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UT steadily improving under Kiffin

By Trey WIlliams
Press Sports Writer
twilliams@johnsoncitypress.com

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Controversial first-year Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin’s loudest noise these days is a fundamental sound.

Kiffin is moving UT’s program forward by going back to basics. He has stressed being smart, being physical and taking care of the football, and they all came together while reaching the .500 mark with his first victory against a ranked opponent Saturday night.

A 31-13 triumph against insta-rival Steve Spurrier’s South Carolina Gamecocks wasn’t so much a sound thrashing as a basic blowout. Tennessee’s defense separated players from the ball, pounced on loose balls and cashed in each miscue while winning the turnover battle 4-0.

“We pride ourselves on protecting the ball,” Kiffin said. “Last week, I believe, we went 74 plays without putting the ball on the ground. And to pitch a shutout today was huge.

“If you get four turnovers on defense and give up none on offense, you’re going to win a lot of games. It was good to have a game like that for our players to see. We talk about it all the time.”

The UT offense was no-frills execution. The two touchdown passes were play-action throws to fullbacks Austin Johnson and Kevin Cooper — two names on the tip of everyone’s tongues in August.

Johnson got open up the middle of the field while the safeties were keying on a fake handoff to Montario Hardesty on the game’s first score.

“Our game plan was based off that coverage,” quarterback Jonathan Crompton said. “That’s what we wanted. ... As soon as we saw the coverage, Austin ran a good route.”

The other two TDs were part of the tireless Hardesty’s 23-carry, 121-yard rushing peformance. Tennessee out-rushed the Gamecocks 199-65.

South Carolina did out-gain UT (365-341), but the Vols built an early 21-0 lead via short fields after turnovers, and spent most of the game’s remainder more concerned with preserving a cushion than forcing the issue against the Gamecocks’ pass rush.

“We weren’t going to let them win the game (with their pass defense),” Kiffin said. “And they can do that. They’re so explosive, get so many sacks and have so much speed — if you let them, they can win the game.”

Tennessee will see only one more defense the caliber of South Carolina’s — Nov. 14 at Ole Miss. If the Vols win in Oxford they’ve got a good chance at an 8-4 regular season, and that would’ve sounded like your basic pipe dream after falling to 2-3 with a home loss to Auburn.

“It was tough to see Frazier go out of there,” Kiffin said. “He’s been playing really good for us.”

Linebacker LaMarcus Thompson left with what appeared to be a neck or shoulder ailment. Linebacker Greg King replaced Thompson.

King, a true freshman from Memphis who is eager to play Tommy West’s Tigers Saturday, got the Vols’ fourth turnover against USC by being in the right place at the right time when a pass went through running back Kenny Miles’ hands with 91⁄2 minutes left. King intercepted it at the UT 45, returned it eight yards and the Vols drove for a field goal.

UT hadn’t worn black jerseys since 1921, and hopefully it’ll take the better part of 90 years to host another Halloween night game. Topping off a loud mixture of orange pants and black jerseys with white helmets made the Vols look like a bag of Indian corn, although it evidently did hype them up like a gang of sugar-sloshed trick-or-treaters.

“I think it gave us some energy,” Kiffin said. “It’s a players’ game. It’s what they wanted.

“They’ve been begging for it for a while. I think you saw it with the energy they had coming out and you saw it in the way that they played early.”