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Talk about a ripple effect. There’s nothing in sports quite like fan reactions when a beloved SEC school makes a drastic change to its football program. Just ask fans of the Tennessee Volunteers who just watched Phil Fulmer announce he’d be leaving the program at the end of the year.

Fulmer has been with Tennessee as either a player or coach since 1968. He was awarded the head coaching job in 1992. 40 years of service to one program gone, just like that.

Like I said, no one reacts quite like fans of an SEC school when things like this happen and boy, did the Tennessee fans ever react to Coach Fulmer’s resignation/firing/vacating his position at the end of year. Some fans are happy to see him go, while others are so happy, it seems like they are dancing on his grave. These latter types have drawn the ire of other Volunteer fans like the guys at LwS.

More Fulmer fallout after the jump >>

It looks like some Tennessee fans are getting their wish — it’s been announced Coach Fulmer will not be returning to coach the Volunteers next season. Fulmer will be paid the remainder of his $6 million salary. No word or speculation on who will be replacing the veteran coach who has one National Title, two SEC championships and a number of division titles to his credit.

For what it’s worth, Coach Fulmer’s Wikipedia page has already been updated with this breaking news. News travels fast in these parts.

Tennessee coach Phil Fulmer is not on solid ground right now and it might just crumble completely unless the Volunteers experience a turnaround of magnitude in the next three or so weeks. Currently, the Vols stand at a disappointing 3-5 — remember, Tennessee started the season ranked in the top 25 — and word is, a 6-6 record might not save Fulmer’s job.

7-5 might not either.

While these rumblings come across as speculation based on some insider conversations, it’s blatantly obvious no one is happy with how the 2008 season is turning out for the Vols. After winning the SEC East in 2007, a lot more was expected out of Fulmer’s bunch, and to this point, the entire team has failed miserably.

If these insiders are correct, it doesn’t sound like there’s much Fulmer can do to secure his future, even if his team wins out. Although, if they do win four-in-a-row, plus the bowl game, he could see a stay of execution. Tennessee’s remaining games include:

at South Carolina
Wyoming
at Vanderbilt
Kentucky

Of which, Tennessee will probably win at least two — but if the post is correct, that won’t be enough for another Fulmer term.

H/t to LWS, the first place I heard these rumblings.

After mistaking their way to a loss against the beloved Florida Gators, mixed with a dash of losing to a really suspect UCLA team, fans of the Tennessee Volunteers aren’t too pleased with the direction of the football program. Neither are University of Tennessee students, who voiced, er, painted their displeasure on the campus rock.

As was the intention, the “FIRE PHIL” message or any related complaining has not gone unnoticed by the Volunteers coach or his players. During his Tuesday presser, Coach Fulmer responded with the kind of candidness we like to see:

Coach Phil’s fired up after the jump >>

After getting smacked in the face by Florida, the Tennessee Volunteer natives are a little upset about the direction of their football program and so they decided to use the Rock to voice their opinion. As pointed out by LWS, the Rock sits on campus, close to where the football players study. I’m doubt the new message will go unnoticed.

Next up for the Volunteers — a Georgia team looking for some payback after getting blown out last year in Knoxville. Things could get ugly for Coach Phil, who probably wishes he was back in Atlanta, coaching his SEC East champion team up for a shot at the overall SEC Championship against LSU.

I’d say December seems like a long, long time ago for the Tennessee coaching staff.

The fourth week of the college football stanza could quite simply be labeled the weekend of the SEC. While USC and Oklahoma enjoyed the pleasures of a bye-week (that’s two for USC already), the boys from the south played a whole lot of football, giving the college football world a good idea about the talent these teams have.

Yes, the NC State/ECU game was entertaining, as was UNC/VTech. Notre Dame/Michigan State was fun too, but obviously, the real fun came after the Spartans dispatched the Irish again. These games also showed why the SEC has superior football. The talent on display down south is eye-opening, and just think, Vanderbilt has entered the top 25 as well; meaning no easy wins this season.

Rounding up college football after the jump >>

Welcome to the second week of All Out Blitz, IF’s weekly look at world of college football. After what looked like a ho-hum week, match-up wise, it turned out to be anything but.

East Carolina?
Leading the way was Dr. Lou’s son, Skip and his East Carolina Pirates. After absolutely smashing the West Virginia Mountaineers, 24-3, the Pirates entered the national rankings in the top 15 and rightfully so. In their last three victories, dating back to last season, the Pirates have played and beaten three ranked teams in impressive fashion.

More college football minutiae after the jump >>

All Out Blitz is our contribution to the world of college football wrap-ups. This will be a recurring post focusing on the weekend of college football that was.

The first week of college football has come and gone and what did we learn? Quite a bit, actually:

If National Champions were voted after week one, USC would be first with Alabama as a close, close second. Both teams played teams from the ACC conference — Virginia and Clemson respectively — and both teams put a beating on their opponents.

Mark Sanchez Arrives
USC whacked the Cavaliers in a such dominant fashion, some are already looking ahead to the BCS Championship. Is this a little premature? Probably but if USC continues to play that way on offense, coupled with their NFL-like speed on defense, they’ll be really hard to keep out of Miami. Another area of interest concerning USC has to do with quarterback Mark Sanchez.

After his brilliant performance against Virginia — 26-35 for 338 yards and three touchdowns and a “not his fault” interception — the “Leinart or Sanchez” discussions are already heating up. Based on my limited expertise, it certainly looks like Sanchez has the better skill-set than the Heisman-winning Leinart but he has a long way to go before he’s considered “better.” Remember, he has to at least win a National Championship before he can overtake Leinart.

Next up for USC is the much-anticipated battle with Ohio State, which takes place a week from Saturday.

Tide Rolls
After all that happened this weekend, if USC is number one, Alabama is a close second. Now, this will probably change as the season progresses, but after the first week and because you are only as good as your last game, Nick Saban’s Tide has to be considered one of the top teams. Their destruction of Clemson was so thorough — and surprising — Bama should vault into the top ten after starting the season ranked 24th.

Who says true freshmen need to be redshirted?

Special Teams Irony
Isn’t it ironic to watch Virginia Tech, a team noted for its sound special teams play, get beat on a special teams error? I wonder if Frank Beamer enjoyed the irony as much as I did. It’s doubtful, but you never know.

Tennessee Disappoints the SEC
Tennessee’s season got off to a rough start against UCLA. After a dominant, defensive first half that saw the Vols intercept UCLA quarterback Kevin Craft four times, giving them a 14-7 edge going into the second half, the Vols apparently left their defense in the locker room when the second half started.

In the second half, Craft was as great as he was horrific in the first, throwing for almost 200 yards and a touchdown. He also threw zero interceptions in the second as UCLA shocked Tennessee in overtime. If you think “shocked” is a little over-the-top, description-wise, be sure and read the reaction of Volunteers fan. If the vomiting doesn’t translate to shock, nothing will.

In other news, LSU avoided the Appalachian State pitfall; Kentucky’s defense outscored Louisville’s offense in a game no one thought UK would win, making your author very happy indeed; and Rich Rodriguez started his Michigan tenure with a loss. Missing out on Terrell Pryor is going to haunt him until he gets a quarterback capable of running his spread offense.

Too bad Pat White is in Morgantown West Virginia tearing new holes into his opponents.

The Intentional Foul top five*:

1. USC
2. Alabama
3. Ohio State
4. West Virginia
5. LSU

*This is not based on preseason hype. It’s based on who looked the best during the weekend and accumulates from there. Yes, Bama started the season ranked 24th in the ESPN poll, but if they didn’t look like the second best team in the country as they dismantled Clemson, you weren’t watching close enough. However, if they look bad against Tulane, they will drop out, just like any other team in the IF top five.