GhenghisVol
September 9th, 2009, 07:00 PM
Why dont he just come out and say "I hate those cocksuckers!" Man this guy is smooth.
Rob Lewis
VolQuest.com Associate Editor
Talk about it in The General's Quarters
Saturday's season opening blowout over an overmatched Western Kentucky team has done little dampen the enthusiasm surrounding Lane Kiffin's first year on the job in Knoxville. But the level of competition goes up several notches this week with UCLA coming to town, a theme that Kiffin made sure to hammer home at numerous points in his Tuesday media comments.
It's a UCLA team that under then first-year head coach Rick Neuhiesel upset the Vols in overtime and started them on the long, downward spiral of a now infamous 5-7 campaign.
Prince will be making his first road start on Saturday.
A day's worth of film study is enough for Kiffin to pronounce this year's Bruin's team an improved version of the one that handed Tennessee last year's loss.
"This is a big-time match-up for us this week. Going back and watching all three phases of the San Diego State game, this is a UCLA team that's very much improved from last season," Kiffin observed.
"It's a team that came out and was very physical in that first game on defense, I think gave up 38 yards rushing. This will be a big test for us."
Kiffin's observation that the Bruins look to be formidable against the ground led to his next point on Tuesday, namely that the Vols would have to be efficient and productive in the passing game to offset a rushing defense that will bear little resemblance to the Western Kentucky unit that surrendered 380 yards on the ground.
Quarterback Jonathan Crompton was a healthy 21-of-28 in the opener for 233 yards and five touchdowns, but the challenge will be much stiffer this week. Although the task will be eased somewhat if the Vols can get healthier at receiver, which looks likely.
"Hopefully Gerald Jones can come back this week. Hopefully Denarius Moore will be 100-percent healthy and we can team those two guys with a number of guys who made plays last week," Kiffin said. "We're going to need Jonathan and the passing game and our tight ends to play extremely well. This is a physical defense. We're going to have to hit on all cylinders to be able to win this day."
The Bruins offense, on paper, doesn't appear to match the defense in terms of being able to dictate things to the opposition. There are some young players in key positions on the offensive side of the ball for UCLA--most notably redshirt freshman quarterback Kevin Prince--and Kiffin hopes the combination of a hostile environment and that inexperience can work to the Vols' advantage.
In fact, the hope led him to make his first public plea for the denizens of Neyland Stadium to get involved in the proceedings on Saturday.
"We really need our fans. We need our stadium to be rockin'," Kiffin said on Tuesday. "We need our stadium to understand that we need them on all defensive plays, but especially third downs.
"Here's a quarterback making his first start on the road. Here's a left-tackle making his first start on the road vs. a great right end (Chris Walker). Here's a junior-college guard making his first start on the road. We need a our fans a lot, we need our stadium to be rockin' to help us win this game."
Rob Lewis
VolQuest.com Associate Editor
Talk about it in The General's Quarters
Saturday's season opening blowout over an overmatched Western Kentucky team has done little dampen the enthusiasm surrounding Lane Kiffin's first year on the job in Knoxville. But the level of competition goes up several notches this week with UCLA coming to town, a theme that Kiffin made sure to hammer home at numerous points in his Tuesday media comments.
It's a UCLA team that under then first-year head coach Rick Neuhiesel upset the Vols in overtime and started them on the long, downward spiral of a now infamous 5-7 campaign.
Prince will be making his first road start on Saturday.
A day's worth of film study is enough for Kiffin to pronounce this year's Bruin's team an improved version of the one that handed Tennessee last year's loss.
"This is a big-time match-up for us this week. Going back and watching all three phases of the San Diego State game, this is a UCLA team that's very much improved from last season," Kiffin observed.
"It's a team that came out and was very physical in that first game on defense, I think gave up 38 yards rushing. This will be a big test for us."
Kiffin's observation that the Bruins look to be formidable against the ground led to his next point on Tuesday, namely that the Vols would have to be efficient and productive in the passing game to offset a rushing defense that will bear little resemblance to the Western Kentucky unit that surrendered 380 yards on the ground.
Quarterback Jonathan Crompton was a healthy 21-of-28 in the opener for 233 yards and five touchdowns, but the challenge will be much stiffer this week. Although the task will be eased somewhat if the Vols can get healthier at receiver, which looks likely.
"Hopefully Gerald Jones can come back this week. Hopefully Denarius Moore will be 100-percent healthy and we can team those two guys with a number of guys who made plays last week," Kiffin said. "We're going to need Jonathan and the passing game and our tight ends to play extremely well. This is a physical defense. We're going to have to hit on all cylinders to be able to win this day."
The Bruins offense, on paper, doesn't appear to match the defense in terms of being able to dictate things to the opposition. There are some young players in key positions on the offensive side of the ball for UCLA--most notably redshirt freshman quarterback Kevin Prince--and Kiffin hopes the combination of a hostile environment and that inexperience can work to the Vols' advantage.
In fact, the hope led him to make his first public plea for the denizens of Neyland Stadium to get involved in the proceedings on Saturday.
"We really need our fans. We need our stadium to be rockin'," Kiffin said on Tuesday. "We need our stadium to understand that we need them on all defensive plays, but especially third downs.
"Here's a quarterback making his first start on the road. Here's a left-tackle making his first start on the road vs. a great right end (Chris Walker). Here's a junior-college guard making his first start on the road. We need a our fans a lot, we need our stadium to be rockin' to help us win this game."