There's no question Lane Kiffin's brash style has shaken Tennessee from its doldrums that marked the end of predecessor Phillip Fulmer's tenure.
The Volunteers put aside many off-field distractions to close the season strong, though there's another one lurking as they wrap up Kiffin's first season at the Chick-fil-A Bowl against 12th-ranked Virginia Tech on Thursday in Atlanta.
On Dec. 1, 2008, a backsliding Tennessee program turned to Kiffin -- fired by the Oakland Raiders four games into the 2008 season. He was hired after Fulmer was forced out, having reached only one SEC title game in his final four years after making five from 1997-2004 and winning a national championship in 1998.
The outspoken Kiffin has had a series of public gaffes and missteps. Among them was a reprimand from the SEC following his criticism of officials after a 12-10 loss at No. 1 Alabama that came down to the final play, arguably the Crimson Tide's toughest win en route to the BCS title game.
Recently, the NCAA has begun an investigation into the school's Orange Pride group for possible off-campus recruiting violations, though Kiffin thinks the increased scrutiny means Tennessee is moving in the right direction.
"I think when it comes to recruiting, we're at the highest level, and I think that people really want to know what we're doing," Kiffin said. "They want to know how are we able to get interest from so many great players, and sign so many great players, so I think you have a lot of people coming at us."
On the field, the Oct. 24 loss to the Crimson Tide may have been a turning point for the Volunteers (7-5), who have since won four of five games. Tennessee averaged 33.0 points and 410.0 yards in those games, with quarterback Jonathon Crompton improving down the stretch while senior Montario Hardesty finished with 1,306 yards rushing and 12 touchdowns.
Hardesty rushed for 586 yards and six TDs in the final five games, including 179 yards and three scores as the Vols closed the regular season with a 30-24 overtime victory at Kentucky to finish tied for second in the SEC East.
Safety Eric Berry -- named the Jim Thorpe Award winner as the country's best defensive back -- anchors the Tennessee defense. The Atlanta native was second on the team with 83 tackles, six for losses, to go with his two interceptions and two fumble recoveries.
Berry's 14 interceptions rank fifth in school history and third among active NCAA players. The junior said Tuesday his decision about entering the draft is "kind of made," but will not announce his intentions until after the game.
Kiffin knows Berry's versatility, both as a defender and as a premier special teams player for the Vols, has him on the mind of many NFL scouts.
"Eric's played man-to-man coverage, we've blitzed him, he's played back in the middle and he's played down," Kiffin said. "So to be able to do all those things and then also to play on our special teams as many snaps as he has, he's created a lot of draft value for himself."
As Kiffin tries to rebuild Tennessee, coach Frank Beamer continues to keep Virginia Tech humming. The Hokies (9-3) are appearing in a bowl for the 17th consecutive year, the third-longest active streak among FBS teams.
After finishing second to Georgia Tech in the ACC's Coastal Division, Virginia Tech makes its third trip to Atlanta in 2009 after a season-opening 34-24 defeat to Alabama in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game and a 28-23 loss to the Yellow Jackets on Oct. 17.
"This really is a dream matchup," said Chick-fil-A Bowl president Gary Stokan. "To have the opportunity to host two nationally significant and traditional teams in Virginia Tech and Tennessee says a lot about the quality of this game. We feel like we've got one of the most compelling matchups outside the BCS."
Like the Vols, the Hokies feature a standout tailback. Ryan Williams rushed for 1,538 yards, eighth-most by a freshman in NCAA history, en route to ACC rookie of the year honors. Williams set a freshman conference record with 20 overall touchdowns.
"I have to give a lot of credit to the offensive line and the wide receivers and the fullbacks because they helped pave the way for a lot of stats I got this year," said Williams, who ran for 608 yards and nine scores as the Hokies ended the regular season on a four-game win streak.
In his first season as a full-time quarterback, Tyrod Taylor better established himself as a pocket passer and finished with career highs of 2,102 yards and 13 touchdowns while throwing only four interceptions in 226 attempts. He did run for 738 yards as a sophomore in 2008, but also was picked off seven times in 173 passes.
Virginia Tech is making its fourth Chick-fil-A Bowl appearance and first since a 31-24 loss to Georgia in 2006. It's Tennessee's first appearance since 2003 and fifth all-time.
The Vols lead the series 5-2, but the schools have not met since 1994.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
vikings vs bears
GO VIKINGS EVER THOUGH THEY LOST BRETT FARVE AND ADRAIN PETERSON MADE AN AMAZING COMEBACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
georgia vs texas a&m
GREAT GAME.-- A long, hard season ended for Georgia's football team Monday night with coach Mark Richt hoisting the Independence Bowl trophy in a mostly empty stadium.
Georgia routed Texas A&M 44-20 to complete the season with an 8-5 record, the Bulldogs' nation-leading 13th consecutive season of eight or more victories.
This victory came with a short-handed coaching staff and in a stadium that overwhelmingly favored the Aggies until emptying after Georgia's win was assured. The near-capacity crowd of 49,000 had thinned to 5,000 or so delighted Georgia fans by the time Richt accepted the trophy.
"I think we probably need to start out by saying what a great job our defensive coaches did," Richt said in his postgame news conference.
After Richt fired three coaches early this month, defensive preparations for the bowl were handled by the one remaining defensive coach, Rodney Garner, and two young graduate assistants, Mitch Doolittle and Todd Hartley, who temporarily got increased responsibilities.
At game's end, defensive players dumped Powerade on Garner and Doolittle.
The defense was hardly the only story of the game, with special-teams units coming up huge for Georgia and the offense largely taking over the game in the second half after a surprisingly poor first half.
Special teams produced an 81-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Brandon Boykin and a blocked punt by Bacarri Rambo to set up a touchdown. The offense, held to 27 yards rushing and 99 yards total yards in the first half, finished with 208 yards rushing and 366 yards total offense.
But the big question entering the game had been how the beleaguered defense would perform minus three fired coaches and in the end, it held the nation's fifth most prolific offense to 20 points.
Texas A&M gained a lot of yards – 471, including 362 passing – but Georgia made a series of big plays on defense, including key interceptions by Sanders Commings and Reshad Jones to fuel the second-half romp.
"We wanted to show the world," Jones said, "that even though we lost most of our coaches, we would come out and play and finish strong. ... A lot of people were saying their offense was going to put up a lot of points on us and we wanted to show that we're a good defense."
Richt fired defensive coordinator Willie Martinez, linebackers coach John Jancek and defensive ends coach Jon Fabris on Dec. 2. For this game, Doolittle assumed responsibility for the linebackers and Hartley for the secondary, which had been handled by Martinez.
"It was really a great experience," Doolittle said. "When you get your number called to be a real football coach, it's extremely exciting because that's our goal. Obviously I'm not a coach, but I was for this month."
"I told the guys today in my little pregame speech that I've been excited this much only three times in my life," Hartley said. "My wedding day, the day I graduated from the University of Georgia, and today when I woke up knowing this game was going to kick off at 4 o'clock Central time."
Hartley and Doolittle, both aspiring coaches, and Garner emphasized that the credit for the victory belongs to the players.
"It'd have been easy with us being in disarray on defense to not play with emotion, not play excited, not be fundamental, but they didn't do that," Garner said. "They were very resilient and willed their way to win."
The win was Georgia's fourth consecutive bowl victory. It also was the Bulldogs' fourth victory in the last five games of a turbulent season.
"The year we had ... it could have ended up a lot worse if we had lost this game," quarterback Joe Cox said. "It's great to go out on a win, especially against a quality opponent."
Trailing 7-0 with just over two minutes to play in the first half, Georgia used two big special-teams plays to take a 14-7 lead by halftime. In the second half, two Cox-to-Aron White touchdown passes kept the Bulldogs rolling.
The first half was hardly the anticipated shootout, with the game scoreless through 27 minutes of action. But in the final 33 minutes of play, the teams put up 64 points.
After A&M took a 7-0 lead with 2:33 left in the first half, a special-teams flurry quickly turned the game in Georgia's favor.
Boykin returned the kickoff after the Aggies' touchdown 81 yards for the Bulldogs' first score, the third time this season he had returned a kickoff for a touchdown.
And on Texas A&M's next possession, Georgia's Rambo blocked a punt that teammate Vance Cuff recovered at the A&M 2-yard line. From there, Caleb King scored on the next play to give Georgia the lead with 1:22 left in the half.
Texas A&M tied the game at 14-14 on its first possession of the second half, but Georgia took the lead for good on Blair Walsh's 49-yard field goal with 9:25 left in the third quarter.
A bad snap on a Texas A&M punt set up a Georgia touchdown that stretched the lead to 24-14. Jones' 59-yard interception return set up another score that made it 31-14 early in the fourth quarter. Both drives were capped with Cox-to-White passes.
Soon, the Aggies fans began to leave the stadium
Georgia routed Texas A&M 44-20 to complete the season with an 8-5 record, the Bulldogs' nation-leading 13th consecutive season of eight or more victories.
This victory came with a short-handed coaching staff and in a stadium that overwhelmingly favored the Aggies until emptying after Georgia's win was assured. The near-capacity crowd of 49,000 had thinned to 5,000 or so delighted Georgia fans by the time Richt accepted the trophy.
"I think we probably need to start out by saying what a great job our defensive coaches did," Richt said in his postgame news conference.
After Richt fired three coaches early this month, defensive preparations for the bowl were handled by the one remaining defensive coach, Rodney Garner, and two young graduate assistants, Mitch Doolittle and Todd Hartley, who temporarily got increased responsibilities.
At game's end, defensive players dumped Powerade on Garner and Doolittle.
The defense was hardly the only story of the game, with special-teams units coming up huge for Georgia and the offense largely taking over the game in the second half after a surprisingly poor first half.
Special teams produced an 81-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Brandon Boykin and a blocked punt by Bacarri Rambo to set up a touchdown. The offense, held to 27 yards rushing and 99 yards total yards in the first half, finished with 208 yards rushing and 366 yards total offense.
But the big question entering the game had been how the beleaguered defense would perform minus three fired coaches and in the end, it held the nation's fifth most prolific offense to 20 points.
Texas A&M gained a lot of yards – 471, including 362 passing – but Georgia made a series of big plays on defense, including key interceptions by Sanders Commings and Reshad Jones to fuel the second-half romp.
"We wanted to show the world," Jones said, "that even though we lost most of our coaches, we would come out and play and finish strong. ... A lot of people were saying their offense was going to put up a lot of points on us and we wanted to show that we're a good defense."
Richt fired defensive coordinator Willie Martinez, linebackers coach John Jancek and defensive ends coach Jon Fabris on Dec. 2. For this game, Doolittle assumed responsibility for the linebackers and Hartley for the secondary, which had been handled by Martinez.
"It was really a great experience," Doolittle said. "When you get your number called to be a real football coach, it's extremely exciting because that's our goal. Obviously I'm not a coach, but I was for this month."
"I told the guys today in my little pregame speech that I've been excited this much only three times in my life," Hartley said. "My wedding day, the day I graduated from the University of Georgia, and today when I woke up knowing this game was going to kick off at 4 o'clock Central time."
Hartley and Doolittle, both aspiring coaches, and Garner emphasized that the credit for the victory belongs to the players.
"It'd have been easy with us being in disarray on defense to not play with emotion, not play excited, not be fundamental, but they didn't do that," Garner said. "They were very resilient and willed their way to win."
The win was Georgia's fourth consecutive bowl victory. It also was the Bulldogs' fourth victory in the last five games of a turbulent season.
"The year we had ... it could have ended up a lot worse if we had lost this game," quarterback Joe Cox said. "It's great to go out on a win, especially against a quality opponent."
Trailing 7-0 with just over two minutes to play in the first half, Georgia used two big special-teams plays to take a 14-7 lead by halftime. In the second half, two Cox-to-Aron White touchdown passes kept the Bulldogs rolling.
The first half was hardly the anticipated shootout, with the game scoreless through 27 minutes of action. But in the final 33 minutes of play, the teams put up 64 points.
After A&M took a 7-0 lead with 2:33 left in the first half, a special-teams flurry quickly turned the game in Georgia's favor.
Boykin returned the kickoff after the Aggies' touchdown 81 yards for the Bulldogs' first score, the third time this season he had returned a kickoff for a touchdown.
And on Texas A&M's next possession, Georgia's Rambo blocked a punt that teammate Vance Cuff recovered at the A&M 2-yard line. From there, Caleb King scored on the next play to give Georgia the lead with 1:22 left in the half.
Texas A&M tied the game at 14-14 on its first possession of the second half, but Georgia took the lead for good on Blair Walsh's 49-yard field goal with 9:25 left in the third quarter.
A bad snap on a Texas A&M punt set up a Georgia touchdown that stretched the lead to 24-14. Jones' 59-yard interception return set up another score that made it 31-14 early in the fourth quarter. Both drives were capped with Cox-to-White passes.
Soon, the Aggies fans began to leave the stadium
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