63- 7..... Go Vols!
What a great way to start off the Lane Kiffin Era. Now I know what you are thinking..... Hell it doesn't count.... You played Western Kentucky? Well that may be true BUT the last time the Vols scored 63 points was the year 2000. Last year we should have had this same score against Wyoming but instead lost 13 - 7. How does this make me feel. EXCELLENT!!! A few things to point out.
1.) Freshman are playing and playing well. Bryce Brown runs for over 100 yards and scores, David Oku scores 2 TD's, and Marsalis Teague led the team in receiving and also scored a TD. Freshman play for Kiffin and I am excited to see what he can get out of them next week.
2.) Montario Hardesty runs for 160 yards... Well done. he did have 1 fumble and that was early. I tihnk he will fix this issue and continue to have a good year.
3.) The team only had 6 penalties in the entire game. Discipline makes this happen. I love the fact that wea re not shooting ourselves in the foot with penalties.
4.) The offensive line was outstanding. The Vols ran for 380 yards and gave up NO sacks. This is a huge win for us.
5.) The D is stout. We gave up 83 total yards of offense. Are you kidding me. Only 83 yards? At one point in the 3rd quarter we had given up -17 total yards of offense. -17.... HOLY COW. Our D was on fire. The only reason they even scored is because we were playing our 3rd string in all of the 4th quarter and even part of the 3rd quarter, NOT 2nd string but 3rd string.
6.) Crompton played well. This is a huge change from last year. Last year Crompton threw for 4 TD's for the entire year..... Today he had 5 TD's. A HUGE change for what we have seen from him since he got to UT. I hope he continues to improve. He did throw 2 INT's and both were tipped passes with one of them actually being a terrible pass and the other being a pretty good defensive play. We need him to step up and just control the ball and not turn it over for us to continue to win.
7.) The offense had 657 yards.... Are you kidding me. The last time we looked like that had to be when Peyton was here.
8.) I will say that since most of you know I am a huge Eric Berry fan. Although he did not get an INT today I will say that he did not even play the 4th quarter and to be honest he did not play much of the 3rd quarter either. The thing that made me very happy was that even though he did not get the 2nd half playing time, EVERY time I saw him on the sidelines he was smiling and cheering for his teammates. At NO point was he being a team cancer and frowning because he was not able to play the whole game. He was quite happy that the team was winning and not worried about his stats. He is the epitome of a true Vol, and TRUE team player, and a true badass on the defensive side of the ball.
Overall I will give the team a grade of an A-. They only get the - because they had 3 turnovers. D gets an A+.
