Here are 6 links of interest for fans of the Tennessee Volunteers. Give Him 6! is a weekly feature here on Checkerboard Chatter. We try to put links to 6 articles or blogs that you will find informative and interesting. If you ever have suggestions for the weekly Give Him 6! just let us know.

This week, we focus on the upcoming game against the LSU Tigers.

Once upon a time on an October afternoon in a place called Baton Rouge there was a quarterback who very nearly beat the 10th ranked college football team in all the land.  The quarterback wasn't particularly highly recruited and, in fact, he could be considered an overachiever.  He didn't play wonderfully that afternoon, but he made plays and kept his team competitive.  Ultimately, it wasn't enough as a late defensive penalty ruined the quaterback's chance for victory.  But, fans of the quarterback's team will always remember what almost happened. 

If you watched Tennessee play LSU on October 2nd, 2010 then you certainly remember the outcome.  If you've followed the Vols since that day it's somehow easy to forget that Matt Simms, and not Tyler Bray, led Tennessee to one of the most painful losses in school history.

In each recruiting class of the Derek Dooley era the Vols have landed one surprising prospect each year. This year many believe that player will be 5-star DE, Darius Hamilton of New Jersey. Hamilton has offers from everywhere, but oddly enough favors his hometown college and childhood favorite, Rutgers University. While the Scarlet Knights lead for his services, he has told Rivals that he will visit Tennessee, California, Florida, and LSU. He said he is not sure if Rutgers will get an OV because he knows the school so well. While they are definitely a dark horse in the race for Hamilton, make no mistake, they are in the race. Hopefully, when he sees the bare state of the Vols’ defensive line, he will decide to be that surprise 5-star everyone is hoping for.

I like Clay Travis.  I'm not one of those scorned Bama or Auburn fans who are angry with Clay for having exposed some shady aspect of their respective football program.  I'm not one of those holier-than-thou bloggers who thinks every sports website should be held to the same high journalistic standards as a print newspaper.  If Clay, or anyone else for that matter, wants to publish pictures of college players in really expensive suits or report the retail price of an athlete's high dollar vehicle and use some deductive reasoning to infer that a violation might have taken place, I have no problem with it.  OutkicktheCoverage.com is Clay's website to do with whatever he wishes. 

After Tennessee's loss to Georgia on Saturday night, Clay published this article on his website that states that Derek Dooley will be firmly on the hot seat if his Vols don't win in the remainder of the month of October.

Clay is a great writer.  Clay has a great website.  Clay is DEAD WRONG on this issue. 

A few weeks back, Checkerboard Chatter brought you an article breaking down Tennessee’s top JUCO targets for 2012 (link). Today, we’re going to take a quick look at where the Vols stand with these guys, and what’s new in their recruiting processes. Are they still interested in Coach Dooley and the Big Orange? Or has their focus shifted elsewhere?

 Saturday evening the Volunteers endured a series of setbacks. First and foremost, the Vols lost a SEC contest to the Georgia Bulldogs 20-12 in front of a sellout crowd. Possibly more painful than the reality of a second consecutive conference defeat and the likelihood that several more are looming before Halloween arrives, is the injury report.

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The University of Georgia defeated the University of Tennessee by a score of 20-12 Saturday night under the lights in Neyland Stadium.  The game featured a 4th & 58, multiple intentional grounding penalties, a blocked extra point, correct pass interference calls, missed pass interference calls, multiple 4th down conversions (by UGA), an out of bounds onside kick, botched snaps, dropped passes, over thrown bombs, an overturned touchdown and key injuries.  To say this game was weird is an accurate statement.  Hamstring injuries to Tauren Poole and Malcolm Mitchell had an affect on the game, but the most significant injury was the one to Tyler Bray.  Late in the fourth quarter, Bray's follow-through hit a Bulldog helmet, and he sustained an injury to his right hand/wrist.  Bray was unable to return, and Matt Simms got the Vols into the endzone for their only touchdown of the ballgame (Simms 1-yard run) at the 2:45 mark of the fourth quarter.  The subsequent onside kick, however, was only catch-able for those not in the ballgame as it sailed out of bounds.  Ballgame.

The Essentials:
The 3-1 (0-1 SEC) Tennessee Volunteers take on the 3-2 (2-1 SEC) Georgia Bulldogs on Saturday at Neyland Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 PM ET/6:00 PM CT. The game will be televised on ESPN2 and can be heard throughout the state on the 68 affiliates of the Vol Radio Network.  The game can be heard online anywhere in the world by clicking here.

The Opponent:
The Bulldogs have played well of late after opening the season with losses to Boise State and South Carolina.  Georgia has won its last 3 games including a couple of SEC wins at Ole Miss and against Mississippi State.  Last week's win against State was a dominating performance in which Mark Richt's team sent a message to the rest of the conference that they weren't ready to pack it in just because of a couple of early season L's.