Tennessee Review

Despite what some pundits think (no links, you can feed their troll habits without my help), I'm remain happy with the team's play. Fourth strong defensive effort in a row.  Strong play calling when we needed it.  Strong running from Crowell later in the game.  A win in Knoxville.  I'll take it.
The Good:

• Coaching adjustments.  If I'm going to call out the lack of coaching acumen, it is only appropriate that I laud it when it goes well.  The half time adjustments were good.  The second half play calling was very good.  
• Special props to the call on Crowell's second TD run.  In the second half, almost every run was to the left side of the line, presumably to protect against him losing the ball out of his sprained right wrist.  We went back to the play that we ran at Mississippi from inside our own 5 that gained 25+ to the right side.  It was as well blocked and well executed Saturday night.  As a bonus, Tennessee's defense was completely expecting him to cut left when he cut right.
• Energy.  Loved going for it twice on 4th down on the first drive. Crowell kept answering the bell. The defense kept hitting hard.  It was a nice change after the last two trips to Knoxville.
• -20 yards allowed rushing.  I've seen some people pointing to this being a product of how bad the Vols rushing offense is.  To that, I'd answer that those guys didn't just fall down behind the line on their own.  
• Keeping Bray off kilter enough that he never got into a rhythm. 
• Walsh getting his mojo back.
• The defense not falling into super prevent on the last drive.  Yes, they only had :18 seconds, but we still came after them very hard.

The Bad:

• 4th and 56.  Damn.  I know you could call a hold on nearly every play (and the first one against Aron White was particularly tictac), but damn.  Although you could make a case that you'd rather get all of your holds for one game out of the way in one drive.  
• An 8 minute, 12 play, 28 yard drive.  I am not sure how you do that.  Wait, you end up 4th and 56.
• Not getting that last first down.  The game is on the line.  Finish them.
• Murray's long passes.  Give Bobo credit, he kept giving Murray chances to work it out (which he did with the long Mitchell pass), but they were there all night and he just isn't in sync on the long ball right now.
• I miss Orson Charles in our passing game.
• The long 3rd and 4th down conversions allowed in the first half.  I started having flashbacks.

The Ugly:

• The first half.

One last observation.  When it was 3rd and 56, why not throw it long?  At that point, armpunt isn't the worst option, right?  In all a strong game.  Still areas to improve in, but strong.

TD

3 Questions Answered: Tennessee

I had questions.  Now I have answers.

1. Will we slow down their passing offense enough? Yes.  We held Bray to a season low in passing yards.  He only had one game with fewer than the 18 completions, and he only threw 24 times in that game (compared to the 33 times he threw Saturday).  Rogers had a couple of big catches on their one TD drive, but was largely silent, especially in the first half.  We didn't him him as much as I thought we would need to, but we kept his rhythm off enough to make it a long night.
2. Can we score enough points to win? Wow.  If you'd told me we'd win with 20, I'd have counted on rain or something else.  Give Tennessee credit.  They played really strong defense in the first half.  We only had the ball three times in the first half.  The Vols bowed up when they needed to.  I have to give Bobo credit with the play calling in the second half.  He kept going to the long ball because it was open, and despite Murray consistently missing those open guys.  He mixed run and pass very well on both TD drives.  
3. Which team will make the biggest special teams screw up? It ended up not mattering.  We blocked an extra point that would have made it interesting.  They missed a FG early, but I don't think that mattered either.

Hey, a road win in Knoxville is a road win in Knoxville.  Our defense held Tennessee to -20 yards rushing.  Taking sacks and tackles for losses out they still only had 41 yards rushing.  I'll take that all year.

Safe Travels

I have obligations in South Georgia for Saturday night, but will be watching the game.  With any luck and my phone battery holding out, I'll live blog a bit. 

I apologize in advance if I end up with a technofail.

Go Dawgs!

Tennessee Preview

Crowell on the carry (Image:Hipple)

Well, here we are.  34 hours from kickoff and still fretting about how in the world we're going to win in Knoxville. I mean we went up there the past two times and crappantsed ourselves right out of the gate.  Hell, I didn't even wear the shirt I wore to watch the game home in either year.  Threw them both away immediately. 

Now we are strong on defense, especially passing defense. We're second in the nation in 3rd down defense. Teams are scoring on us when they get into the red zone, but teams have only been in the red zone 9 times all season.  Nine.  That is good for top 10 in the nation.  Tennessee has been in the red zone 22 times, good for top 25 in the nation.  The Vols like to sling it down the field, the one thing Kellen Moore wasn't really able to do in the opener.  If Rambo and the corners play strong, I look for a win.  I don't expect to keep the Vols out of the end zone all night, but I do expect them to have to earn the scores.  If they hit a couple of quick deep pass plays, I could be in the market for a new shirt.

On offense, I like our chances to run the ball on them.  The Vols got eaten alive by Florida with Demps and Rainey.  For that matter, Cincy and Buffalo had more success running the ball against them.  One interesting note, they are much better in the second half against the run, averaging a full 3.33 yards per carry better in the second half.  That is why I think Bobo will be forced to be let go of his four corners offensive philosophy and keep Tennessee's defense on their toes.  Tennessee lets up in the 3rd Q in passing D, with that being the highest QB rating allowed.  Will Crowell get that signature long run he's been dreaming about?

Overall, I'm nervous, but like our chances.  If we can run the ball effectively and take shots down the field with our deep threats, which I think we can, we'll be in the game.  If our defense can force Tennessee into a short zone passing game, instead of allowing them to open it up, which is easily their strength, I like our chances. 

Matchups to watch:
-Rambo/Boykin on Da'Rick. Easy choice, right? Rogers has become Bray's go to man.  Put aside the Twitter/Facebook non-sense; this is where the Vols will focus early.  Establish Rogers and spread the ball to Rivera and Arnett.  A few token running plays for good measure.  Shut down Rogers and you force Tennessee into a game they aren't prepared to play and probably can't win.
-Their punting vs. our punt return team. So much hilarity could ensue.  It is possible to see a blocked punt, a punt returned for a TD, a fake punt and a fat guy TD.  Hell, it is possible to see that on one play.  We don't want to play field position exchange with them. Bobo is much more comfortable opening the playbook with room to operate.  Their passing game is too dangerous to only make them go 50 yards for a TD. 
-UGA Oline vs. their blitz package.  Murray has been hit way too much. Changes are afoot on our line.  We've got to keep him protected.  If he starts forcing and short arming throws, we'll give them too many opportunities to score, either through lack of conversions or picks. 

I expect Dooley to have seen what Mississippi State did with that little jet/bubble screen and use it to free up the deep guys.  Also, lest we forget, the misdirection and play action Tennessee used in 07 and 09 to clean our clocks remains the one thing our defense still consistently fails to play strong on.  We have to be ready for that or find a way to neutralize that threat.

TD

Tennessee - 3 Questions

Jenkins with the pwn. (Image:Hipple)

Another week, another must win game.  I'm concerned about Tennessee.  If there is one thing this Georgia team has struggled with for a number of years is the ability to consistently play good football. We can continue the debate about the level of the competition, but we've had three strong defensive performances in a row. Can Grantham's D put up a fourth dominating performance?

1. Will we slow down their passing offense enough? There is no doubt losing Justin Hunter changes the complexion of each of Tennessee's remaining games.  Still, Bray is dangerous enough with the weapons left at his disposal.  Georgia's defense, specifically our passing defense, is the stoutest Bray has seen all year (currently 4th in the nation at just over 150ypg allowed).  Against the only competent pass D he's faced, Bray was 26/48/3TD/2INT.  His passer rating was a respectable 116.87.  Still Florida got to him enough to make those errors pay, with 3 sacks and 6 more TFLs.  Either way, I don't see Bobo having the luxury of playing four corners offense in the 4th quarter.  The good news is the D line matches up well with them on the front.  That'll give some opportunity to drop guys in to coverage, or even better bring multiple looks to keep Bray from being comfortable.  I'd love to see Big John do a full body take down early.
2. Can we score enough points to win? The other side of that coin is scoring enough points to win.  I don't foresee this being a 2006 style score fest.  I do think it'll take more than 24 points to win. Fortunately, they've struggled containing strong running games. Crowell will get his share of looks.  I look for more Smith/Boykin plays, too.  The Vols haven't been getting to the QB too much, but anyone that has played Georgia this year has reversed any sack issues they've had.  When Murray has been comfortable, he's been very good.  When he's been turfed a few times, he's been less so.  Keeping Murray upright, either through some miraculous improvement in blocking or scheme is huge.  Involving more play makers might be necessary.
3. Which team will make the biggest special teams screw up? They kick the ball short and don't cover well, have given up blocked punts in back to back games, allow long returns with regularity.  We can't stop a fake punt, our kicker has the yips, and a few decent high school teams could pull off an on-sides kick against us.  With a game that has the potential to be this close, these are the types of plays that matter. Lord, please let Boykin's teeth be healthy enough for him to house a punt.

I think we'll need Rambo and the rest of the secondary to have monster games.  They've played very well, clearly, but Tyler is a QB unlike what they've seen since week one.  Which went so swimmingly.  

Any big questions on your mind?

TD

Rejected Tennessee Locker Room Posters

Who did they get to check this, me?

The other one considered:

Did I miss any?  Extra points for art.

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Tennessee Road Game

The hardest part about going to an away game is figuring out what your tailgate plans are.  Knoxville is a relatively easy three hour drive from Atlanta, four hour drive from Athens, and 25 years from both places.  Last I checked, there were some hotels a relatively short drive from Knoxvegas, keeping in mind that getting out of downtown there is like leaving Atlanta, but no mass transit, only one interstate and more donkey carts. 

Getting in shouldn't be that big of a deal with a 7pm kickoff.  There are some open tailgate options, with the best one I've seen being the Hedges2Hardwood's soire.  Contact them for more info.  They promise coozies. UGA's official spot will probably be the Knoxville Marriott.  It is also my experience that if you can get past the nasty orange, Tennessee fans are always happy to share their hooch. 

I mean moonshine.  Not their lady companions.  Gotta keep it in the family.

TD

Marrying Down

That is all.

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Ladies Hoops tonight: Landers v. Summitt

If you can get to Athens tonight, you should head to the Stegosaurus for the Lady Dawgs basketball game at 7:00pm. It's a match-up of top ten teams: #3 Tennessee (16-1) and #8 Georgia (17-1).

The AJC has an interesting look at the 35-year (!) rivalry between Andy Landers and his arch-nemesis Pat Summitt. The article makes it look like they've dialed back the personal animus --while never reaching Suzanne Yoculan v. Sarah Patterson levels-- with each even going to far as to give grudging respect to the other.

Andy Landers just threw up in his mouth a little bit.

Pat Summitt may be easy to caricature as a fire-breathing ballbuster (and PETA foe), but every basketball coach who ever lived not named John Wooden has to get in line behind her. Frankly, she'd have been a better hire than Lane Kiffin.

Even if women's basketball isn't your thing, this rivalry and these coaches should get your respect. If you can't get to the game, you can check it out on FSN. GATA, Andy.

Clay Travis blasts Lane Kiffin

This is a fun read about Kiffin's tenure in Knoxville. Good times.

PWD

Tennessee's Early Enrollees Can Still Bolt

Per Brent Hubbs, the early enrollees can bolt if they don't go to class tomorrow.



UPDATE: The hits keep on coming. Ed Orgeron reportedly told the early enrollees not to go to class tomorrow....so they could transfer to Southern Cal. Damn that's classy. Here's the AJC's update on three Georgia boys who committed to play for the Vols.

By the way, would someone PLEASE call Al Davis and get his reaction.

ht - Radi at UGASports.com

PWD
Georgia Sports Blog

UT Cops using Tear Gas on Students?

Renaldo Woolridge is a UT basketball player twittering from his dorm balcony about the situation at the UT Athletic Complex. Things are out of hand per his twitter feed. Multiple reports of "riot-like" situation with thousands of protesters outside the building and multiple reports of tear gas.

The fans are waiting on Kiffin to leave the complex. Damn.

Other reports that Tear Gas claim was overblown. Instead just lots of burning stuff in the street (thus the smoke). Should be video or pics up soon.

Lane Kiffin to Southern Cal

Breaking. And confirmed via multiple real sources. He's taking the entire family and Coach Orgeron to L.A. Holy shit. Best line of the night comes from a Vol fan on a rivals.com message board, "This is like divorcing a stripper."

Dear Southern Cal...if you're scared of the NCAA and looking for a sacrificial lamb like Mike Shula who will baby sit the program for 3-4 years while probation blows over, that's not a bad plan. You just don't hire a guy NCAA Compliance wants to kill to do the whole "under the radar low profile thing."

Chris Mortensen just nailed it on Twitter...they just about have to go after David Cutcliffe. Longer list of candidates is:

• Will Muschamp
  
• Gary Patterson
  
• Jon Gruden - grad assistant for vols in mid 80s. Probably a pipe dream.
  
• David Cutcliff

Chris Petersen of Boise is one weird dude. He's apparently not interested in this or much of anything other than Boise.

The Vols need to nail this in ~72 hours. That gives them almost 3 weeks to stabilize the class. The

As a buddy just said..."sort of makes our Defensive Coordinator search look like baby sh*t."

PWD

Bruce Pearl Dismisses Tyler Smith

It's official the Vols dismissed Tyler Smith. Smith lead the Vols last year in scoring and was second in rebounding. This year, he was second in scoring and third in rebounding as Pearl had worked to involve more players through the non-conference schedule. Said differently...he was arguably their best player.

The other players involved in the guns and drugs arrest are still suspended indefinitely. We're hearing rumblings that one of the remaining players will receive a substantially stiffer punishment than the other two.

The players already missed the Charlotte game, and they look to miss the Kansas game Saturday as well. We need them to miss four additional games to make it through our home match-up in late-January.

Why does this suspension matter to UGA hoops?
Every win in SEC play is precious for the Dawgs in any year, and this year that's especially true. For the Dawgs to make any post-season tournament (NIT, CBI, etc), we'll need at least 16 wins. That requires a 7-9 record in league play plus one tourney win. When you look at the schedule, that certainly looks like a stretch goal. Picking up a win at home against the Vols would go a long way towards making that goal more reasonable.

Right now, I'd take 6-10 in league play and a win in the SEC Tourney, and call it huge progress. So this is a big story to follow.

PWD

The UT Basketball Case Gets Even More Weird

Thompson-Boling-Alcatraz (Image: Ross O.)

As we mentioned last week, four Vols were arrested and charged with various weapons, drugs and booze related charges. The intriguing part of the case involves the vehicle in question. It's a rental car purchased from Enterprise Rental Car originally rented in North Knoxville (Clinton Road). The Illinois license plates are irrelevant as it's a rental car.

According to published reports and arrest information, the players apparently admitted that they knew the guns were in the car. Most bizarre...the players say they went to Nashville to pick up the car (not from the rental car company but from another person).

Ok. Here are my questions.
1. Why do you drive 4 hours to borrow a rental car...that you allegedly know has guns in it.

2. If you have a car that can get you to Nashville, why do you need to borrow another car?

3. Why do four people need to drive to Nashville to pick up a rental car from someone? Isn't that a solo operation?

This entire thing stinks to high heaven. In case you are wondering, these four kids combine to average 32.4 points, 14.7 rebounds and 8 assists per game. Said differently, that's 39.8% of their points, 38.9% of their rebounds and 46.5% of their assists per game.

At UGA in this same scenario, they would be looking at mandatory minimum suspensions of 10% of the season for the drugs. In other words, 3 games on the bench (Charlotte, Kansas and Auburn). The weapons charges add a unique level of complexity because of the reported filed off serial numbers. No idea how UGA would deal with that aspect of this. It'll be interesting to watch how this unfolds.

For us to benefit from this in any meaningful way, we need a 6 game suspension. That would carry them through the Jan. 23rd match-up in Athens. Additionally, we could benefit if more bad news came out as Pearl is absolutely kicking our ass when it comes to recruiting in the State of Georgia.

See Also:
-- UT AD: "Tolerance has gone to Zero" - ESPN
-- Bruce Pearl says his team "has a lot of weapons." - SportingNews
-- Investigation centers on rental car owner - Knoxville News
-- Potential Identify of the Car Renter - WBIR
-- The worst case scenario - Maryville News

PWD

UGA's defensive coordinator search

Given how close to the vest Coach Richt is playing this, his search could center on anyone, and we'd struggle to know it. However, the rumors about the search now clearly center on John Chavis.

Chris Low from ESPN.com has a lengthy piece about Richt's potential interest in Chavis. Dean Legge of DawgPost.com follows that piece (Premium) up with additional information which suggests that Chavis looks to be the front runner. Despite his comments to his players that he was staying. Miles says UGA is interested, but he hasn't spoken to Richt.

I would personally be excited with a Chavis hire. Consider some stats:

	UT '08 with John Chavis	UT '09 with Monte Kiffin
Scoring Defense	16.75	21
Total Defense	263.5	308.83
Rush Defense	103.08	142.92
Pass Defense	160.42	165.92
Sacks / game	1.92	1.67
Interceptions (Season)	17	9
3rd Down Conversions*	37.1	34.12

	LSU '08 w/o Chavis	LSU '09 with Chavis
Scoring Defense	24.15	16
Total Defense	325.54	326.58
Rush Defense	110.15	142.92
Pass Defense	215.38	192.42
Sacks / game	2.15	1.67
Interceptions (Season)	8	13
3rd Down Conversions	31.15	36.76

Overall, the stats above aren't an attempt to say that John Chavis is better or worse than Monte Kiffin. However, it does provide some context for what Chavis did his last year in Knoxville vs. what Old Man Kiffin did this year in a season that brought him widespread acclaim.

Particularly of note, you'll hear UT fans say that their defense is more aggressive under Monte. Maybe, but the sacks, interceptions, points allowed and yards allowed certainly don't reflect that aggression this year.

It's also interesting to see what Chavis did with the LSU defense from '08 to '09. If we could get that sort of directional improvement, we would be in terrific shape.

The downside of Chavis is the "Third and Chavis" situation. Vol fans will tell you his defenses were historically bad on third downs. The stats don't show a man who is a lock down guy on 3rd down that's for sure. The '06 and '07 UT units were particularly bad in this area, but then again...the '07 UT defense was bad at everything. It's a legit concern.

However, one thing isn't a concern and that's points allowed. Since 1998, only one John Chavis coached defense has allowed more than 20 points per game. That's very, very strong. As a point of comparison, Georgia's defense the past three seasons allowed 25.9 ('09), 24.5 ('08) and 20.1 ('07) points per game. When you get below 20 points per game, good things start to happen, and Chief Chavis keeps the scoring numbers low.

Over the past week or so, two people we usually get great info from have said they would put their money on Chavis. but it isn't a done deal yet. Also, it's interesting that Rodney Garner told Reshad Jones to keep an open mind about the new DC. If we could bring in someone that would feature him like UT features Eric Berry, he should stay. It's a pretty easy sell to Jones that Chavis knows how to showcase Eric Berry. Especially considering that Berry had 3 sacks and 12 interceptions while playing for Chavis (2 years), but 0 sacks and only 2 interceptions playing for Kiffin for one year.

I'm not saying. I'm just saying.

PWD

NY Times Investigating Vol Recruiting

The New York Times reports tonight that the NCAA has launched an investigation into the Tennessee Vols use of hostesses for the recruitment of student athletes including Marcus Lattimore, Brandon Willis, Corey Miller, Chris Dunkley, Chris Dunkley, JaWuan James and others (per the article).

The hostesses are alleged to have been involved in recruiting players off campus...as far away as 200 miles. University representatives can't recruit off campus.

The article is an intriguing read. Developing.

PWD

Pulpwood on Tennessee

As always, it's most certainly not safe for work. Although, he makes great points on Mrs. Kiffin.

PWD

What's to say about this game?

Our offense is bad. Their offense is worse. Our special teams are bad. Their special teams are actually worse because they don't have Drew Butler or Blair Walsh. And their defense is better than ours.

Beyond that...this is a helmet game. Which ever team plays the smartest and hardest wins.

The questions of the week:

• Will the Dawgs let LSU beat them twice by pouting their way through this?
• Will the Vols come out flat for the 12:21 pm start as the home team often does?
• Will the crowd turn on the Vols if Crompton puts them in a position to go down 10+ early?
• Will Washuan Ealey know any passing plays this week?

This is the game of the great unknown. All that's known is neither team can afford to lose this game. The Vols can't start 2-4 with games remaining against Bama, Ole Miss and South Carolina, and we can't go 3-3 with games remaining against UF, Auburn and Tech.

We have to win.

See Also:
-- Do I really have to preview this game? - Blutarsky
-- UGA Defensive line waking up - ABH
-- Kiffin envious of Green - ABH
-- Vols spending more time on kick coverage - Chattanooga Free Press

PWD

Vols lose another WR...temporarily

Fans are funny in lots of ways. Not the least of which is that all my team's favorite players will return from injury very quickly, and all of your team's injured players will wreck your season.

The Vols lost Gerald Jones for 4 to 6 weeks with a high ankle sprain. UGA will face the Vols on Oct. 10, that's 7 weeks from now so I'd wager he'll be back. In the meantime, FSU transfer and elite young pass catching TE Brandon Warren is getting snaps at WR. Personally, I think Warren is a helluva ball player.

Completely unrelated to Jones' ankle...John Adams, the contrarian of the Knoxville State Run Media: Newspaper Division, has an interesting "is it football season yet" type article. We're almost there folks.

See Also:
-- Tickets: UGA at Tennessee

PWD