SB Nation User Blog: memphispete

BJ Coleman Doing OK with the Mocs

memphispete — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 12:21:22 -0000

BJ Coleman Doing OK with the Mocs

With Crompton having a great day against UGA, I idly wondered how the QB-Who-THrew-A-Tantrum-And-Abandoned-UT is doing.

Turns out D2 is the perfect place for him. 9 TD's and 1 INT on a team that is 4-1.

My preseason idiot picks aren't so stupid after Georgia

memphispete — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 20:42:37 -0000

As we approach our open date before the dread Tide roll in, now is a good time to reflect on our preseason prognostications to see how we are doing.

In the preseason, I had us at 8-4. I thought we'd win lose to Florida and Bama soundly. I also thought we'd lose to Georgia and Olde Mississippi. I had us winning the rest.

We came up a yard short in the UCLA game. And, Auburn's turnaround is catching everyone by surprise, so I can live with that. The Georgia game pulled my fat out of the prognosticating fire. So, I am upside down by one game as we hit the midpoint of the season.

Just a pause here to thank Georgia for giving us renewed hope. This column would be completely stupid without the utter destruction of Georgia to hang my hat on. Crompton was In-Cromparable and the defense shut down Georgia better than a box of Immodium.

Speaking of the utter destruction of Georgia - Georgia hasn't seen that much destructive force to its offensive capabilities since some fella named Sherman got a little too happy with the fire-sticks on his way to Savannah. For those who think that's overstatement, let me remind you that Georgia's offense failed to cross the Tennessee 34 at any point in the contest.

Back to the prognostication review

For the second half, I obviously had us going 4-2. To be "right" for the season, we have to end up 5-1 in the second half. That's probably best case, but how insane does it seem if we examine the proposition game-by-game?

Bama - A defense full of absolute stud athletes. I am still mystified how anyone scores a touchdown on them. Actually, I am more mystified how anyone runs more than 50 plays against them on Saturday and doesn't end up in the hospital on Sunday. At #2 on the planet in total defense, they deserve their own paragraph.

But Bama's offense is potentially beatable. The running backs and OL are beasts. But, if we somehow stop them from finding the exact distance from our esophagus to our colon while running the football (#11 Rush offense in the country), and if we keep their QB from lofting it to Julio (because that is the sum total of their pass offense), and if Crompton pulls a Georgia while Hardesty wears his superman outfit for one more game - then maybe. But, probably not. Loss.

South Carolina - I like this one because Spurrier's team has had the same close games that we have but has been luckier with the same good defense and average-ish offense formula that we employ. In other words, they are 5-1 but they aren't a scary-good 5-1. And, I just can't pick Spurrier to beat us. I just can't. It helps that we are at home. Win.

Memphis - Other than The Fluke, Memphis has never beaten Tennessee in football. This year will be no different as Memphis really deserves to be in the WKU category. This is a name-your-score special. Win.

Olde Mississippi - This is the swing game. I had them as a loss in the preseason. But, I am flipping it to a 'W' now. Snead is Cromptoning on them. Bama ran all over the Rebs but had to settle for 5 FG's. Is the Reb defense that good or was Bama's offense just not able to seal the deal? If Snead cromptons and Crompton is Georgia-Incromparable again, we win. You see where this is headed, right? I am back on track to 8-4. Win.

Vandy - Lost to Army in overtime and looked horrible scoring 3 points against Mississippi State. I keep my W.

Kentucky - Has looked "not awful" enough to at least make me pause, before reminding myself that Kentucky hasn't beaten Tennessee since 1984. And, we are improving, right? Win.

That's how I come to the conclusion that we really can make it improve from 3-3 in the first half to 5-1 in the second half and end the year at 8-4. Maybe I'm wrong and we finish 7-5. So, sue me.

We will still end up in the category I like to call, "bowl eligible". That means these freshmen practice for another 3 weeks and Kiffin gets to promote a bowl experience in his first year out on that great recruiting trail.

But more importantly, can't you just see Coach O celebrating a bowl win?

Poll

With half the season now in the bag, where do our beloved Vols end up?

Win 'em all. 9-3

3 votes

Pete's Best Case. 8-4

17 votes

One Slip Up, Plus the Bama Beating. 7-5

25 votes

More Ups and Downs. 6-6

3 votes

Troll Bait Answer. No Bowl. 5-7 or worse

1 votes

49 votes | Poll has closed

4. You gotta give Lane Kiffin some credit: Tennessee went into The Swamp and had a great game plan....

memphispete — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 18:24:45 -0000

4. You gotta give Lane Kiffin some credit: Tennessee went into The Swamp and had a great game plan. They stuck with running the ball in order to shorten the game and limit Florida’s possessions. Defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin used formations that literally forced quarterback Tebow to run. So Tebow ran the ball 24 times. Tennessee played hard and physical and never backed down from the No. 1 team in the nation. If I’m a Tennessee fan I’m optimistic about what this team will do in the long term. But I am also pessimistic in the short term because Jonathan Crompton is simply not the answer at quarterback, especially in big games. The senior had a couple of really bad throws that turned into interceptions at crunch time. If Crompton just makes a play or two, the Gators might have been sweating at the end.

http://blogs.ajc.com/barnhart-college-football/2009/09/21/whos-no-1-i-have-no-idea/

Tony Barnhart is another guy who was not a big fan of Lane Kiffin or the Vols. (For the doubters, go back through his blog. Yikes!)

Tennessee head coach Lane Kiffin: We rarely give out helmet stickers to somebody on the losing end....

memphispete — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 15:16:48 -0000

Tennessee head coach Lane Kiffin: We rarely give out helmet stickers to somebody on the losing end. But Kiffin had his Vols ready to play in some of the toughest circumstances imaginable at the Swamp, and they outplayed Florida for much of the game. If the Vols play with that kind of pride and that kind of toughness the rest of the way, they will win a lot of games this season.

http://espn.go.com/blog/sec

SEC HELMET STICKERS Week 3 By Chris Low
This from the same guy who could not have had a lower opinion of Tennessee coming into the season....

Kiffin Runs His Mouth - Simplified for National Media

memphispete — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 14:23:50 -0000

KIFFIN STORY SIX MONTHS AGO: Fresh, hot from the oven. Tasty (to some) when it was actually happening.

"Surrounded by the intoxicating aroma of baked bread and mountains of hot fresh bagels"

TODAY: As you pull the same story off LexisNexis to fill space for your Tennessee-Florida column

A Big old stack of moldy bagels. You can eat it if you want to but, um, we're full.

(photo via www.istockphoto.com)

Message from Tennessee fans to the National Media.

Give it a rest, willya! It's old news....

Holly's Gonna Hate This: Negative Football IQ Girls Review UT

memphispete — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 16:52:18 -0000

Holly's Gonna Hate This: Negative Football IQ Girls Review UT

Clay Nation gives me another reason to be grateful that I married the daughter of a great football coach. Thanks again, sir, for teaching her what "an all-out blitz" is...

(It's perfectly clean folks.)

Vol Fan Makes Good

memphispete — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 23:36:44 -0000

Congratulations. It was a bloody, hard fought & ugly game but you pulled it out.

Here are the kudos to your defensive line, which won the game for you, and to your kicker, who has a long career in the NFL ahead of him. The defense held TN to 208 yards and the kicker scored 13 pts.

I honestly thought just an average performance from Crompton and a modicum of consistency running the ball (sort of like the 4th qtr) would let us earn a 10 pt victory. But, since we failed to make a TD from 3 yards out with 3 tries at it with the game on the line, you deserved to win.

Mea culpa - I did not count on the return of Crap-ton. Pardon the language but that's our old name for him from last year. I have to borrow for today's performance. There's a lot of blame to go around - and the line deserves it's share for being completely unable to handle UCLA's front 7. But, just 93 yards passing and 3 INT's (really 4, except for the offsides call at the end of the game) just doesn't even come close to average. I'd love to give credit to UCLA's secondary (and it's not that they were bad, so no offense) but Crap-ton was so bad we just can't tell. He repeatedly overthrew receivers, tried to beat double coverage late, stared down receivers and looked completely lost in the last series after the safety. And, he couldn't handle the basics of a center exchange. Yikes!

He got away with the bad decisions last week which results in 2 INT's and batted balls against WKU. That had us concerned, but the otherwise excellent execution of last week was no where to be found this week. We all repeatedly said UCLA isn't WKU, and you guys proved it this week.

Price was tough and just barely good enough to get it done (11-23 1TD, 0INT's). The two best plays - no INT's and hitting the rolling TE or FB on the blitz for a 13 yd TD. He survived a bloody lip, and I think he's going to be one sore kid on Sunday morning. Quite frankly - your offense was almost as unproductive as ours (182 total yards and only 19 points, despite the gift of 4 TO's and great field position). But, he was better than our QB and that's all you needed today.

I really wish TN had picked up one more of the 4 fumbles or so that our defense caused but I am not sure the offense could have done anything with it. If only the review on the final UCLA series (before the kneel downs had been fumble and a UT recovery, maybe...) Hope springs eternal.

Take your defensive line and LB's out to dinner, place the kicker at the head of the table and enjoy the win.

Congratulations!

Lane Kiffin and Tennessee had a remarkable first class in what is normally a transition year. The...

memphispete — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 17:13:53 -0000

Lane Kiffin and Tennessee had a remarkable first class in what is normally a transition year. The Vols lose 3-Star wide receiver James Green, but managed to bring in the No. 1 running back in the nation, Brown, and tied USC with 13 five star and four star players.

Vols #7 in the nation - 2009 Recruiting Class - per Scout at this link http://tennessee.scout.com/a.z?s=7&p=2&c=894160

ESPN's Chris LOW-down on the Vols

memphispete — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 21:51:51 -0000

Bumped from the FanPosts . . . an excellent synthesis of what ESPN blogger Chris Low has said about the Vols this summer from memphispete.

-- Joel

Reading back through the Chris Low's last bazillion blog entries for his thoughts on the Vols I put together a little Low-down summary on the Vols from ESPN's perspective.

Overall Power Ranking #9 - Just behind Vandy (yes, that Vandy), South Carolina and Arkansas. The only schools we were ahead of? Auburn, Mississippi State and Kentucky. Ouch! In fairness, he did say that we "probably deserve to be higher" based on our new talent, but lack of depth at DT, concerns about pass protection and our QB performance offset the gains from the new energy, new system and new coaches. He's right about one thing: we "deserve to be higher".

Bowl Selection - Liberty Bowl - At least, I won't have to drive more than 10 minutes and tickets won't be a problem. But it implies a 6-6 season. It can't be any better than that if we have a #9 Power Ranking. Chris hasn't had the courage to give us a win-loss projection, unless I missed it. I'd say at least 8-4 & a better bowl (without any more key injuries).

Top 5 Villains - Lane Kiffin rolls in at #4. It's clear Chris Low doesn't like Lane yet.

All-SEC & Other Awards - Eric Berry is our only selection. He's also the Best Defensive Player of the Year and one of the Top 5 Heisman Candidates. They believe in EB.

QB Ranking #10 - "may be more comfortable in the new offense but neither looked like an SEC QB last year". Painful but pretty accurate, although I do think the new system gives an average QB a better chance to avoid being horrible.

RB Ranking #8 - "potential to be outstanding" but the Vols have "a couple of if's". I'm not sure a ranking of #8 equates to "potential to be outstanding". I am also not sure if Chris Low has seen Bryce Brown, Poole, Oku or the new-Hardesty run yet.

WR Ranking #7 - "added weapons" via recruiting. I'm not expecting Julio Jones-type performance from our guys but I'm also not expecting below-average, either.

OL Ranking #8 - "run blocking will be their forte" but "pass protection figures to be the Vols biggest problem" The line will indeed be good at the run and decent enough for a controlled passing game.

DL Ranking #6 - "most underrated in the league" and then he proceeds to rate us sixth??? /SIGH

I did not see a ranking of the defensive secondaries, but the Vols have to be Top 5. Perhaps that is a forthcoming feature.

Overall, the rankings seem a bit harsh.

Monte Punks Everybody

memphispete — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 13:29:18 -0000

Monte Punks Everybody

These guys are having a blast. Training camp is hard work - but the lead up to Bowling Night was way more interesting than I have seen reported anywhere else.

Apparently the shirt ripping and other craziness doesn't stop after you get on campus