AJC > Sports > Blog > Archives > 2005 > September > 27
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
Much to digest from Vols’ win
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Some thoughts after watching Tennessee’s 30-24 overtime win over LSU:
*I’m always hesitant to use too many superlatives, lest they become meaningless. But what Tennessee did Monday night was one of the biggest gut-checks the SEC has seen in years. The Volunteers weren’t simply about to lose a game at halftime — their entire season was getting ready to implode.
But to their credit, Phillip Fulmer and the Tennessee coaching staff threw out their game plan and inserted quarterback Rick Clausen after sophomore Erik Ainge had a major meltdown. Tennessee used patience and finally took what the LSU defense was giving.
As a result, the offense finally gained some confidence and wore out the LSU defense. Now Tennessee is back in the SEC East race, especially if Florida loses to Alabama on Saturday. It was Fulmer’s biggest regular-season win since the Volunteers beat Florida in 1998 en route to the national championship.
*Think about what it took for Clausen to come off the bench and lead Tennessee to victory. After the loss to Florida on Sept. 17 he was basically told: “Sorry kid, you’re just not talented enough.” Tennessee made the decision to go with the more gifted Ainge and let the chips fall where they may.
It was the third time in his career (once at LSU and twice at Tennessee) that Clausen had been benched — not for bad play, but because his coaches just didn’t think he lacked talent.
Yet Monday night, Tennessee became a different, more confident team when Clausen entered the game. The team’s quarterback controversy has to be over and everyone (including this writer) who thought Ainge was the guy were flat wrong. This is Clausen’s team now.
*There’s a lot of second-guessing today about new LSU coach Les Miles. And there should be.
When the score is tied and you have the ball with two minutes to go at home, you go for the win. LSU was clearly playing for overtime, afraid that its quarterback, Jamarcus Russell, was going to make another mistake.
There was no way that LSU was going to win in overtime. The Tiger defense was exhausted because it had been on the field so long in the second half. And last night proved what I’ve been saying about Russell all along: He looks great in a uniform, and he will make some wonderful plays like the one he did to beat Arizona State on Sept. 10. But at the end of the day, he will break your heart with the big mistake.
My Top 10 As promised yesterday, here’s my revised Top 10. Tennessee jumped to No. 6 behind Florida and Georgia, while LSU drops to No. 10.
1.USC
2.Virginia Tech
3.Texas
4.Florida
5.Georgia
6.Tennessee
7.Florida State
8.Ohio State
9.Michigan State
10.LSU
