Butch Jones walked into the Marriott ballroom and took his seat at the head table and it felt vaguely sad.
“Any other time, when the Tennessee coach would be here, there would be hundreds of people,” said Jim Reedy, a Tennessee fan. “And when he walked into the room, everyone would stand to applaud.”
There were not hundreds of people.
Nobody stood to applaud.
The plates of chicken, mashed potatoes and green beans may as well have been a last meal.
“I needed a little love so I thought I’d come to West Tennessee,” said Jones.
He was shut out, again.
But give the guy credit for showing up, anyway, for his annual visit to the Memphis Touchdown Club. When you get shut out by Georgia 41-0, even the name — Touchdown Club — is a potential punch line.