Throwback Thursday: Tennessee vs. South Carolina 2009
Tennessee came into this Halloween affair sitting at 3-4 and a week removed from a brutal loss on the road at Alabama.
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Did you know Lane Kiffin grew up idolizing Steve Spurrier?
No?
Neither did I, not until revisiting Tennessee vs. South Carolina from the 2009 season, Kiffin’s lone season in Knoxville, when the ESPN broadcast team made a note of that in the pregame. Kiffin was also being referred to as the “New Mouth of the South” by local Knoxville media at the time.
Supposedly.
Monte Kiffin’s defense had its way with Spurrier’s offense in this rainy affair as the Vols won this handily 31-13.
Here are my three takeaways for this week’s Throwback Thursday column.
Tennessee won the turnover margin 4-0. It was kind of preposterous just how much went wrong for the Gamecocks early in this one. On their first series, Carolina fumbled on third down in their own territory. Crompton utilizes the play-action fake and hits the fullback Austin Johnson wide open for six. 7-0. South Carolina fumbles again. Hardesty puts it in the endzone off a demoralizing spin move. 14-0. After a few normal series of Stephen Garcia running for his life and Carolina giving up on establishing the run, the Gamecocks fumble again. Crompton utilizes the play-action fake and it’s 21-0. Three turnovers in the first half and Tennessee scored touchdowns on all of them. This is important to note, as the Vols went three-and-out on four of five possessions at one point in this game. The Vols needed short fields to score. When Crompton wasn’t given play-action opportunities this offense was a mess.
The combination of Kiffin, Dan Williams, Eric Berry and Janzen Jackson was a delight here. Both Berry and Jackson had multiple instances of mashing the “hit stick” button on some unsuspecting Carolina players. Williams was in the backfield bothering Garcia constantly. Similar to Barry Odom’s Hawgs, Kiffin would show blitz and drop them back into coverage constantly and still bring pressure at Garcia with just three pass rushers. Garcia was hit too many times to count and was missing guys all over the place. He did have a dime down the right side to Brown in response to a Tennessee TD to keep the game from getting out of hand. A lot of Bo Nix in Garcia’s game.
Chad Cunningham had to pull double duty in this one. Not only did he perform punt duties, but No. 96 also had to kick because Daniel Lincoln, now a Navy SEAL, was out with a groin issue. This is exactly the kind of doomsday scenario you would expect to sink the Vols. Instead, he had just one field goal blocked. This would be tree-straight for the Vols dating back to the Alabama game the week prior. He made the game-sealer to put the Vols up 31-13 late in the fourth quarter. Had this game been close, Tennessee would have been in trouble. Trouble.
Lifted from the Legal Pad:
Dan Williams was unblockable on the evening.
Jackson and Berry were just a delightful safety duo.
Brad Nessler messed up at least five different players during the broadcast.
Speaking of this ESPN broadcast, a Vol linebacker got injured making a tackle on the sideline and the audio picks up said player screaming in agony for a solid 10 seconds before finally going to commercial. Bonkers.
Before the Mays brothers, there were the Sullins.
Nessy thought Todd was a Big Pie Guy.