On those rare occasions that University of Tennessee sports fans turn their attention from football coach Lane Kiffin to their men's basketball program, their discussions usually revolve around three individuals: Bruce Pearl, Tyler Smith and Scotty Hopson.

KNOXVILLE -- Jonathan Crompton and Wes Brown were talking about their final night inside Neyland Stadium a few days ago, a couple of Tennessee seniors looking ahead to their last home football game against Vanderbilt.

KNOXVILLE -- There's a reason the Vanderbilt Commodores finished 0-8 in the Southeastern Conference this season and 2-10 overall after Saturday's 31-16 loss at Tennessee.

The Southeastern Conference football championship game between Alabama and Florida inside the Georgia Dome is 19 days away.

OXFORD, Miss. -- No way Dexter McCluster was going to get past Chris Walker again. Not when McCluster stands 5-foot-9 and checks in at 170 pounds after a buffet binge while Tennessee's Walker stands 6-3 and weighs 232.

OXFORD, Miss. -- Tennessee's football players tried to say all the right things about a week gone wrong long before Saturday's 42-17 loss at Ole Miss.

The words scrolled across cable news channels all Thursday afternoon: Three Tennessee football players arrested for armed robbery.

Just in case you're one of those misdirected college football fans who believes your basketball counterparts begin too early, ESPN's Joe Lunardi has already released his first NCAA tournament bracket.

KNOXVILLE -- "A real family person."

Alex Apyan hadn't had a chance to check the latest Bowl Championship Series rankings early Sunday evening.

KNOXVILLE -- You always want to win your homecoming game. Especially when you're a first-year coach replacing an alum who was something of a legend and not exactly happy to no longer be in charge.

KNOXVILLE -- Jonathan Crompton looked left, for at least a full second, more than enough time to deep-freeze a Memphis defensive back.

It's about Georgia's black football helmets, the ones just worn in the Bulldogs' 41-17 loss to Florida.

If the Tennessee Titans win a football game but no one watches it on television, does it still count?

KNOXVILLE — Lane Kiffin looked around the media room following Tennessee’s 31-13 victory over No. 21 South Carolina late Saturday night. It was still officially Halloween, at least for a few more minutes. America’s clocks were about to fall back. The final third of UT’s season was about to move forward.

KNOXVILLE — Like any sensible 9-year-old, Matthew Grim watched the opening kickoff of Saturday night’s South Carolina-Tennessee game from the closed comfort of Neyland Stadium’s press box rather than outside in the cold rain.

You think Southeastern Conference Bylaw 10.5.4 hasn't been texting and tweeting Lil Lane Kiffin all week, showering him with candy, nuts, flowers, Get Out of Jail (Almost?) Free cards?

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- The human mountain Terrence Cody stood atop Bryant-Denny Stadium's field early Saturday evening, salty tears streaming down his face, his 354-pound body shaking with both joy and

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Denarius Moore had done all he could against the nation's No. 1 football team. Tennessee's junior wideout had just caught four passes against Alabama for 73 yards, the top yardage on the team.

Never let it be said that John Calipari enters a room, or a conference, through the side door. The man has yet to coach a single basketball game at Kentucky yet is already calling out his rivals at Tennessee and Louisville.

KNOXVILLE -- Tennessee senior linebacker Rico McCoy's eyes widened with excitement. His voice rose a decibel or two.

Fifty-nine to zero.

It's that time of year again. Time for the return of the BCS rankings, or as they are less affectionately known in some quarters, the Boneheaded Computer Standings.

Sunday night long ago had handed the baton to Monday morning. Almost every other Indianapolis Colt, coaches included, was already on the bus parked beneath the Tennessee Titans' LP Field.

Tyler Smith was never going to be a University of Tennessee basketball lifer. Not with one of the most versatile skill sets in the Southeastern Conference. Not with AAU buddies such as Thaddeus Young, Corey Brewer and Jamont Gordon already playing for pay.

Contrary to popular belief, actor Dennis Haskins wasn’t able to retire from the royalties he’s earned as Mr. Belding on “Saved by the Bell.”

In Phillip Fulmer’s first full seven seasons as Tennessee’s head football coach, the Volunteers won 72 games and a national championship and posted five years with 10 or more wins.

The sun was slowly setting over Black Creek early Sunday evening. The temperature was 67 degrees. The sky mostly blue. The trees surrounding the golf course just beginning their annual art class in leaf painting.

NASHVILLE -- Perhaps there's a simple reason why the Tennessee Titans are 0-5 and the Indianapolis Colts are 5-0 after the Colts' 31-9 victory over the Titans Sunday night at LP Field.

NASHVILLE -- Eddie George was supposed to have Sunday night free from his commentary duties for the Westwood One radio network.

KNOXVILLE -- Here came Tennessee quarterback Jonathan Crompton, running briskly toward Neyland Stadium's north end-zone stands -- running toward his parents, David and Janet.

KNOXVILLE -- For the first time since a season-opening rout of Western Kentucky, Tennessee senior running back Montario Hardesty could break into a smile after a game.

Jerod Turner was 14 years old when his mother, Cynthia, decided he needed golf lessons.

KNOXVILLE — Ninety-nine percent of the time, Tennessee junior tight end Luke Stocker comes across as the ultimate Southern gentleman. Soft-spoken. Polite. Selfless.

Five games into a college football season you want more answers than questions. You want to know -- not think, KNOW -- your strengths ... and your weaknesses. You want to know -- not think, KNOW -- the players you can count on ... and those you can't.

KNOXVILLE -- You can't say Tennessee football coach Lane Kiffin doesn't want to win. With Saturday's third quarter against Auburn less than three minutes from ending, his Volunteers down 10 and facing a fourth-and-1 on their own 29-yard line, Kiffin went for it.

Gail Reveiz tried to stay calm Saturday night. Son Nick may have been writhing in pain on the Neyland Stadium turf, his right knee turned to scrambled eggs, his Tennessee football career in great jeopardy.

KNOXVILLE -- Let's pretend you're Ohio football coach Frank Solich. You've got fourth-and-goal at the Tennessee 1-yard line midway through Saturday night's third period. You trail the Volunteers 24-17 at that moment, a stunning score given that UT entered this contest a 23-point favorite.

KNOXVILLE -- For the second year in a row, Tennessee found the perfect cure for a two-game losing streak: hosting a Mid-American Conference school.

What will talk show host Conan O'Brien, the Atlanta Braves and Chattanooga's McKenzie Arena have in common as of Dec. 3?

First Michael Phelps. Now Melanie Oudin.

On most mid-major college campuses, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football coach Russ Huesman would be the Big Man on Campus these days.

The e-mail arrived early Monday morning, the first of its kind in several years.

NASHVILLE — Houston Texans coach Gary Kubiak kept shaking his head in disbelief Sunday afternoon.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- "I don't think he's human. I really don't."

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- For perhaps the first time in his life, Eric Berry smiled in defeat Saturday evening.

Heath Shuler hasn't had the best of weeks as a second-term U.S. congressman from North Carolina's 11th District.

Joe Steffy knows the routine by heart. Late in the second quarter of Saturday's Army-Ball State football game, the 1947 Outland Trophy winner will ease his 83-year-old body into a golf cart and be driven to the 50-yard-line of the U.S. Military Academy's Mishie Stadium.

KNOXVILLE -- It didn't take the messages long to pile up Monday night on various Web sites throughout the Volunteer State.

The numbers are anything but pretty: UCLA 19, Tennessee 15. LSU 23, Vanderbilt 9. Furman 38, UT-Chattanooga 20. And just to make sure we include our state's professional football team -- Pittsburgh Steelers 13, Tennessee Titans 10.