- Eric Berry tackles his homework like it's Knowshon Moreno. From his Twitter feed:
...Shout out to EmeraldMaserie!!! Just crushed my presentation. Now I'm off to eat and off to practice.
No doubt that if it weren't for that pesky 140 character limit, the last part of that would have read, "Now I'm off to demolish my dinner and destroy practice."
- The word of the day is . . . FINISH . . . brought to you by Wes Rucker and the Times Free Press:
College football coaches pore over statistics after most games, and they obsess over them after close losses. Most of the most important statistics boil down to one factor: As Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin puts it, "Did we finish?" Did your defense get off the field on third down? Did your team outscore its opponent in the fourth quarter? Did you turn red-zone drives into touchdowns? Kiffin's Volunteers did two of those three things the past two weeks, but they lost to UCLA and Florida in large part because they couldn't accomplish the third task. They couldn't fully capitalize inside the opponent's 20-yard line, and that's one of the biggest reasons they're 1-2 heading into Saturday's 7 p.m. game against Ohio University. UT scored six times in seven red-zone chances against the Bruins and Gators, but just two of those possessions, and just one of the last six, crossed the goal line.
Still Learning: Defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin has been indoctrinated in the spread offense and will see it again from the Bobcats. But they'll add one more wrinkle the coaching veteran hasn't faced much before with their Pistol attack that features a running back behind the quarterback in a shotgun formation. "I didn't even know what it was until I got here," Monte Kiffin said. "Every week it's something new."