Lane Kiffin Era Starts With a Bang: Tennessee Vols Dominate W. Kentucky, 63-7

As the 2009 season kicked off this past Saturday, there were many questions about the Tennessee Volunteers football program.  With a big win over Western Kentucky, some of those questions began to be answered.

Along with the questions, Volunteer fans were looking for something to cheer about and they relieved that in a big way.  They were able to cheer 657 yards of total offense and a swarming defense that held WKU to 83 total yards.

This is a far cry from the team that averaged 269 yards per game last season.  The performance of quarterback Jonathan Crompton was also much different than it was just a season ago.

Crompton looked like a different player than the one that was removed from his starting job.  For the game he was 21-28 for 233 yards, which is only seven yards fewer than he had in his best performance of last season.  Crompton also passed for five touchdowns.  That’s one more than he passed for in 2008.

But Crompton’s performance wasn’t the main attraction of the day.  That honor belonged to Vols' running back corps.  They gained a total of 380 yards on the ground.  160 of those yards belonged to Montario Hardesty and 104 came from super-freshman Bryce Brown.

There is only one thing that really has to be said about the defense: outstanding.  It didn’t matter which WKU player had the ball, there were at least three Volunteers there to meet him.  They were playing faster and hard, going from whistle to whistle.  It seems that the Vols have improved on last season’s already stellar defense. 

The Vols looked great on both sides of the ball in dominating the Hilltoppers.  They played with a fire and swagger that has been lacking for the last few seasons.  It appears that Lane Kiffin has breathed new life into the program. 

There is only one question remaining from the season opener: can the Vols do it against a team that is not in its first season in the FBS?  That is a question that cannot be answered in a simple matter.  If they can perform like this in every game, then the Vols have a chance to be better than most think they will be. 

Only time will tell if the team can keep the fire when they are down late in the game or if they can play as well against an established team.  One way or another, Tennessee and Lane Kiffin still have a lot to prove and their next opportunity comes on Sep. 12 when UCLA visits Rocky Top.