At first look, I was caught in a sports dilemma Saturday night. 

On the one hand, the Tennessee men's basketball team played at South Carolina, while the New England Patriots hosted Jacksonville. 

Both games start at 8 p.m.

Now, being a lifelong Patriots fan (I was born in Massachusetts and lived there until I was six years old, don't question the fanhood), there was no way I was going to miss a playoff game, even if my school's basketball team was playing.

So, making an attempt to be innovative and not have snakes be put in my bed by my roommates, the Vols' game was put on our living room television.

I brought my TV in from my room and put it in the back corner.  I put it on the Pats game, keeping the set on mute.  From my chair, all I had to do was turn my head to see both.

Of course, not being at either game, problems arise of trying to find ways to write columns, so I decided to break out a special version of my "Thoughts" column I usually reserve for the Super Bowl. 

These are in chronological order throughout both games: 

- I found out it's not the easiest thing in the world to try to pay attention to two games at the same time while trying to take notes on both, but I still managed to juggle it all and go on digg.com a couple times throughout the night.  I like to call that multi-talented.

- It took no time at all to realize that the Volunteers learned from their close call with Ole Miss.  The Rebels were definitely the aggressor Wednesday night. They out-rebounded the Vols and manhandled them underneath the basket.  Early in the South Carolina game Tennessee came out aggressive, with Wayne Chism exploding toward the rim on a shot and getting second and third chance shots.  More on this later.

- Of course, Tennessee didn't fix everything in a matter of a couple days. They're still taking bad shots, including one by J.P. Prince that resulted in a foul on Childress because the ball bounced right off the backboard.  If the team could learn to run the offense every time down the court, this wouldn't happen.

- Jacksonville goes for it on their first fourth down, turning it into a first and goal.  They know to beat a 16-0 team they have to pull out all the stops, and they are willing to do it.

- Tennessee is winning the rebounding game with ease, and it's paying off.  They are doing a good job of exploding to the rim.  Once the shot goes off, if you are on offense, time the jump and leap above the rim no matter where you are.  You have to go after the ball; you can't let the ball come to you.  If you are on defense, you have to think boxing out first, because you can't let the other team do the same to you.

- The Patriots seem to be having a rough early going, allowing an early touchdown then getting sacked on their first play.  Brady adjusts quickly, using the Jacksonville over-pursuit to break open a Maroney screen for a large gain.

- One reason you have to be able to pull out every single stop to beat the Pats: Because the Pats will do the same to you.  New England goes for it on fourth-and-four, getting a 14-yard play from Brady to Moss for the first down.

- Man, J.P. Prince is impressive.  He is so hard to stop when he drives with his body under control; he is always able to square up to the basket no matter where he is on the floor.  It adds another dimension to this team.  Now teams have to be worried about more than the three-point shot, they have to guard against Prince's drive.  That makes this team very hard to stop with him in the line-up.

- Now in the second half, there is another example of what makes this team so hard to stop: its versatility.  The Vols starting center, Chism, shoots a three and the starting point guard, Jordan Howell, gets the rebound and put back.  How often do you get to say that at this level.

- Two minutes later you get a bit of the Pats versatility, with a Wes Welker reverse.  Brady is in there throwing the block.  Moss hasn't been heard from much, but the Pats have been getting it done on the ground when they have spent the entire season through the air.

- Tennessee's press is starting to get to the Gamecocks, with back-to-back plays showing the advantages .  JuJuan Smith gets a steal and basket, then the Vols go right back into their press, South Carolina breaks it but the press still works by speeding them up and forcing a poor shot.

- It's 14-14 at halftime in Foxborough.  Of course, you think nothing of it when your team is 16-0.  If it happens again, this wouldn't be the first time it's close at the half then the Patriots either break it open in the second half or get the close win.  Or you could use one of my roommate's logic: "Yeah, they always pay the refs off at halftime."

-  The two quarterbacks are a combined 24-for-26 in the first half, with both incompletions coming from Garrard. There was no doubt Jacksonville has what it takes to beat New England.  They scared me the most going into the playoffs.

- The most overused phrase of the next couple weeks in the SEC will be the following: "The Volunteers offense is clicking and the All-American candidate Lofton hasn't heated up yet, think of what happens when he gets going."

- Just saw on Andy Katz's blog on ESPN.com that Ole Miss is submitting a complaint to the SEC about a no-call late in the Tennessee game on Wednesday.  The call in question came when Dwayne Curtis got a rebound, missed two offensive put backs and then appeared to get fouled by Howell and Chism.  Even if they did miss a call, it's not the reason they lost the game.  It's plausible for every coach that lost a game to have a call or no-call go against him (every winning coach too, for that matter).  I admit, when I was younger I always blamed the refs for bad games.  Now I realize it is very, very rare for a game to be lost because of a missed call, it's the players on the court that win or lose the game.  Ole Miss got multiple second chance shots.  The difference is, Tennessee, who ended up winning that game, went back and worked on not letting those second-chance shots happened, and came out as the aggressor this time against South Carolina.

- I tend to talk a lot about "Sticking to your teams style of play and not letting the other team dictate the game."  What impresses me the most about the Patriots is they can come out with a completely different game plan every week for the team they are playing, making it difficult to prepare for.  It's the Patriots that have had the running game today, with Maroney having a big game while Moss has been shut down for most of the day.

- Of course, having Tom Brady doesn't hurt.  I've never seen someone able to run a fake like Brady does, this one for a touchdown.  Needless to say, it's been a fun season.

- Tennessee beats South Carolina 80-56.  They were able to work on a lot of things throughout the game.  They were able to create their own atmosphere on the road, being aggressive and controlling the boards.  If they are able to do the little things, like exploding towards the rim (seeing a pattern?) on offense and boxing out on defense, the whole "height disadvantage" won't be a factor at all, and it will make this team next to impossible to stop.

- The announcers were talking about Rodney Harrison's quote on how youth is overrated and experience is what counts most.  It's hard not to believe that with what all the Boston teams have done this year.

- Tennessee alum Donte' Stallworth gives the extra effort, leaping for a first down to secure the game with 2:18 left.  That right there is why this team is about to be 17-0.

- The Patriots move on to another AFC Championship game, beating the Jags 31-20.  With both of my teams winning, again, it doesn't get much better.  I've loved every minute of the Patriots ride, no matter what anyone says about the team with what happened in Week One, or with every crack taken at this team, because you can't deny they get it done on the field.  The trick is to never look back and never look to far forward. I will never get tired of it, because when you get tired of winning, you're in trouble.