No, that wasn’t a typo.

Tennessee quarterback Jonathan Crompton really threw 5 TD’s in a single game. (A short pause for you to google this if you still can’t believe it.)

Crompton and the Vols steamrolled right over the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers 63-7 on Saturday, racking up 657 yards of total offense. Crompton had a career day with 233 yards passing to go along with his 5 TD’s. He showed maturity and, unlike last season, appears comfortable in Lane Kiffin’s pro-style offense.

However, the Volunteers’ running back corps refused to be shown up by their senior quarterback. As a team Tennessee rushed for 380 yards and 4 TD’s, averaging over 8 yards per carry. Senior running back Montario Hardesty had 160 yards on 18 carries, with a huge 43-yard TD run.

Tennessee’s offensive “Freshman Four” also played well, having a coming out party against Western Kentucky.

Running back Bryce Brown scored UT’s first TD of the season and finished with 104 yards on 11 carries. His fellow frosh back David Oku had 42 yards and 2 TD’s on 8 carries. Marsalis Teague was the leading receiver for the Vols. Teague caught 6 passes for 86 yards and a TD. Nu’Keese Richardson made an impact all around, catching passes, returning kicks, and even running the wildcat formation.

Lane Kiffin’s focus, however, is not on the blowout victory of last week.

The Vols are preparing for a rematch against UCLA after losing a heartbreaker in Pasadena last season. As a former USC coach, Kiffin is no stranger to the Bruins either. Thus, there are plenty of storylines heading into Saturday’s game in Knoxville.

Before we break down the matchup, here are the particulars:

UCLA Bruins at Tennessee Volunteers

• UCLA-Tennessee Date: Saturday, September 12th
• UCLA-Tennessee Location: Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee
• UCLA-Tennessee Kickoff Time: 4:00 ET
• UCLA-Tennessee TV: ESPN
• UCLA-Tennessee Point Spread: Tennessee -7.5
• StubHub: Tennessee-UCLA tickets
• StubHub: Tennessee football tickets
• StubHub: UCLA football tickets
• StubHub: All college football tickets

The matchup between Tennessee and UCLA is completely different than last season. In ’08 the Vols were a team searching for an offensive identity and UCLA was lucky to scrape out a win.

This season the Vols appear rejuvenated on offense with their explosive young talent and offensive mastermind Lane Kiffin at the helm. And though the offense has improved vastly, the strength of this Vols team is still the defense, led by its all-world safety Eric Berry.

In Monte Kiffin’s first game as UT defensive coordinator, the Vols held Western Kentucky to 83 yards of total offense. The Hilltoppers only managed 34 yards rushing, averaging a laughable 1-yard per carry. The scary part of UT’s defensive performance is that Berry didn’t play all that well and the defense still held strong.

Berry and the Tennessee defense could have a field day against UCLA’s freshman quarterback Kevin Prince, who threw two picks against San Diego State in the Bruins opener. Prince doesn’t seem experienced enough to go up against a top-level SEC defense and will likely turn the ball over multiple times.

The Vols will have to be careful of their own turnovers however. Jonathan Crompton will have to keep an eye out for UCLA safety Rahim Moore, who had three interceptions last week against SDSU.

Lane Kiffin, though, appears to be more than capable of putting together an effective offensive game plan. And if Tennessee’s offense can produce even half as well as they did last week, the Neyland faithful should once again be singing Rocky Top at the top of their lungs.

And the Vols, coming off one of the most disappointing seasons in school history, should be 2-0.

My prediction for Saturday’s game: Tennessee- 31 UCLA- 17

We did not do a Pac 10 Tournament Preview this year at MSF…but Matt did at DSF. Follow the link to DSF’s Pac 10 Tournament Preview.

Okay, I lied.

I said I was done with the college basketball conference tournament previews, but after doing five out of the six BCS conferences I had to add the last one.

So here we are, discussing the Pac-10 Tournament.

Before we get too far into this, a quick preview of the 2009 Pac-10 Mens Basketball Tournament:

• What: 12th Pac 10 Mens Basketball Tournament
• Dates: March 11 – March 14
• Tournament Site: Staples Center — Los Angeles, California
• Official Website: 2009 Pac-10 Tournament
• StubHub Tickets: 2009 Pac 10 Basketball Tournament Tickets
• StubHub Tickets: 2009 NCAA Tournament Tickets

Is it just me or does the Pac-10 seem especially irrelevant this year? I am a die-hard Big Ten fan, and obviously the Big Ten has taken its fair share of flack in recent years — and deservedly so. But I can tell you right now that unless the matchups are just ridiculous, I doubt I will have an Pac-10 teams advancing past Round 2 in the NCAA Tournament.

And while that may have more to do with my lack of knowledge and exposure to the Pac-10 than it does with any in-depth analysis, it goes to prove my point that the Pac-10 has seemed especially under-exposed and irrelevant this season.

Take a look at the most recent college basketball rankings. Washington is the highest rated Pac-10 team at #16. Then UCLA and Arizona State check in at #’s 19 and 20. By way of contrast, the Big Ten has Michigan State, Purdue, and Illinois in the Top 25, at #8, #19, and #23 respectively. And while the differences are not huge, the Big Ten does at least have one team in the top 10.

But, the Big Ten does not have a team like UCLA that has been to three straight Final Fours. The Big Ten also does not have President Obama’s brother-in-law coaching one of its teams.

So maybe I am just biased and Midwest-centric and the Pac-10 isn’t that down this year. But what did you expect? This site isn’t called Pacific Coast Sports Fans. At least I’m trying to expand my horizons and learn more about the other conference tournaments going on this week.

For those interested, the schedule and bracket for the 2009 Pac 10 Tournament is below. If you are thinking about attending any of the games, here is a useful link to the StubHub page for Pac 10 Tournament tickets. You should be able to find as good a price there as anywhere:

2009 Pac 10 Basketball Tournament Tickets

(Note: Follow the link for a printable 2009 Pac 10 Mens Basketball Tournament Bracket.)

The Pac-10 Tournament is a lot like the Big 10 and Big 12 Tournaments in that there is not a lot of history. The Pac-10 actually started their conference tournament before the Big 10 and Big 12, back in 1987, but the first iteration only lasted four years because of poor attendance and coach opposition. It came back in 2002 and will be in place until at least 2012, with all future Pac-10 Tournaments scheduled at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Here is your breakdown of the past champions, tournament MVPs, and tourney sites:

(Note: Follow the link for more background on the Pac-10 Tournament)

And with that, our week-long look at the major conference postseason mens basketball tournaments is complete. Hopefully you’ve enjoyed this impromptu series of posts and have learned a little something about these March Madness appetizers that we will treated to this week.

The conference tournaments always play a huge hand in shaking up the final Field of 64 brackets, and always seems to provide ample drama and excitement. I how I can’t wait for them to kick off and build the momentum for Selection Sunday.

As soon as word came down that Tyrone Willingham was out as the football at the University of Washington, speculation immediately began to build about the possibility of UDub making a run at Missouri coach Gary Pinkel.

It would be a case of career suicide if Pinkel decided to drop what he has built at Mizzou and head for the Pacific Northwest.

Pinkel spent 13 seasons as an assistant coach of the Huskies (1976, 1979-90) under former head coach Don James. Pinkel followed Don James to the Seattle school after playing his college ball under James at Kent State, in their native state of Ohio from 1970-73.

Gary Pinkel does have a history at Washington. But does that outweigh what he has built at Missouri?

Granted, Pinkel hasn’t won a Big 12 Conference championship during his seven-plus seasons in Columbia. And while he has managed to post some wins over Nebraska in recent years, in addition to a marquee victory over Kansas last year at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City for the Big 12 North crown, his team has stumbled against the likes of traditional Big 12 bullies Oklahoma (two losses last year, the last in the conference title game) and Texas.

But Gary Pinkel has been able to transform Mizzou from also-ran status to a team that could contend for Big 12 titles on a regular basis, or at the least, be the big dogs in the North Division. Pinkel has led the Missouri Tigers to three straight bowl games for the first time in 25 years. The Tigers also ascended to the No. 1 ranking in the Associated Press poll for the first time since 1960 last year.

Records aside, Pinkel has made huge recruiting inroads with Mizzou’s recent success. He’s been able to cop premier talent from the state of Texas, namely senior quarterback Chase Daniel. He has successfully fended off the efforts of enemy coaches and kept the likes of tight end Chase Coffman and wide receiver Jeremy Maclin in the Show Me State.

He’s made Missouri relevant again and there’s no reason to think he couldn’t continue to build on that. Washington? That’s another story. The high school talent base in Washington pales in comparison to that of the Southwest, where Pinkel and Co. have gotten stronger, or even Missouri for that matter. Where else are you going to go to stock the cupboard? California? Good luck with that.

Pinkel’s recruiting would start once Southern California, UCLA and Cal get done picking over the five-star recruits. The chances of Washington being able to consistently compete with the California schools are slim. At Missouri, Pinkel can reasonably expect to compete in the Big 12 North and at least get into a Big 12 title game on a neutral field. In the Pac-10 Conference, there is no such title game to guarantee a berth in a BCS bowl game.

The pockets may be a bit deeper with the Washington alumni and there may be a bit more exposure playing in a big city like Seattle; but the program has been run into the ground under Willingham’s watch and the rebuilding project could be long and grueling. Would Gary Pinkel want to undergo that type of fix-it-up job again?

It would be a different story if Pinkel was being lured from his previous job — head coach at Toledo from 1991-2000 — to Washington. Toledo to Washington is a step up.

Missouri to Washington? Nothing more than a sideways move at this point.

And many more headaches.
[tags]missouri tigers, gary pinkel, washington huskies, Big 12, Pac 10[/tags]

I tailgated with my brother and father then went to the Purdue-Oregon game in West Lafayette Saturday afternoon and watched the usual tank job by the Boilers. Quoting my dad after the game (an Ohio State grad, current Purdue Employee), “That is why I stopped getting season tickets.”

I also saw more of the norm from Curtis Painter, wobbly deep balls being intercepted, ten yard out passes bouncing off the turf in front of the receiver. Other things bothered me about the game like the near ten thousand empty seats but that is another post by itself. So after watching both Oregon and Purdue play like the kids in Varsity Blues when they were hungover from being at a strip club all night; I was ready to watch the Ohio State versus USC clash in prime time on ABC.

Then I saw Beanie Wells in red sweatpants and no pads (left) on the sidelines and I immediately stop being excited for the game.

I watched Ohio State’s offense without Beanie Wells against Solich’s Bobcats and knew Pete Carroll’s shit eating grin (right) could outscore the Buckeyes by itself that night. Ohio State’s offense (yes they have one) is a well oiled machine of 28W-Beanie that sets up Boeckman’s play action deep ball. The offensive line is average and relies on Beanie breaking tacklers that they cannot block. So without Wells in the backfield even Terrelle Pryor’s abilities cannot ever do enough to set up touchdown scores. Which is what we saw, three points and a 50% redzone efficiency. The “overrated” chants from the USC fans came early in the second quarter after a missed FG.

The preparation by the Buckeyes in recent “Big Games” (except Michigan) is well documented so I wonder why they are playing Youngstown State and Ohio University at home before going on the road against USC? The NCAA gives you the ability to make more money, play a twelfth game, get your team better, and show the college football world you deserve a shot at the national title then they schedule Youngstown State. Really? At least when that option was given to the PAC 10 they added one more conference game so their teams couldn’t schedule a Cal State Fullerton, Northern Colorado, or Jacksonville State. This also begs the question why the BCS would eliminate the schedule strength criteria from their genius formula, but of course you can’t fix a flawed formula you just have to eliminate it and find a new solution (PLAYOFF!?!). But I digress.

Preparation for a game like Oregon or USC on the road could simply be to schedule a tough opponent before them. Northern Colorado and the Youngstown State Fighting Penguins huh? Just scheduling Virginia on the road week one and a bye week was obviously enough preparation for the Trojans to fashionably smack “number five” Ohio State back to ole Columbustown.

Let’s also get one thing straight. Ohio State is not a top five team without Beanie Wells but USC is far and above the best team in College Football. Everyone else is just trying to not beat themselves against South Carolina, Mississippi State, Fresno State, Purdue, etc. And everyone else says “A win is a win,” while USC just says “We won” period. At the same time USC film sessions of their own games probably gets more laughs than if they just had a screening of Pineapple Express.

comment below or email me directly, kvb@midwestsportsfans.com

I waited until Friday to post this preview of the clash in the coliseum. Mostly because the X-factor in this game is the health of Beanie Wells. He plays effective and gets his normal 20 carries than Ohio State wins. If he cannot play or plays ineffective because of the nagging foot injury, USC will win…Big.

As of yesterday before the Buckeyes got on their flight from Columbus to Los Angeles, Jim Tressel told the media the Heisman running back is “doubtful” for Saturday night. I can only speculate but I think it is “doubtful” Beanie doesn’t start the game for Ohio State. That is what the attitude coming out the mouth’s of his teammates as well.

Either way it will be running back by committee. Look for redshirt freshman Boon Herron to get a majority of the carries with Wells and watch out for Brandon Saine’s speed and big play ability out of the backfield.

Prediction: Beanie Wells plays, Ohio State 27 USC 23

Notes:

I will be at the Purdue Boilermakers game in a cool looking match-up with the Oregon Ducks. The start is 3:30pm on ABC and the weather is supposed to have some nasty rainy thunderstorms. I will not bring my best plaid outfit for this one and suggest a poncho and the same for you if you are going.

KVB