Tennessee has tabbed North Carolina coach Butch Davis as the leading candidate to replace ousted football coach Phillip Fulmer.
Whether the school can secure Davis remains to be seen. Davis has said publicly that he is happy at North Carolina because of the family environment in Chapel Hill and the opportunity to rebuild a program that has long struggled.
If UT can't get Davis, Mike Leach of Texas Tech and Brian Kelly of Cincinnati will become strong possibilities. Tim Brewster from Minnesota also will be considered.
As for Davis, the Volunteers will offer better facilities and more exposure than North Carolina. UT also will offer the chance to coach in the SEC.
That could be perceived as a pro or con. While the SEC is a much higher-profile conference than the Atlantic Coast Conference, it also is widely believed to be a more difficult conference to win and subsequently compete for national championships.
Davis, 56, turned down advances from Arkansas last season. He played defensive end for the Razorbacks before a knee injury curtailed his playing career. Davis became a volunteer coach and graduated in 1974.
Davis has turned around the Tar Heels in just his second season. North Carolina, 7-2 after beating Georgia Tech Saturday, finished 4-8 in 2007.
Streak over
Tailback Arian Foster's streak of 23 consecutive games started came to an end Saturday.
Nursing a thigh bruise suffered in last week's 27-6 loss at South Carolina, Foster was a late scratch from the starting lineup, ending his streak one game shy of Jay Graham's record of 24 consecutive starts by a tailback during Fulmer's tenure as coach.
Fulmer said coaches had expected Foster to start.
"Really thought Arian would go today,"
Fulmer said. "He was limited some on Tuesday, better on Wednesday, he was better on Thursday."
"Arian's been really a tough guy. If he couldn't go, he couldn't go since he's been here. That surprised us a little bit."
With back-up Montario Hardesty out with a stress fracture in his leg, sophomore Lennon Creer and true freshman Tauren Poole combined for 126 rushing yards.
Still, offensive coordinator Dave Clawson was also a little surprised that Foster didn't play Saturday.
"It just caught us off guard,"
Clawson said. "We didn't know until this morning. He said it just didn't feel right and couldn't push off it."
