Death Valley visit

Remember the last time Tennessee played LSU?

The year was 2001.

The setting was the SEC championship game in Atlanta.

A win and the Vols play Miami in Pasadena for a possible second NCAA crown in four years.

Remember the result? UT loses to LSU and Nebraska eventually blows it to the Hurricanes in California.

Four years later, Hurricanes are in the headlines again, but they're named Rita and Katrina instead of Miami.

The stakes aren't as high - it's still only September - but there's no questioning the drama surrounding tonight's Tennessee trip to Baton Rouge.

LSU (1-0) is ranked No. 3, a spot the Vols inhabited a few weeks ago. Tennessee (1-1) is ranked No. 10 after last week's 16-7 loss at Florida. Once again, the national champions this season will be crowned in January at the Rose Bowl.

If the Vols truly want to be a player in that post-season scenario, tonight's the night to prove it.

To do it, they'll have to overcome a role as seven-point underdogs and a Death Valley crowd of crazies starved for an oft-delayed home opener.

"It will be crazy," Tennessee tight end Chris Brown said.

He knows. He's one of five Tennessee players going home to native Louisiana.

"Whenever a top-10 team goes into Tiger Stadium, it gets ridiculous," UT linebacker Jason Mitchell said. "The atmosphere is just outrageous."

He knows. He's another Bayou native who has warned his teammates of what to expect.

"It's another level," Mitchell said. "Our fans are great here, but down there they're wild. They enjoy their football."

Death Valley is just that for most visiting opponents. Since 2000, LSU is 24-3 at night at home in Tiger Stadium.

"They will have the 12th man with their fans," Mitchell said. "It'll be a tough situation, but it's a situation where we've just got to match their intensity."

LSU enters the game after a 16-day layoff. The Tigers haven't played since rallying past Arizona State 35-31 on Sept. 10.

Aftereffects of being in the middle of this year's hurricane alley are still being felt. A game originally scheduled for Saturday was pushed back to Monday thanks to Rita.

Tennessee's issue, however, isn't with being stale, unless you're talking offensive point production.

Now you can add to the formula a reshuffled offensive line with Anthony Parker and Eric Young expected to make their first UT starts.

"Whoever's in there, they're going to go out and do their job the way they're coached to do it," tailback Gerald Riggs Jr. said. "That, along with me doing my job, and we should be fine."

Erik Ainge, newly crowned permanent starter at quarterback, is another X-factor. Can he get on the same page with his receivers and regain the form that led to wins against Florida and Georgia a year ago?

Receiver Jayson Swain went so far as to say a middle-school defense could probably handle the Vols the way they've looked in their first two games.

Then there's the hangover from the special teams fiasco at Florida (blocked field goal, muffed punt return, botched fake punt, 9-yard punt, etc., etc.). Do the "special" teams bother to show up?

Does the defense carry the bulk of the load again?

Answers come in the Vols first regular-season version of Monday night football.

"Everyone grows up watching Monday night football so that's kind of cool," senior guard Rob Smith said.

How cool the return flight could be is still to be determined.

Tennessee flies into Baton Rouge today and returns home about 4 a.m. Tuesday.

Long day. Long night. All the Vols want to avoid is a long season.