Cajun's hair nearly deploys upon impact: Tennessee Volunteers shatter Louisiana-Lafayette 59-7

by Joel Hollingsworth on Nov 4, 2007 12:15 AM EDT in Tennessee Volunteer Football

Back late from the homecoming game, so just a few quick thoughts tonight with the pretty stuff to follow tomorrow.

Louisiana-Lafayette's starting center had this big, long poofy ponytail that snuck out the back of his helmet and wiggled in the breeze like a squirrel tied to a car antenna. At one moment in time, when the thing was completely obscuring his helmet because he was looking at the quarterback through his legs, I had the horrifying thought that he was starting the play without any headgear. In the end, I rationalized that it would have been just fine because I was almost certain that his hair would deploy upon impact and save the day.
The defense gave up seven points, and when I say "defense" I mean "one guy on defense," and when I say "one guy on defense," I mean Jonathan Hefney. Hefney missed at least three tackles on that drive, two of them very badly, and one of them on an absolute whiff. Are our DBs taught to tackle by diving at a ball carrier's legs? Really, that's not a rhetorical question. We do it so often that that must be the case. Is there an Eighth Maxim I don't know about? Lay down and make like a speed bump. News flash: we may sometimes exclaim that ball carriers have "wheels," but they don't really have wheels, and lumps on the ground are easily avoided by bipeds.
Woo for the somebody that blocked the punt and woo for Antonio Wardlow for snatching the ball out of the air and running it in for a touchdown when it finally returned to this atmosphere. If this had been the Super Bowl, the deflection would have caused a PR nightmare for Goodyear. If it had been played in Arkansas, it would have prevented the unfurling of the Fire Nutt banner. If it had been . . . it was high, okay?
Speaking of . . . our running backs are going to be just fine without LaMarcus Coker. My in-game internal dialog re: Lennon Creer: Hey, Creer's in the game. Cool, let's see how he does. Hmm, looks a lot like Foster, running to the corner. Wait. He's still going. Oh! He actually made the corner and kept going! Novelty! Okay, well that looked good, but it was just one run. Wait. He did it again! And again and again and again. Did that sign just say seven carries for 109 yards and a 15 yard average? That's better than the two guys ahead of him on the depth chart. Wait, he must be playing against ULL's 2s, right? No? Well, then he's playing against a very tired defense. Make mental note not to get too carried away about him on the blog. Make mental note that I will probably fail.
The crowd? Pathetic. The announced attendance of 96,000 was generous.
If you watch the replay tomorrow, do not miss Antonio Reynolds' interception return for a touchdown. DeAngelo Willingham, I think it was, tipped the ball on an attempted screen pass, and Reynolds plucked it out of the air and set course for the end zone, a journey that, like Gone with the Wind, almost required an intermission. The denouement was the move he made at around the 10 where the QB had the angle on him and was going to help him out of bounds. The big guy actually juked him, and the QB went flying harmlessly into the coaching staff. The last ten yards to the end zone served primarily as credits set to celebratory song.
Also, don't turn the replay off in the fourth quarter. Jonathan Crompton et al looked just as good as Ainge and Co. In addition to the Creer Show, there was Gerald Jones, who took two snaps at the QB position and scored on one of them, and Kenny O'Neal, who caught a 50-yard-ish touchdown pass from Crompton.

Anyway, that's all I have for now. More tomorrow, including the moving pictures.

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Comments

The Streak is Lost....96,000???

I second your thoughts on the crowd. That was pathetic. You know, part of the success we enjoyed in the 1990's centered around our raucous crowd. What the heck happened to the homefield advantage? Yeah I know a lot of people are dissatified with things at the top but 96,000 is ridiculous.

Obviously there were probably 3 Louisiana-Lafayette fans in attendance and that hurt (The entire upper deck area usually reserved for Visitor's fans was not only empty....but frigid tundra empty...I mean nothing). Despite that you'd still think that something would have been done once it was clear ULL could not sell their share.

Still you have to wonder if the climate and environment that produced such hostile crowds in the 1990's is gone. We caught glimpses of it for UGA and South Carolina this year (Especially during OT of the USC game). That's about it though. Something has definitely got to be done to bring back the magic to Neyland. We've lost the edge to places like Death Valley, The Swamp, Auzten (!!??), and Sanford. I don't know if the crowd is getting older as ticket prices and VASF Donation requirements sky rocket. Either we gotta have SOMETHING to juice up the crowd.

And dissatisfaction with Fulmer or the coaching staff is NOT an excuse for poor fan support. What does that accomplishment except hurt the players? You're cheering the 18-22 year old players. I saw a guy's nickname from 3rd Saturday in Blogtober which was "Ghosts of Neyland." THAT is a pretty apt moniker for our gamedays lately.

Someday we'll look back on this and plow into a parked car.

by MeytonPanning on Nov 4, 2007 1:17 AM EDT reply actions

give me a break....

It was homecoming. You never have a sell out for those. I was in Auburn this weekend on the sidelines for their homecoming and the estimate of 85,000 was ridiculous, and after the half time festivities that number dropped to about 40,000. At the end of the 3rd quarter there were less people there than there were at the high school state championships. And the Auburn game was much closer only 35-3, I believe it was 21-3 at half. I don't think there is a crowd problem at Neyland. I believe it was just a terrible game that people didn't care about.

by jhughes5 on Nov 5, 2007 11:15 AM EST reply actions

Give you a break? Not so much

I don't care if it's Homecoming. I mean look at the word....HOME....COMING... There were plenty of alumni out there and yet the student section was sparse and there were wide open swaths of empty seats in the upper deck. Did I say that I expected a sellout? Absolutely not. All I said was that for a long time, no matter who we played, fans came to the game because it was the thing to do, the place to be on a Saturday.

"It was a terrible game that people didn't care about."
Thank you for proving my point. People, or more specifically fans, don't care any more. Which is the entire point of my comment. UT cared a lot about their streak. Being able to tell recruits that we haven't had a crowd under 100,000 since 1996 was a big deal. Being able to put that streak in game programs, pre-season programs, and media packets was a big deal.

And you'd think people want to go since not one TV outlet picked this game up on PPV.

The environment and atmosphere has changed at Neyland. We are no longer the loudest crowd in the country. We are no longer the most hostile place to play. We've lost that and this past Saturday's turnout reflects that change in attitude. You may not think there is a crowd problem, Jhughes. From a attendance standpoint, not counting ULL, you may be right. But from a atmosphere/environment standpoint, a lot of things have changed from the 1990's. All I want is to drink copious amounts of pre-game beer, walk into that wonderful stadium, and be a part of 100,000+ crazy-arse fans hellbent on screaming the opposition into submission. Why must I go to Florida or LSU to be able to see that?

Someday we'll look back on this and plow into a parked car.

by MeytonPanning on Nov 5, 2007 5:53 PM EST up reply actions

Additional Perspective

I won't contest the stadium noise and hostility, as I only came here a year ago and don't have the long-term perspective. However, I can attest to the lack of students at the game for a very sensible reason. There are 4 home games in a row, and 3 of them are conference games (2 in-division). Of those 4, the Lafayette game means nothing to the conference and was as close to an assured win as you can get this side of Appy State. I'm currently a grad student on campus (MS Nuclear Engineering) and have heard repeatedly that a lot of students planned on using the weekend to get some coursework done.

As amazing as that sounds, it's a theme I've heard everywhere I've been on campus (the UC, Hodges library, Law College, Pasqua, McClung, ESS, etc.). The students were striking a balance between team support and their own UT career. They'll be in full force at the Arkansas and Vandy games, and unless UT undergoes a complete collapse in those two games, they'll travel well to Kentucky. I realize this post sounds a lot more aggressive than I intend it to (I'm not being snippy, really), it's fair to the students to understand their perspective. Call it a scholarship-saving weekend if you will.

(BTW, if the aforementioned collapse does occur, expect the students to be taking the Kentucky weekend to find creative and traditional ways of erasing the sorrow.)

Ok - I'll discuss the noise and hostility thing I said I'd overlook. It's probably true, and I would blame cell phones as the primary cause. There is a lot of chatter that goes on during the game, as well as picture-taking, scoreboard updating (since they don't do it enough on the advertising panels), and texting. I think the new digital age has changed the very approach to games - the students don't see the game as isolation from the outside world.

A secondary factor might be the in-stadium commercials they constantly show. It really does break the environment and create more of a wide-screen-TV-in-a-huge-sports-bar feel.

The Orange Nation concept is helping fight these things, and it may expand as interest in it continues to grow. If ON can get enough people to sign up to justify a larger seating bloc, there will be a corresponding increase in student section support. Ironically, the rise of the men's basketball team may help that happen.

by David Hooper on Nov 5, 2007 8:47 PM EST up reply actions

yeah but....

I just graduated from UT in August, so I'm familiar with the course load etc etc. While four straight home games would be "tough" on students that do a lot of their work on the weekends, I don't think this is the first time we've had several games in a row at home since 1996. UT Students have managed it before and it just adds to the idea that somewhere along the line things have changed.

And, according to friends still at school, UT stopped distributing Student Section tickets which is an indication that the Student allotment of tickets were spoken for. Which means that students picked up their tickets and then decided not to go. My busiest time at UT usually occurred during that last stretch towards final projects and finals. For whatever reason, be it academics, going to other homecoming activities/parties, or wanting to go home, those students decided not to go to the game. All I'm saying is that in the past, we've always been able to reach that six figure attendance mark. Even in the season we do not speak of...you know...the [year redacted] season where we went [record redacted], we showed up. Even when we were in the midst of a nightmarish season, we showed up. Say what you want about the opponent and circumstances, it's still disturbing (maybe disappointing is a better word) we lost the streak. Even Stewart Mandel took notice in his Power Rankings.

Someday we'll look back on this and plow into a parked car.

by MeytonPanning on Nov 6, 2007 4:45 PM EST up reply actions

OK I can agree with that

I work at the Auburn games so I don't get the pleasure of attending Tennessee games so I cannot speak for the atmosphere change. '97 was the last time I was there. Wow. I can't believe it has really been that long. I kind of feel like crying now.

by jhughes5 on Nov 7, 2007 1:20 AM EST up reply actions

The crowd was weak

It was my wife's first time at a game, and I think she was a little disappointed that it wasn't as noisy as it was on TV. She made a comment to me that we need to sit closer to the student section next time. Crazy thing is, these are the best seats I've ever had. 50 yard line box seats that a friend gave to me. Everyone around me seemed to be more interested in talking or (the teenagers) more interested in finding their friends.
Honestly, my experience made me want to move back to the nosebleed section just so I could cheer the game on without feeling like I was interrupting someone's conversation.

by TheBigSwigg on Nov 6, 2007 11:13 AM EST reply actions

Sounds familiar

The students often get involved in socialization too, so sitting closer to the student section might not have been much help. (Though the students do get quite loud once they realize they're supposed to.)

IMHO, the best seats are on the 50, first or second row of the upper deck. It's a fantastic view of the game at the cost of a little effect of the crowd noise (I just remind myself that my ears will thank me afterwards, and it's all good). I got lucky and sat there during last year's Alabama game and had a great time. The only real downside was that the guy behind me got so exuberant when the team won that he bumped into us pretty good, nearly propelling us off the overhang. Not a good feeling moment, but a fond memory overall.

by David Hooper on Nov 6, 2007 4:09 PM EST up reply actions

My personal pet peeve

. . . is the Jumbotron showing some student yawning or something before realizing that the camera is on her and then magically transforming to SuperFan . . . despite the fact that we just threw an interception or suffered some other in-game calamity.

Go Vols!

by Joel Hollingsworth on Nov 6, 2007 7:02 PM EST up reply actions

YES

I rarely use angry caps-lock-guy font, but this is a time for it:

YOU'RE TICKET IS FREE! YOU'RE PART OF THE ENTERTAINMENT, NOT A CUSTOMER!!!11!11!!11!!!

My theory: the students get free tickets for two reasons. One, it's a school and the students are technically the priority. Two, student sections are part of the college game and a critical part of the home field advantage. If, as a student, I bought a ticket in the regular seats, then I'd consider myself a customer and would feel a little more privilege in the matter. If, as a student, I hop down to the ticket office and get my free seat, I feel obligated to be a part of the university's experience. (Besides, it's a lot more fun that way.) The football team is working many, many hours a week; I can work 3 hours on Saturday.

Besides, it's an investment. When the potential recruits are being brought to games, they're paying attention to the environment. The better the experience, the more likely we get the recruits we want. The payoff occurs after I've graduated - my alma will have a better team and I'll have better bragging rights over any rival co-workers. It's a small part, but it's all I have, and I'll do what I can.

by David Hooper on Nov 6, 2007 8:10 PM EST up reply actions