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Attendance starting to slip at Tennessee

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Published: October 7, 2008

KNOXVILLE, Tenn.

Tennessee is 2-3, including an embarrassing loss to Florida and unconvincing wins against UAB and Northern Illinois at home.

The Vols' unimpressive performances have not gone unnoticed at the box office.

The average attendance at Neyland Stadium through the first three games was 97,194 -- a few thousand below capacity -- and down by nearly 4,000 from what Tennessee averaged through the first three games last season.

Fans are calling for Coach Phillip Fulmer to be fired, much as they did last season after the Vols suffered big losses at California, Florida and Alabama. They said Fulmer was past his prime.

Tennessee responded last season by winning the rest of its games and getting a spot in the SEC championship game before losing there. Fulmer was rewarded with a new contract worth an average $3 million annually for the next seven seasons. He also has a pretty hefty buyout: Getting rid of him this season would cost $6 million.

At that price, fans say that Fulmer shouldn't have so much trouble winning big games and blowing out mediocre opponents.

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