Talking Points: let's play one degree of Monte Kiffin edition

by Joel Hollingsworth on Sep 23, 2009 7:38 AM EDT in Rocky Top Talking Points

Forget Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. Last week, it was Urban Meyer who claimed to have a good relationship with Tennessee defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin. This week, it's Ohio head coach Frank Solich. Solich and the Google of Football met more than 40 years ago at Nebraska as players and continue to stay in touch. Weren't there similar stories for UCLA and Western Kentucky? This should be a weekly game. First person to find the connection wins.
Receivers partly to blame. Lane Kiffin's not too high on the receivers right now, saying that they need to do a better job with the details. Quintin Hancock is the only receiver to have caught a pass in every game so far, and he's out for Ohio (at least) with a broken jaw.

Heresy alert. Kiffin says that true freshman safety Janzen Jackson does some things better than Eric Berry:

It’s going to sound crazy but there are some things he actually does better than Eric sometimes. He’s not the player Eric is yet. We all know that. But he has potential to be a great player.

According to Kiffin, Jackson has "looser hips" and will be an All-American someday. Put "Swivel" in the pending nicknames for the freshmen.

Speaking of Berry, he's back on ESPN's Heisman Watch list this week at No. 6. One of the experts put him 2nd.

More on losing, but winning. Dave Hooker takes a look at the recruiting competition between Tennessee and Florida and finds Tennessee in the lead. In 2009, Tennessee was ranked 8th and 10th (depending on which service you're looking at), ahead of Florida. So far this year, Tennessee is ranked 3rd and 4th while Florida is 9th and 7th. For 2010, Tennessee is ranked 1st and 2nd (behind LSU) in the SEC. For next year's class, the Vols have four five-star prospects, and Florida has three.

I suspect the Clawfense. Somebody put a sticky on Lane Kiffin's door reminding him that his offense is currently ranked 73rd in the nation. Suspects include Dave Clawson, whose Bowling Green offense is ranked 65th. Of course, much of Tennessee's ranking is due to a subset of the offense: Jonathan Crompton is tied for 118th in interceptions. Only SMU has more. Yikes.

Well, no wonder. On this day in 1972, Purdue Boilermaker quarterback Gary Danielson rushed for 213 yards in a losing effort against Washington. That he was a running QB might explain his over-affection for Tim Tebow, huh?

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Ive seen a few Heisman lists with Tebow knocked out of the No. 1 seat

Thanks to Berry. Would’ve liked to see a more highlight reel game for Berry, but he had a good game, and has had a quietly good season

RIP Steve McNair (1973 - 2009) Retire #9!
Member of the Committee to Keep Keith Bulluck.
Eric Berry for Heisman!!

by Pride of the Southland on Sep 23, 2009 9:38 AM EDT reply actions

On a related note:

CBSSports does not maintain a game archive the way that ESPN360 does, so I will not be able to to any play breakdowns this week. It’s a shame, too, because looking at the defensive line adjustments made by Florida and Tennessee in the second half would have been interesting (particularly UF’s in the 3rd quarter and UT’s in the 4th).

by David Hooper on Sep 23, 2009 9:50 AM EDT up reply actions

Do you not have Tivo/DVR?

Lou Brock loves Lamp.

by birdjam on Sep 23, 2009 10:15 AM EDT up reply actions

no

I don’t even have cable TV, thanks to a college budget.

by David Hooper on Sep 23, 2009 10:37 AM EDT up reply actions

You're in college?

Wow, this site is even more impressive to me now.

Lou Brock loves Lamp.

by birdjam on Sep 23, 2009 10:45 AM EDT up reply actions

Wait till you hear this . . .

. . . hooper’s a doctoral candidate in nuclear engineering. If you didn’t already know. And Will’s getting his Masters of Divinity or something like that.

Nobody’s going to outwork us but the Kiffin Chimera!

Rocky Top Talk

by Joel Hollingsworth on Sep 23, 2009 10:52 AM EDT up reply actions

oh, it's exactly like that

If you don’t owe someone tens of thousands of dollars for your postgraduate degree, you can’t write for this blog

Will - Rocky Top Talk

by Will Shelton on Sep 23, 2009 11:02 AM EDT up reply actions

Oh, good again!

I get to retire in December!

Rocky Top Talk

by Joel Hollingsworth on Sep 23, 2009 11:44 AM EDT up reply actions

Yep

by PdxVol on Sep 24, 2009 4:12 AM EDT up reply actions

After last week

I don’t see how you can put anyone other than Jahvid Best at #1 in the balloting right now. That may change, of course, but Tebow was statistically underwhelming while Best is putting up the kind of numbers that go along with the award.

And while I tend to disagree with Gary Danielson more than flat out disliking him, that last point is why he belongs back on ABC covering the Big 10, not the SEC on CBS.

Will - Rocky Top Talk

by Will Shelton on Sep 23, 2009 10:37 AM EDT reply actions

Agreed, and if Berry doesn't ahve some spectacular games up soon, he stands no chance

RIP Steve McNair (1973 - 2009) Retire #9!
Member of the Committee to Keep Keith Bulluck.
Eric Berry for Heisman!!

by Pride of the Southland on Sep 23, 2009 11:15 AM EDT up reply actions

Did you watch the game?

He was good, but Minnesota’s defense was pretty terrible. I don’t like getting wrapped up in numbers at this point in the season. Yeah, he had 5 TD’s and 2 of them were good runs – particularly the 1st – but the passing game set up his other 3 short yardage scores. I definitely think he belongs in the Top 5. But I wouldn’t put him #1. Honestly, I’ve been more impressed by Jacory Harris. In reality though, at this point, Tim Tebow is the de facto leader, but for good reason.

by golfballs03 on Sep 23, 2009 12:33 PM EDT up reply actions

Who cares?

History has proven that:

a) The Heisman Trophy is a joke, with criteria that are a moving target based on whatever ESPN and the national media decide to make them from year to year (best player? Most VALUABLE player? QB on best team? Best offensive player in the country? Lifetime achievement award? etc.)

and

b) Tennessee players are ineligible.

So why should we as Vol fans even discuss it?

Lou Brock loves Lamp.

by birdjam on Sep 23, 2009 2:30 PM EDT up reply actions

As far as the award itself goes, it's useless.

But it serves as a convenient talking point for the TV pundits. Their Heisman talk indicates their regard for players, to some degree. Once you apply the standard QB/RB bias filters, it has some value. But that’s about it.

by David Hooper on Sep 23, 2009 5:24 PM EDT up reply actions