Look, it was UAB – to me we could have beat them 77-3 and it wouldn’t have meant diddly squat. Well, we didn’t. It was more of what I expected: our defense would shut them down on the scoreboard and the offense would take about a half to get going. There’s no reason to lose sleep over beating a team 35-3. As they say, you’re only as good as your last game, and for us it’s now a win.

As an aside the BYU-UCLA massacre only proves that what happened two weeks ago in the Rose Bowl was a complete and total fluke. Did it still happen? Yes, and that score only makes us look worse. But it was a fluke, and we can all agree on that now, can’t we?

Back to the UAB game, I’m a glass half-full type, so I’ll point out some of the positive things from this game – or reasons logical stretches for hope that Florida won’t run us out of our own stadium. First and foremost, no one got hurt and some of the backups got some game experience, always a good thing for these type of games.

OK, Jonathan Crompton still wasn’t very good, but he was better. He went 19-for-31, and I thought the playcalling – though we still need to run the ball much much MUCH more (like 65-35) – was better in terms of making it easier for JC. Will screens to Lucas Taylor work against Florida? I have no idea.

Of his 12 incompletions, Luke Stocker dropped three and there were about three more. His first INT was simply a great play by the UAB defender (though Crompton probably shouldn’t have forced it). We saw slight improvement, but improvement nonetheless.

Our running backs are awesome. Foster, Hardesty, and Creer need to be fed the ball many, many times. Lawvol and I were talking after the game about how Clawson needs to find a way to get Foster and Hardesty on the field at the same time. The defense would have no clue what to do. If this offense has what you can call a “strength,” it’s pounding the rock. Let’s do that about 50 times against Florida, OK Dave?

Lucas Taylor and Gerald Jones had nice games. Luke Stocker is better than those passes he dropped – he’s just getting those out of the way before Florida. I still just think there are too many good athletes on this offense for it to be as bad as 2005. Hence, I’m hopeful

The only issues on defense I really saw were missed tackles. Once again, just getting them out of the way before Florida. It’s fixable. And if you miss tackles against Florida, what do you get? Well, last year…

The strength of this defense is easily the secondary. I’m all for playing five of those studs with Rico McCoy and Ellix Wilson at LB. One thing that was pointed out to me was the lack of pressure without blitzing. Wilson blitzed quite a bit, thus leaving the middle open. Hello, Percy Harvin on a quick slant. Still, I saw nothing that really discourages the notion of this defense not being pretty solid.

Anyways, stay tuned, because Lawvol will have his thoughts up here soon, and I’ll also be ripping into our sorry excuse for a student section (we’re talking major rant here). And for your enjoyment, here’s some pictures I took from before the game and my seat in Section D, Row 10…

Eric Berry (left) and Demetrice Morley were the last two Vols through the Vol Walk and they also happened to be the best-dressed. That’s just pure freshness right there from our stud safeties…

Lawvol goes to Gate 21, I went into Student Gate 4 Saturday

It has been 10 years since 1998, and Tee Martin was honored pregame, as each home game will honor players from that glorious run. Tee was also on the actual game ticket as well

The UAB mascot was just plain awesome - though I would NOT have wanted to be in that suit in that heat

About the Author:  I'm from Memphis but I'm now entering my third year at the University of Tennessee here in Knoxville. I am majoring in Journalism/Electronic Media and hope to go into sports broadcasting/writing/something like that. I'm a huge Vol fan and have been going to games for as long as I can remember. I started my on blog called "The View From The Hill" but moved here to Gate 21 for bigger and better things. In addition to my passion for Tennessee football and basketball, I enjoy watching the NFL and the NBA as well. Basically, sports are a big part of my life. >> Read more from this author

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