Lane Kiffin's First SEC Win: A Good Omen For Tennessee Football?

Eight years ago a new head coach came into Neyland Stadium for his first taste of the Tennessee-Georgia rivalry. Georgia had defeated Tennessee for the first time in a decade just the season before.

This new Georgia coach, Mark Richt, wanted to build on that newfound success.
 
He did just that in, what for Tennessee fans was heartbreaking fashion. I was in the stands that day as Georgia “crushed our noses” with the infamous hob-nailed boot, as Larry Munson described it.

After Tennessee scored the go-ahead touchdown with 44-seconds remaining, Georgia drove down the field with ease against the prevent defense and scored a touchdown within the final 10-seconds to win, 26-24.
 
Mark Richt faced off against a man that would become the dean of SEC coaches the following year. Phil Fulmer was a veteran of the SEC. He was just three seasons removed from a national championship and back-to-back SEC titles.
 
This Georgia loss would end up as nothing more than a small hiccup on the way to another SEC Championship Game, which the Vols lost. However, Richt would win this rivalry three of the next four seasons, relegating Tennessee to third in the SEC East in each of those seasons.
 
On Saturday, I was in the stands for that same Tennessee-Georgia rivalry for the first time since that dreaded October afternoon in 2001.
 
This time around, the new coachon the scene was our own. There was Lane Kiffin in his first UT-UGA game facing off against the dean of SEC coaches, Mark Richt.

Who says history doesn’t repeat itself?
 
After an incredibly disappointing three losses in five games, many Volniacs were getting a tad restless. I was beginning to question some things myself.
 
Losing to UCLA, 19-15, was demoralizing and inexcusable. That’s a game that Kiffin will want for a long time. The Vols lost a tough-fought match against the No. 1 Florida Gators 23-13, and everyone considered it a moral victory.
 
After defeating MAC cupcake, Ohio, the Vols played host to Auburn. The Tigers threw a lot at the Vols, but it was the Tennessee offense that was clueless in the first half. Auburn used that against them as they wore the UT defense down and won, 26-22.
 
As a result of those first five weeks, many thought of the Georgia game as a "must-win" for the newest of SEC coaches.
 
In Saturday’s game against the Bulldogs, Kiffin used playaction passes, rollouts, a stout running game, and a stingy defense to hammer the declining ‘Dawgs, 45-19, for his first SEC win.
 
Many fans, Vols fans and Kiffin-haters alike, pointed to the young coach’s curious playcalls as a reason for the UCLA loss. The Vols had the ball at UCLA’s 3-yard line and ran the ball up the middle twice including fourth down.
 
Kiffin was questioned about allowing Jonathan Crompton to throw the ball so much against Auburn rather than relying on the run much like the Florida game.
 
Many of his detractors thought he wasn’t trying to win the Florida game. They said he was just trying to keep from getting hammered by the angry Gators.
 
Flashback once again to 2001. After Richt beat the No. 6 Vols, the ‘Dawgs would lose three more games. They lost to Florida which is basically an annual occurance, Auburn and Boston College (Music City Bowl).
 
After the Auburn and Boston College losses, Georgia fans and followers began to worry with how each ended. The Auburn game literally ended on the one-yard line as Georgia tried to run it up the gut with 16- seconds remaining for a game tying score. Jasper Sanks was hit by four Tigers at the one-yard line and the clock ran out.
 
In the bowl game against Boston College, Richt mismanaged the clock again by punting with two timeouts and 1:32 left on the clock, down 20-16. Apparently he didn’t figure the Eagles would run the ball three straight times leaving his team a grand total of 14-seconds to score a touchdown.
 
The end of that Auburn game actually sounds kind of familiar, doesn’t it? While the UCLA game didn’t quite end that way, it was an inexplicable call on the one-yard line that ultimately cost both Richt and Kiffin similarly.
 
Misuse of the clock was an allegation after the Florida loss when Tennessee seemingly took their time when trying to pull within 10 points early in the fourth quarter.
 
I’m sure I don’t need to tell you how Richt fared after that inaguaral season in Athens, but I will just to make my point.

His Bulldogs would go to three of the next four SEC Championship Games, winning two of them. They would also win two Sugar Bowls over the next six seasons.
 
Was October 10, 2009 a watershed moment in the early UT career of Lane Kiffin? Was this game a foreshadowing of things to come? Tennessee can finish this season 8-4. It is definitely a possibilty as the only certain loss (or at least we’re pretty sure it will be a loss) will be next weekend at Alabama.
 
The next five after the Tide will be vs. South Carolina, vs. Memphis, at Ole Miss, vs. Vanderbilt, and at Kentucky. The Vols will be favored in all but one of those games.
 
Maybe the 45-19 shellacking was nothing more than piling on an already wounded foe. Maybe it was a product of the ‘Dawgs finally facing a good defense. Maybe it was a product of the Vols finally facing a completely inept defense.
 
Perhaps it was more. Perhaps it was the beginning of a resurgent program’s triumphant return to the national spot light.

Perhaps it was Lane Kiffin’s official "Welcome to the SEC" party.
 
Is demoralizing and “crushing” one of your chief rivals a good way to start your SEC coaching career?
 
Vols (and ‘Dawgs) fans have seen it work before.