Very unimpressive first quarter for Tennessee offense. Excellent start for the defense. Pretty much what I expected except I would not have expected the two turnovers... even from our offense. Tennessee had 89 yards of total offense and Western Kentucky had -8 yards. Second quarter is another story. In less than 6 minutes, the Tennessee offense has scored 21 points partially due to a turnover by our defense that gave us good field position. The offense is starting to get a little momentum.
Another TD added in the second quarter. Our Offensive production in the first half of the first game has almost equaled the whole year of 2008. Still a little over 1 minute left in the first half: Tennessee 28 WKU 0
Half time stats: WKU has 9 yards total offense to Tennessee's 297 yards. WKU got one first down and Tennessee has 18. I realize that this is not a stellar opponent but there was a few non-stellar opponents last year that had far more success. I am happy with what I have seen so far.
I, like Tom, hesitate to draw too many conclusions from this game because it is painfully obvious that Western Kentucky is vastly overmatched, however, I really like this Tennessee team so far. Crompton has had a couple of very questionable throws and has tossed 2 picks. However, he has looked impressive in that he has gained confidence as the game has worn on and is consistently making good reads and taking the time to check down. The running game has looked incredible. Hardesty is a beast and Bryce Brown has shown a lot of promise as well although Hardesty is clearly the star at this point. The defense, as Tom alluded to, has been incredible. I love their attitude and propensity to swarm to the football. Stopping the run and running the ball wins championships. Although I don't think Tennessee will be winning a championship this year, I do think the foundation is being laid and the Vols will win several games this year.
Aquila A little touted fact for this defense is that there are quite a few new additions to the starting lineup this year. That makes the defensive production even more amazing for me.
Cindy just counted it up... Tennessee scored 208 points last year but quite a bit of that was defensive points. At 56 points today, none directly scored by the defense, and 7 by the second team, that is more than 1/4 if the entire offense and defense combined scoring last year. This year looks to be a lot more fun to watch than last year was.
Tom... <t>I caught some of the first half and those two backs can really run. Brown is as good as advertised.<br/> <br/> What class is the other kid from North Carolina?</t>
63 points: 30.3% of last years total production Still have almost 2 minutes to score more. The offense was handed to the second team at the beginning of the 4th quarter and they hve scored 14 points.
Last play of the game was a running play designed to run out the clock that gained 30 yards and came up about 10 yards short of another score. I am happy!
I really like this offense. Taurean Poole and David Oku picked up with the second team where Hardesty (a Sr. by the way) and Brown left off with the first team. The reads in the passing game seem to be easy for the QBs and probably the biggest difference, the offensive line looks like a totally different group from last year. Nice job altogether. You're right Tom, it was a lot more fun to watch. I don't care how bad WKU is, that offense last year couldn't have put 63 points on St. Mary's School for Girls. Gotta love the freshman impact as well. That recruiting class looks even better than the no. 10 national ranking they received. Brown went for over 100 yards and a score. Oku scored 2 TDs on the ground. And the two WRs the staff stole from Florida contributed in the passing game with Teague hauling in 80+ yards and a score and Richardson adding 60 all-purpose yards. I will enjoy this season no matter how it turns out because the future looks incredibly bright.
Aquila What kind of expectations do you think the staff have for Bryce Brown when he is chewed out by the running back coach just after a 35 yard run and out the sideline? I'm guessing he was expected to cut left and not go out of bounds. Definitely different from years past.
Somewhere on the board, Dave asked me if I thought that Tennessee had made any appreciable advances in the offense. Of course, with the Tennessee offense only going against the Tennessee defense in practice, it is hard to tell. Going against the WKU defense is even harder to tell. I won't have a definitive answer until September 19th but I am leaning toward a resounding YES! :wink: I don't think that last year's Tennessee offense could have posted 658 yards against Tennessee School for the Blind if they had 10 quarters to do it in! :shock:
Thanks, Don. I think Tennessee disposed of the 120th best team in FBS the way Tennessee should. There are a lot of people saying that it's just Western Kentucky but those people need to go back and watch the games last year versus Wyoming and the near loss against Northern Illinois. Tennessee handled WKU the way Tennessee should handle schools from non-BCS conferences (don't get riled up, Corey). To answer your question, Cindy, here is what Kiffin had to say in regard to why the staff was furious after that beautiful 34 yard run by Brown. http://www.govolsxtra.com/news/2009/sep/05/for-starters-its-western-kentucky/ You've gotta love that attitude and the team embodied it for the most part today.
That and the fact the WKU offense virtually did nothing but give the Tenn offense good field position all game makes it very difficult to tell what actually occurred. I watched the game and thought in the first quarter not much had changed with UT's offense but the final production tells a different tale. I think there is some improvement but how much is not going to be known until Sept. 19th. I hope the Vols beat UCLA so they are ranked going in to the Swamp and a little bit of an edge is developed by UF with regard to respecting Tenn.'s chances to win. Congratulations on a good start.
Thanks Don and MCG. I totally agree that the WKU didn't tell us much. I stated so. UCLA will be a better test. Sept 19 will show me a lot. Crompton did start out rough. I had business to conduct that kept me away from the house for the whole first quarter. Actually, I was pulling into the garage when the first score of the second quarter occurred. I'll watch the first quarter tomorrow. I listened to it on XM 200 while out. Being ranked come the 19th will hinge on what happens next week. I'll have a special announcement to make on Thursday the 10th. It will surprise a few around here... or maybe it won't.