A sports blog by and for Midwest Sports Fans
In episode #19 of The Bottoms Line College Hoops Talk Podcast, host Andy Bottoms is joined by Raphielle Johnson of CollegeHoopsNet to discuss all the latest news and events in college basketball.
This week’s episode features a thorough look at the world of college basketball with hot topics from all BCS conferences discussed as well as some notable mid-majors as well.
Maybe it was the sheer volume of annoying “Road Test Saturday” promos I saw a couple weekends ago, but I started to wonder why the notion existed that playing non-conference road games was worthy of such special billing. After doing some research this weekend, I no longer need to wonder.
What I found is a staggering lack of road games for college basketball teams from major conferences.
As my series of major conference previews continues, the SEC is up next. The league did away with its East and West divisions, but the schedules will stay the same this year with teams playing their former divisional foes twice and the other teams once apiece.
In episode #6 of The Bottoms Line College Hoops Talk Podcast, host Andy Bottoms is joined once again Rob Dauster and Troy Machir of Ballin’ Is a Habit to discuss all the latest news and events in college basketball, plus a look forward at two of the top conferences in America.
Each day brings new rumors about schools that are prepared to leave one conference or accept an invitation from another. And while no school has moved yet this year (the SEC invitation to Texas A&M is still pending), there is no lack of speculation about what might happen.
At this time, when everyone is looking ahead to 16-team superconferences and/or conferences that are geographically abhorrent and make no effort to preserve traditional rivalries, let’s look back at where these conferences started and where they have come.
Texas A&M has gotten the snowball rolling down the mountain again and has created an avalanche of conference realignment discussions back in the headlines of college football.
The SEC is saying all the right things now about expanding their conference next season due to the legal matters that could occur with the Big 12 if Texas A&M bolts. The SEC will expand next season to a minimum of two teams but rumors are swirling that they could add more.
If college football’s strongest conference decides that they are going to expand to more than twelve teams, it will create the need for other power conferences to expand as well. The increase of revenue that will be generated by teams moving to larger conferences will benefit each school but will be bad for college football overall. [Read more...]
Recently, the SEC announced its decision to get rid of the divisional format, partly in response to the SEC West getting shut out of the tournament last year and partly in response to the annual absurdity of how the conference tournament is seeded.
For this year, the results of this change will be felt only during the SEC Tournament, as the schedules will remain the same with teams playing their former divisional foes twice and the other six teams just once. Consequently, I’m leaving them split up as I take my first look at each of the major conferences.
[Editor's note: Happy to have our buddy J-Dools, a student at the University of Tennessee, back with a new piece of content. I wonder what inspired him to write today...]
Lane Kiffin showed himself to be no more than a “Trojan Coach.” For those of you who don’t understand the ancient Greek metaphor, simply, Kiffin is a joke.
In a shocking and sudden move yesterday, Lane Kiffin announced he would be leaving the University of Tennessee and take the head coaching job at USC. The move capped off a string of negative events for UT athletics and left students confused and furious.
Bottom line, Kiffin is a snake and the University of Tennessee got bit.
Lane Kiffin and the University of Tennessee football program are under investigation by the NCAA. This time it is not for a minor infraction, like the six Kiffin has already faced in his first season of coaching.
The Volunteers are now being investigated for the use of recruiting “hostesses” a common practice amongst major programs.
The hostesses under question are members of Orange Pride, a student ambassador program of the university. The hostesses are accused of recruiting prospects off of UT campus, which is a violation if the hostesses are considered official representatives of the university.
Standing at 4-4 on the season, the Lane Kiffin Project has been somewhat successful.
The Volunteers have put two different teams on the field this year: one has been reminiscent of last season’s mediocre squad, with a sputtering offensive attack; the other has been a motivated SEC contender that can play with any team in the nation.
A week ago, the Vols had a chance to knock off one of the top teams in the country in Alabama. Tennessee dropped the game 12-10 after a last second blocked field goal by Alabama’s gargantuan defensive tackle Terrence Cody. Finishing games in the fourth quarter has been an Achilles heel for Kiffin’s squad.
The Tennessee Volunteers come into their match-up against Auburn a little battered and bruised. The Vols will have to step up and play through the pain to shut down an undefeated Auburn team.
UT Running back Montario Hardesty suffered a knee injury last week against Ohio. Hardesty has been limited in practice but expects to play Saturday. This season has been a coming-out party for Hardesty and the Vols will need him to carry the football.
Nearly the entire Tennessee defense is dealing with minor injuries. Monte Kiffin will have to prepare this unit to face a high-octane Tigers offense. Auburn has scored over 35 points in each of their games so far.
However, everything isn’t as doom and gloom as it sounds for Tennessee.
Both Tennessee and Florida learned a lot about themselves after the 23-13 Florida victory last Saturday. The Gators might not be the untouchable #1 team they seemed to be, and the Vols still have some fight in them.
Tim Tebow and company were supposed to wipe the floor with Tennessee and were favored by 30 points. But when Eric Berry knocked Tebow flat on his back, the Vols made a statement that they weren’t going down easy.
This game was an all-out war between two SEC teams and rankings didn’t matter. If a few key plays had gone differently, this game could have gone either way. But in the end, Florida was the better team and came out on top.
Though Tennessee lost the game, they now have some of their swagger back that they had lost after the UCLA game. The Vols head back to Knoxville this Saturday to face the Ohio Bobcats.
Lane Kiffin has said a lot of things, the guy loves to talk.
Kiffin especially likes to talk trash about Florida and their head coach. During the offseason, Kiffin’s comments about Urban Meyer and Florida included accusing Meyer of being a cheater in regards to recruiting.
Kiffin also got people riled up immediately after he signed with UT when he said he couldn’t wait to sing Rocky Top all night long after beating Florida.
Someone get Lane some more Hater-ade.
[Editor's note: I am making a quick addendum to J-Dools' fine work and embedding Rocky Top -- the greatest fight song in all of college sports -- here in this post because, unfortunately, I don't think the Vols will be hearing it much on Saturday; they certainly won't be singing it, and nor will anyone else, on Saturday night. But we can at least enjoy it right now]
As a Vols fan I love the trash talk; I think it’s great.
The problem is that the Vols are reeling after a dissapointing loss to UCLA and now have to face the Gators in The Swamp.
This Saturday, Kiffin likely will be forced to eat his own words.
Tennessee at #1 Florida Preview
It’s no secret how much Florida hates Tennessee and especially Kiffin. They have been throwing darts at his picture all summer. It wouldn’t surprise me if there is a bounty out on Kiffin in the city of Gainesville.
Setting the media circus aside, there is still a football game to be played. That part also doesn’t look too good for Kiffin.
Florida returned nearly all of their starters from last year’s national championship squad, most importantly quarterback Tim Tebow. (a.k.a God, Jesus, Chuck Norris, etc.)
The ’09 Florida Gators look as good as ever, having not allowed a touchdown in either of their first two games. This team has the capability to run the table in the SEC and making it back to another national championship.
The ’09 Vols looked a lot like the ’08 version when they dropped a 19-15 decision to UCLA on Saturday. The offense was booed of the field and Jonathan Crompton would have been banished from Knoxville if the fans had the power. Things are definitely looking bad for Crompton when a fellow UT student invites me to a Facebook group titled “Jonathan Crompton Please Retire From Football.” (I joined the group.)
As much as I would love to see the Vols go into The Swamp and beat Tebow and the Gators, its just not going to happen. Florida is faster, stronger, and better than Tennessee. The Gators tore apart UT in the return game last season, and with a pair of track sprinters returning kicks it can happen again.
Urban Meyer wants nothing more than to run up the score on the Vols and to get back at Kiffin. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him going for two point conversions all game. Mr. Perfect (Tebow) and his offense will come out firing on Saturday.
But there is always a glimmer of hope. If Vols safety Eric Berry can have a big game and lead the defense, Tennessee could catch the Gators being overconfident. The best chance Tennessee has is to try to keep the score low.
I want to stress that I am a Volunteers fan, but I am also a realist. There is a reason Florida is favored by 30 points.
This rivalry game will be fun to watch because of the bad blood between the teams. In the end, I think Florida will punish Kiffin for being too much of a Gator Hater.
My prediction: Florida- 41 Tennessee-17 (It hurts me to say that)
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* – Lane Kiffin photo credit: USC photo via Majorly English
* – Tim Tebow photo credit: NFFootballReport
Jonathon Crompton threw 5 TD passes in a game.
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
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
