The question is: who holds the record at Tennessee for highest single game completion average which at the time broke Rick Neuheisel's UCLA record.
check that. Craft will be the offensive and defensive MVP for the Vols.. that poor SOB, he should be holding a clipboard.
The poor SOB had lead his team to a lead. Tennessee had better suck it up and not turn the ball over in scoring territory again or UCLA might win this game. Go Vols!
Corey, I am afraid that this is the same ole Tennessee that we have been used to for years. I am giving the offense way too much credit when I say they are anemic. The defense is great until the offense keeps them on the field way too long. I can't say that I am surprised by the way things are going but I can say that I am extremely disappointed. The game is not over but even if we come back and win it, I can't be very happy. The receivers are ineffective compared to the way the UCLA receivers are helping out your QB in the second half.
Well Corey... Go Bruins... Go Pac 10. Even if we run the kickoff back for a TD, the Bruins deserve this game. Untill Tennessee grows an offense to help out the defense, we will be a 4 loss team every year.
I won't take it back Corey, you and the Bruins deserved that wager pay off from me regardless of the outcome. However, Lincoln hitting the 47 yarder to tie it up was fantastic. The Bruins may still pull it out, but I feel a little, very little better about the ability of our offense to move the ball when they have to. I just wish they could find a reason to move the ball when they do not have to. :?
The game turned when Tennessee was driving but fumbled the ball deep in UCLA territory. From there on UCLA was on fire.
Unreal, tough loss Tom. Very unusual for Tennessee to miss a field goal. I didn't bet, but Go UCLA Go Pac 12.
You have nothing to hang your head about Tom. That Bruin defense would do that and probably a whole lot more to some of the offenses you will see this year. Let's not forget that Craft threw 4 horrible INTs in the 1st half including a pick 6. I love how Craft gets the credit for the numerous circus catches made by the WRs and TEs. They bailed that kid out. Good for him though.
Great game to watch....probably will be one of the top games all year. ESPN instant Classic to be sure. Congratulations to both teams for being well prepared and for putting on a great show with a ton of effort. Man...the tandem of Neuheisel and Chow looks like a real winner. Someone on a Gator board compared it to the beginning of the Spurrier era at Florida.
Well doesn't everybody have that in the larger sense? But UCLA is hardly a traditional football power, they have had some great teams over the years and some great players but you don't think of UCLA when you think of the top football programs over the history of college football. In fact they are #56 on the all-time wins list. So they don't really have a great football tradition. College Football Data Wharehouse
Which is why I said "UCLA already has a football tradition" without any adjective. The comparison wasn't UCLA and the rest of college football, Terry. It was UCLA and Florida. And it wasn't a very good one. UCLA had a national championship and eighteen conference championships before Neuheisel. Florida didn't have so much as a conference championship prior to Spurrier. Check it out at college football data warehouse.
Here are my thoughts on the game. Let's start off with what I saw out of Tennessee that I liked. Hardesty ran like a beast and, IMO, left little doubt that he's Tenn.'s best option at RB, when healthy. His burst and power make him stand out head and shoulders above Foster. Speaking of Foster, he had some really nice runs. Nothing much that took your breath away although he did have one nice long run in which he showed some nice burst. Mostly, he used good vision to follow his blocks. We'll get to him again later.... Jonathan Crompton showed a nice touch on the deep ball, something that we saw very little last year with Ainge at the helm. The defensive secondary seized every opportunity afforded them by Craft in the first half. They looked as good as advertised during the first half hour of the game. The Dline showed good run-stopping ability. The offensive line did a nice job of blocking for the RBs which was very encouraging. The return game looked like it had the possibility of being absolutely electric with G. Jones returning kicks. Rogan is a good returner as well but Jones stole the show. Now, for the bad. Crompton was wildly inconsistent and fretted at the very hint of a pass rush. I have serious doubts about him going forward. The Dline, while good against the run, failed to generate consistent pressure on the QB. Foster had problems hanging onto the ball, AGAIN. My biggest gripe has to be the playcalling. I do not know of any reason why a Tenn. football team, breaking in a new QB, with two guys at RB who were gaining yards at will, would throw the ball 41 times in a close game. The playcalling in OT really got to me. I understand that you can't run the ball every play and I know that many people have complained in the past about Tenn. being reluctant to throw the ball but you have to stick to what works and the running game was working. Tenn. needs to pound the rock to win and I see no reason why they shouldn't do just that. Now, to the defensive playcalling. When Tenn. was playing aggressively in the 1st half, they were dominant. In the 4Q, esp. on the late Ucla TD drive, where were the DBs? Has Chavis not learned that the prevent or mustang D is not a good idea? Tenn. has been burned many times over the years running that D. I don't get it. Overall, I would say that I was highly disappointed. I think I drank the "things are different now" Kool-Aid and I really thought that Clawson was going to mix things up. I know Tenn. has playmakers but you have to give those guys a chance and Tenn. wasn't consistently able to do that or they just didn't do that, in the case of the RBs. I credit Ucla as I think their coaching staff was phenomenal on both sides of the ball. However, Tenn. should have been up by 20 in the first half. I do credit Ucla's stout D and good coaching but good teams do not allow so many opportunities to pass by. I still think Tenn. is a fringe top 25 team this year but I foresee at least 4 losses. If things aren't corrected before UF, it will not be pretty. I am, by no means, offering excuses but I do feel Ucla got the benefit of about three questionable calls. I would outline them, but I, for the most part, believe they were a non-factor in the final outcome. Tennessee's execution (lack of) and playcalling had everything to do with the loss not to mention a bunch of well-coached, determined, and underrated (coming in) group of kids from Ucla. Kudos to those kids and their effort. I think the coaching triumvirate at Ucla will place the Bruins in a position to win a lot of games in the years to come.
Aquila, Good report. Time will tell, but I don't think you guys should hang your head so much. Having to deal with the SEC fans around here, I am ready for the controversial call subject. I can offer up what I told them.. The first one was the 'safety'... It was ruled that his forward progress broke the plane of the goal line before he was driven back. The replay showed this. Take this into account.. Hypothetically, flip the field.. If that is a RB going in for the score, he gets a TD. The ball broke the plane before forward progress was stopped. I'm with you though, I am one who believes the ball should be all in, or all out... but that isn't the rule. The TE screen up the middle. This was more a case of piss-poor TV commentators than it was a no call. When playing with the telestrator (sic), he drew a line that showed the TE going downfield 5 yards from the line of scrimmage. However, when they showed the actual replay the TE was at best AT the line of scrimmage when he caught the ball. What the ABC/ESPN taste tester said was not based in fact whatsoever. He slightly backed off his initial statement, but notice that they didn't show that highlight again... Personally, I thought UT got away with 4 or 5 brutal PI calls... one they did a slow-mo on that clearly showed the defender with his hand on the jersey, under the armpit of the WR and pulling him as the UT defender went over his shoulder (making contact before the ball got there) to swat it away... They called this 'good coverage.'... but there's no point in crying about it. The ref doesn't call it, then its not a penalty. Another one that I barked about at the time.. when spiking the ball. Crompton threw the ball off of your OL. That's a penalty. Again, no call...so it didn't happen One last officiating gripe that is totally unrelated to this game. I was watching the HS game between Elder from Ohio and St Thomas Aquinas from FL. In the game, the kid from Elder pounded the ball into the ground and bounced it straight into the air. The kid from STA called fair catch, got blasted and I have no idea who actually recovered it. That didn't matter, they called 'fair catch interference'...on a ball that hit the ground.. What is even more sad is... no one complained.. As for Crompton, he has great touch on the long ball and he throws tight passes in that 5 yard range. He has zero touch on that 10 to 15 yard range and that should be a major concern to you guys. I was hollering all night for UCLA to send the house on every play. UT couldn't block it and Crompton couldn't stay in to take the hit while making the pass on a consistent basis... You guys were limping at this time last year and came back for a 10 win season and a shot at the SEC title. You out of the hunt by any stretch.
Aquila, I think that you and I have a very similar view onthis game. A lot of what you said here echos the opinions I had and voiced during the game. Having to be at work at 6 a.m. this morning, I didn't have any time to write my thoughts at the end of the game and have just now finished my wrap up of the first day of a class I am teaching. Crompton has as much confidence and poise as the offensive line allows. When he has time to throw, he is on target. When he is rushed, he is pitiful. We had three other QBs like that in recent history. Their first games were shaky at best. They all turned out to be very good QBs. I am referring to Andy Kelly, Heath Shuler, and yes, Peyton Manning. My jury is still out on Jonathan and not ready to convict him yet. I mentioned during the game that our defense was getting tired due to the offense leaving them out on the field to often and too long. I truely believe that is why Chavis went to the mustang defense. We had worn out players sucking wind. If we didn't play off the ball, we were going to get burned deep and often. The offense has to be able to give the defense a break. Three and out spells the demise of the defense that has to come back on the field too early. I am not making excuses for Chavis. I just know that our DBs can match up with anyone when they are fresh. I am truely disappointed in this start. I blame it solely on the anemic offense like I stated during the game. Until we grow an offense, we will put too much stress on a great defense and it will wear down. If we can not make at least two first downs on each drive, we are asking for trouble. If the offense can't sustain drives against Florida, a repeat of last year is on the horizon. We need to tune up the pass blocking in the next game. We need to have Jonathan comfortable in the pocket to allow him to get into a rhythm. If he can gain some confidence and experience in the next game, the Florida game will be more respectable. We have a week off to lick our wounds and work hard on the pass blocking. We have good coaches that need to earn their keep and show us some changes in the veteran offensive line.