Posts Tagged ‘John Chavis’

It was Western Kentucky and lawvol did an excellent job with his version of this post (as in better than mine’s going to be), so I’ll keep this relatively brief.

Judging by the atmosphere on campus before the game and during the game in the student section, you would in no way have thought Tennessee’s opponent was possibly the worst Division I-A team in the country. I found this out on the long walk from my apartment down the Cumberland Avenue “Strip” and through the heart of campus on my way to the Vol Walk. I managed to get an up-close spot fort the spectacle, and I’ll have a video from it at the end of this.

The new JumboTron is awesome, especially when they take the ads off and make it full screen (click to enlarge)

As for the game, I’ll start with Jonathan Crompton. Sure, the tipped balls are worrisome and the first interception he threw – though not his fault, said Lane Kiffin – was the awful kind of pass he would have made last year. Other than that, he really didn’t have that many incompletions.

He looked confident. He looked poised. He managed the offense very well (I can only remember one substitution penalty and procedure penalty). He was 21-of-28 and threw five touchdowns for goodness sakes. Sure, it was mostly the short passing game.

But if your quarterback struggles with making multiple reads (as Crompton did in 2008), you don’t make him do that. You let him take the snap and throw it to a wideout against a corner playing off the line and let the playmaker get some yards in space. You throw the short hitch. You get Crompton rolling out with options short, medium and long. Heck, Crompton even slid when he had to scramble.

The receivers played well enough to make you forget the injuries. Luke Stocker caught two scores. Marsalis Teague led the way as a freshmen and is going to be a great player. Quintin Hancock deserves a shout-out.

But this day belonged to the offensive line. Crompton had time to throw and that only helps him. And the line opened enormous holes and got great push on just about every play, as was evidenced in the stats. Hopefully they stay healthy throughout the year, because watching them open lanes for Hardesty, Bryce, Oku and Poole (let’s not forget about Toney WIlliams, either) could be really fun to watch if they are able to keep it up.

The defense was swarming and Western Kentucky had no time to do anything – at all. I thought the linebackers played pretty well, but we’ll have to see how they go up against stronger, faster opponents in the future. Janzen Jackson was the first freshman to see the field defensively, and, like Teague, he’s going to be a great player. I thought Wes Brown also played very well: well as in fresh, considering everything we’d heard about him all preseason were the bad condition of both of his knees.

To conclude, anytime you dominate a team 63-7 and outgain them by the margin Tennessee did, you feel good about it. But if nothing else, it’s a game where you get some confidence, especially on offense where those guys are trying to make us all forget last year’s atrocities. It’s a chance for the freshmen and new players to get some game action, as every little bit of experience helps. Western Kentucky was the perfect opponent for Lane and Company to open up with.

My view from Section F (click to enlarge)

Looking ahead, I think this team could be pretty tough to beat in Neyland Stadium this year. If the crowd was like it was for Western Kentucky – and those of you who were there hopefully agree with me on this – how will it be when Auburn, Georgia and South Carolina come to visit?

Which leads me to my next bold statement: I see absolutely no way UCLA comes into Knoxville next week and beats Tennessee.

There, I said it. First off, anytime you travel across the country to play, you’re at a disadvantage. See LSU last night at Washington, Maryland getting rocked at Cal, our own Vols the past two seasons and Cal coming here in 2006. Kevin Prince is UCLA’s starting QB. He was 18-of-29 for 176 yards, and threw two picks against one touchdown. That was at home, against San Diego State.

Next week he’ll be dealing with the Tennessee defense. In Tennessee’s stadium. Against a group of players and coaches and fans that want to right the wrong of last year’s embarrassing loss. And do it emphatically in front of a national TV audience on ESPN.

Yes, yes, I know we all said the same exact thing last year. But if not for horribly inept coaching (throwing 41 passes Dave Clawson and letting Kevin Craft dink-and-dunk you down the field John Chavis), Tennessee wins that game. UCLA has certainly improved, but this time they get the dubious honor of making the long trip. We all already are aware (boom, alliteration!) of the importance of this game to the rest of the Vols’ season. Tennessee absolutely has to beat UCLA next Saturday.

As soon as the Vols had the first couple of touchdowns yesterday and settled into the complete domination they displayed, my thoughts were already on UCLA. Hence why I’ve spent the last half of this post talking about next Saturday.

Anyways, here’s the video I took of the Vol Walk from yesterday (please know it’s long and my camera steadiness was lacking…you try holding your arm up that high for that long):

– … to me.

We all remember how bad Tennessee’s 2008 season was, right? Well, think about this for a moment: the Vols had the same SEC record as LSU.

It was a pretty rough year for LSU, coming off the 2007 national championship. The Tigers lost a number of players from that team, the blow the Tigers felt the most was clearly at the quarterback spot. Ryan Perrilloux, a slightly smaller version of JaMarcus Russell, earned MVP honors in the 2007 SEC title game, and was finally slated to take over as the guy for the Tigers.

Then he got suspended and kicked off the team. LSU was left with Andrew Hatch, a transfer from Harvard and Jarrett Lee. Hatch started the first three games before leaving against Auburn with a concussion. Lee came in and led LSU to a win in that game, and things seemed well.

Lee struggled mightily, throwing 16 passes to other the team. Adding insult to injury, the other team obliged seven of those gifts and turned them into touchdowns. In addition to those issues, the LSU pass defense was the worst in the SEC in conference games. So LSU suffered some rather bad losses: by 30 points at Florida, home games to Georgia (52-38), Alabama in overtime and Ole Miss (31-13), and a blown 16-point halftime lead against Arkansas.

But as an underdog to Georgia Tech, true freshman QB Jordan Jefferson led the Tigers to a 38-3 rout, creating some confidence and momentum heading into this season, where the Tigers are poised to prove last year was simply a fluke.

Read the rest of this entry »

Just a quick sound bite as I try to get back into the swing of things here…

According to Go Vols Xtra, ESPN.com is reporting that former University of Tennessee defensive coordinator John Chavis has agreed to become defensive coordinator at LSU.

• via: Report: Chavis headed to LSU: GoVolsXtra.com

Personally, I am glad to see Chief land on his feet in the conference. LSU could do much worse, and I wish him all the best.

Disbelief and embarrassment. It took a few moments for last night’s loss to UCLA to really sink in. This morning before I left for class I was trying to find a comparable loss that I’ve been a part of, and I’m not sure there is one (maybe Arkansas ‘99?). It’s been awhile since Tennessee can really truly say it was upset like it was last night.

Even my two roommates – neither of whom are the most diehard of fans – were nearly speechless after the game. Most Tennessee fans were expecting a relatively easy win, though I wasn’t totally convinced just based on last year’s West Coast trip. Few people, if any, outside L.A. expected a UCLA win.

After a quick cleanup of the apartment, quickly finishing off some (water), and getting a midnight snack out of anger, I ventured onto VolQuest for some comic relief. I didn’t read much from those message boards, but the meltdown was epic. Some of what I saw from the crazier side of our fanbase:

• “Fire Fulmer!”
• “Chavis and Slade still need to go!”
• “Who’s ready for basketball season?”
• “Clawson sucks” and “Clawson belongs back in the FCS”
• “Crompton sucks” and “I miss Ainge”
• another thread bashing Arian Foster for his fumble
• “Thank God for DEER SEASON!”

The scapegoat on much of Facebook last night was Daniel Lincoln (unfairly). Campus today was more or less ho-hum. I didn’t really hear much talk about the game as I expected, but then again those who cared the most were probably still emotionally, mentally, and most of all physically recovering from it (i.e., skipping class – I sucked it up and went). The team hadn’t arrived back as of an hour ago either.

Me? I’m over it. No use overreacting after just one game, especially after last year’s ups and downs. Admittedly I bailed on the season at least six or seven different times last year and learned my lesson. I would be foolish to do so this early.

As for my thoughts on the game itself, it’s simple: we got outcoached. I don’t want to say we got outplayed, but UCLA wanted it more later in the game. We should have won the game and put UCLA away in the third quarter but gave it away. Why? Coaching.

I liked what I saw with the defense. We shut down UCLA for all but two drives really for the first three quarters, but to Norm Chow’s credit, he adjusted and John Chavis did not. Chow went to quick three-step drops and easy throws to get Kevin Craft into a rhythm and raise his confidence after 4 INTs in the first half. Chavis? He went all ‘07 Bama-soft, letting the best safeties in the country play 25 yards off the ball while UCLA dinked/dunked down the field.

It’s not that Craft was throwing into tight spots against double coverage – dudes were WIDE OPEN. Again, can we not put a whole game together defensively? Chavis failed to make adjustments.

Offensively, it was U-G-L-Y. I’m not as down on the playcalling as much as everybody else, other than obviously we should have pounded the rock ALOT more. Arian Foster and Montario Hardesty were running well and it was working and obviously Dave Clawson should have stuck with it. The passes themselves that were called weren’t terrible – we had guys in spots to make plays.

That falls on Jonathan Crompton. First game jitters I can understand, but Crompton just wasn’t very good. The offensive line didn’t help with a poor game – the group was inconsistent running the ball and Crompton was seemingly hit every other play.

Being a student I’ve become very hesitant to directly blame players for losses (‘07 SEC CG and ‘06 Outback Bowl notwithstanding). Foster’s fumble definitely changed momentum but bottom line is that Tennessee should have put them game away by that point and still had opportunities to win afterwards. Crompton was decent when he had time to throw, but that wasn’t often.

UCLA’s gameplan wasn’t rocket science: play strong, physical defense and force Crompton to win the game, keep the game close into the fourth quarter and see what happens. The remnants of the Bruin offense came to life and they even got a special teams score to boot (no pun intended). Our coaches looked lost and confused.

Also, count me as one who now wants to see us playing Directional Schools for the Deaf and Blind to open up. These West Coast trips are good for recruiting and the program – when you win and NOT for openers. Last year and this year are just killing Tennessee’s national perception. I see no reason to risk all that in the season’s first game. Thankfully, we open up with Western Kentucky next year (followed by a revenge-filled visit by UCLA).

Like I said, I’m over the loss and I’m not bailing. Tennessee has LOTS of work to do, but to me the offensive problems are fixable. With a new QB and new offensive system there’s going to be growing pains. We’re just further behind than I think everybody thought.

I’m probably a bit more optimistic (if you couldn’t tell) than some of my fellow Vol bloggers. Beating Florida is possible, but work needs to get done. Beat Florida and this sick feeling will be soon forgotten. Obviously Tennessee will be a bigger underdog for that game with last night’s loss and (though overplayed) it’s worked out in the past. I’m just sayin’…