The fourth and final Round Two match up in the Best Plays of 2007 Brackety-ish Thingy features one seed Antonio Reynolds Makes Sure UL-Laf against two seed That Play Again. To get into the second round, Reynolds smoked Coker Smokes Florida 35-19 and That Play Again completely caught Foster's Wheel Route off guard, 44-10.
The contestants:
Antonio Reynolds Makes Sure UL-Laf (1)
At stake: Nothing. It was Louisiana-LaFayette.
In-game context: It was already 17-0, Vols, in only the second quarter when two of the most remarkable things happened:
Impact: None, but it makes me happy. Few things are better than seeing a defensive lineman lumbering 70 yards toward the end zone after lucking into an interception. To see him juke a guy, well that there's something special.
That Play Again (2)
At stake: The SEC East. We'd lost to Florida. Again. Losing to Georgia, too, would be unthinkable, but it's exactly what most were thinking. Third in the East. Again. Maybe fourth.
In-game context: But huh. We made them punt, and then we scored a touchdown to go up by 7. And we made them punt again. And again. And then, on the first play of the second quarter, offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe dialed up that play we'd used against Florida (I think) the year before:
Impact: Here's an idea: let's run that play more often than once per season. Erik Ainge whiffed on the block, Lucas Taylor's pass was not quite on the mark, and LaMarcus Coker almost ran out of bounds after he managed to catch the ball, and yet he was so wide open it worked. Again. Tennessee was well on its way to the SEC Championship Game. Yeah, we needed somebody to beat Florida, but we helped ourselves against Georgia, too, ruining what could have been, in hindsight, a shot at the national championship.
You decide which play advances into the third round. Vote below. Poll closes tomorrow night at midnight because the winner plays again tomorrow.