Fulmer takes the blame

Florida's Ryan Stamper recovers a Montario Hardesty fumble after Tennessee's third play from scrimmage on offense. (T-G Photo by Danny Parker)

It's hard to blame just one person for what happened at Neyland Stadium today.

Florida recovered two fumbles and scored 17 points in the first 10:18 to set the tone for a 30-6 win over the Volunteers.

The most consistent questions afterwards were "Are you embarrassed?" and "How frustrated are you with your offense inside the 20?"

Fulmer didn't shy away from the former, admitting, "I'm a professional. What we did out on the field today did not look like I wanted it to look. If you want to call that embarrassed, I'm not embarrassed by the effort of our team, I'm not embarrassed about the effort that we put into preparation."

The problem child, on this afternoon at least, appears to be special teams. The Vols knew going in not to kick the ball to Brandon James. They did anyways. The junior from St. Augustine, Fla., burned them with a 52-yard kickoff return to the Tennessee 44 to start the game.

James pushed UT over the hot coals again with a 78-yard punt return for a score with 4:42 to go in the opening quarter.

To make matters worse, in a rivalry where the victor usually wins the battle on the ground, the Vols averaged only 3.1 yards per carry.

"I'm very disappointed that we did not give ourselves a chance to be successful. We've played three ballgames. There's a lot of football left to be played this season," Fulmer said.

Tennessee is scheduled to be back on CBS at 2:30 this coming Saturday at Auburn.

Stay tuned to see if the Orange and White give themselves a chance in that one.