Chick-Fil-A Bowl: Kiffin Vs. Beamer: A Contrast in Coaches

Remember that kid that was always bragging on the playground? The one whose hair was always fixed perfectly and seemed to have every girl's attention?

The problem with the kid wasn't necessarily his attitude either. It was that he almost always seemed to back it up. No matter how much you hated the kid for his mouth, there was just something about him that made good on his bragging;meet Lane Kiffin.

For all his faults and troubles in his first season as the head coach at Tennessee, Kiffin has silenced many of the critics with his recruiting ability and his play calling prowess.

Kiffin stands up in a press conference and announces he's going to out-recruit the great recruiters. He announces that he cannot wait until he gets the chance to sing "Rocky Top" all night long after a big win.

The big win he spoke of in that instance didn't come true this season, but ask any Tennessee fan if they doubt it will happen in 2010.

All-Everything defensive back Eric Berry said, “He (Kiffin) basically made a promise to us that we wouldn’t lose to them anymore, forever, or until he leaves,” the Kiffin said about Georgia.

Kiffin made those remarks before the 45-19 romping of the Bulldogs in Knoxville. He made those seemingly ridiculous statements on the confidence of a quarterback who was clueless in the three games prior to that game.

Granted, Georgia was far from a world beater in '09, but regardless, this has been a huge rivalry since Georgia finally started winning head-to-head against Tennessee in 2000.

Lane Kiffin is brash, Lane Kiffin is cocky, but Lane Kiffin does not know when to shut-up. Lane Kiffin, however, can back it up.

He turned Jonathan Crompton into a top-SEC quarterback, after the senior threw eight interceptions in the first five games this season. Crompton finished with 26 touchdown tosses against 12 interceptions while throwing for 2565 yards.

He took a team that lost to Florida and Alabama in '08 by a combined 44 points to playing against both teams, at their home field, while both were No. 1 in the country and only lost by a combined 12 points.

He pounded Georgia and he handed Steve Spurrier his worst loss to a Tennessee team (18 points). He helped punch Kentucky in the mouth after the 'Cats faithful just knew the streak was coming to an end in '09. He went for an onside kick against Memphis after scoring 21 unanswered points in a game that Tennessee led 42-7 at halftime.

The bottom line: While it may be hard to stomach his mouth, you cannot argue with the results in his first year with sub-par talent.

On the other side, we see a reserved coach who just goes about his business. Frank Beamer has never been one to crave the spotlight. Beamer just coaches his players to become a top team every year in the ACC.

Don't get me wrong though, Beamer is a fiery guy. He is not a laid back, "clap-your- hands-no-matter-what" kind of coach. Beamer coaches perfection and expects it out of his players and as a result, he wins way more than he loses.

During Beamer's first six seasons (beginning in 1987) the Hokies finished under .500 four times. However, since 1993 the Hokies have not finished below .500.

During that time-span, Tech has won its conference six times(three in the Big East and three in the ACC). The Hokies have played for a national title and have won back-to-back conference titles twice in two different conferences.

That is the mark of a winner.

Beamer has been at this for a while. "Beamerball" has been his staple of play for decades. The Hokies special teams and defense score quite often. Throw in tremendous offensive talent like Michael and Marcus Vick, Tyrod Taylor, Lee Suggs, Kevin Jones, Ryan Williams, and you have a stout team that can literally score at will.

Obviously that takes work and work is all Beamer has done.

He never had to talk it up or get in the press to accomplish his goals. Granted, 1987 (Beamer's first season at Virginia Tech) was much different than 2009, but Beamer's style has never changed and he still wins.

It will be interesting to watch the battle between these contrasting styles on New Year's Eve.

Beamer's score anytime philosophy versus Kiffin's pro-style, score-in-bunches mentality will definitely be entertaining. Maybe not as entertaining as Kiffin's post game press- conference, but entertaining nonetheless.