Proving ground

That, in so many words, is the lesson Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer said he learned watching senior quarterback Rick Clausen orchestrate one of the most-inspiring comebacks in school history.

"You never count a young man out,'' Fulmer said Tuesday, a day after Tennessee's 30-27 overtime win at LSU. "You don't sell short how strong he is as a person, his will ... you never underestimate that.''

Clausen, admittedly devastated after being demoted in the wake of a 16-7 loss to Florida the week before, led the Vols' rally Monday night in Death Valley.

"It was probably one of the toughest weeks I've had to deal with, because something I've worked for, for about five or six years, almost didn't happen,'' Clausen said Tuesday.

With Tennessee trailing 21-0 at the half, Clausen came on in relief of injured sophomore Erik Ainge and engineered the overtime win with a 21-of-32, 196-yard passing performance.

This, in the very same stadium Clausen once called home before transferring from LSU to Tennessee.

This, at a place where former LSU coach Nick Saban told Clausen he simply wasn't good enough to play.

The looking-glass door to Clausen's fairy tale night opened when Ainge suffered a back muscle strain after being slammed headfirst into the goal post with 6:55 remaining. Ainge, 7 of 19 for 54 yards and an interception, said he could play, but Fulmer said he had already made up his mind.

Clausen was going to get a second chance.

"It (QB change) was going to come at the point he (Ainge) threw the ball up there,'' Fulmer said, referring to the interception Ainge threw from the end zone that was returned for a TD. "I'd never lost confidence or respect for Rick.''

Fulmer doesn't apologize for his decision to start Ainge, because he felt it was the right thing for the team at the time. But Fulmer made it clear he's not so stubborn as to realize when a change needs to be made.

"Rick doesn't need to look over his shoulder,'' said Fulmer, who announced Clausen will start Saturday's 12:30 p.m. game against Ole Miss. "Rick is our quarterback right now; unless there's a reason to change, we won't change. We're fortunate to have both those guys here.

"There will be a time with an injury, or anything, that it might be Erik's time again, so he's got to prepare himself to be ready.''

Clausen, named the SEC's offensive player of the week, said one reason for his effective performance was the flexibility afforded him by offensive coordinator Randy Sanders.

"The biggest thing is, when I first got in, Coach Sanders said, 'What do you want?' " Clausen said. "I really like to spread people out and see where the blitz is coming from so I can make some adjustments. For Coach Sanders to be able to adapt his play calling to the things I enjoy ... We talked a lot about what I saw, what I wanted to do, what I liked. We communicated really well on the sidelines.''

Clausen said LSU first came at him with a variety of blitzes. But after Clausen completed pass after pass, the Tigers backed off and went vanilla, settling into basic two-deep zone and man-to-man coverage.

Fulmer said UT's offense was "discombobulated'' before Clausen stepped on the field.

"Rick has brought consistency and calmness to our offense, and a comfort level to Coach Sanders because he knows what he's going to get,'' Fulmer said. "We found a rhythm and a consistency that was eluding us to that point.''

And Clausen found respect at LSU, putting an exclamation point on it by throwing the ball into the Tigers' student section after Gerald Riggs scored the game-winning touchdown.

"I wanted to say thanks for all the good times, thanks for harping on me, writing articles like they did when I was there, saying I wasn't good enough to play there,'' Clausen said. "It was to show them. I don't care if they like me or not anymore. I hope they do like me and respect the fact I'm a competitor. I wanted to say, 'I can play.' I thought I proved it.''

UT guard Rob Smith said the players never doubted Clausen.

"When Rick's in the huddle, he's like a general,'' Smith said. "As a lineman, you want to rally around him. If a quarterback or a running back has his lineman, they'll do anything for him. When he gets hit, that lineman feels a little depressed he got hit. It takes a special quarterback to have that.''

Clausen's final words at Tiger Stadium were spoken over a cell phone, long distance to his family back in California. Because of Hurricane Rita, the Clausen family missed its first UT football game in six years. Prior to Rick's role as UT quarterback, the Clausen family attended all of Casey Clausen's games as the Vols' starting quarterback.

"They couldn't get any flights in, but I told them don't worry, it was probably better to see it at home,'' Rick Clausen said. "It was a great moment for my family, and an even better moment for the team.''