Vols are walking tall with big stick

The secret's a stick, actually, one that's maybe 4 feet long and taped at both ends for grip.

Yup. A stick.

"Actual stick," safety Demetrice Morley said after Saturday's 31-24 victory over South Carolina. "That's our motivation."

Over the past few weeks since a guest speaker gave the Vols an introduction to the idea, the stick has trekked through airports and bunked in hotels.

It's gone home with players. It's gone to meetings.

Unless the Vols are on the field, it's pretty much in someone's hands.

"Going through the hotel, for instance," defensive end Xavier Mitchell says, "I'll see Jayson Swain with it. I'll see Turk (McBride) with it. Different guys pass it on. It really means something to us. We took it through the airport. The airport people were asking questions. You walk around here long enough or go into a meeting, you'll see somebody with it.

"It means that much to us."

Over the course of Tennessee's five-game winning streak, the Vols have outscored opponents 85-20 in the fourth quarter.

In each of the last three games, UT has trailed in the second half. Each time they've answered to take control.

"It's been the emphasis," guard David Ligon said. "Anything we set our mind to and working hard enough at, we end up doing pretty good at it."

And they haven't let go of the stick, either.

"It's all about holding onto that stick," said Mitchell. "That's the whole theme: If you let go, they're going to jump all over you. You want to hold onto it as long as you can, grasp it from them in order to beat them."

The only team to beat Tennessee (7-1, 3-1 SEC) is Florida.

Against the Gators, Tennessee watched a second-half lead slip away.

In parlance, they let go of the stick.

Each week, it seems, the Vols have found a different way to win.

Sometimes it's the defense coming up with key turnovers like it did four times in the second half at Georgia or it's the offense putting together big drives late like the Alabama game.

It's even been special teams with Antonio Wardlow's blocked punt or Jonathan Hefney's huge punt return last weekend against South Carolina.

And it's been the mentality of stick.

"It's a whole football team thing," Mitchell said. "We've bought into it well. The times we're not at our best, the offense has picked us up. The times the offense is not at their best, we pick them up.

"Hold onto that stick when there's a fumble or an interception or something."

When LSU (6-2, 2-2 SEC) brings the nation's top-ranked defense into Neyland Stadium for a 3:30 p.m. kickoff (TV: WVLT) Saturday, there's the potential for turnovers.

There's the potential for an offensive explosion by the Tigers, too.

Through eight games, only Florida has scored against the Tigers in the first quarter.

All told, LSU has outscored its opponents 170-23 in the first half this season.

The Vols are well aware that LSU's two losses this season were back-and-forth games against a pair of top 10 teams in Florida and Auburn.

That's why the stick is taped.

"It's a tug-of-war, just like holding onto the stick," Mitchell said. "There's pushing and pulling going on. It's the one who has the stick at the end."

Linebacker Ryan Karl knows the same thing, too.

"It just goes over to the finishing thing," he said. "Who's going have that stick at the end and who's going to have it to beat up on you with it.

"Our whole point is to carry that stick to the end."