Season saver?

Well it's been a while since my last post and a lot has been going on throughout UT and the NFL. The UT men finally got their first SEC win on Saturday and luckily we decided to attend. As far as the NFL goes my playoff picks have basically all been wrong except picking the Steelers to win it all. I probably should have had a few more posts considering Knoxville has been snowed in for 3 plus days, but like a lot of people, I didn't feel like doing anything either. I have a big interview with the Tennessee PGA on Wednesday and that's where most of my time has been focused. The start of 2011 has been interesting and the sports world started off with a bang by Auburn defeating Oregon to claim the BCS National Championship. The game didn't produce all the scoring that many experts thought it would(the over/under was 74.5), but in my opinion it was the best national championship game since Texas upset USC a few years ago.

2011 has been a rough start for the men's basketball team; however, they did get their first SEC win on Saturday against Vandy and it was a big one. Bruce Pearl quoted in the News Sentinel that the game was a must win and the team delivered after a horrible start by only scoring 8 points in the first 14 minutes or so of the first half. I have to admit I was pretty disappointed at half time and thought the team had thrown in the towel, but luckily they proved me wrong.  The game was a great one to see in person and as of now we hold the title as the best NCAA team in the state with a record of (6-0) against in state opponents. With victories over UT-Martin, Belmont, Memphis, Vanderbilt, MTSU, and UT-Chattanooga I think it is pretty clear who has the best program in the state and this should help with our in-state recruiting. Despite the great win I was very disappointed with our fan base throughout the game. We had around 10 football recruits and college gameday in attendance for the game. Even though there were several questionable calls throughout the game, I think it hurts our recruiting efforts when the fan base boos their own team. What recruit honestly wants to go to a school only to be booed if they are having a bad game? I know I wouldn't. Oh well, I think the basketball team kept their hopes of a NCAA tournament birth alive with this win, and hopefully this propels them to a win over UGA tomorrow night in Athens to bring their conference record back to .500.

Before I go I want to address the NFL playoffs. In the NFC the 2 representatives both come from the NFC North with the Chicago Bears hosting the Green Bay Packers. The Packers have found a running game that was virtually non-existent all season  and now look unstoppable on offense. The Bears did look good against the Seahawks, but I think the Seahawks upsetting the Saints was a fluke game and they showed their true colors this past weekend. Given that Soldier Field is a very tough place to go on the road and win, I just don't see the Bears defense being able to slow down Aaron Rodgers and the Packers offense right now. Final score 27-17 Packers. In the AFC we have the Pittsburgh Steelers hosting the New York Jets. I am sticking to my guns in this one and saying the Steelers will continue to roll. The Jets did surprise me by playing stellar d and getting some nice quarterback play out of Mark Sanchez on Sunday night in New England. I think this will be an ugly game and that's just how Pittsburgh likes it. Steelers defense holds off Sanchez and the Jets 17-13.

I look forward to hearing what you guys have to say about the basketball team and your predictions for the games coming up this weekend.