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STARKVILLE, Miss. - A game like this once would have evoked the question, "What's wrong with Tennessee football?" But now it tells you what's right with a team that started out so wrong.
The Vols were neither dazzling nor dominant in a 33-21 victory over Mississippi State on Saturday at Scott Field. Instead, their performance was steady and clutch.
Compared to their first two road trips of the 2007 season, that qualifies as a resounding success.
Never mind that the Vols won their last match-up against the Bulldogs by a 59-17 count in 2003. Or that they vanquished the Georgia Bulldogs with such ease a week earlier.
For a team that started out 1-2, back-to-back SEC wins warrant applause and inspire hope. The nature of the victories was as encouraging as well.
Suddenly, UT has discovered its long-lost running game. It ran the ball against Georgia. It ran the ball even better against Mississippi State.
The final score might not have been as convincing, but the relentless running in the second half - when the Vols gained 143 of their 211 rushing yards - was reminiscent of coach Phillip Fulmer's best days on the sideline.
Here was the former offensive lineman and line coach controlling the game with hard-nosed football. Sure, it helped that quarterback Erik Ainge, who passed for 259 yards and two touchdowns, was a constant source of concern for the Mississippi State defense. But even when the Bulldogs were committed to stopping the run, they couldn't.
No one understood that better than Mississippi State coach Sylvester Croom, another former offensive lineman whose game plan was brutally simple - hand the ball to 240-pound tailback Anthony Dixon and control the game with his offensive line.
That often worked for the Bulldogs. But it worked more often for the Vols.
"That big offensive line just laid heavy on us," Croom said. "They wore us down.
"And they have that good big running back in Arian Foster. That is why you play big running backs like him, because they are so big - after tackling them for so long, it begins to wear a defense down."
Of course, no matter how such victories are achieved, they come with the disclaimer: "It's only Mississippi State."
But this Mississippi State team was good enough to upset Auburn and win four of its first six games. And UT got its best shot.
"We probably played as well as we can play," Croom said. "It is the best full game we have played since I have been here, when you consider we played against a quality SEC opponent."
In fact, these Bulldogs were superior to the Bulldogs UT faced the previous Saturday in Neyland Stadium. Mississippi State played with more passion and confidence than Georgia, whose defensive and offensive lines offered little resistance against the Vols.
UT's defense wasn't as good as its offense Saturday. Mississippi State freshman quarterback Wesley Carroll had a career day passing - 18-for-33, 203 yards and two touchdowns. Such production from the SEC's worst passing offense underscores UT's greatest weakness as it heads into the second half of the season.
The Vols can't mount an effective pass rush and have too many coverage glitches in a young secondary. However, when they can control the ball as they did against the Bulldogs, those shortcomings aren't as glaring.
After a hard-fought victory over a program that hasn't had a winning season since 2000, the harshest critics still might wonder: "What's wrong with Tennessee football?"
Answer: Not nearly as much as there was a month ago.
Sports editor John Adams may be reached at 865-342-6284.
© 2007, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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Posted by 02champs on October 13, 2007 at 10:32 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Nobody cares about your articles, Adams. Or your shill Pennington. Very surprised you still have a press badge.
Posted by movol77 on October 13, 2007 at 11:30 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Dear John,
(And you know how the rest of the letter goes...)
Posted by bigfan502 on October 13, 2007 at 11:41 p.m. (Suggest removal)
C'mon guys we are supposed to be loyal vol fans. please let us be kinder to each other, after all we are allVol fans..we have to hear both sides of the story...We need writers like Adams, he keeps things interesting for all of us.
Posted by huntwithmojo on October 14, 2007 at 12:02 a.m. (Suggest removal)
i'm just happy there's a web site dedicated to my favorite team of all time. Thanks for writing John.
Posted by nicksjuzunk on October 14, 2007 at 12:37 a.m. (Suggest removal)
TN took care of their business. They didn't overlook today, they did just what they needed to win and not much more.
They protected their players, rested Coker, didn't tip their hand to Bama, and played an overall solid game.
That's good enough for me. Let's see them go out and put the wood to Bama next week.
Oh yeah, I am glad to see Montario trouncing on people after so many people on this board have labeled him a bust. Go get em' Monty!!
Posted by alfrizzle097 on October 14, 2007 at 1:27 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Trick plays: reverse pass, direct snap
Why no freshmen?: fumbled kickoff
boneheaded attempt to pick up ball
No deep balls: pinky healthy=bombs
Specialteams:leg healthy=bettercoverage
Running game: newly trained fullback
has produced improvement
It seems to me that many of the criticisms about the coaching this year have been either been proved corrected or unfounded over the past two weeks.
GO VOLS!!!
Posted by orangeblood on October 14, 2007 at 2:35 a.m. (Suggest removal)
John Adams, i love to read your articles. Ever since i was a little kid picking up the sports page after my dad was done with it and reading what you had to say, I've always respected your view. I also like your sense of humor with the "Picks Panel" section each friday. Keep up the good work.
Posted by slovog on October 14, 2007 at 8:12 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Right on target, JA.
Our greatest victory ever? Hardly.
Quality win, on the road, with another "W" in the SEC? Yes!
Go Vols!
Posted by Colliervol on October 14, 2007 at 8:56 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Went to Starkville yesterday and enjoyed the game. Miss. State played pretty well and we did take their best shot. I figure any road SEC win is a good win.
Two down and five to go. Get by Bama Saturday and I've got a feeling it will all come down to the trip to Lexington.
Posted by georgiavol91 on October 14, 2007 at 10:09 a.m. (Suggest removal)
We couldn't sack a QB if he was in a wheelchair tied to a steel post.
Posted by volsrock on October 14, 2007 at 1:14 p.m. (Suggest removal)
georgiavol: I tend to agree but fortunately, we could put Ainge in a wheelchair and tie him to a post and our O-Line wouldn't let him get sacked. We do lead the country in sacks allowed with only 2. Kind of ironic considering our defensive sack deficiencies.
Posted by VolFanInAtl on October 14, 2007 at 1:35 p.m. (Suggest removal)
If our game plan is to compensate for a mediocre defense with a ball-control offense we need to score touchdowns when we get into the red zone. The score of this game should have been 41-21!
Posted by cnalumni on October 14, 2007 at 2:36 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Not to crash the party, but UT still has to play the two top teams in the east division. I don't see them winning both of those games. It will be another 8-4 or 9-3 season.
Posted by bigfan502 on October 14, 2007 at 3:21 p.m. (Suggest removal)
COLLEGE PLAYOFF ONLY WAY VOLS HAVE A CHANCE YEAR AFTER YEAR TO COMPETE FOR NC..WRITERS AND BROADCASTERS FROM SEATTLE OR DETROIT ARE DECIDING NOW WHO PLAYS FOR CHAMPIONSHIPS. LET IT BE SETTLED ON THE FIELD WITH 16-GAME PLAYOFF. ITS MUCH FAIRER.
Posted by orangeblood on October 14, 2007 at 5:58 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I think i read that, unlike Georgia, Miss St. has a pretty good, veteran offensive line. While it would have been nice to get more pressure on him, we didn't want to call the whole house on him bc of their pretty decent running game. Oh, and all the people mad about how we played saturday, South Carolina had a very similar game against them. they won 38-21. Look at that score, then ours, and remember that we attempted 5 field goals in our game. GO VOLS!
Posted by jawjavol on October 14, 2007 at 9:10 p.m. (Suggest removal)
alfrizzle097: I have attended UT games since the Bill Battle days. I remember Larry Sievers, Jimmy Streeter and Stanley Morgan. My first bowl game was the close loss to Purdue in the 79 Astro Bluebonnet Bowl. I am no fair weather fan.
The problem as I see it is that CPF IS capable of earning his $2 million salary but he has to be challenged to do it! I can live with 2 losses to Top 10 teams early but the performance on the field showed glaring weaknesses in basic fundamentals for the entire first month of the season. I have often been frustrated at the Vols inability to make changes until the half but in this case they had to wait for an off week!
CPF says our new punt formation was ready in Athens last year but GA called a time out and adjusted to it. What do we do???? We stick with the old way of punt coverage and give up a TD to Mikey Henderson. How many more big returns did we give up in the next 12 games before we implemented the new coverage?? I like the job that Fulmer has done in October but that does not excuse his performance in August/September.
Best case scenario is we win out and win in Atlanta and CPF retires or becomes Assoc AD to Little Mike.
Posted by tedpat on October 14, 2007 at 10:02 p.m. (Suggest removal)
John Love you or hate you, you write what you think and you can't knock a man for being honest. Do you realize that if the Vols played Ohio state's schedule the Vols would be undefeated.
Posted by Colliervol on October 14, 2007 at 11:34 p.m. (Suggest removal)
We actually played pretty vanilla on both sides of the ball. No tricks and no blitzes that I can remember. Pretty much rushed 3 or 4 all day. Looked like they were holding back a good bit and I expect to see some surprises against Bama and Spurrier.
Posted by sjt18 on October 15, 2007 at 4:11 p.m. (Suggest removal)
UT got the best effort from a team that beat Aub and lost by about the same score @USC... and still won and dominated statistically. That has to be a great disappointment to some people here.
Posted by sjt18 on October 15, 2007 at 4:14 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Oh, two more things. UT ran the ball effectively with a two headed monster... and discovered a deep threat.
tedpat, I would almost guarantee that you are right. tOSU has played no one to merit a #1 ranking. This year's team is much weaker than the one last year that lost the NC game.
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