Tennessee Vols Football: What We Learned About The Vols In Week One
Considering all the poor-mouthing and forecasts of doom for Tennessee in 2010, if someone had told Vols fans that an SEC team would lose to a team from the Ohio Valley Conference of the FCS, they probably wouldn't have slept a wink Friday night.
Thankfully, however, Ole Miss was the team that completely dumped on itself against OVC foe, Jacksonville State. The Vols faced UT-Martin, also from the OVC, on Saturday night.
The Vols didn't go the way of the Rebels. As a matter of fact, Tennessee went just the opposite and put up half-a-hundred on the Skyhawks.
It's usually pretty hard to find anything meaningful out of a game where the teams are so unevenly matched. That fact stayed true for the most part in the Vols first game of the season.
Tennessee was bigger, faster, and stronger than UT-Martin and it showed. But from the opening game, we can draw some nice nuggets for Vols fans to chew on while awaiting their next opponent, Oregon.
Matt Simms Can Definitely Throw The Deep Ball
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Of the many questions surrounding the Vols heading into week one, junior college transfer quarterback Matt Simms was near the top of the list. That's not Simms' fault either.
The sample size on the son of NFL Super Bowl MVP, Phil Simms, was just so small that many fans didn't know what to expect. From Simms' time at Louisville to his stint at El Camino College to the Manning camp this summer, his past resulted in one gigantic question mark.
One of the questions about his game was definitely answered Saturday night. Throwing the deep ball is an important part of any quarterback's game. There's no doubt that Simms can do it, with accuracy.
Simms threw a big-air, 42 yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver, Denarius Moore. He also completed a 37-yarder to Gerald Jones.
Once again, there were no 300-lb, SEC D-Linemen breaking through the offensive line and no defensive backs who run 4.3 in the 40 complicating things for Simms, but it was nice to see the deep accuracy from a Vols quarterback again.
This Defense Has Potential
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The Vols defense pitched their first shutout since 2003 against Vanderbilt.
Yes, it was UT-Martin. Yes, the Skyhawks were completely outmatched. But the various sets and speed were very nice to see from the defense.
The Vols have some serious athletes on defense, as always. Defensive tackle Montori Hughes had four tackles and a sack Saturday night. Safety Prentiss Waggner had an interception return for a touchdown. Freshman Jaques Smith had four tackles which coach Dooley indicated could get the highly touted defensive end more playing time soon.
So dominant was the defense that UT-Martin ended up with only three first downs and 142 total yards of offense.
The Vols won't be that dominant again this season, but seeing those guys fly around all over the field Saturday showed Vols fans that the talent is certainly there for this defense to make a difference in more than one game this season.
Special Teams Still Anything But Special
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It didn't take long to see how far the return team had improved, or not.
Gerald Jones muffed punt was one of the two Vols turnovers of the evening. There was an illegal formation on a made field goal by Daniel Lincoln that forced him to kick and make another try.
The Vols haven't had a "perfect" special teams in game in a very long time.
For a team that has a host of issues in other areas, special teams needs to be near-perfect to keep the Vols from losing close games, which they are certain to have more than their fair share of this season.
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Daniel Lincoln CAN Kick, Especially When Healthy
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When Daniel Lincoln won the job in fall camp, Vols fans everywhere voiced their consternation loud and clear.
A Tennessee kicker cannot miss a game winning field goal against Alabama and not hear about it for the rest of his life.
The thing is, Lincoln had a hurt quad during that dreadful game.
The kicker is healthy now and it showed Saturday night. Lincoln hit from 35 and 21 yards and even made one kick twice as a penalty negated the first.
If Lincoln can stay healthy this season, the Vols will be more than fine at kicker.
Derek Dooley Is No Lane Kiffin
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As undesirable as it may be to mention Lane Kiffin, this final slide calls for it, unfortunately.
Watching the way Derek Dooley handled the final drive against UT-Martin should have made Tennessee fans proud. Instead of punching the ball in for another touchdown with less than two minutes remaining to win 57-0, Dooley was more than content to allow the clock to run out.
Even after freshman Raijon Neal had a 40 yard run to the Tennessee 18, Dooley decided not to further humiliate a team that never had a chance anyway, by scoring another touchdown. Some Tennessee fans may have wanted that final touchdown, but what good would that have accomplished?
Flashback to last season's opener.
Lane Kiffin was upset that the Vols weren't leading 42-0 at halftime over Western Kentucky. Even in his opener at Southern Cal, Kiffin went for two on each of the Trojans first three touchdowns.
The way he handles games speaks to the way he handles himself; Lane Kiffin's character, or lack thereof, was made painfully clear on a cold night in January 2010.
Dooley handled his team and himself with class and dignity Saturday night.
Believe it or not, that could go a long way to making sure the Vols don't have a rough night in January 2011.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
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