Vols rush for 211 in victory over MSU

Quick points on today's victory:

• To me, 211 was the key stat in today's win over the Bulldogs. For the second week in a row, Tennessee's running game had a renewed vigor and was able to successfully run the football. Foster averaged a hefty 6.6 yards per carry and Hardesty managed 4.9 per attempt.
  
• The defense missed some key tackles early, reminding me of how they played in our first two losses. Fortunately, they were able to pull it together.
  
• Jonathan Heffney had one really nice punt return but for whatever reason, he still doesn't look like his old self in my opinion.
  
• Ainge played well but made a couple of bad decisions with the football. Luckily it didn't hurt us. MSU put more pressure on him than I thought they would.
  
• Lucas Taylor is catching everything and has stepped up and become the leader of that receiving corps. His 186 yards and one touchdown today was impressive.
  
• It was nice to see Daniel Lincoln bounce back and not be affected by his first missed field goal of the season.
• Chris Brown is instrumental to this team in several ways.
• It surely didn't seem that we were only 30 yards shy of 500 total yards on offense. Wow!
• Erik Ainge wasn't sacked.... again. The total still sits at one for the season.
  
• Fulmer is 13-1 against teams from the state of Mississippi. Do you remember the loss?
• Attendance seemed louder than 50,217.

A Different Saturday for Vol Fans

As I put the final touches on my fan gameday preparations, I can't help but have a bit of a unique feeling heading in to today's game against Mississippi State. It's been a while since Tennessee has lost to Florida and then regained control of their own destiny, especially this early in the season. For me, it surely makes these not-so-meaningful games more meaningful.

Maybe some readers can help me out, but I honestly can't remember this ever happening at this point in the season. The only year that comes to my mind would be 1997. However, I'm pretty sure that Tennessee regained control of the East much later in the schedule that year.

I feel pretty confident that Tennessee will win this football game. I do think it's a bit of a trap game coming after a big win against #12 Georgia and just before a showdown with Alabama. The game with the Crimson Tide is always an important one, regardless of records. The history and tradition of the game means a lot to Coach Fulmer even though the two teams now reside in different conference divisions.

I believe MSU to be fairly one dimensional. They will have to run the ball really really well and create some big plays in the passing game in order to win. I think they will have some success, but not enough to earn a W.

My prediction: Tennessee 38 MSU 17.

Basketball Practice. Many schools, including Kentucky, opened their basketball season with a Midnight Madness for fans on Friday night. Tennessee wasn't one of them. Due to the arena renovations the Vols had to skip any type of scrimmage that would be open to the public. Surprisingly Coach Pearl is not a big fan of the madness events and is completely content with opening practice quietly. Does that surprise anyone but me?

Todd Helton update. Game 2 of the NCLS saw Todd Helton give the Rockies a 2-1 lead on a sac fly in the 5th inning but they couldn't hold on, allowing the Diamondbacks to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth and send it to extra innings. In the 11th Arizona walked in the go-ahead run and Colorado held on 3-2 to take a 2-0 lead in the series. Game 3 is Sunday night.

SEC Power Poll. The Vols are #6 in the SEC Power Poll at Orange and Blue Hue. They thought the young Georgia team looked like they were "bushwacked", whatever that means.

Is getting Croomed a legitmate threat?

I've seen the blog posts this week and the forum threads that talk about the possibility of teams getting Croomed by Mississippi State. While it sounds humorous, I'm not sure just how much fear the term puts into opponents, or even opponents fans for that matter.

We've heard a lot of "coach speak" from the Tennessee staff this week, even out of the media. How many times am I going to have to hear how this Bulldog team is better than Georgia and how physical they are? Look at it this way, a loss would be catastrophic regardless of how much anyone tries to build up MSU.

Let's look at just what Sylvester has done since becoming the Bulldogs main man.

2004 (3-8). First season at MSU was highlighted by a nice win against a Ron Zook coached Florida team in Starkville. The also lost to teams like Vandy, UAB, and Maine.

2005 (3-8). Wins include Murray State, Tulane and Mississippi.

2006 (3-9). Beat UAB, Jacksonville State and a Mike Shula coached Bama team. The marquee loss was to Tulane.

That brings us to 2007. The Bulldogs appear to be an improved football team, currently with a 4-2 record. However, at closer look it seems it could be just more of the same. MSU's wins this season consist of Tulane, Gardner Webb, UAB and their lone impressive win against Auburn.

I'll close with this. Most people, when asked about Sylvester Croom, describe him as a great man and a classy individual. Missing is any compliment of his coaching ability. Enough said.

I don't see anything that leads me to believe that the Vols are about to get Croomed.

Mississippi State Game Eve

I don't know if it's my love of "A Few Good Men" or if it's really that funny but Loser With Socks absolutely cracked me up with Spurrier's best Jack Nicholson imitation. Very nice work.

If MSU pulled out a W tomorrow (notice the big "if"), would you consider it an upset? I really don't think many would. Is that because of how good the SEC currently is or another sign of just how far the Vols have fallen? If you aren't sure, look back to what LSU did to the Bulldogs the first week of the season: 45-0.

I ran across some good Sylvester Croom Farks at TigerDroppings (LSUFreek has some skillz) and at VolNation.

ESPN has a piece today on the history of the checkerboard endzone. Can you believe it costs $800 to paint those bad boys each week?

Andy Katzer at AOL Fanhouse looks back on a post from the summer that predicted that Fulmer could get Croomed this weekend. While, I agree that's entirely possible, the article also prognosticated that Les Miles' Tigers could fall to the Bulldogs. They didn't.

I think David Cutcliffe is a big reason that the Vols are among the least penalized teams in the country and tops in the SEC. I've thought it's been clear since his return that the offensive has been more disciplined. It appears that the offensive line is getting better and even guys like Josh Briscoe are stepping up and making a contribution.

Suddenly, after one good performance, many are talking about Tennessee running the table. While I agree that on paper the Vols are capable of winning each and every one of their games, I'm going to reserve my enthusiasm until we get through the next couple of weeks. In my mind, the next two games will gauge exactly where this team is and if they are capable of an SECC game run.

MSU week - I need more cowbell

It wouldn't be Mississippi State week without...... a little more cowbell.



Check out Kyle Veazey's blog. He writes for the Clarion Ledger and it's one of the few decent MSU blogs I've run across. He posted some nice links yesterday including the Tennessee response to Coach Croom's comments regarding MSU running the football against Tennessee.

I also ran across Mississippi State Sports Blog, but it looks like it's written by someone more interested in trying to sell tickets than they are in blogging.

Is Sylvester Croom really talking smack announcing to the world that the Vols better put nine in the box to stop the Bulldog running game? Pretty gutsy move by the coach of the SEC West cellar dwellers. His team starts 4-2 and suddenly they think they are ready for world domination.

Fans must not be quite as confident. There are still plenty of upper and lower level tickets still available for Saturday's game.