November 22, 2009 6:00 EST TV: Fox College Sports Internet Audio: CBS Sports
3-0 (0-0) 10th (AP) 11th (USA Today)		2-0 (0-0) NR (AP) NR (USA Today)

Jackson the Mule says . . .

. . . Ooh. Scary logo.

Leave your pre-, in-, and post-game thoughts below.

Go Vols! Hulk smash depressed demons!

	Position	Name	Experience	Height	PPG	RPG	APG
	G	Angie Bjorklund	Jr	6-0	13.5	2.5	2.0
	G	Taber Spani	Fr	6-1	10.0	5.0	1.5
	F	Glory Johnson	So	6-3	13.0	6.3	0.0
	G-F	Shekinna Stricklen	So	6-2	20.5	10.5	5.0
	C	Kelley Cain	So	6-6	11.0	7.5	1.5
	G	Monica Wright	Sr	6-0	21.5	5.0	4.0
	F	Chelsea Shine	Fr	5-6	15.7	8.7	1.3
	C	Simone Egwu	Fr	5-8	11.0	6.0	0.7
	G	Whitney Edwards	Sr	5-11	8.0	5.7	1.3
	G	China Crosby	So	6-3	6.7	2.7	2.0

Audio:  Lady Vols Radio;  Live State:  Virginia Sports;  TV:  NONE  (One of only two non-televised games this year!)

The Tennessee Lady Vols visit the Virginia Lady Cavaliers in UT's second game against a ranked opponent of the young season.  Having passed the Britney Griner test at home, then having picked up a road win in San Antonio against Texas Tech, the Ladies now look to win on the road against #12 Virginia.

On offense, Tennessee will have a significant height advantage - Virginia's tallest starter is 6'3" Simone Egwu  and will match up against 6'-6" Kelley Cain.  Their tallest player overall is 6'-4" Erinn Thompson, and both Egwu and Thompson are freshmen.  Look for the Lady Vols to feed Cain, Glory Johnson, and Shekinna Stricklen in the interior, then play their devastating inside-outside game.

On defense, Virginia will try to play quickly, using their shortness as an agility advantage.  Their perimeter play has them with a 3-0 record so far, with comfortable wins against lesser competition.  Watch Monica Wright; the 6'-0" senior guard is the centerpiece to Virginia's offense and will require constant attention.  Tennessee will play man defense (as Summitt prefers), so Virginia's speed will put the Lady Vols' endurance to the test.  Full-court pressure may be heavily utilized by Summitt, particularly on inbounds attempts after free throws.

Because this game is not televised, any comments will be based on the audio only.  So consider this the most informal and sparse of threads.  Go Ladies!

Here is the draft for RTT's ballot in the blogpoll.  Numbers and thoughts follow.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Florida
2	Texas
3	Alabama
4	TCU
5	Georgia Tech	2
6	Cincinnati	1
7	Virginia Tech	4
8	Penn State	5
9	Ohio State	1
10	Boise State	4
11	Pittsburgh	2
12	Oregon	2
13	Brigham Young	1
14	Miami (Florida)	5
15	Iowa	3
16	Oregon State	6
17	Nebraska	4
18	North Carolina	7
19	Oklahoma State	1
20	Arizona	2
21	Clemson	3
22	LSU	6
23	Mississippi
24	Oklahoma	9
25	Southern Cal
Last week's ballot

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More photos » by Wade Payne - AP

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[Note by Joel, 11/22/09 7:49 AM EST ] Updated with video at the end.

When Lane Kiffin arrived in Knoxville, he quickly instituted a couple of hard and fast rules: (1) every position was up for grabs; and (2) every player competes for playing time during the week at practices. It was widely publicized that the first rule had one major exception -- every position was up for grabs except Eric Berry's -- but there was an exception to the second rule, too: defensive tackle Wes Brown would get playing time even when coaches forced him against his will to rest during the week at practice.

Why the exception for Brown? His knees were a complete and total wreck, and everyone knew pretty early on that Brown only had so many snaps left to give, but he'd left no doubt in the minds of the coaching staff that he would be ready when the ball was snapped. The trick with Wes was saving those snaps for when they really mattered.

So on Senior Day, during his last game at Neyland Stadium, in what would likely be the third-to-last football game he would ever play, Wes Brown was making the best of the last of the ration of snaps his battered knees would allow. And he and the rest of the Big Orange Nation received a just reward.

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More photos » by Wade Payne - AP

On senior day, two guys who've been here since 2005 and seen all the ups and downs helped the Vols get bowl eligible. Hats off to Crompton and Hardesty.

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The best and worst of Tennessee's 2009 season were on display at different points tonight, but in the end the Vols did just enough good to keep Vanderbilt at bay, and Wes Brown put the nail in the Commodores' coffin.

Tennessee's 31-16 win over their in-state rivals makes the Vols bowl eligible, a guaranteed improvement over last year and a nice start for Lane Kiffin.  It will get even nicer if the Vols can win at Kentucky next week, with the SEC's bowl outlook cloudy but still leaving plenty of solid options for a 7-5 Tennessee team.

On senior day, Tennessee's seniors carried the load on both sides of the ball.  The Vol defense also featured plenty of brand new faces, as a unit decimated by injuries at linebacker and still struggling to find itself without Janzen Jackson struggled at times.  But Monte Kiffin's bend-but-don't-break style continued to pay off, as the Vols kept Vandy out of the end zone at every crucial juncture in the second half.

We'll take any win we can get this season, even when we don't play quite as well as we'd like against Vandy.  The ups and downs of tonight's game:

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NR (BlogPoll)

@

NR (BlogPoll)

Kickoff: 7:00 p.m. EST Television: ESPNU Eric Collins, Brock Huard Vol Network Radio: Free Audio | Station List Bob Kesling, Tim Priest and Mike Stowell Live Video Streaming: ESPN360.com Satellite Radio: XM Radio: 199 | Sirius Radio: 212 Live Stats: Gametracker Game Day Information Game Day Activities/Timing Schedule

Jackson the Mule says . . . . . . Gimme a minute. I'm working up a rear for Jonathan Crompton.

birdjam makes it two in a row this week with this Vandy-themed Hail Mary Haiku:

Let’s win out and go
Music City Bowling in
House that Vanderbilt

Leave your pre-, in-, and post-game comments below.

Go Vols!