SB Nation - Arian Foster

The Record of Wrongs: South Carolina Gamecocks

Joel — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:37:04 -0000

Hear ye, hear ye. It's Time. Time for Tennessee Volunteer fans to gather for the ceremonial reading of the Record of Wrongs, a litany of the offenses committed by the South Carolina Gamecocks.

November 1, 2008: Tennessee 6, South Carolina 27, the 2008 game in which fans finally reached the fifth stage of grief. Almost immediately following acceptance came Fulmer's firing, widely considered one of the dreariest days in Tennessee football history.
October 27, 2007: Tennessee 27, South Carolina 24. Yes, we won this one, but we nearly drove off a cliff after a 21-0 halftime lead turned into a win in an overtime that almost wasn't but was because our own penalty allowed Daniel Lincoln to re-kick a missed field goal attempt to tie the game. (Yes, Lincoln says he knew about the penalty before he kicked the first one, but it's much more dramatic to ignore that particular information.)
October 29, 2005: No. 23 Vols lose 16-15 to Steve Spurrier due primarily to Arian Foster's fumble within a blade of fescue at the goal line, the blade that broke the camel's back so to speak, causing Randy Sanders to fall on his sword the following Tuesday.

Steve Spurrier wants to raise your taxes and bomb your buildings.

Um, they used to feature Blake Mitchell as their QB, and Blake Mitchell, well . . .

Um, this bizarrity:

Coach Steve Spurrier used to coach the Florida Gators, and once you get that stink on you, it never comes off. Credit him with much of Florida's Record of Wrongs as well.

Steve Spurrier once infamously said, "You can't spell Citrus without U-T." Bad enough, that, but it also spawned a thousand poor attempts at mimicry: You can't spell [. . .] without [. . .] LOL!!1

Steve Spurrier once said of Peyton Manning, "I know why Peyton came back for his senior year: he wanted to be a three-time Citrus Bowl MVP!"

South Carolina's logo features a "gaudy giant C," and "frightened . . . multitasking poultry" that is "squawking its little chicken heart out while molting":

Probably not true

Steve Spurrier is the devil.
South Carolina choose its school colors because its two most favoritist things are "black and blood." The institution's first president was an incisored living dead and now resides in a vault in the basement of the campus library.
The entire athletic department is kept afloat by revenue generated at the school's popular Tuesday Night Cock Fights. They're efficient, adding to the gambling take money made on the poor beaten contestants, as they are put on ice and shipped to Baton Rouge for breadin', fryin', and eatin'.

That's all I've got for now. The floor is open.

How Much Is Tennessee's Offense Improving?

Year2 — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:40:35 -0000

I hate that I-A teams play I-AA teams. The stats accumulated in those games don't make any sense for comparative purposes, and yet the NCAA doesn't subtract them from the I-A teams' totals. That gets on my nerves. When I unveil my stat-based voting system for the BlogPoll in another week or two, it will have all stats against I-AA teams eliminated.

I mention that because I noticed a great piece over at Rocky Top Talk looking at how much the Tennessee offense has improved over 2008's disaster. Unfortunately, they left the results against Western Kentucky in the figures. Now yes, technically WKU is a full I-A member, but it might as well be a I-AA team with the way they play. The Hilltoppers clock in at 151 in Jeff Sagarin's rankingsand are not good at all.

So, I decided to do a quick check of the same numbers to see how Tennessee is improving without the Western Kentucky outlier game included.

Category	2008	2009	2009 no WKU	Adjustment	Change over '08
Rushing Offense	122.92	188	140	-48	17.08
Passing Offense	145.83	188.8	166.75	-22.05	20.92
Total Offense	268.75	376.8	306.75	-70.05	38
Scoring Offense	17.33	29.4	21	-8.4	3.67
Passing Efficiency	99.79	115.5	96.91	-18.59	-2.88
Best Rusher	51.82	115	103.75	-11.25	51.93
Best Passer	108.3	114.2	96.91	-17.29	-11.39

The 2008 numbers are for the whole season, so as RTT warned, they include a more complete SEC slate than 2009 nascent numbers do. The 2009 column shows the current team stats, the next column should be obvious, the "Adjustment" shows what happens to the 2009 numbers when WKU is taken out, and the "Change over '08" column shows the difference between 2009 without WKU and 2008.

Even without the game against the Hilltoppers included, Tennessee's offensive stats are better than 2008. Total offense is up around 40 yards, scoring has risen by about a field goal, and 2009's best rusher Montario Hardesty is half a field per game better than last year's best rusher, Arian Foster.

The one area of decline is in passing. Passing efficiency overall has decreased a bit, and 2009's best (and basically only) passer Jonathan Crompton trails 2008's best passer, Nick Stephens. Not that Stephens was exactly setting the world on fire with his 108.3 mark, but Crompton's 96.9 is basically indistinguishable from his 98.1 of last season.

The overall verdict is essentially what we already knew: Tennessee's run game is better this year, but the passing game with Crompton is once again abysmal. That's not terribly surprising given that offensive transitions take time and aren't helped by a bad quarterback.

Opening Our Files: Roundup on Tennessee Previews & Other Volunteer Notes

Nestor — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 10:00:26 -0000

So let's officially open up our collective notebooks on Tennessee Volunteers. The Vols under first year head coach Lane Kiffin is coming off a picture perfect opener against newly minted D-1 Western Kentucky. The numbers the Volunteers piled up against the Hilltoppers were pretty sick. From the Tennessee team report posted over at Yahoo! Sports:

Western Kentucky turned Jonathan Crompton into Peyton Manning Lite, as the senior quarterback tossed five touchdown passes Saturday in a season-opening 63-7 annihilation at Neyland Stadium.

"To see Jonathan throw for five touchdowns today, more than he threw for all of last year, was really good for him," Kiffin said. "This is a quarterback and an offensive line that has been torn apart for a while now."

Crompton and the O-line did the tearing in front of a sun-drenched crowd of 98,761. Tennessee finished with 657 yards and 34 first downs, numbers that would have required three games to amass last year when the team went 5-7 and cost Phillip Fulmer his job.

Tailbacks Montario Hardesty and Bryce Brown each rushed for more than 100 yards and scored a touchdown. Hardesty rolled up 160 and Brown, a highly touted freshman, ended with 104.

Monte Kiffin’s defense had the Hilltoppers in minus numbers during the third quarter and allowed only 83 yards in 46 snaps. Western Kentucky picked up just six first downs.

The Volunteers piled up video game numbers on both sides of the ball, racking up 657 total yards and 34 first downs on offense, while limiting the Hiltoppers to 6 first downs (apparently their only first down in first half came via a penalty).

Yeah, I know it's kind of easy to dismiss those crazy numbers because they were taking on a hapless Hilltoppers bunch that was apparently playing their first D-1 game. However, I am not going to discount this kind of performance in their opening game under new coach, because it (at least on paper) shows that they are trying to put together a team with lethal killer instincts.

Bruins will have a puncher's chance though (even though at this point I am not seeing how we can pull out this win with a freshman QB and a completely revamped OL). The Tennessee team we are going to play this season is going to be a bit different than the one we shocked at the Rose Bowl. I have gathered some of the pre-season notes on their personnel from around the web with the latest update from our colleagues at Rocky Top Talk (RTT), after the jump.

So Kiffin (or should I say the Kiffins?) will be waiting for the Bruins with a team that returns 12 starters (7 on offense and 5 on defense) from last year's team. Paul Meyerberg from the New York Times has the following lowdown on the key losses from last year's team:

Key losses: Tennessee’s losses on offense are most felt at receiver, where the team lost two 2008 starters to graduation and another pair of potential 2009 starters to injuries. Lucas Taylor was one of Tennessee’s more dependable targets last fall, making 26 grabs for a team-leading 332 yards. The Vols also lost the part-time starter Josh Briscoe, who made 14 receptions for 176 yards and a score. Making matters worse, U.T. lost the senior Austin Rogers (14 for 180) for the season in the spring because of an A.C.L. tear, and may also be without the junior Denarius Moore for much of 2009. Moore, who made 11 receptions for 271 yards (a team-best 24.6 yards per reception), broke his left foot two weeks ago and may miss as much as three or four months. The team also faces a gap on the right side of its offensive line, where it lost guard Anthony Parker and tackle Ramon Foster (27 career starts). In the backfield, running back Arian Foster (570 yards, 1 touchdown) might have had a disappointing senior season, but he still departs as the team’s second-leading career rusher (2,964 yards). As a junior, Foster earned all-SEC honors after rushing for 1,193 yards and 12 touchdowns. He also added 83 career receptions, 19 as a senior. The would-be junior Lennon Creer, the team’s second-leading rusher last fall with 388 yards, opted to leave the program in April.

On defense, Tennessee lost a pair of starters at each level: the line, linebackers and secondary. The biggest is most likely end Robert Ayers, who earned all-SEC honors as a senior. He seemed to put it all together in his final season, making 49 tackles, a team-best 15.5 for loss, and 3 sacks. At tackle, the 21-game starter Demonté Bolden had 35 stops (6 for loss) as a senior. Middle linebacker Ellix Wilson led the team with 89 tackles, and added a sack and an interception; a fine season for the first-year starter and team leader. Rounding out the losses at linebacker are Nevin McKenzie (53 tackles, 10 for loss, a team-best 5 sacks) and Adam Myers-White. The U.T. defense must also replace cornerback DeAngelo Willingham and safety Demetrice Morley. Willingham, a two-year starter, finished second on the team with three interceptions. The would-be senior Morley added 42 tackles and 2 interceptions, but was kicked off the squad after violating team rules. That’s the second time Morley has been kicked off the team in three years; he won’t get a third shot.

Now don't get lulled into a false sense of comfort after reading those grafs. ~~First of all not sure where NYT got their info on Lucas Taylor because I still see him listed in Tennessee's depth chart this season. So that's a mistake~~. As for their losses at WRs, they have plenty of youngsters sprinkled through their depth chart (PDF) (HT hooper at RTT via Chattanooga Times Free Press).

Also, despite the loss of Paker and Foster at the OL, the Voluntees will have a powerful, huge veteran OL ready for the Bruin front-7 this weekend in Knoxville. If I read their correctly everyone except their center is over 300lbs and all of their starter are upper classmen (except for Jarrod Shaw, the 6-4, 332 Jr. who is listed as "Co-No-1" with Aaron Douglas, 6-6 282 red shirt freshman) From Athlon Sports' pre-season capsule on the Tennessee OL:

Chaney (OC John Cheney, who who Kiffin pried away from the St. Louis Rams, - BN Ed.) has brought with him a zone blocking scheme that has enabled the Vols’ linemen to play with more aggression. The interior line is strong with fourth-year starter Josh McNeil at center flanked by fellow seniors Jacques McClendon and Vladimir Richard. Senior Chris Scott has a hold on left tackle duties, while Jarrod Shaw and converted tight end Aaron Douglas are battling for the starting job at right tackle. "Last season was rough," Richard says. "But Coach (Kiffin) is a competitor. He loves smacking people in the mouth." After years of defensive dominance in practice drills, the UT offensive line stepped up and proved it could hold its own in the spring.

On other key returnees let's go back to that capsule from the NYT:

Players to watch: He’s undoubtedly the best defensive player in the F.B.S. But in my mind, the strong safety Eric Berry is the best player in the country – regardless of position. Yeah, there’s that quarterback down in Gainesville, so maybe Berry’s coming in second. That shouldn’t detract from what we’re all seeing from the talented junior: he’s the best defender U.T. has developed since Reggie White, and in my mind, if Tennessee shocks the SEC and wins 9 or 10 games, Berry should receive very heavy consideration for the Heisman. Through two seasons, Berry stands second in the N.C.A.A. with an SEC-record 487 interception return yards, a total coming off of 12 interceptions. His single-season outputs in this category rank first (265 yards last fall) and third (222 in 2007) in SEC history. Last fall, Berry tallied 73 tackles (8.5 for loss), 3 sacks and 7 interceptions, two of which he returned for scores. (He may have been Tennessee’s best offensive weapon.) For his efforts, Berry was a unanimous all-American – U.T.’s first since 1990 – and the SEC Defensive Player of the Year. The only college safety I’ve seen match Berry’s combination of speed, ferocity and ball skills was the late, great Sean Taylor. So, as you see, he’s the king of the U.T. defense. Who will help carry the load? The Vols return the junior Dennis Rogan at one cornerback spot, as well as the 2007 starter Brent Vinson. Also competing for a starting spot at corner are the sophomores Art Evans and C.J. Fleming, though I wouldn’t be surprised if one of Tennessee’s heralded incoming freshmen make a push for playing time. U.T. will look toward the freshmen Prentiss Wagner and Rod Wilks or the sophomore Stephaun Raines at free safety. The senior Rico McCoy (87 tackles and a sack last fall) is the lone returning starter at linebacker. Making the push to join him in the starting lineup are the juniors Nick Reveiz (middle) and LaMarcus Thompson (strongside), each of whom played important roles on special teams a season ago. Besides McCoy, U.T. is very young and untested at linebacker. The situation is a little clearer on the line, where the juniors Ben Martin (18 tackles, 1 sack) and Chris Walker (15 tackles, 3 sacks) have secured their places as the starters at end. You’ll likely find the senior Dan Williams (48 stops, 8.5 for loss) on the nose, while the senior Wes Brown (37 tackles, 2.5 sacks) finds himself in competition with the freshman Montori Hughes for the second starting spot on the interior.

On offense, the senior Jonathan Crompton will again be the starter at quarterback. Let’s ignore the fact that his starting job has come by default. Quite simply, Crompton must be better in 2009 than he was a season ago. It shouldn’t be too difficult, as he did not play up to his potential last fall: 86 of 167 (51.5 percent) for 889 yards, with four touchdowns against five interceptions. He can – and should – be better, but some aspects of Crompton’s game must improve. His touch, for example. Crompton lacked it last fall, when he seemed to throw every pass as hard as he could. His decision-making must also improve. His only competition for the starting job is the junior Nick Stephens, who has missed most of the last five months while recuperating from a hand injury. Stephens started six games last fall, putting up numbers similar to Crompton’s (840 yards, 4 touchdowns, 3 picks). The senior Montario Hardesty ascends to the top spot in the backfield after rushing for 271 yards a season ago. That total leads all returning Volunteers. He may be the lead back, but the Vols will also give carries to the sophomore Tauren Poole and the true freshman Bryce Brown, the nation’s No. 1 recruit in the 2009 cycle. Brown chose U.T. in part because of the potential for immediate playing time, so expect to see his number called early and often. Three starters return up front, led by the potential all-conference center Josh McNeil. The senior enters his final season with 35 career starts, the most of any active Volunteer. McNeil was a freshman all-American in 2006 and an honorable mention all-SEC selection in 2007. He’s joined up front by the senior left tackle Chris Scott and the senior left guard Vladimir Richard. I’m intrigued by the potential of the redshirt freshman Aaron Douglas, a former tight end who is in the hunt to start at right tackle. Given his experience and lack of prototypical size (he’s only 282 pounds, my word), can Douglas be the presence required of the right tackle in the run game?

Well as mentioned above looks like Douglas impressed the coaches sufficiently enough that he earned a spot on the depth chart as "co number 1" (whatever that means) with Jarrod Shaw. In some ways, Douglas sounds like he is the same situation as Nate Chandler found himself last year (when we were hurting for bodies at OL) as the coaches are doing whatever they can to incorporate his size and athleticism into the lineup.

Now in terms of what to expect next week, my bet is that Kiffin and Cheney will devise a plan on offense in which they will rely on a power running game. Again from Pete Fiutak's preview at Scout.com:

What to watch for on offense: Power running. The coaching staff will try to pound the ball, rely on the tremendous defense, and try to control the game and the clock. The passing game will try to push the ball deep a little more to stretch things out, but the offense will spend most of its time using its humongous, veteran line to pave the way for a fantastic group of backs. The backfield was good enough to get by, and then came the recruiting class with Toney Williams, David Oku, and the No. 1 prospect in America according to CFN, Bryce Brown, all ready to make a huge impact and upgrade the stalled ground attack.

What to watch for on defense: A ton of interceptions. All the pieces are there for the secondary to come up with a phenomenal year. Not only is there track star speed across the board, but there’s all-everything safety Eric Berry as the sheriff in the Tampa 2 scheme, but the pass rush should be better. Even with Robert Ayers off to the NFL, the Vol defensive front should be more active with Ben Martin and Chris Walker two speedsters on the ends who should be camped out in opposing backfields.

Going back to their offense, I am still shocked at how the Tennessee coaching staff from last year forgot to run the ball down our throats last season at the Rose Bowl. They had piled up around 180 yards rushing and 2 TDs running the ball against our defense last year yet for some inexplicable reasons they decided to go away from that and depend on Crompton's arm. I just don't think Kiffin is going to make the same mistake. I fully expect them to come after our front-7 all evening long with their powerful OL, and do what they can to wear us down on their home turf. This is going to be a huge challenge for our defense.

I think the key for us on Saturday is going to be somehow get on the board early. If they we can get on the board early and then force them to go away from the game plan of running the ball down our throats, we will have a shot.Needless to say special teams is going to be a huge factor. We are going to need our kickers to give us good field position as much as possible forcing the Volunteers to go long drives. Otherwise if we fall behind early and make early mistakes on offense, the situation has the potential to snowball out of control like last year in BYU.

It will take supreme concentration and focus on our part to hang in there early against the Volunteer emotion, and then somehow put ourselves in position to steal the game in second half. My head tells me that we are simply too young and inexperienced (on offense) to pull this off. My heart is pulling for our guys to make me eat crow on Saturday night. So that's what I have for initial notes on the Volunteers to get the scouting started for this week. I will throw it back to you start filling up the info. folders on Tennessee (either via comment thread here or in the FanPosts).

GO BRUINS.

On Rocky Top, by Clay Travis: the RTT review

Joel — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 12:16:56 -0000

On Rocky Top: A Front Row Seat to the End of an Era.

View full size photo »

This review was authored by both Will and Joel.

This week, Vol fans get one last chance to rubber-neck the final season of the Fulmer Era, but this time you can get out of your car and examine the wreckage up close and personal. Yesterday, It Books released Clay Travis's On Rocky Top, an in-depth look at the 2008 Tennessee Volunteers. This is Travis's second venture into the world of SEC Football, following Dixieland Delight, a hilarious trip through the 2006 SEC season.

We're betting that when Travis learned he'd been given full access to the Tennessee Volunteer football team for an entire season so he could write a book about it, he fantasized about the team making a historical run through the SEC on its way to a championship with him there to record every successful milestone along the way. Instead, he was given a "front row seat to the end of an era." The resulting work is still full of Travis's irreverent wit, but the wretched season also provided Travis a platform to eloquently capture the emotions of coaches, players, and fans as they endured extraordinary disappointment.

Essentially a chronology of the 2008 season, On Rocky Top is a quick read. The pacing of the book is aided by the fact that Travis doesn't just tell the story from his own perspective but through the unique perspectives of several other folks as well, such as Arian Foster and his family, Josh McNeil, UT booster Thunder Thornton, Volquest.com's Brent Hubbs, team truck driver Charlie Harris, and others. And although the book never strays for long from its primary theme, Travis nevertheless pauses often along the way to discuss Tennessee history, surface never before reported facts about the season, or relay behind-the-scenes stories about the players and coaches. No detour disappoints.

Of course, much of the book centers around Phillip Fulmer, and Travis does an exceptional job of portraying both the man and the coach. The big guy comes off exactly the way you'd expect him to, but On Rocky Top offers a closer look at Fulmer's emotions not just at the end of the disastrous season, but during its downward spiral. Such an intimate look will no doubt stir the emotions of even the most anti-Fulmer fans.

As you'd expect, the book primarily deals with the disappointment of the 2008 season and how it led to the firing of Phillip Fulmer. The book chronicles the death spiral from Mike Hamilton's raising of hypothetical questions to unnamed boosters about Fulmer's status as early as the Florida game, to Hamilton's public statement after the Georgia loss that he would not be adverse to making an in-season change, to Hamilton's consulting with an eight-person circle of trust just before the Alabama loss, and finally to Hamilton's meeting with Fulmer to tell him he was being replaced just after losing to South Carolina. It captures well Fulmer's emotional speech to his players confirming ESPN reports that he would not return in 2009.

The book also recounts Hamilton's search for Fulmer's replacement from his first clandestine interview (he refused to use any UT plane to travel to interviews, aware of fans' proclivity for tracking flights) with Lane Kiffin to the decision to hire Kiffin a mere 12 days later, and pieces together from multiple sources the other five coaches interviewed for the position. Teaser: fans would have been shocked at Plan B.

How does access impact a fan's perspective on his team?

The most interesting thing to me about On Rocky Top, though, isn't the retelling of the fall of the Fulmer empire, but Travis's insight into what it means to be a fan and his repeated ponderings about what his all-encompassing access might or might not do to his fandom. During the UCLA game, for instance, he moves from the sidelines to the stands and finds that he just feels more comfortable there. After that, he wonders in several places whether the access to the team will kill the fan inside him by removing that buffer of anonymity between fans and players. His access gains him an uncomfortably personal view of a Tennessee fan unleashing a profanity- and insult-filled tirade directly at Arian Foster's back immediately after the Georgia loss, which Foster dutifully ignores and never mentions except to his family.

Travis apparently finds the other end of the spectrum just as bewildering, as he is relegated to the press box for the final game of the season and describes it is less then flattering terms:

The press box is packed, three rows of orange countertops filled with balding white men who make a living observing the team from a view that provides a much worse vantage point than a nice flat-screen television in front of your home couch.

Travis then informs readers that the authorities actually announce to the press before the game that anyone caught cheering will be kicked out of the press box. And Travis pens a simple but chilling line about the assembled media's collective response to one of the most emotional moments of the 2008 season from fan's perspective -- the point at which Phillip Fulmer jogs out through the T with his family for the last game of his long and distinguished career and waves to the crowd:

No one in the press box reacts.

No, it seems that Travis discovered that a true fan's place is neither in the unfeeling press box nor on the sidelines but in the stands. Yet the access he enjoyed for a full season seems to have forced him to examine his fandom and impacted him in some way. Surprisingly, despite the unencumbered access to the football team, On Rocky Top deals with Jonathan Crompton only from afar, and the reason, found in Travis's recap of the Alabama loss, is especially thought-provoking:

The UT offense scores a touchdown, and as they come off the field, Jonathan Crompton, who has kept his helmet on the entire game, congratulates every member of the offense. As I watch this, I think, not for the first time, about why I've blamed so much of this season on Crompton's failings. He's never done anything to me, never said a word to me on the sideline or in the locker room or in the hotel. Several times I've seen him look at me as I write things. I've thought that I should introduce myself. But I haven't.

Why not?

I think I know. Because it's easier to blame him for the season if I don't know him. The Jonathan Crompton of my fan's mind, the gunslinging big-armed dolt who throws every pass as hard as he can, is not an accurate image. It's far too simplistic and probably not fair. I've made him a caricature. As I watch Crompton congratulate his teammates, including the quarterback, Nick Stephens, who currently has the job he wants more than anything in the world, I start to think that maybe I'm the jerk in the Jonathan Crompton-Clay Travis relationship, that what I write about Crompton reveals far more about me than it does about Crompton. And maybe that makes me the kind of guy who wouldn't stand on the sideline in the fourth quarter of a loss, wear my helmet the entire game, and congratulate my teammates as they come off the field after scoring a meaningless touchdown.

There's something about the contrast between those in the press box who are told not to care and who therefore don't even react to an emotional and history-making event and those on the sidelines who care so much that failure is a forgivable part of the relationship. A fan's devotion lies somewhere in the middle, and it's not necessarily a continuum of caring; it may be more a different kind of caring.

We don't know. These bloggers are wrestling these things out in our own minds right now, and we haven't come to any conclusion yet. In any event, as great as the rest of On Rocky Top is, it's this repeated examination of the impact of access on fan psyche that we found the most interesting aspect of the book.

So yeah, On Rocky Top is a great read. It may resurrect some bad memories for Vol fans, but it is insightful, and it offers access on a level we've never seen before with this program and forces us to examine our own fan hysteria along the way. If you like rubber-necking disasters or humorous anecdotes about being a fan, or if you want inside information on how the decision to terminate Phillip Fulmer was made or how his replacement was found, or especially if you are interested in the impact of access on a fan's perspective -- you need to read this book.

Post-Spring Previews: Tennessee Volunteers

Gamecock Man — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 00:43:57 -0000

More photos » by Butch Dill - AP

4 months ago: Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin talks about the upcoming season during the Southeastern Conference football Media Days in Hoover, Ala. on Friday, July 24, 2009. (AP Photo/ Butch Dill)

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After hosting Vanderbilt the week before, the Gamecocks travel to Knoxville to take on Lane Kiffin's Tennessee Volunteers. (Remember last time we went there? Yeah, I didn't want to think about that, either. I'd rather remember blowing them out last year. It's still hard to believe that happened. And perhaps even harder to believe that it didn't seem to mean very much.) The Vols, in my estimation, are one of the hardest teams to call this year. For one thing, of course, they have a brand new coaching staff. Personally, I tend to believe that there are lots of indications that Kifin and company, for all their strange antics, will be at least mildly successful in Knoxville. Why not? Kiffin has put together an all-star cast of coaches and managed to bring in a very impressive recruiting class with limited time. Will it be enough to get back to late-90s / early-2000s levels? That's still to be seen. However, I don't see many more 5-7 seasons in store for the Vols. The turnaround may not come immediately, though.

The new coaching staff isn't the only reason this team confuses me. The 2008 version, quite frankly, looked better on paper than it played on the field. Hell, Jonathan Crompton, one of the centers of criticism, was once considered one of the best prep quarterbacks in the country and a sure-fire bluechip prospect. Were the problems the program encountered last year simply owing to misuse of talent by Phil Fulmer and his staff (notably maligned offensive coordinator David Clawson), or were there deeper talent-evaluation issues involved? Perhaps we'll find out this year.

All of this is to say that you can take these comparisons with a grain of salt. I have no idea how good the Vols will be this year, but the following is an indication of how good I think they will be based on somewhat confusing evidence. Let's take a look at the offense first.

Offense

The Vols aim to go back to a more traditional offense after the failed experiment with Dave Clawson's offensive "system" this past season. That should work well for the Vols, who have a backfield built for success running the ball. The passing game, though, still has some questions, as the Vols return embattled quarterbacks Jonathan Crompton and Nick Stephens and an unproven if talented receiving corps.

Quarterbacks

After having a good spring, Jonathan Crompton appears to be ready to take the starting role he lost midway through last year. Needless to say, 2008 was a disaster for Crompton. He threw for an abysmal 98.13 rating, more INTs than TDs, and he generally looked lost in a number of notable games, such as when he went 8-23 in an offensive clunk-fest loss against Auburn. Crompton did redeem himself somewhat in the season finale against Kentucky. Talent is not the issue for Crompton, who was once one of the nation's most highly sought recruits and who has shown flashes of brilliance at times in his career. Crompton has a cannon of an arm, and you can expect to see the Vols use that to their advantage by occasionally going deep. If Crompton fails, expect for the Vols to go back to Nick Stephens, who was somewhat effective at times in Crompton's relief midway through last year. Some previews I've seeen think Stephens is the guy the Vols should go with, but I'd have to disagree. I'd have to imagine that Vols fans are hoping the Mountain Messiah comes through; Crompton appears to be the better player, and the fact that Stephens didn't really play better than Crompton suggests that the problem may have been as much the system as the players, which would in turn suggest that Crompton might be able to show off his considerable skills if he gets in the right system.

I'm going to give Stephen Garcia the slightest of edges in this one. Garcia had a slightly better 2008 than Crompton. However, although the two have different skill sets, they both had similar 2008s: lots of promise followed by lots of disappointment. It will be interesting to see what kind of year these two are having when the game rolls around; my guess is that both will surprise and be in the top half of the quarterbacks in the SEC. It is worth noting that the Vols, who project to have a strong running game and problems at receiver, will probably try to pound the ball most of the time. Even still, I expect Crompton be much better statistically this year.

Verdict: Slight advantage South Carolina

Running Backs

The Vols finished 88th in the nation in rushing offense last season, good for ninth in the SEC. That's not going to happen again. Arian Foster is gone, but the Vols have a solid group of experienced backs, including Montario Hardesty and Taureen Poole. However, the big names in this group are the newcomers: Bryce Brown, 2009's top prep prospect by most measures, and David Oku, a top multi-purpose back. These two could form an impressive thunder and lightening duo for years to come. (Actually, it doesn't really make sense to call Brown "thunder" considering that he can really do just about anything--he's 219 and runs a 4.4.) All in all, the Vols have a lot of options in the backfield. If Brown and Oku can learn to produce quickly--and that is an "if" when it comes to freshmen--this could be one of the best backfields in the conference.

I give Tennessee a slight to strong advantage here. Neither of these teams had great running games last year, but both recruited some good players in their recruiting classes and should be much better this year. The Vols, though, brought in the biggest fish of them all in Brown, who, athletically at least, looks like the prototype of the classic SEC back. Tennessee could very well have a Bo Jackson- / Herschel Walker-type on their hands.

Verdict: Slight to Strong advantage Tennessee

Wide Receivers and Tight Ends

Wide receiver was another sore spot for the Tennessee offense last year. Tennessee graduates top receiver Lucas Taylor and hopes that Gerald Jones, who caught for over 300 yards a year ago, can step up and become the go-to guy. Jones is very talented and could be poised for a breakout year. The Vols hope that Denarius Moore can be the deep-ball threat. (Moore will be out early in the season but should be back for our game.) Austin Rogers, who was supposed to be part of the rotation, is out for the year with a knee injury. It's also possible that star recruit Nu'Keese Richardson might see time on the field, but Richardson's small stature may prohibit him from making an impact until he puts on some weight.

I give us a slight advantage here. Both teams are looking for identity at receiver, but Jason Barnes, Moe Brown, Dion LeCorn, and Weslye Saunders have shown a bit more than UT's group.

Verdict: Slight advantage South Carolina

Offensive Line

Tennessee needs better play out of its line if it wants to take advantage of all the talent in the backfield. The interior looks solid with Jacques McClendon and Vlad Richard at guards and Josh McNeil at center. However, tackle is a bigger question mark, with uncertainty at both positions. The left tackle will be either Chris Scott or Dallas Thomas. I have no idea who the right tackle will be.

This is a push. Both teams are looking for better line play and will probably get it, but question marks linger. Both teams also have to be worrying about injuries that could reveal depth issues.

Verdict: Push

Let's look at the defense after the jump.

Defense

While I'd say we overall look a bit better on offense than the Vols, they may have the advantage over us on defense. Moreover, Kiffin brings in his pops Monte, one of the NFL's all-time great defensive coordinators. The Vols will run Kiffin senior's famed 4-3 Tampa 2 defense. (The meeting between Kiffin senior and Ellis Johnson will certainly be a battle between two of the SEC's best defensive minds.) Despite the atrocious record, Tennessee's defense was very good last year, and it will probably be good this year despite losing some star power at line and linebacker.

Defensive Line

Tennessee graduates star end Robert Ayers to the NFL. However, this should still be a very good unit for Tennessee. The Vols have two speedy ends in Chris Walker and Ben Martin, both of whom will rack up a number of sacks this year. They also have depth at the position, so expect to see frequent rotation to keep everyone fresh. There's some concern about the effectiveness of the inside linemen; Dan Williams appears to be a solid, but Wes Brown looks a little small for the position. Kiffin is high on freshman Montori Hughes, who may take Brown's spot sooner than later.

I'm going to call this a push. Defensive line should be our strength on defense this year, and I think our starters may be a little better and more seasoned than UT's. However, the Vols have depth on their side, whereas we could be in trouble by this point in the season if we have multiple guys go down.

Verdict: Push

Linebackers

The Vols have one of the conference's better outside linebackers in Rico McCoy. After McCoy, though, they have some more question marks. Nick Reveiz, LaMarcus Thompson, Savion Frazier, and a group of freshmen will likely fill the other positions. This group has the talent to be good but has a lot to prove.

I give us a slight advantage here. We have an All-SEC linebacker in Eric Norwood, an experienced talent in Rodney Paulk, and a group of younger guys that at least have some experience. The Vols, while talented, will have to hope their guys can grow up really fast.

Verdict: Slight advantage South Carolina

Secondary

Tennessee boasts the nation's best safety in Eric Berry. Hell, Berry might very well be the best defensive player in the country, period. He's getting some Heisman hype, a rarity for a defensive player. Berry can do it all; he can knock you silly with a bone-rattling hit, he can come down with a tough interception and then take it to the house, whatever you want. He's essentially a one-man wrecking crew. What's more, Berry has been vocal about believing that his skills will be maximized in Monte Kiffin's Tampa 2 scheme. I don't doubt he's right; this guy knows when to be confident. Highly regarded freshman Darren Myles appears to be the other starter at safety. Tennessee will start Dennis Rogan at one of the corners but is uncertain about the other. However, they have plenty of talented options. This should be a good secondary once the coaching staff figures out how to work the rotation.

Strong advantage Tennessee here. I have serious doubts about our secondary this year (although signing Darrell Givens would ease those a bit). While Tennessee does have some questions of their own, they're mostly the "good" sort of questions: too much talent to know what to do with. And Eric Berry just scares me. You never know when he's going to take one of your guys out of the game or pull in a pick six.

Verdict: Strong advantage Tennessee

Special Teams

Junior Daniel Lincoln returns hoping to improve on his 2008 campaign. Lincoln was one of the conference's best kickers in 2007 (Gamecocks fans know this) but struggled last year. Star punter Britton Colquitt graduates, but Chad Cunningham played well while Colquitt was injured last year and should be a serviceable replacement. The coverage units look solid. The Vols have a number of potential contributors in the return game. Dennis Rogan was a good kickoff returner last year, and freshmen David Oku and Nu'Keese Richardson have the speed to play right away as well.

I'll give the Vols a slight advantage here. Lincoln, who along with Auburn's Wes Byrum stangely got much worse in 2008 after stellar freshmen campaigns, is a cause for concern. However, we also have questions in that department with Ryan Succop gone, and the Vols' talent in the return game is scary.

Verdict: Slight advantage Tennessee

Head Coaches

How good can Lane Kiffin be in the SEC? That's the question that's on many minds around the SEC coming into this year. While some are predicting Kiffin will either achieve great success right away or will bust, I think we'll see something in between for the Vols this year. While the true believers on Rocky Top might not be happy with an eight-win season, in actuality that would be a success for this team. The problem, of course, is that the Vols don't project to have the kind of passing game they'll need to compete with Florida and 'Bama this year. That's not Kiffin's fault, though; if he can get this team on the right track, the quality skill-position players will come. I think Kiffin is capable of getting those eight or nine wins, and if he does that, he'll have proven that he has the potential to bring Tennessee back to the conference's upper echelon. He's already proven that he can do two important things: recruit and compete in the brutal SEC assistant-coaches arms race.

That said, though, Kiffin has yet to prove that he can do those things. Steve Spurrier, on the other hand, has, even if his star has been fading a bit over the past couple of years.

Verdict: Slight advantage South Carolina

Overall

These are fairly evenly matched teams, a notion confirmed by the fact that most previews I've looked at see both teams going anywhere between 5-7 to 9-3. This game, of course, is one of the toss ups the previews point to. A lot is going to come down to how far along both teams have gotten in terms of answering the questions on offense. Injuries could also be a problem for both teams; offensive injuries in general could devastate Tennessee, whereas injuries to (heaven forbid) Garcia or someone in the secondary could be rough for us. All of this points to a game that's almost impossible to call right now. One thing I do like is that our strengths would seem to play to theirs; we project to have a strong rushing defense this year, they plan to run the ball, we'll probably run more than in years past, whereas their defensive strengths are in the secondary. I'm going to go with a close Carolina victory here, but again, I'm not sure about this one. Tennessee is a wild card; they could be a team that's average, or they could end up being a nine-or-so win team. We'll have to wait and see.

Prediction: Three-point victory USC

Poll

The Tennessee game will be a...

Blowout USC victory

19 votes

Close USC victory

52 votes

Close UT victory

31 votes

Blowout UT victory

26 votes

128 votes | Poll has closed

2008 retrospective: Tennessee 13, Northern Illinois 9

Joel — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 11:03:56 -0000

A final look back at the 2008 season, quick-like, because pain should be fast.

Up today: More scapegoats, please.

With the team now 1-3, Vol fans were engaging in some fairly serious introspection. Some were seeking solace in numbers. Some were looking for the company misery likes to keep. And some were trying to find meaning and motivation in the scatalogical.

The team itself had decided to give Jonathan Crompton a rest and Nick Stephens a shot, and fans were scrambling to find out more about the guy who might save the program. With Northern Illinois up next and a new quarterback under center, things were at last looking up. Shoot, even the weekly haiku wrote itself. That had to be a postive omen, right?

Eh. Sort of:

Full Screen Version

So we beat the Northern Illinios Huskies at home 13-9, scoring a single touchdown and two field goals. Woo. Stephens played well, and the game provided us with what became the 8th best play of 2008:

Despite that, however, something was still very, very wrong with the offense:

I think we're gonna need a bigger scapegoat. All the folks on Rocky Top were blaming quarterback Jonathan Crompton for the Vols' miserable 1-3 start to the season. And why not? The guy was 64 of 123 and had twice as many interceptions as touchdowns. He'd both fumbled and thrown away scoring opportunities on Florida's one-yard line. He'd given away six points by fumbling on his own one-yard line against Auburn. Add to that a bizarre mix of inconsistency and inaccuracy and one could not argue with the coaches' eventual decision to put the teams' collective sins on his head and send him into the wilderness.

Enter Nick Stephens, who actually did quite well Saturday night against Northern Illinois. Yeah, I know, it was NIU or UNI or whatever, but Stephens was not only 10-17 for 156 yards and one TD, he looked like a quarterback. He was accurate. He was quick. He hit a deep receiver in stride, and he threw no interceptions.

And yet the Tennessee offense scored only 13 points against the Huskies.

. . . .

So yeah, maybe the QB position was a problem, but was that the only problem? Anybody got any more goats? Look, I love my team, but I've got questions.

. . . .

How about that nasty "ball security problem" of a certain tailback's? Remember South Carolina in 2005? A fumble within a blade of fescue of the goal line lost the game. How about Penn State? Mmm-hmm. Florida last year? Blame it on Ainge if you want, but yeah. How about South Carolina last year? Near miss, that. Learn? No. UCLA this year. Florida this year, blame it on Crompton, but yeah. Auburn this year. Apparently, we need another catastrophe in that department as well before we'll do anything about it.

To change, we need to experience disaster after disaster even though college football season leaves no time for such hard lessons to do their work. We do not learn from near misses.

. . . .

Good is the enemy of great. One of the team's biggest problems is that we have good players doing good work. How is that a problem? It too often keeps great players on the bench. Arian Foster is a really good running back. He's averaging 5.2 yards per carry. He's on pace to become Tennessee's most productive running back in its history. Cool. I'm glad. Makes me happy. Really. But Montario Hardesty is averaging 4.0 yards per carry and is not allergic to the red zone. He covers the ball with both hands when a defender is near. Third-stringer Lennon Creer is averaging 8.9 yards per carry, and did not even get on the field in a game against Northern Illinois.

. . . .

Press the kicking game. Here is where the breaks are made. Or not, as the case may be. I've said this before, and I'll keep saying it until it makes sense to stop: if the old adage that having two quarterbacks means you have none is true, Tennessee has negative sixteen special teams coaches. It shows. Against the Huskies, Daniel Lincoln missed another field goal -- this one from 32 yards -- putting him at 5 of 9 for the season. Anyone care to bet that we're done with the spread punt formation or that we won't get another punt blocked or returned for a touchdown this season? We do have Dennis Rogan and Gerald Jones running back kicks and punts, so there's that.

. . . .

Seriously, I love coach Fulmer, and I have confidence in him and the coaching staff. They can and do make tough decisions. They made one such decision this week concerning the quarterback position. The problem is that they often wait too long. They wait until catastrophe mandates a change rather than suggesting it.

Yesterday's game against Northern Illinois gave this coaching staff one last chance to learn from near misses in several areas. If they take the scare to heart and learn from it, they may be okay.

But if they wait for disaster to strike, it almost certainly will, and when that time comes, 2008 could very well be the last time they wait too long.

Turns out, it was already too late.

Up next: Georgia.

2008 retrospective: Auburn 14, Tennessee 12

Joel — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 10:53:52 -0000

A final look back at the 2008 season, quick-like, because pain should be fast.

Up today: Opportunity plays ding dong ditch with the Vols.

By the end of the Florida game, the program was beginning to turn on itself. The team was 1-2, and fans booing and/or leaving games early were factors in an elite quarterback commitment changing his mind and steering clear of Knoxville. Fortunately for the Vols, this week they would have an excellent opportunity to get things back on track with a win over a traditional power. For once, Tennessee was catching Auburn at a time they were struggling, as the Tigers' installation of a fancy new spread offense hadn't really produced any results. Unfortunately, for the Vols, neither had Tennessee's. No. 1 on the game preview predicted an offensive nightmare for both teams.

Yeah:

Full Screen Version

Offensive nightmare indeed. After all of those segmented punt lines on the first three drives, Auburn got on the board first with its second possession. Tennessee then put together two solid drives, but they both ended with field goals. After forcing another Auburn punt, the offense had another allergic reaction to the danger zone when a botched handoff between Jonathan Crompton and Arian Foster was recovered by Auburn in the end zone.

Even more offensive ineptidue ensued in the second half, with Tennessee putting together only one scoring drive. The Vols spent most of the fourth quarter within a field goal of winning yet unable to even attempt one despite being on the right side of the field the entire time.

Or, as we said after it was over, opportunity played ding dong ditch with the Vols for the entire game:

Generally, when opportunity knocks, all one must do is open the door and bag the sucker before it gets away. Ignore it or wait too long and it will move on to the next house.

Or . . . it may ring the bell again and run off to hide in the bushes and laugh at you when you open the door and stand there looking at an empty porch, wondering what happened. When you go back inside, it rings and hides and giggles again, and when you fall for it a third time, it's wetting its pants in fits of laughter at both your gullibility and frustration.

Opportunity's been playing such tricks on the Volunteers in 2008, and never was this more evident than on Saturday afternoon, when Tennessee failed to catch almost every single opportunity that came calling.

. . . .

Opportunity really got on a roll in the second half. Tennessee's worst starting field position after the break was its own 35, and that was the opening drive. The other starts for the Vols in the second half? Auburn's 44, 37, 38, UT's 42, Auburn's 46, and UT's 46. The results of those opportunities? A grand total of 73 yards and seven points. That's right, while the defense was holding Auburn's offense to 77 yards, 33 plays, five three and outs, five first downs, and basically enforcing a house arrest order against the Tigers, Tennessee's offense mustered one single touchdown and zero field goals when one field goal would have won it.

The Vols could do almost nothing with the four punts Chad Cunningham placed on his opponent's 4, 2, 12, and 5 yard lines. They squandered most of Gerald Jones' 107 all-purpose yards. They blew the upside of what was an all-around solid performance by the defense.

. . . .

We're puppets. Opportunity knocks, we open the door to see who's there, and opportunity's in hysterical fits, losing control of its bladder in the bushes.

Yes, we'd blown multiple opportunities and shown that even though Auburn's offense smelled like a week-old possum carcass, ours was even worse.

Up next: Northern Illinois.

2008 retrospective: UCLA 27, Tennessee 24

Joel — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 15:00:11 -0000

A final look back at the 2008 season, quick-like, because pain should be fast.

Up today: Pants.

Pre-Game

Never mind that Cal game in 2007, this was 2008, and disinterested bloggers from both the SEC and the Pac-10 were picking the Vols to beat the UCLA Bruins in a nationally-televised Labor Day prime time game. Of course, that didn't keep the UCLA faithful from making fun of our mule or inexplicably claiming football superiority based on real estate comparables. No matter, Gerald Williams was finally, finally eligible, and that had to be a good sign, didn't it?

The Game

Not necessarily:

Full Screen Version

Yeah. Arian Foster fumbled in the red zone, something we'd hoped we'd seen the last of. Daniel Lincoln missed three field goals, including the game-loser in overtime. Jonathan Crompton couldn't hook up with any receivers. And the defense that intercepted UCLA third-string QB Kevin Craft four times in the first half pretty much gave him the game in the second.

Post-Game

All in all, it was like a really disappointing Christmas:

Pants. It's just pants.

Tennessee had won the SEC East last season, but many fans believed they'd won it mostly by default. Then David Cutcliffe, who'd sort of turned things around and gotten things headed in the right direction after the Randy Sanders Experiment, was off to Duke, and he took most of his offensive staff with him. Trooper Taylor then rode off into the sunset to Oklahoma State. Phillip Fulmer searched for and hired Dave Clawson, who was rumored to have some mysterious west coast-ish, spread-y type secret offense with innovative features like shifting linemen and playmakers in space. The present was covered in opaque, shiny foil wrap with a giant orange bow on it. The card read, "TO: Vol Fans, FROM: Coaches Fulmer and Clawson, P.S. Don't open until September 1st." We were drawn to the gift. When we picked it up and shook it, it made a glorious noise, but it didn't offer any clue as to what was inside. Surely, it was something wonderful. Something worthy of a nickname. Fresh. New. Exciting.

It was pants. Another pair of pants. Same thing we got last year.

Tonight's game against UCLA was most decidedly not good. The Bruins had apparently resorted to LinkedIn to find a QB who had transferred from a really bad team via community college. They had lost several non-QB key players prior to the game. They lost several more during the first half. The aforementioned QB threw four, four, interceptions in the first half.

But after the half, Kevin Craft, that QB I was talking about up there, well, he got new and exciting. Our defense went soft. Jonathan Crompton kept overthrowing receivers. Our running game was stagnant, and our senior-laden, experienced offensive line couldn't push anybody around or give the quarterback time to throw to the ball. Sure, when the Bruins scored the go-ahead touchdown, we did a good job on offense getting into field goal position, and Daniel Lincoln did a good job sending the ball through the uprights and the game into overtime.

But . . . Crompton was neither as bad or as good as was Craft. Lincoln missed a couple of field goals early and the game-loser late. Our offense couldn't capitalize on the turnovers created by our defense. Our defense couldn't adjust to Norm Chow's offensive adjustments.

We lost. The first game of the season. The second year in a row.

Pants. Again.

The game wasn't totally devoid of entertainment value, though. Eric Berry totally clobbered someone. There were those four interceptions, including one by Nevin McKenzie that ranked as the sixth best play of the season:

And there was that small matter of the team scrambling around because a bunch of them were wearing the wrong wristbands:

Best comedy. Some players were wearing the wrong wristbands? Huh? What's the story there? Clawson up in the box reading off one script, Jim Bob Cooter relaying the plays off another, and poor Jonathan Crompton executing off another?

Clawson: Run to the right, on three!

Cooter: Got it. Pass to the left, on one!

Crompton: Got it. Sack, on two!

Yeah, so we were able to have a little bit of fun with the wristband thing, but the game and the result of the game? Not funny. Not funny at all.

Up next: the UAB Blazers.

The 50 Best Games of the Fulmer Era - #13: Sixty Minutes and Four Overtimes to Atlanta

Will — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 16:32:04 -0000

In 1984, Kentucky beat Tennessee 17-12 in Knoxville. Since then, the Vols have won 24 consecutive games against the Cats, the longest active win streak in an annual rivalry in college football. Kentucky has had their chances at various intervals along the way, but the Vols have always found a way to turn them back. There were a pair of four quarter rallies in 1987 & 1988. There was a furious comeback in 1995, with Peyton Manning and the #4 Vols down 31-16 in the third quarter in before scoring the game's final 18 points in a 34-31 win. UK's best teams under Tim Couch had the misfortune of playing UT's best teams, as the Vols beat the Cats 56-10, 59-31 and 59-21 during his time in Lexington in the late 90s.

In this decade, Kentucky has had several opportunities, most notably in 2001 when Jared Lorenzen led Kentucky to a 21-0 lead before faltering in a 38-35 Tennessee win (featured at #30 on our list). And in the last five years, Kentucky has come close three times, only to again and always be turned away.

Two games in Knoxville (2004 and 2006) produced tight fourth quarters, but the Vols still won. But more importantly to the nature of the overall rivalry, two things have happened during the same five year span that have increased the stakes:

Kentucky has become a consistent bowl team, having now made three straight appearances. Rich Brooks has the program moving in the right direction, and the Cats have made themselves into a team that you cannot take lightly. Many thought after Andre Woodson's class graduated in 2007 that UK would go back to the pack, but instead the Cats still got bowl eligible last year while doing a little rebuilding.

But at the same time, Tennessee got good at basketball.

For about 20 years, conversations between UK and UT fans went like this: Tennessee would destroy Kentucky in football, UK fans would say "Wait 'til basketball season", then Kentucky would return the destruction in Rupp Arena and Thompson-Boling, and UT fans would return the favor verbally with "Wait 'til football season." That's how it worked. We had an understanding, and we were on even terms.

But since Bruce Pearl came to Knoxville, things have changed. Pearl's ability to beat Kentucky on an almost even basis - three wins in four years is better than just about anyone else has done in Knoxville - and his consistent ability to finish above the Cats in the standings has thrown a new factor into this rivalry. UT has improved in basketball and UK has improved in football...difference is, Kentucky still hasn't found a way to beat the Vols.

In this increased atmosphere, losers of 22 straight in 2007, you'd think the Vols had run out of ways to break the hearts of the UK faithful. But with a trip to the SEC Championship Game on the line and the ultimate roller coaster season hanging in the balance, Tennessee and Kentucky played one for the ages on November 24, 2007.

13. 2007: #19 Tennessee 52 - Kentucky 50 (4 OT) (Lexington)

The craziest college football season of my lifetime had done a number on both teams as we entered the final week of the regular season. The Vols had lost three games by a combined 77 points, the season opener and to their two biggest rivals. But when the Vols kept trying to give it away, Florida kept giving it back, and when the Gators lost to Georgia in late October, Tennessee needed a string of four consecutive SEC wins to get to Atlanta.

Already bolstered by their dominant win over what would become #2 Georgia, Tennessee went to work. They blew a 21-0 lead against South Carolina, but still found a way to win in overtime. Then a defense that had been maligned all year completely shut down Heisman frontrunner Darren McFadden and Arkansas in a 34-13 win. Then they allowed their old friends at Vanderbilt to build a two touchdown lead in the fourth quarter, before rallying to win 25-24. The Vols were battered but still standing, and despite Georgia's poll position and Florida's Heisman quarterback, Tennessee needed only to beat Kentucky for the 23rd straight year to get to Atlanta as Eastern Division Champions.

This wasn't the same Kentucky, however. The Cats made their own luck right out of the gate, beating #9 Louisville 40-34. In their first five games, Andre Woodson's attack had scored 40+ points every week in a run that moved them to #8 in the polls. Though they would fall to South Carolina, the Cats came back to stun #1 LSU in triple overtime.

After that, it seemed like Kentucky ran out of gas. When they fell just short against Florida, they were ripe for the letdown against Mississippi State, who pounded them 31-14. They barely beat Vanderbilt and then lost to Georgia, meaning their 6-1 start was now a 7-4 finish. But already bowl eligible, Kentucky would have a chance to end things against their biggest rival, on senior day for so many of their stars.

I sat in the upper deck at Commonwealth Stadium for this one, and was amazed watching the Senior Day introductions at how many of their major contributors were leaving: Andre Woodson, Rafael Little, Keenan Burton, Jacob Tamme, Wesley Woodyard, along with three additional senior starters. One last chance to beat the Vols for all of these guys.

For Tennessee, win and you're dancing in Atlanta. Lose, and you've gone 8-4 with four inexcuseable losses. Like we said, the roller coaster was going to finish at the highest high or the lowest low.

The Vols wasted no time in giving the impression it was going to finish high: David Cutcliffe saw something in the film room, and on the first play the Vols went play action, and then Erik Ainge fired back down the sideline to the trailing Arian Foster.

Later in the quarter, the Vols used a big play from Brad Cottam to set up a quick strike to Lucas Taylor and a 14-0 lead. The Vols had 178 yards of total offense in the first quarter.

The difference between this game and the other long overtime ones is that regulation was plenty good here also. UK answered to make it 14-7 in the second, and Daniel Lincoln knocked home three to make it 17-7. The Cats would have the ball at their own 30 with less than a minute to play in the half, but in trying to get points they made a costly mistake: Xavier Mitchell made a heady play and got his hands on a dump pass, with the rare defensive lineman interception giving Tennessee a chance to add to their lead. And with :17 on the clock, Ainge fired a bullet to Quintin Hancock, giving Tennessee a 24-7 halftime lead.

The Kentucky fans booed The Pride of the Southland at halftime. Which means I probably said "Wait 'til basketball season!" about a hundred times in fifteen minutes.

Six minutes into the third quarter, Kentucky scores to make it 24-14. We started to get a little nervous perhaps, but another Kentucky turnover gave the Vols the ball at UK's 30 with three minutes left in the third. And when Ainge hit Jeff of the Brothers Cottam, the Vols led 31-14 with 1:31 left in the third quarter.

So while I'm working the cell phone from the upper deck trying to round up the caravan for Atlanta next week, Kentucky goes the length of the field in 90 seconds, scoring a touchdown on the final play of the third to make it 31-21. Hmmm.

The Cats would knock on the door again midway through the fourth, scoring with 6:11 to play to make it 31-28. And now, our full attention returns to the game at hand. When the Vols again do nothing offensively, Kentucky gets the ball back with under five to play. A field goal will tie, a touchdown will give them the lead. It happened too fast for us to fully process it.

That's when Jerod Mayo went to the hit stick. Woodson found Jacob Tamme over the middle, but Mayo separated Tamme's consciousness from the ball, and Ricardo Kemp scooped up the interception. All is well, right?

Well, sort of. The Vols move to the 38 but can't get closer, and instead of trying a 55 yard field goal, elect to punt and pin Kentucky back at their own 9 yard line. 3:32 remaining. I told my friend as we sat there, shivering in the cold and the fear, that if Kentucky drove 91 yards in three and a half minutes against our defense, we didn't deserve Atlanta anyway and somebody was getting fired.

Instead, Kentucky drove 90 yards in three and a half minutes. Watching UK's march downfield against our prevent defense was both familiar and incredibly depressing, and with every first down you felt our season and the futures of Phillip Fulmer and John Chavis slip away. The Cats made it to the one yard line with five seconds left, then gave everyone in the stadium four seconds of cardiac arrest when Woodson dropped a shotgun snap, picked it up and rolled right, fired for an open man in the end zone but missed him...all while keeping one precious second still left on the clock. Seriously, did anyone on either side breathe during this play?

The Cats have one second and one yard...and elect to kick an extra point to tie the game and play overtime. Okay.

Watching the highlights again, I think this is a record for the number of times Bob Kesling uses the words "wide open". Kentucky scores in three plays in the first overtime to make it 38-31. At this point the Cats have scored 24 consecutive points, and Tennessee hasn't done anything good on offense in twenty minutes. But one great catch by Gerald Jones will change that:

In the second overtime, disaster strikes. On second down, a pass for Lucas Taylor gets knocked into the air on contact, and with the ball hanging there everyone wearing orange knows what's coming next - a Kentucky player steps in front of it, and it's the overtime turnover kiss of death.

Tennessee fans can't wait to head for the exits. There's an exodus from the upper deck, a full season of frustration now coming full circle, with fans in orange beside themselves with not just depression, but anger. How could you let this game, with two separate second half 17 point leads, and this season, with Atlanta on the line, get away from you...against Kentucky, of all teams, with 22 straight years of victory now heading to the toilet. Meanwhile, now it's Georgia fans on the phone, securing their own tickets to the Georgia Dome...which for me, just gives what happens next an extra burst of joy.

Example #4120581 of why you never leave early: Kentucky runs three plays to the 18 yard line, and then sends Knoxville native Lones Seiber on for a 35 yard field goal that will end 22 years of frustration. And really, this game is the ultimate in Blair Witch video quality:

Never leave early.

Tennessee has their chance in the third overtime. Kentucky scores but fails to convert the two, giving them a 44-38 lead. The Vols face third and eight, but Gerald Jones makes a great move after the catch to get a first down, and on the next play Ainge swings it to Austin Rogers, who darts into the end zone, and now the two can win it for Tennessee.

A great call almost paid off, a shotgun handoff to Arian Foster who goes left, but a great tackle by David Jones ends the threat. Then Foster is handed one of the great injustices of SEC officiating, penalized fifteen yards for unsportsmanlike conduct for flipping the ball when he didn't make it. When Eric Berry was almost decapitated on the blocked field goal return earlier, the 15 yard facemask penalty wasn't awarded because the overtime period had ended, and penalties don't carry over. But this one was considered a dead ball foul, and so the Vols will start their fourth OT possession at the 40 instead of the 25.

It took one play for us to get over it.

This time, the Vols do convert the two, which means we can breathe for the first time in about an hour with a 52-44 lead. The best Kentucky can do is tie and send it to a fifth overtime.

The Cats don't go quietly. UK moves to first and goal at the three, and Derrick Locke punches it in to make it 52-50. So they need the two point conversion to tie and keep playing.

So, I always bring my digital camera with me to games, for tailgating and pregame festivities. I don't like using it during the game because it's distracting, and the two times I'd tried it on big plays in 2006, the Vols gave up 4th down conversions to Florida and LSU, so it was becoming something of a curse. But here, with the 4th OT action on our end of the field, I decided what the hey and tried to see if I could capture a little history:

Sixty minutes, four overtimes, two blown three possession leads, a stop at the one yard line, a blocked field goal, a ridiculous penalty and 22 years of history...and at the end, Tennessee makes it 23, and is the champion of the Eastern Division.

Fun stats:

Total Offense: Kentucky 564, Tennessee 520
Erik Ainge: 28 of 45, 397 yards, 7 TD, 3 INT
Andre Woodson: 39 of 62, 430 yards, 6 TD, 2 INT

1,000+ yards and 100+ points in a game that was equally compelling in regulation and overtime. And for the Vols, the win here meant everything, putting a roller coaster regular season to its finish on a good note, and securing a championship in 2007. As the Vols play for the silver anniversary against Kentucky in 2009, I'll once again say that I'm sure we've run out of ways to break their hearts...probably...

[Note by Joel, 06/20/09 2:02 PM EDT ] Post script: This game also gave birth to the Fiddler/Teyve meme and this video:

What If: South Carolina Had Defeated Tennessee in 2007?

Gamecock Man — Tue, 05 May 2009 17:47:43 -0000

More photos » by Wade Payne - AP

7 months ago: Former Tennnessee football coach Phillip Fulmer speaks to reporters before the spring Orange and White game Saturday, April 18, 2009, in Knoxville, Tenn. Fulmer received the General Robert Neyland Trophy by the Knoxville Quarterback Club. (AP Photo/Wade Payne)

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The second in a series of What If?, this one on a slightly more serious topic than the last.

As we all remember, 2007 was a season of highs and lows for the Gamecocks, a year when we rose to sixth in the polls only to fall flat late in the season. Many of those lows were close calls in winnable games. The most heartbreaking, due to the rivalry factor, was the Clemson game.The loss to Vanderbilt was also pretty regrettable, and I don't even want to talk about the joke of a performance we turned in in Arkansas game.

However, another game has always stuck out in my head about that season. That would be the Tennessee game. This game was significant both for what it meant for us and for what it meant for the Vols. If we had won, we might have been able to salvage our season after the Vanderbilt loss, and Phil Fulmer might just have left Knoxville a year early.

Before we think about how much this game meant to both teams, it's worth remembering how close this game was. There were a handful of plays at the end that, if they had gone our way, would have made the game for us. Two of these were fumbles, one by us and one by the Vols. Let's look at the first one.

As the ESPN announcers say, this was a close call. One could argue that a whistle should have been blown before the fumble, as Davis had been wrapped up by multiple defenders for a couple of seconds. One could also argue that Davis recovered the fumble himself. However, Tennessee got the call. We were in the red zone on this play and thus lost out on three and probably seven points considering how well we were moving the ball. Even if we had only gotten the FG, the Vols wouldn't have been in position to tie with Daniel Lincoln's FG at the end of regulation.

Tennessee committed the next fumble after we took a three-point lead on a long Succop FG. Deep in our territory, Tennessee TB Arian Foster fumbled the ball forward. The ball went past several of our guys only to be recovered by the Vols. Again, if we had gotten it, game over and we win.

Of course, we all k now what happened next: Lincoln missed the game tying FG, but got another chance because one of his linemen false started. What justice there is in rewarding a team for breaking the rules, I surely don't know, although in the Vols' defense, Lincoln claims that hearing the whistle caused him to miss the kick. Lincoln made the second try, made another in OT, and Succop, proceeded to shank a chip shot to cost us the game.

In thinking about what this game meant to us, one could make the argument that the loss the previous week to Vanderbilt or even the poor play during the second half of a win the week before against UNC were what sparked our slide. I'd be willing to concede to those arguments. Against UNC we looked like we were peaking in the first half, only to come out flat in the second, and we continued that poor play against Vandy the next week. This was more or less inexplicable against these two inferior teams and was obviously a sign of things to come. Indeed, it was a sign of what was to come in the first half against the Vols.

However, during the second half of the game against Tennessee, it looked like we just might be prepared to resurrect our season under the leadership of Blake Mitchell. The offense was clicking and the defense was back to playing to its abilities. We came up just short, though. What did this mean for the season's momentum? It's difficult to objectively gauge things like 'momentum,' but considering the perplexingly horrific play the next week against Arkansas, the complete lay-down against the Gators, and the so-close yet so-far loss to Clemson, it's fair to say that this team was missing something after the deflation against the Vols, and that something wasn't just the depth we lost when our defensive starters began dropping like flies.

The Vols, on the other hand, would go on to finish their season with more close wins, including a 25-24 win over Vandy and a classic 4 OT thriller victory over Kentucky, a spot in the SEC Title Game, and win over Wisconsin in the Outback Bowl. Again, you have the old momentum argument: is it possible that a loss against us would have deflated Tennessee's season to the point that they lose to Vandy and Kentucky, don't make the SEC Title Game, and end up in a shoddy bowl? And if that happened, would Phil have survived to endure 2008?

I guess we'll never know, and I'm certainly not basing this discussion on any demonstrable variables. But it's interesting, if sad for a Gamecocks fan, to think about.