And let’s start up the second half!
15:00 – Auburn takes over on its own 20 after a touchback. They just flashed the passing numbers for the first half. Pretty paltry on both sides.
13:35 – Tennessee sack by Ben Martin! Auburn will have to punt after a three-and-out. The Vols will take over at their 35.
10:45 – Despite getting one first down (thanks to a penalty) Tennessee will have to punt at midfield. Nice punt! Downed at the three yard line. Maybe Auburn will fumble into their own end zone…
9:56 – I hate how the Auburn offense all stands up on the line of scrimmage and looks over to the coaches. It just looks weird…
8:50 – Nice defensive sequence, and Auburn goes nowhere. Auburns punts from their own end zone and it’s downed at Auburn’s 45. If Tennessee can’t do anything with this field position, they don’t deserve to win.
7:30 – Arian Foster is stopped just short of a first down on third down. Tennessee will punt from the Auburn 36. Lame… But, the punt goes out at the Auburn 3, so basically we’ll just repeat the last Auburn drive.
6:30 – So much for that theory. Auburn gets back to back first downs and Auburn is out to the 30. Chris Todd was able to complete a lob pass that should have been picked off at the ten yard line.
5:30 – Great…a QB scramble for a first down, followed by a personal foul out-of-bounds hit. Auburn is now on Tennessee’s 45.
4:30 – Chris Todd has all day to throw, but it’s picked off!! Dennis Rogan takes it all the way to the Auburn 37!
3:50 – The UT offense is just woeful. Back-to-back rushes net a loss of four yards. 3rd and 14.
3:08 – Ohh! Crompton scrambles and gets a first down, but he forgets to slide and gets nailed. Tennessee is within field goal range, but they need a touchdown.
1:50 – Gerald Jones has moves. Out of the G-Gun, he runs all the way across the field and back and nearly gets a first down on what should have been a loss.
1:00 – After a personal foul facemask penalty, Tennessee has first and goal.
0:00 – The third quarter ends, with Tennessee facing a third and goal on the two yard. Phillip Fulmer will have a little extra time to come up with a play here. Not that Hardesty up the middle will take him much time to come up with…
14:55 – Touchdown Hardesty!! Sweep left, and Hardesty outruns Auburn to the corner of the end zone. Tennessee decides to go for two, but Auburn sniffs it out. Auburn leads 14-12. I’d like to think they could have come up with a better play than a pass that doesn’t even go into the end zone on the two-point try. If Auburn scores another touchdown, Tennessee will be down two scores, but a UT field goal would still take the lead.
14:00 – Auburn faces a critical third and four. Bad pass, and Auburn will punt from their 35 yardline. Even if it had been completed, Tennessee probably would have stopped them short of the marker.
13:30 – Gerald Jones on the return! He takes it all the way to the Auburn 38. It looked like he signaled for a fair catch, but maybe he was just blocking the sun.
12:30 – Good defense by Auburn. Tennessee can do nothing, and they actually lose yards. A dropped screen pass hurt them, and once again the offense sputters. Tennessee decides to punt and Auburn takes over at their 11 after a fair catch. What a wasted opportunity…
11:00 – Both teams are looking poor offensively. Auburn faces third and long after Tennessee blows up a toss play.
10:50 – Auburn completes the pass, but it’s well short of the first down. Expect another punt here… and Gerald Jones returns it to the 42.
9:00 – Third and four, and another terrible Crompton pass. The throw goes well out of bounds, and once again Tennessee will have to punt after another three and out. They really need to take advantage of this field position at some point…
7:45 – This is one of the worst games I’ve ever watched. Auburn will punt on 4th and 18, after another three and out. Maybe these teams should get points for punts. The punt is downed on Auburn’s 45 yard line. This is starting to feel like déjà vu…
6:10 – You have got to be %#%@ kidding me. Tennessee fails again on third down. Another punt, and Auburn takes over on the 20.
5:55 – Burns is back in at quarterback for Auburn. He can scramble, but doesn’t seem to throw very well.
4:40 – Burns runs on three straight plays for negative yards, and once again Tennessee will get the ball back. The Vols take over near midfield.
3:20 – Crompton’s numbers for the day: 8/22 for 67 yards. Needless to say, Tennessee goes three and out after the pressure rattles Crompton on second and third down. I have no more adjectives to describe the shittiness that I am witnessing. Cunningham is Tennessee’s MVP right now, and his punt is downed on the five yard line.
2:14 – Auburn faces a third and five after a nice run by Mario Fannin to avoid losing yardage. A first down here might win the game for Auburn. Timeout on the field…
2:14 (still) – Did Tennessee just call back to back timeouts? I’m confused…If so, that is beyond stupid…
2:00 – And Auburn converts… This must be game over…Tennessee is out of timeouts. Nice pass by Burns, and I think that’s Auburn’s only first down of the quarter.
0:00 – Auburn kneels down, and that’s it. No additional comments needed. Just awful...
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Tennessee-Auburn: First Half
Auburn! Tennessee! Gametime!
If the last three games have been any indication, expect lots of Tennessee penalties, missed tackles and underthrown passes. Auburn’s offense hasn’t exactly been firing on all cylinders either lately, with only two offensive touchdowns in their last two games.
This could be an ugly one. Maybe not 3-2 ugly, but I doubt that both teams will hit 20 points.
15:00 – Kickoff! Tennessee receives a short kick and gets out a few yards to the 25 yard line. No penalties or fumbles so far. Not a bad start.
14:48 – Wow, Arian Foster up the middle for a three yard gain on first down. I think we’ll see a lot of that today.
14:00 – Auburn only rushes four and still gets pressure on third and long, forcing a Tennessee three-and-out. The punt is shanked and Auburn gets the ball on their own 45.
12:30 – On third down, an Auburn receiver runs backwards after a short catch and looked to be stopped short of the first down, but they give it to him anyway. First down, Auburn.
11:30 – Holy crap! Florida is losing to Ole Miss! 31-24 with three minutes to go.
11:15 – Nice tackle! A failed halfback pass results in about a ten yard loss, and The Auburn player’s helmet get knocked back another ten yards. Auburn has to punt and it rolls all the way to the Tennessee four yard line. Luckily it had already touched an Auburn player and Tennessee takes over near the 20.
9:40 – Florida update! Florida has just scored, but the extra point is blocked. The Gators still trail 31-30.
8:40 – Bad pass on third down, and Tennessee will have to punt again. Crompton looks to be limping a little. At least they managed to get one first down on this drive. Auburn takes over on their own 30.
7:40 – Third and one coming up.
7:25 – Sigh. After about three missed tackles, Brandon Tate reels off a 15 yard gain.
5:35 – What kind of defense is that? Auburn completes a nice 15 yard pass amidst mass confusion in the UT secondary. Maybe there are getting distracted by all the arm-flapping coming from the Auburn sidelines. They must have about five different people sending in signals.
4:15 – Another Auburn first down, on a third down conversion. They’ve marched down to the Tennessee 17 yard-line.
4:00 – Final score: Ole Miss pulled it off! What does this say about Tennessee? They lose to UCLA and Florida, and those teams turn around and lose to even scrappier teams.
2:52 – Touchdown Auburn! Robert Dunn hauls in a 20 yard TD pass in the middle of the end zone, and the touted safety Eric Berry didn’t give him much resistance. Auburn leads 7-0.
2:45 – Not a bad return by Dennis Rogan. The Vols take over at the 30.
1:15 – Crompton completes his first pass of the day!! First down! Montario Hardesty follows it up with a great 15 yard run, with a nice cut and spin move.
0:00 – End of the first quarter. Tennessee ends with an incompletion as a result of a miscommunication between Crompton and receiver Denarius Moore. Of course, that was preceded by a false start. This game has been pretty boring so far…
15:00 – The second quarter starts up, and Tennessee has gotten down to the Auburn 30. Unfortunately the drive stalls and Tennessee is forced to kick a field goal. This will be about a 48 yard field goal.
14:08 – He nails it! Tennessee cuts the Auburn lead to 7-3.
12:20 – Despite the best efforts of Tim Hawthorne, Auburn is forced to punt, and Tennessee takes over at the 20. Hawthorne nearly brought in a one-handed catch on third and ten, but can’t quite reel it in.
11:15 – The G-Gun formation comes into play! Gerald Jones takes the direct snap and reels off a 22 yard run, making a couple of Auburn players miss along the way.
10:00 – A dangerous Crompton pass, and Tennessee avoids disaster. Tennessee is driving, though, and is down to the Auburn 18. Third and three coming up.
9:00 – Geez. Another bad route/miscommunication/bad throw, and it’s fourth down. 35 yard field goal attempt by Daniel Lincoln and it’s good! Auburn 7, Tennessee 6. Eventually Tennessee is going to need some touchdowns.
7:30 – Auburn stalls at midfield and will be forced to punt. It rolls all the way down to the 5 yard line and UT will take over. I wouldn’t expect much out of any drive that starts inside the ten, especially with the typically conservative UT offense.
7:00 - @%#$#%^!!!!! Arian Foster fumbles the handoff and Auburn recovers the ball in the end zone. Unbelievable. Auburn leads 14-6. It’s hard to imagine anything easier than a handoff, but somehow they screwed it up. The announcers are blaming Crompton…
5:45 – Tennessee looks dead out there. Three and out, which ends with a batted Crompton pass. Auburn takes the punt and starts from their own 35.
5:00 – Auburn’s backup QB is tearing up Tennessee. Kodi Burns is un-tackleable. At least for the guys in orange… Two defensive linemen miss sack opportunities, and somehow Burns completes a pass for a first down. This follows a 15 yard Burns QB scramble.
2:50 – Third and four inside Tennessee’s 20. The pass is dropped and Auburn will go for the field goal. 35 yard attempt…and no good!! Tennessee is still within striking distance.
1:05 – Three and out for the Vols. Crompton gets nailed on third down after a designed QB draw. Auburn will have time to add to their lead, since the punt probably won’t go over 35 yards.
0:52 – Chad Cunningham’s punt is almost blocked, but he gets it away and Auburn takes over at their 20. Auburn looks content to run out the clock.
Halftime! Tennessee is still in it, but it’s hard to see them pulling out a victory unless they can get the passing game going, or generate a turnover or two.
If the last three games have been any indication, expect lots of Tennessee penalties, missed tackles and underthrown passes. Auburn’s offense hasn’t exactly been firing on all cylinders either lately, with only two offensive touchdowns in their last two games.
This could be an ugly one. Maybe not 3-2 ugly, but I doubt that both teams will hit 20 points.
15:00 – Kickoff! Tennessee receives a short kick and gets out a few yards to the 25 yard line. No penalties or fumbles so far. Not a bad start.
14:48 – Wow, Arian Foster up the middle for a three yard gain on first down. I think we’ll see a lot of that today.
14:00 – Auburn only rushes four and still gets pressure on third and long, forcing a Tennessee three-and-out. The punt is shanked and Auburn gets the ball on their own 45.
12:30 – On third down, an Auburn receiver runs backwards after a short catch and looked to be stopped short of the first down, but they give it to him anyway. First down, Auburn.
11:30 – Holy crap! Florida is losing to Ole Miss! 31-24 with three minutes to go.
11:15 – Nice tackle! A failed halfback pass results in about a ten yard loss, and The Auburn player’s helmet get knocked back another ten yards. Auburn has to punt and it rolls all the way to the Tennessee four yard line. Luckily it had already touched an Auburn player and Tennessee takes over near the 20.
9:40 – Florida update! Florida has just scored, but the extra point is blocked. The Gators still trail 31-30.
8:40 – Bad pass on third down, and Tennessee will have to punt again. Crompton looks to be limping a little. At least they managed to get one first down on this drive. Auburn takes over on their own 30.
7:40 – Third and one coming up.
7:25 – Sigh. After about three missed tackles, Brandon Tate reels off a 15 yard gain.
5:35 – What kind of defense is that? Auburn completes a nice 15 yard pass amidst mass confusion in the UT secondary. Maybe there are getting distracted by all the arm-flapping coming from the Auburn sidelines. They must have about five different people sending in signals.
4:15 – Another Auburn first down, on a third down conversion. They’ve marched down to the Tennessee 17 yard-line.
4:00 – Final score: Ole Miss pulled it off! What does this say about Tennessee? They lose to UCLA and Florida, and those teams turn around and lose to even scrappier teams.
2:52 – Touchdown Auburn! Robert Dunn hauls in a 20 yard TD pass in the middle of the end zone, and the touted safety Eric Berry didn’t give him much resistance. Auburn leads 7-0.
2:45 – Not a bad return by Dennis Rogan. The Vols take over at the 30.
1:15 – Crompton completes his first pass of the day!! First down! Montario Hardesty follows it up with a great 15 yard run, with a nice cut and spin move.
0:00 – End of the first quarter. Tennessee ends with an incompletion as a result of a miscommunication between Crompton and receiver Denarius Moore. Of course, that was preceded by a false start. This game has been pretty boring so far…
15:00 – The second quarter starts up, and Tennessee has gotten down to the Auburn 30. Unfortunately the drive stalls and Tennessee is forced to kick a field goal. This will be about a 48 yard field goal.
14:08 – He nails it! Tennessee cuts the Auburn lead to 7-3.
12:20 – Despite the best efforts of Tim Hawthorne, Auburn is forced to punt, and Tennessee takes over at the 20. Hawthorne nearly brought in a one-handed catch on third and ten, but can’t quite reel it in.
11:15 – The G-Gun formation comes into play! Gerald Jones takes the direct snap and reels off a 22 yard run, making a couple of Auburn players miss along the way.
10:00 – A dangerous Crompton pass, and Tennessee avoids disaster. Tennessee is driving, though, and is down to the Auburn 18. Third and three coming up.
9:00 – Geez. Another bad route/miscommunication/bad throw, and it’s fourth down. 35 yard field goal attempt by Daniel Lincoln and it’s good! Auburn 7, Tennessee 6. Eventually Tennessee is going to need some touchdowns.
7:30 – Auburn stalls at midfield and will be forced to punt. It rolls all the way down to the 5 yard line and UT will take over. I wouldn’t expect much out of any drive that starts inside the ten, especially with the typically conservative UT offense.
7:00 - @%#$#%^!!!!! Arian Foster fumbles the handoff and Auburn recovers the ball in the end zone. Unbelievable. Auburn leads 14-6. It’s hard to imagine anything easier than a handoff, but somehow they screwed it up. The announcers are blaming Crompton…
5:45 – Tennessee looks dead out there. Three and out, which ends with a batted Crompton pass. Auburn takes the punt and starts from their own 35.
5:00 – Auburn’s backup QB is tearing up Tennessee. Kodi Burns is un-tackleable. At least for the guys in orange… Two defensive linemen miss sack opportunities, and somehow Burns completes a pass for a first down. This follows a 15 yard Burns QB scramble.
2:50 – Third and four inside Tennessee’s 20. The pass is dropped and Auburn will go for the field goal. 35 yard attempt…and no good!! Tennessee is still within striking distance.
1:05 – Three and out for the Vols. Crompton gets nailed on third down after a designed QB draw. Auburn will have time to add to their lead, since the punt probably won’t go over 35 yards.
0:52 – Chad Cunningham’s punt is almost blocked, but he gets it away and Auburn takes over at their 20. Auburn looks content to run out the clock.
Halftime! Tennessee is still in it, but it’s hard to see them pulling out a victory unless they can get the passing game going, or generate a turnover or two.
Beginning of the End
OK, the beginning of the end has already started for Tennessee, when they only went into halftime with a 7-3 lead against UCLA despite intercepting 4 Kevin Craft passes.
However, things are about to get much, much worse for Tennessee. Fresh off an embarrassing home loss to Florida, Tennessee heads off to Auburn to face what must be a very pissed-off Tiger team. Losing a last-minute thriller to a top five team (on your home turf no less) should have these guys fired up and ready to prove themselves. But which Auburn team will show up? The team that took a 14-3 halftime lead against LSU? Or the one that was outscored 23-7 in the second half of that same game? Will it be the defense that shut out Mississippi State? Or the offense that could manage one measly field goal?
Oddsmakers don't appear to be to sure, since Auburn is currently only a 6.5 point favorite. For reference, Georgia is also a 6.5 point favorite over Alabama, and no one is writing off the Tide at this point. Tennessee has been down this road before, and they always seem to win one game that no one expects them to. Sure, they lose a lot more games they "should" win, but this looks like one of those times when they could surprise people. They were in this same position last year when they were 2-2 and ambushed a ranked Georgia team 35-14. Even in that ill-fated 5-6 2005 season the Vols managed to give LSU their only regular season loss. Maybe I'm giving myself false hope, but Auburn seems ripe for an upset.
In other big games, of course all eyes will be on Alabama-Georgia. Well, everyone who doesn't actually have plans to go out. What's with all these 8:00 kickoffs? Arkansas travels to Texas in what would have been a great game last year, but instead should be a slaughter this time around. A couple of Big Ten games could help shape the upcoming season. Rising star Penn State will hope to keep their momentum going against Illinois, while Wisconsin heads to Michigan. If either of those teams loses (especially Penn State), it will be a dark day for the Big Ten. That conference is at the end of its rope. They NEED Penn State to do well. OSU has already been embarrassed on the national stage. Michigan State always seems to be a dark horse, but the opening loss to Cal will ultimately hold them back. With Michigan in re-building mode and the rest of the teams worthless (Northwestern, Iowa, Indiana, Minnesota, Purdue) the Big Ten cannot afford for Penn State to slip up.
Small-conference fans (and SEC fans) will be cheering for TCU as they face Oklahoma. I can't claim to know much about TCU, but they're ranked in the top 25 for some reason so I guess they must be decent. Apparently going undefeated against three teams with a combined 4-9 record and a DII school is all it takes to get ranked these days.
Oh yeah, USC lost. Can't say I'm surprised. At least we don't have to hear any more talk about how this is the greatest team in the history of USC.
Well, since I'm planning to watch the Tennessee game anyway, I'll jot down some of my thoughts about it. However, if it's too painful, you may only get highlights from the first half. Go Vols...
However, things are about to get much, much worse for Tennessee. Fresh off an embarrassing home loss to Florida, Tennessee heads off to Auburn to face what must be a very pissed-off Tiger team. Losing a last-minute thriller to a top five team (on your home turf no less) should have these guys fired up and ready to prove themselves. But which Auburn team will show up? The team that took a 14-3 halftime lead against LSU? Or the one that was outscored 23-7 in the second half of that same game? Will it be the defense that shut out Mississippi State? Or the offense that could manage one measly field goal?
Oddsmakers don't appear to be to sure, since Auburn is currently only a 6.5 point favorite. For reference, Georgia is also a 6.5 point favorite over Alabama, and no one is writing off the Tide at this point. Tennessee has been down this road before, and they always seem to win one game that no one expects them to. Sure, they lose a lot more games they "should" win, but this looks like one of those times when they could surprise people. They were in this same position last year when they were 2-2 and ambushed a ranked Georgia team 35-14. Even in that ill-fated 5-6 2005 season the Vols managed to give LSU their only regular season loss. Maybe I'm giving myself false hope, but Auburn seems ripe for an upset.
In other big games, of course all eyes will be on Alabama-Georgia. Well, everyone who doesn't actually have plans to go out. What's with all these 8:00 kickoffs? Arkansas travels to Texas in what would have been a great game last year, but instead should be a slaughter this time around. A couple of Big Ten games could help shape the upcoming season. Rising star Penn State will hope to keep their momentum going against Illinois, while Wisconsin heads to Michigan. If either of those teams loses (especially Penn State), it will be a dark day for the Big Ten. That conference is at the end of its rope. They NEED Penn State to do well. OSU has already been embarrassed on the national stage. Michigan State always seems to be a dark horse, but the opening loss to Cal will ultimately hold them back. With Michigan in re-building mode and the rest of the teams worthless (Northwestern, Iowa, Indiana, Minnesota, Purdue) the Big Ten cannot afford for Penn State to slip up.
Small-conference fans (and SEC fans) will be cheering for TCU as they face Oklahoma. I can't claim to know much about TCU, but they're ranked in the top 25 for some reason so I guess they must be decent. Apparently going undefeated against three teams with a combined 4-9 record and a DII school is all it takes to get ranked these days.
Oh yeah, USC lost. Can't say I'm surprised. At least we don't have to hear any more talk about how this is the greatest team in the history of USC.
Well, since I'm planning to watch the Tennessee game anyway, I'll jot down some of my thoughts about it. However, if it's too painful, you may only get highlights from the first half. Go Vols...
Friday, September 5, 2008
WC 2010 Qualification Weekend Preview
After a brief hiatus, World Cup 2010 qualification is about to swing back into action. With the exception of Asia, every confederation will be holding matches in the next week. Most teams will play two games, with the first generally this Saturday and the second on Wednesday.While all the qualifying games are important, the African qualifiers have perhaps the most significance. These two games represent the last two games of the semi-final round, which will ultimately eliminate over half of the remaining teams and leave five groups of four. Cameroon and Nigeria are virtually assured of advancing, but nearly every other African nation is still fighting for the right to move to the next round. Notable teams looking especially precarious are Angola (WC ’06), Tunisia (WC ’98, ’02, ’06; ’04 Africa Cup of Nations winner) and Egypt (’06, ’08 Africa Cup of Nations winner). Given the convoluted method that the African confederation has chosen for its qualification process, it is virtually impossible to tell which teams will advance until all the games are completed.
CONCACAF is also in action this weekend, and is highlighted by the United States trip to Cuba. USA will also host Trinidad & Tobago. Two other Group 1 games (T&T – Guatemala, Guatemala – Cuba) should serve to provide some separation for the likely second-place finisher, whoever that might be. Expect the teams that performs the best in those two games to ultimately advance to the CONCACAF final round. Other key games include Mexico v. Jamaica (9/6) and Honduras v. Jamaica (9/10). Honduras will need to win at least one of its games (the other is at Canada) if they want to stay alive, after dropping a tough game at Mexico. Costa Rica should easily wins its group, and whoever else advances out of Haiti, Suriname, and El Salvador will certainly finish in last place in the final round.
The majority of soccer fans will be most excited to see the European qualification process get underway, as all teams play two games this week. With a large number of weaker teams and most teams playing ten games, each game has relatively less importance. Barring a few upsets here and there, I expect that the European qualification will proceed as it has for the last several decades. Only two Saturday games are worth mentioning: Israel-Switzerland and Austria-France. A win by Israel would give them a huge edge towards qualification right off the bat (Switzerland and Greece are the only other viable competitors) while France will look to avoid embarrassment on the road against a decent opponent. Wednesday (9/10) offers a little bit more excitement, as France will once again face a tough test, this time on its home soil against Serbia. Croatia hosts England, and you can bet that the English will be eager for some revenge after Croatia eliminated them from Euro 2008 qualifying. Portugal hosts Denmark, which is the only other highlight among a rather drab group of games.
Lastly, CONMEBOL (South America) has a few key games of its own. Argentina-Paraguay is probably the most exciting, but since it’s highly likely that both teams will advance regardless, it shouldn’t impact the overall standings. All eyes will be on Brazil, given that they are currently sitting in fifth place (which would require they to have a play-in against a CONCACAF team) and travel to face Chile on Sunday. Chile currently sits one point ahead of the Brazilians in the standings, so Brazil will be especially anxious to score some points. Another key matchup will be Colombia-Uruguay. Both teams seems to be in a constant battle to be South America’s fifth-best team, and this game could provide some needed separation for one of the sides. With Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil typically dominating South America, Colombia and Uruguay are often left to duke it out for one the remaining slots. Colombia is currently third while Uruguay sits in sixth place, but only two points separate the teams in the standings.
Well, now that you now all the games, good luck trying to watch them on tv. As far as I know, only the USA games will be televised here, unless you get some crazy satellite channels I don't know about. USA-Cuba (9/6) will be on ESPN Classic at 8:00 and USA-T&T (9/10) will be on ESPN2 at 8:00. Enjoy!
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Laces out, Dan!
It’s always easy to blame the kicker, but Vol fans who watched the UCLA debacle know that the blame can’t all be heaped onto Daniel Lincoln. Sure, he missed three field goals (four, if you include one miss that was nullified by a penalty and resulted in a punt) but he is hardly the sole culprit. It should be noted that two (or three, including the no-go) of his misses were from over 50 yards, although he definitely should have made the 35 yarder in OT.
Let’s recap: Tennessee intercepted four wayward Kevin Craft passes in the first half alone, including one that was returned for a touchdown. They held UCLA to a total of 29 rushing yards. Yet somehow, they went into halftime holding only a 14-7 lead. In the second half, they allowed a rejuvenated UCLA passing offense to take the lead before UT tied the game on a last-second field goal. Of course, Tennessee ultimately lost in overtime, but it seemed a foregone conclusion before the players even took the field.
The highly-touted Jonathan Crompton looked as if he had never faced a live pass rush, and continually scattered passes high, short and wide of his intended targets. He ended up completing 19 of 41passes for a paltry 46% completion percentage. Even when things did seem to be going well, the Vols never failed to shoot themselves in the foot with an ill-timed penalty, racking up nine to UCLA’s two. One of the worst sequences was early in the fourth quarter, when Tennessee had returned a punt to UCLA’s 25 yard line. After a short rush and then an incomplete pass, Crompton took a sack that effectively pushed the Vols out of field goal range. They tried the kick anyway, and even though Lincoln missed the attempt, it wouldn’t have counted due to a delay of game penalty. Instead, the Vols wound up punting from the UCLA 38, which ended up going out of the end zone. Even with the punt, Tennessee only gained six yards of field position from their original line of scrimmage.
Turnovers ultimately proved more costly for Tennessee than UCLA, as the Vols fumbled the ball at the UCLA 5 yards line early in the third quarter. A touchdown would have put Tennessee up 21-7 and could have drastically affected the momentum of the game. Even a field goal would have made it a two-score game. Meanwhile, aside from the interception return for a touchdown, Tennessee could only manage two missed 50+ yard field goals off of UCLA’s three other interceptions.
After running UCLA off the field in the first half, the defense seemed content to sit back and let Kevin Craft pick them apart, rarely rushing more than four down linemen. Tennessee never seemed to adjust to UCLA’s zone-beating pass attack, and the Bruins chewed the Vols up ten yards at a time in the critical fourth quarter. Despite no threat of a running game, Tennessee did nothing to prevent Kevin Craft from completing the little hook routes and crosses over the middle that kept their drives alive. In fact, UCLA was able to construct two nearly identical touchdown drives of 70 and 80 yards each in the fourth quarter. I can only recall one time when Tennessee was able to sack the quarterback, although there may have been one or two more, but UCLA and their coaching staff essentially had their way with the UT defense in the waning minutes.
I suppose I could go on and on about Tennessee’s blunders. While credit is in due for Kevin Craft and his gutsy second half play, the Volunteers really threw this game away. One thing to consider: last year started off with a disappointing Pac-10 loss, and UT ended up in the SEC Championship. Even after humiliating losses to Florida and Alabama left them at 4-3, Tennessee was able to climb back and win five straight. Unfortunately, I think Tennessee may need a little more luck if they want to reach eight wins again this year.
In other SEC news, the conference generally turned in impressive performances. Florida, LSU and Georgia dominated, as expected, but Alabama delivered a truly head-turning performance by demolishing ACC pre-season favorite Clemson. Kentucky also performed surprisingly well in holding rival Louisville to a safety in a 27-2 romp. Aside from Tennessee’s disappointing turn, Arkansas and Mississippi State looked like SEC pretenders after their showings. Arkansas barely held off Western Illinois in Bobby Petrino’s debut, while Mississippi State couldn’t even match that, losing to Louisiana Tech.
Coming up later this week is a not-too-surprising dearth of quality games, as most of the top teams are tuning up against lightweights, ala OSU-Ohio, LSU-Troy, and Texas-UTEP. The most interesting SEC matchup should be the Thursday night battle between South Carolina and Vanderbilt. Expect a low scoring game: Vanderbilt won 17-6 last year at South Carolina. As I mentioned before, a Vandy win would go a big way towards getting the Commodores to their first bowl since 1982. Other top matchups include Florida-Miami (which would have been a great game five years ago) and West Virginia-East Carolina. East Carolina is coming off of a big win against Virginia Tech and would like to pull off two major upsets in a row. Beyond on that, you won't be missing much.
One final thought: Georgia fans - don't look past Central Michigan. They travel to Athens to face the Bulldogs, and this CMU team is better than most people realize. Granted, last year they were blown out by Kansas and Clemson by a combined score of 132-21, but QB Dan LeFevour is a talent and helped bring the 2007 MAC title to Central Michigan. Then again, Georgia has a pretty good history of dealing with highly touted non-BCS passing attacks...
Let’s recap: Tennessee intercepted four wayward Kevin Craft passes in the first half alone, including one that was returned for a touchdown. They held UCLA to a total of 29 rushing yards. Yet somehow, they went into halftime holding only a 14-7 lead. In the second half, they allowed a rejuvenated UCLA passing offense to take the lead before UT tied the game on a last-second field goal. Of course, Tennessee ultimately lost in overtime, but it seemed a foregone conclusion before the players even took the field.
The highly-touted Jonathan Crompton looked as if he had never faced a live pass rush, and continually scattered passes high, short and wide of his intended targets. He ended up completing 19 of 41passes for a paltry 46% completion percentage. Even when things did seem to be going well, the Vols never failed to shoot themselves in the foot with an ill-timed penalty, racking up nine to UCLA’s two. One of the worst sequences was early in the fourth quarter, when Tennessee had returned a punt to UCLA’s 25 yard line. After a short rush and then an incomplete pass, Crompton took a sack that effectively pushed the Vols out of field goal range. They tried the kick anyway, and even though Lincoln missed the attempt, it wouldn’t have counted due to a delay of game penalty. Instead, the Vols wound up punting from the UCLA 38, which ended up going out of the end zone. Even with the punt, Tennessee only gained six yards of field position from their original line of scrimmage.
Turnovers ultimately proved more costly for Tennessee than UCLA, as the Vols fumbled the ball at the UCLA 5 yards line early in the third quarter. A touchdown would have put Tennessee up 21-7 and could have drastically affected the momentum of the game. Even a field goal would have made it a two-score game. Meanwhile, aside from the interception return for a touchdown, Tennessee could only manage two missed 50+ yard field goals off of UCLA’s three other interceptions.
After running UCLA off the field in the first half, the defense seemed content to sit back and let Kevin Craft pick them apart, rarely rushing more than four down linemen. Tennessee never seemed to adjust to UCLA’s zone-beating pass attack, and the Bruins chewed the Vols up ten yards at a time in the critical fourth quarter. Despite no threat of a running game, Tennessee did nothing to prevent Kevin Craft from completing the little hook routes and crosses over the middle that kept their drives alive. In fact, UCLA was able to construct two nearly identical touchdown drives of 70 and 80 yards each in the fourth quarter. I can only recall one time when Tennessee was able to sack the quarterback, although there may have been one or two more, but UCLA and their coaching staff essentially had their way with the UT defense in the waning minutes.
I suppose I could go on and on about Tennessee’s blunders. While credit is in due for Kevin Craft and his gutsy second half play, the Volunteers really threw this game away. One thing to consider: last year started off with a disappointing Pac-10 loss, and UT ended up in the SEC Championship. Even after humiliating losses to Florida and Alabama left them at 4-3, Tennessee was able to climb back and win five straight. Unfortunately, I think Tennessee may need a little more luck if they want to reach eight wins again this year.
In other SEC news, the conference generally turned in impressive performances. Florida, LSU and Georgia dominated, as expected, but Alabama delivered a truly head-turning performance by demolishing ACC pre-season favorite Clemson. Kentucky also performed surprisingly well in holding rival Louisville to a safety in a 27-2 romp. Aside from Tennessee’s disappointing turn, Arkansas and Mississippi State looked like SEC pretenders after their showings. Arkansas barely held off Western Illinois in Bobby Petrino’s debut, while Mississippi State couldn’t even match that, losing to Louisiana Tech.
Coming up later this week is a not-too-surprising dearth of quality games, as most of the top teams are tuning up against lightweights, ala OSU-Ohio, LSU-Troy, and Texas-UTEP. The most interesting SEC matchup should be the Thursday night battle between South Carolina and Vanderbilt. Expect a low scoring game: Vanderbilt won 17-6 last year at South Carolina. As I mentioned before, a Vandy win would go a big way towards getting the Commodores to their first bowl since 1982. Other top matchups include Florida-Miami (which would have been a great game five years ago) and West Virginia-East Carolina. East Carolina is coming off of a big win against Virginia Tech and would like to pull off two major upsets in a row. Beyond on that, you won't be missing much.
One final thought: Georgia fans - don't look past Central Michigan. They travel to Athens to face the Bulldogs, and this CMU team is better than most people realize. Granted, last year they were blown out by Kansas and Clemson by a combined score of 132-21, but QB Dan LeFevour is a talent and helped bring the 2007 MAC title to Central Michigan. Then again, Georgia has a pretty good history of dealing with highly touted non-BCS passing attacks...
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