The Tennessee Volunteers take on the Virginia Tech Hokies on New Year's Eve in the Chik-fil-A Bowl.

The Hokies opened up as 4.5 point favorites. The line has held steady & the game features a 49-point over/under.

As we normally do, and are quite sure our competition will begin to emulate, we have sought out the opinion from the opposing team's fans. The guys from The North Endzone (Bloguin team mates) came through & drove it out of the park.

Will the UT faithful let the fans of the Hokies get in the last bit of smack? NEZ brought it, that is for sure.

Who are these coaches and what have they done to deserve inclusion on our Coaches Hot Seat List?

Please note:  This list is what it is ... it is my opinion and if you believe my opinion sucks, that is fine:  put it in the comments and we'll talk about it because we are always up for solid conversation.  Also, the indicated records are only the records the coach has compiled at that school.

What will get a football coach fired faster?  A poor record or lost concession stand sales?  If you said concession stand sales, then you would be correct.  Money drives everything.  If you want your coach canned simply do not show up to the game or if you do attend, don't buy anything.  Fan apathy can be a killer.  Don't believe me?  Just ask Phillip Fulmer about that one. 

The Kentucky Wildcats face off in the Music City Bowl on December 27th against the Clemson Tigers. This will be the Wildcats' third trip to Nashville in the post season ... can the Cats get up for one more game this year or will they fall to the Clemson Tigers?

Kentucky has been here before. Victorious in 2006 and 2007's Music City Bowls, will the Wildcats view this trip as ho-hum return trip to Nashville? That is difficult to determine, but one thing is for sure: Rich Brooks tends to have his football team's attention when it comes to bowl season.

Kentucky has never had four straight bowl appearances in school history until now.

This game will come down to two simple things: Kentucky must be able to get the ball to Derrick Locke and Randall Cobb on offense ... and not allowing the homerun pass while stopping CJ Spiller on defense.

Sounds easy enough until you look at the stats.

Phillip Fulmer once sat atop Rocky Top as a lone sentinel, guarding the Orange Nation ... oh who are we kidding?

Fulmer, regarded as one of the best offensive line coaches to ever coach in the South, has been passed over time after time, after time, after time the past two seasons ... has the game left Phillip Fulmer behind?

Fulmer, owner of the second best winning record in UT football history (152-52 over all), was a good coach.  Somewhere along the way, Fulmer lost sight of what UT football was ... in a Freudian way, Fulmer had installed himself as UT football.

That might sound crazy to some, but if you go back and listen to the comments the man made the last four years he was the head coach at Tennessee, it will be obvious.

From 1992-1999, Tennessee had never had a better football coach.  The team was poised, it seemed to always be ready ...

Mark Ingram became the first Heisman Trophy winner in Alabama Crimson Tide history.  In receiving the award this past weekend, Ingram was humble and even had a Tim Tebow moment by crying at the podium.

The looming question is:  Will the Ingram led Tide fall victim to the curse that follows the Heisman Trophy winner?

You know the curse:  Win the trophy, lose the bowl game.

Apparently getting arrested (and subsequently released with all charges dropped) is enough to disqualify a player from making All SEC as a Freshman ... can anyone spot the one obvious player that is missing from this team?

While I am in no way condoning what this player did ... he was there ... but to be ignored from this list is ridiculous.

There are ten SEC teams playing in post-season bowl games this year.  No other FBS Conference has 83% of their teams bowl eligible. The SEC is favored in seven of ten games, but only one bowl game has an SEC team favored by more than 7.5 points (Sugar Bowl).

With many of the games scoping at 4.5 points (or less), the SEC will not win 70% of their bowl games ... it is still the best football conference in America, but we had a down year.

Come join the SECRivals Bowl Game Pick Em

The SEC East endured a down year this football season.  Most of the entire Eastern Division was log jammed at 7-5.  Even front runner Florida proved to be no match for the Alabama Crimson Tide in the SEC Championship Game.

After enduring a down year, many fans had high hopes for the SEC East for the 2010 football season ... think again.

There have been several SEC East assistant coaches that will turn out to be 'league changing events' by the time the 2010 SEC football season arrives.  What are the teams that are most affected by these moves and what is the measure of the void that has been left in their wakes?

It is that time of year again.  Come join us for the fifth annual Shutup Mike Bowl Challenge.

SECRivals.com has ran a bowl challenge pick em each year in honor of our founder Mike "Shutup Mike" Anderson.

We would be honored if you could join us this season and determine who the best college football picker out there is.

Of course, if you run a website, posting on your own site (and inviting more people into this) is completely up to you.

We are examining the potential of returning prizes to the mix, but that will be determined by participation amount.

Cutoff for entry is kick-off of the first bowl game on December 19th at 4:30pm

This year's bowl challenge will be held on PoolHost.com.

1)  Simply go to PoolHost.com and register

2)  After confirming your registration, log in and go to "user tools" ---> Join a Public Pool

3)  Click on the College Football Bowl Photo

4)  Scroll down the list until you find "SECRivals.com" as the pool ID

5)  password for entry is "password" without the quotes

That is all there is to it.