story from here in Orange Breach.
This is a good group with a great coach, and I'm glad that their work is being rewarded with the success on the field that they were anticipating at the start of the season.
Danny: What was the best moment against USC?
So there was a fan taunting me from the front row of the stands Saturday night. I spend the last few minutes of every game on the field, so I'm ready to be down there for postgame media stuff.
She called me "Orange Sweater Guy," since that's what I had on underneath my suit. I'll tell more of the story in my column tomorrow, but suffice to say, I was happy to see us win.
The best moment was being in the middle of the celebration and seeing the raw emotion from the players and coaches celebrating down in the corner of the stadium with our fans. The pure fan in me still comes out quite a bit, but seeing how much it means to the players was my favorite part. This picture that I took and sent out from the football account is probably by favorite moment:
Emotion. pic.twitter.com/b0cmcKgEbR
— Tennessee Football (@Vol_Football) November 2, 2014
Ivan: All UT Engineers are extremely proud of Joshua Dobbs. Keep up the great work on the field and in MABE!
When I saw the tweet that students planned to give Dobbs a standing ovation in class on Monday come across the screen Saturday night, I'm not sure that I believed it.
But that's exactly what they did:
Standing ovation for @josh_dobbs1 in his Circuits class today http://t.co/fFIn1xPNj7
— Vol Photos (@Vol_Photos) November 4, 2014
I don't want to knock any quarterback's academic pursuits, but what Dobbs is doing is pretty amazing. I've talked to a couple of people that have degrees in Aerospace Engineering recently, and they've said the same thing that I've been thinking. There's no way they could have handled anything other than their major.
Not only is he handling it all while also being an SEC QB, he's actually well ahead of the usual pace to graduate. I had to try three times to even spell "graduate" correctly in the last sentence.
Multiple people: What's Your Favorite Joshua Dobbs nickname?
Dobbs himself has said he prefers "Astro," and since I loved The Jetsons as a kid, I can totally go with that. But I have to admit, I was partial to "SpaceDobbs" before that. Jason Yellin and Jessie Butler that sit next to me during games can attest to that. I may or may not randomly exclaim "SpaceDobbs" from time to time during games, especially when he takes off running.
The best thing about the various nicknames has been all of the Photoshop edits that have been done depicting Dobbs as an astronaut. My favorite is the team unloading off the airplane, but the airplane has been replaced with the space shuttle. Never gets old.
Too good not to share. Best of the Dobbs' photoshop jobs. Via @rockytopinsider http://t.co/76WmzlgJqi pic.twitter.com/0GgwdkhEbK
— Vol Photos (@Vol_Photos) November 6, 2014
David: Did you see the Brian Randolph photo that resembled the old photo of Leonard Little standing over a tackled player?
You mean this one?
. @Randyboy37 @DBL_L_01 pic.twitter.com/sY5rFHFHbW (via @VFL2013)
— Vol Photos (@Vol_Photos) November 4, 2014
As a child of the 90s, the photo warmed my heart.
I'm pretty sure standing over a player like that is supposed to be a penalty. But it's not a penalty if it's not called and that one wasn't, so I loved it.
Stay safe on the off week, Vol Nation, and get your questions ready for next week!
