ShareThisBefore the start of this season, it was anticipated that Saturday's Tennessee at Georgia game would be the emotionally charged homecoming of first-year Vols' coach Derek Dooley.
He's returning to the town where he spent his childhood and the school where his father, Vince, coached for 25 years and was athletic director for more than two decades.
Since the Vols and Bulldogs are combined 3-7 overall and 0-5 in the Eastern Division, something absolutely unusual for this series, that feel-good story line has been detonated.
Welcome to the Desperation Bowl.
Because the Vols (2-3, 0-2) have struggled so mightily with a team short on talent and depth, Dooley hasn't even thought about Saturday's game like Opie returning to Mayberry for a reunion with childhood buddies.
"The Athens that I knew and the Georgia that I knew was my dad coaching as a kid, and that's it," he said. "When he stopped coaching and when I went to college, that ended.
"I left Athens when I was 18. I know I'm not old (42), but that was a long time ago. I've worn a lot of colors since that time. I've coached there already as an opponent. I've played there as an opponent. There won't be any nostalgia. I probably had more at LSU (where he was an assistant for five years under Nick Saban) than there will be at Georgia."
But for Vince Dooley and his vivacious wife, Barbara, who still live in Athens, it's hard not to ignore the nostalgia.
Vince, though, has had a plan in place for several months how to stiff arm the expected prying media and TV cameras that want to see his every reaction this weekend: He is locking himself away in his house -- presumably in a room with no windows so no one can see him even with telescopic lenses -- and watching the game alone.
"I've been at basketball games before (in the stands), and these high-tech cameras always found me," he said. "People would tell me about it afterwards, because I had no idea the camera was on me.
"But they aren't going to find me (Saturday). I'll be at home. I'll be rooting for my son. But I sure don't want to be in Sanford Stadium, where I spent most of my life, rooting for my son. I've got too much respect for Georgia."
He admits it will be a strange football Saturday, somewhat like the time his son was a freshman receiver in 1987 at the University of Virginia and the Cavs opened the season against Vince and the Bulldogs.
"I had to sleep with his mother, who had announced she was pulling for Derek," he said with a laugh. "I reminded her where her bread was buttered."
Mom, though, will be front and center on Saturday. She has too many good memories of the days she spent in Sanford Stadium with her family to skip it -- like the time 5-year-old Derek asked his dad if he could go down on the field for the Bulldogs' annual rivalry game against Georgia Tech.
There was a Dooley family rule that the kids couldn't be seen on a Georgia sideline during a game until they were 12 years old. Vince would only relent to Derek with one stipulation -- Georgia had to have a sizeable lead near the end of the third quarter. Only then could Derek get on the sideline for at least the fourth quarter.
Even then, there was the edict that Derek couldn't be a pain to his dad or the team.
The night before the game when the Dooleys held a family prayer, Derek's special prayer to Jesus was a request for a Bulldogs' blowout.
Little Derek's prayer was answered. Georgia led 42-7 at the end of the third quarter, so Barbara marched an excited Derek down to the field and dropped him off on the sideline.
"About that time, Tech scored twice, recovered an onside kick and was marching toward the goal again," Barbara recalled. "I looked around, and Derek was pulling on his father's pants. Vince was trying to shake him off. When Tech scored its 26th point (Georgia won 42-26), I saw Derek and Vince exchange words.
"That night when we were in bed, Vince turned to me and said, 'Barbara, did you see Derek talking to me during the game? Do you know what he said? He said, "Dad, don't worry about a thing. Jesus is just out here having a little fun!"'"
Maybe Saturday, for once in what has been a tough season, maybe Jesus will let Derek have a little fun.
SEC SIZZLE
-- 1. Auburn DT Nick Fairley: Has been a beast, leading the SEC in tackles for loss with 11 and sacks with five. And that's in just five games.
-- 2.. Georgia WR A.J. Green: His first TD grab of the year (leaping with his left hand, while turning completely around and staying inbounds) last week against Colorado had a huge "wow" factor.
-- 3. Alabama's poise: Tide never takes eyes off the immediate prize, which is a win each week.
SEC FIZZLE
-- 1. LSU coach Les Miles: Time stands still for no man, especially Coach Timex.
-- 2. Tennessee coach Derek Dooley: Got sucked into Miles' web of dumbness, resulting in an illegal substitution penalty and ultimately a win that turned into a loss.
-- 3. Florida's offensive line: Steamrolled by the Alabama D-line with a simple bull rush.
(Contact Ron Higgins of the Commercial Appeal in Memphis at rhiggins(at)commercialappeal.com.)
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