Clock is ticking: Fulmer's time to leave is approaching

• Gone 20-25 against ranked teams.

• Gone 3-5 in bowl games.

At the risk of piling on, it should also be pointed out that UT has lost at least three games in seven of the past eight seasons, not finished in the top 10 since 2002 and signed recruiting classes ranked outside the top 20 in two of the past three years, and it's all apparently making his players delusional.

How else to explain Jonathan Crompton's quote?

"We shot ourselves in the foot," Crompton said. "We should've won the game, in my opinion."

Seriously?

What game should the Vols have won, Mr. Crompton?

The UCLA game?

Last season's SEC Tournament basketball game against Arkansas?

Because these Vols were never in this game after falling behind 17-0 barely 10 minutes post kickoff. They were down 20-0 at the half and 27-0 after three quarters, but at least they now know how Ohio State must've felt last week. Tennessee turned the ball over three times and was penalized nine times for 95 yards, and I find it hilarious that this is a school that can educate a man well enough where he's (allegedly) capable of hacking into Sarah Palin's personal email but can't teach its football players to stay onsides and stuff.

Anyway, it's hard to imagine things getting better.

Sure, Tennessee will always be good because it's Tennessee and the support in this state is rivaled by few. But Fulmer is now 4-12 against Urban Meyer, Nick Saban and Mark Richt, and those coaches don't seem ready to slow or stall soon. That means the Vols can't reasonably be considered any better than the fourth-best (and it's probably more like the fifth-best or sixth-best) program in the league or third-best program in the SEC Eastern Division going forward, and so the question is whether this is good enough for a fan base that sends 106,000 into its stadium?

That's what Hamilton has to consider.

Because though Fulmer's supporters claim he can still get things turned around, why don't you try to supply a list of coaches who have reached the pinnacle of their sport, dipped for a few years and then managed to steady things and approach or reach the pinnacle again?

Bear Bryant is an obvious example, I guess.

But besides that there aren't many guys who match the criteria, which means if you're waiting for Fulmer to position Tennessee for another national title (after three straight years of at least four losses), what you're waiting for is something that rarely happens if it happens it all. That's the reality of the situation, and it doesn't mean Fulmer is a bad coach or dumb or any of the things his harshest critics scream. It just means he's been at the same school for 17 seasons, and these things tend to happen after a while. Just ask Florida State.

Either way, the only guarantee is that it'll be complicated going forward.

The Vols are now 1-2 with two of their next three games coming at Auburn and at Georgia, so they're staring down the barrel of 2-4. If that happens the heat will get hotter, Fulmer's long-term contract will be criticized and Hamilton will face the impossible task of trying to stand by his legendary coach at the risk of his flagship program sinking while Meyer, Saban and Richt continue to build monsters at his three biggest rivals (Florida, Alabama and Georgia).

Honestly, I'm not sure there's a right way to handle what's to come.

But I'm sure it's coming.

And sooner rather than later.