Let me state upfront, I think the Vols and Coach Bruce Fulmer have overacheived for the 2nd year in a row. Congratulations to the Big Orange for making us all proud.

However, I can’t help but draw some comparisons between the Tennessee-Florida football game in 2006, and the Tennessee-Ohio State Sweet Sixteen basketball game in 2007.

I happen to think that both Tennessee squads overacheived in their most recent seasons. I think both coaching staffs did a miraculous job of winning with the talent that they had on hand, which in my opinion was less than some of the competition.

In both games, Tennessee was playing an atheltically superior team (by almost everybody’s estimate). In both games Tennessee jumps out to a lead and blows a chance to put the nail in the coffin. In both games Tennessee fails to exploit obvious weaknesses in the defense. In both games Tennessee sits on a lead and stops attacking. In both games Tennessee goes from predator to prey, trying to hold on for dear life at the end only to become a meal.

I equate the failure to exploit Oden’s foul trouble and the resistance to pound the ball down low, with the resistance to throw the ball against a Gator defense that completely shut down the run and never really stopped the pass. Two equally disastrous strategic errors. The difference being that Fulmer and Co. are usually portrayed as a group of bafoons while Pearl and Co., on the other hand,  are “pure genius”. I can see the point in trying to establish the running game late against Florida, but I fail to see any merit in the Vols 2nd half offensive strategy against Ohio State.

I hope both coaching staffs can look at their most heartbreaking loss and understand a critical point. The worst way to protect your lead is to stop trying to increase it.