UTenn loses an exhibition game?!?

[Channing]

UTenn lost to Div II Indianapolis last night. (http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=5782664). While a top-25 losing an exhibition game is always newsworthy, its even more newsworthy given Pearl's tenuous relationship with UTenn right now (although it does happen, as with Syracuse last year).

With all the nonsense he put the program through over the summer, I can't imagine Pearl has a very long leash to work with.

[JasonEvans]

The final was 79-64, it wasn't even close.

It will be interesting to see if this impact's Tennessee's ranking in the polls. They were #20 in the pre-season and this was an exhibition game. The game result does not impact Tennessee's record and will not be part of their RPI calculation. It is very possible that Tennessee did not distribute their playing time minutes the way they would have in a regular game.

Still, I would expect Tennessee to drop in the polls, though I am sure some pollsters (especially in the Coach's poll) will ignore/not even notice the result of this game.

I agree that this is interesting in light of Pearl's unique contract situation at Tennessee. While I hardly see this one game being the thing that keeps the school from retaining him, if this is the harbinger of a poor season, that would certainly play a role in Pearl's future there.

--Jason "I bet Pearl did not sleep well last night" Evans

[mkline09]

Maybe Pearl had given his players too much to eat at his back yard picnic. It seems to me Tennessee is one extreme or the other. They are either blowing the doors off or incredibly disappointing. There seems to be no consistency there.

I'm sure the scandal has been a distraction and Pearl is doing his best George Costanza impersonation.

"Was that wrong? Had I know that sort of thing was frowned apon..."

[juise]

It's definitely not a good sign for the Vols (especially the margin). Let's also keep in mind that Syracuse lost to Le Moyne in exhibition last year and ended up rolling through the Big East and getting a #1 seed. Maybe an exhibition loss is a good wake up call sometimes.

[CEF1959]

Maybe Pearl had given his players too much to eat at his back yard picnic.

No, he had to many invitees and not enough hot dogs to feed his players as a result.

Karma.

[mkline09]

No, he had to many invitees and not enough hot dogs to feed his players as a result.

Karma.

Good point. Should have picked up some Carolina Packers.