I'm borrowing a line from Swingers, not a Tennessee fan....but last night our boys showed they were "all groweds up"....they showed a little hesitation, a little nervousness, and while it wasn't their best effort they closed on their 1st time!!! Winning on the road in the SEC that is. I don't care who you are or what you're talent level, winning on the road in the SEC is a feat....ANYTHING and I repeat, A..N..Y..T..H..I..N..G can happen. Tennessee has talent, a lot of talent, on both sides of the ball and we went into Neyland stadium and dominated the game. Sure the score was closer than it should have been and we did not close the deal when we should have...but hey, if you thought the Vols were gonna roll over for us because we won 3 qtrs, then you're smoking whatever Lane Kiffin has in his sock drawer.

When you play in front of 102,000 rabid Zombieland rejects, its news when something DOESN'T go wrong. With Eric Berry prowling in the secondary, Chris Todd did not throw an interception. With a true freshman taking major carries and kick returns in STOMACH CHURNING situations, Onterio McCalebb not only didn't put the ball on the turf, he played like a seasoned playmaker. With a history of shanks, danks, dunks and funks, Wes Byrum survived missing his first field goal of the season, and responded with steely resolve to drive 4 through the uprights. And of course the penultimate of preparation and laser eyed focus.....Lee Ziemba did not...I repeat DID NOT....jump off-sides. That alone is a miracle. Did I mention that there were 102,000 folks screaming like their local Denny's went out of business? 

Yes we did some dumb things and were lucky on a couple bad decisions that ended up with us chasing the ball between orange poly lycra covered legs like kids on an inflatable moonwalk....but we didn't get fazed by it or lose our cool. Even Gus Malzhan even forgot that when Ben Tate is gashing a defense like Jason Voorhees at an Orlando cheerleader competition....when its time to deliver the knockout blow to a winded and beaten defense....you don't have to keep showing everybody how many more wrinkles there are to your intiricate offensive playbook. Sometimes simple and direct is much more devastating. Even though that temporary lapse in judgement at the close of the 1st half allowed Tennessee a chance to believe that they could win the game, we came out in the 2nd half and showed them that the 1st half wasn't a fluke.

Give the Vols credit. They didn't quit. Jonathan Crompton showed why he was the QB, with a frenzied fourth quarter effort that...much to the chagrin of Vols fans...probably cemented him as the starter for at least another week or two. Crompton, Hardesty and co. shredded a tired  Tiger D that was on their heels at the end of the game to keep things a little too interesting. But that can be forgiven, they took care of business when it mattered most, which is to say most of the game. Even at the end of that grueling 18 play, 7+ minute drive that he Vols had to have a touchdown on., the D stuffed Hardesty and frustrated Crompton on his passes so that Kiffen had no choice but to kick a field goal. That defensive hold could hae been the key to our season and certainly rendered the rest of the Vol offensive effort essentially meaningless because it took the pressure of scoring a TD off of our offense.

Most importantly, its the plays that showed discipline, execution and playing hard until the whistle blows that told me our guys are ready for the rest of what the SEC has to offer. Whether it was Chris Todd, escaping the rush and avoiding the urge to throw the ball hurriedly into coverage, Onterio McCalebb breaking off two big kick returns, or our offensive line keeping Chris Todd ambulatory. It was Walter McFadden defensing passes, Josh Bynes containing and blowing through on tackles, but more than anything else its my season-to-date MVP Darvin Adams making at least 2 drive saving blocks on third down runs that he sprung for big gains. Those are the things winning teams do. They don't wait for Ben Tate to break a 40 yarder for a score to win the game, they do the little things that help keep the drive going or keep the opposing team out of the end zone for another 2 minutes. Its the little things that show you're " all groweds up"

WAREAGLE everybody and lets give them another Sunday hangover in Fayetteville next week.