KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The 10th-ranked Tennessee Volunteers have lots to celebrate as they play their final home game of the season. They also have some serious questions to answer.
The Vols (8-2, No. 11 CFP ) can wrap up a second 7-0 slate at Neyland Stadium in three seasons, and a victory Saturday over the UTEP Miners would give them at least nine victories for a third consecutive season under coach Josh Heupel. This program hasn't had such a string of success since winning at least nine games in five straight seasons between 1995 and 1999.
That makes last week's loss to Georgia sting even more, especially with only two games left to impress the College Football Playoff committee. Tennessee defensive lineman Omari Thomas said the Vols can't look ahead.
“We feel like we still have a lot to play for this season, so we just have to continue to grow and get better as a team to get where we want to go,” Thomas said.
This Saturday also will be Tennessee's last chance before wrapping up the regular season at Vanderbilt to work out issues on the field. The defensive line once was considered one of the best in the country couldn't get through a Georgia line that gave up five sacks in a loss to Ole Miss the week before. The Vols didn't notch a single sack and hardly a hurry. Carson Beck picked the Vols apart, throwing for 347 yards and two touchdowns.
“We have to affect the quarterback,” Heupel said.
It doesn't help that Tennessee is a big favorite against UTEP (2-8). Coach Scotty Walden has seen the Vols up close after coaching Austin Peay when his Governors were routed 30-13 last season.
“That’s one of the best defensive lines in all of the country,” said Walden, who is the second-youngest coach in FBS at 34. “They are stout.”
The Vols need to keep quarterback Nico Iamaleava healthy. He spent last week in the concussion protocol before being cleared to play against Georgia. He then was sacked five times and hit hard several other times. The Miners lead Conference USA and rank 37th nationally with 25 sacks. The Miners also are 19th nationally with 71 tackles for loss.
“As a young guy, (Iamaleava has) been solid,” Heupel said, “but continued growth there (is needed).”
Tennessee running back Dylan Sampson just keeps running his way into the record books. Sampson has rushed for over 100 yards in nine of 10 games this season coming up only eight yards shy against Oklahoma. He has a school-record 21 rushing touchdowns, which leads the SEC and is tied for second in the Football Bowl Subdivision.
Sampson leads the SEC with 1,230 yards rushing, all-purpose yards (1,340) and 100-yard rushing games this season.
After starting the season with six straight losses, UTEP has won two of its last four games — beating CUSA rivals Florida International and Kennesaw State in overtime. Skyler Locklear threw four touchdown passes in the overtime win over Kennesaw State. The Miners had a bye week to prepare for Tennessee.
Tennessee has won 13 straight against teams from outside the Southeastern Conference, the Vols' longest streak since winning 27 consecutive games between 1969 and 1973. This streak started Sept. 1, 2022, with an opening win over Ball State. The Vols haven't lost to a team outside the SEC since the 2021 Music City Bowl to Purdue.
The Vols are 16-2 against non-SEC teams under Heupel.
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Georgia running back Nate Frazier (3) is stopped by Tennessee defensive back Andre Turrentine (2), defensive back Boo Carter (23) and linebacker Jeremiah Telander (22) during the first half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in Athens, Ga. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel yells to an official during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Georgia , Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in Athens, Ga. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava (8) thros a pass during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Georgia, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in Athens, Ga. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) — Countries of the world took turns rejecting a new but vague draft text released early Thursday which attempts to form the spine of any deal reached at United Nations climate talks on money for developing countries to transition to clean energy and adapt to climate change.
The draft left out a crucial sticking point: how much wealthy nations will pay poor countries. A key option for the lowest amount donors are willing to pay was just a placeholder “X.” Part of that is because rich nations have yet to make an offer in negotiations.
So the host Azerbaijan presidency with its dawn-released package of proposals did manage to unite a fractured world on climate change, but it was only in their unease and outright distaste for the plan. Negotiators at the talks — known as COP29 — in Baku, are trying to close the gap between the $1.3 trillion the developing world says is needed in climate finance and the few hundred billion that negotiators say richer nations have been prepared to give.
Independent experts say that at least $1 trillion is needed in finance to help transition away from planet-warming fossil fuels and toward clean energy like solar and wind, better adapt to the effects of climate change and pay for losses and damages caused by extreme weather.
Colombia's environment minister Susana Mohamed said without a figure offered by developed nations, “we are negotiating on nothing.”
Panama's Juan Carlos Monterrey Gomez called the “lack of commitment transparency feels like a slap in the face to the most vulnerable."
"It is just utter disrespect to those countries that are bearing the brunt of this crisis,” he said. “Developed countries must stop playing games with our life and put a serious quantified financial proposal on the table.”
Esa Ainuu, from the small Pacific island of Niue also blasted the lack of a number in the draft deal.
“For us in the Pacific, this is critical for us,” Ainuu said. “We can’t escape to the desert. We can’t escape somewhere else. This is reality for us. If finance is not bringing any positive, (then) why’re we coming to COP?”
Mohamed Adow, director of the think tank Power Shift Africa, also expressed disappointment at the lack of a figure. “We need a cheque but all we have right now is a blank piece of paper,” he said.
Iskander Erzini Vernoit, director of Moroccan climate think-tank Imal Initiative for Climate and Development, said he was “at a loss for words at how disappointed we are at this stage to have come this far without serious numbers on the table and serious engagement from the developed countries.”
Lead negotiator Yalchin Rafiyev emphasized how balanced the plan was, but all sides kept saying it was anything but balanced and pointed time was running out.
“We would like to correct the balance. It is completely tilted,” Pakistan delegate Romina Khurshid Alam said.
The European Union’s climate envoy Wopke Hoekstra called the draft “imbalanced, unworkable, and not acceptable.”
In a statement, the COP29 Presidency stressed that the drafts “are not final.”
“The COP29 Presidency’s door is always open, and we welcome any bridging proposals that the parties wish to present,” the Presidency said in a statement. It added that possible numbers for a finance goal will be released in the next iteration of the draft.
COP29 President Mukhtar Babayev convened the Qurultay — a traditional Azerbaijani meeting — where negotiators spoke to hear all sides and hammer out a compromise. He said that “after hearing all views, we will outline a way forward regarding future iterations.”
Other areas that are being negotiated include commitments to slash planet-warming fossil fuels and how to adapt to climate change. But they’ve seen little movement.
European nations and the United States criticized the package of proposals for not being strong enough in reiterating last year’s call for a transition away from fossil fuels.
“The current text offers no progress” on efforts to cut the world’s emissions of heat-trapping gases, said Germany delegation chief Jennifer Morgan. “This cannot and must not be our response to the suffering of millions of people around the world. We must do better.”
U.S. climate envoy John Podesta said he was surprised that “there is nothing that carries forward the ... outcomes that we agreed on last year in Dubai.” The United States, the world’s biggest historic emitter of greenhouse gases, has played little role in the talks as it braces for another presidency under Donald Trump.
Also on Thursday, the EU, Mexico, Norway and several other countries announced they would release plans to rapidly cut emissions over the next decade to meet the landmark Paris agreement’s goal of restraining global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial times, although they did not detail how those cuts would happen.
Under the agreement, countries need to detail their voluntary plans for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by early next year.
“There is a real risk of falling short,” said Tore Sandvik, Norway’s minister of climate and environment. “We must reinforce the message that the Paris agreement is functioning as intended.”
Associated Press journalist Ahmed Hatem contributed to this report.
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Antonio Guterres, United Nations secretary-general, speaks during a news conference at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
Children advocate for a clean planet during the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
Mukhtar Babayev, COP29 President, left, and Yalchin Rafiyev, Azerbaijan's COP29 lead negotiator, speak during a plenary session at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
Activists participate in a demonstration for climate finance at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
Austria Climate Minister Leonore Gewessler, left, talks with Australia Climate Minister Chris Bowen before a plenary session at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
Jennifer Morgan, Germany climate envoy, arrives ahead of a plenary session at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
Mukhtar Babayev, COP29 President, arrives for a plenary session at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
Activists participate in a demonstration for climate finance at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
Panama Climate Envoy Juan Carlos Monterrey Gomez, left, and Wopke Hoekstra, EU climate commissioner, attend a session on climate targets during the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
Activists participate in a demonstration for climate finance at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
A security person stands near a logo for the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
Activists participate in a demonstration for climate justice at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
