SINCE WE LAST SPOKE: 9-4-14

WHAT WE LEARNED IN WEEK 1

NATION:

THE FRANKLIN PHENOMENA: James Franklin’s impact was felt on two separate continents. Penn State fans flocked to Croke Park and witnessed Franklin’s team’s penchant for finding Houdini-like ways of escaping with a win. Vandy fans suffered through an embarrassing 30 point thrashing at the hands of Temple with the ruins that Franklin left behind and if Derek Mason’s debut is any indication they will soon rename their stadium Croak Park. The amazing thing about Franklin’s success sometimes seems to be in spite of his game day acumen. The Nittany Lions were penalized 9 times for 90 yards many erasing scoring opportunities. They turned it over 3 times (1 fum; 2 Ints) and the late game clock management was puzzling. Yet when it mattered his team believed they would win and used the last 1:13 of the game to drive for a game winning FG. Franklin simply makes his team and fans believe. He’s made me believe that Vandy is back to being Vandy.

DON’T INTERRUPT THE GROWNUPS: Whenever the potential for the eventual formation of four super conferences consisting of 64 teams is discussed many lament the possible exclusion of non-power conference teams that they believe could consistently play at a high level. Chief among the most pitied are BYU, UCF, Boise State and Fresno State. Had Week 1 of the CFB season been an audition the Cougars and Knights would have been asked back for a second reading while the Broncos and Bulldogs would have had their script taken away and told they were welcome to be extras holding up signs on the Gameday set. BYU registered the foursome’s only victory over the U-Conn Huskies which wasn’t exactly a landmark win since the Huskies have now lost 10 of their last 13. UCF lost in heartbreaking fashion to Penn State in Ireland but the Nittany Lions spent most of the morning shooting off every toe. Boise and Fresno-one of which could win the Mountain West- both logged dreadful performances losing to Ole Miss and USC -neither of which will sniff their conference titles- by a combined score of 87-26. One week of play is obviously an unreasonable period of evaluation. The truth is however if Boise, Fresno, UCF and BYU regularly faced Power Conference opposition most would look exactly like what we saw Saturday.

SEC:

TRADES ARE LEGAL IN CFB: Otherwise how do you explain Texas A&M’s 2013 defense showing up in Gamecock uniforms last Thursday evening? Steve Spurrier has turned around South Carolina football program with defense and a strong running game neither of which bothered to show up in the season’s SEC lid lifter. Aggie QB Kenny Hill –suspended for the entire spring- shredded the Cocks “defense” with 44 completions for 511 yards passing as part of 680 total yards of offense. Malcolme Kennedy caught 14 passes; Tra Carson ran for three scores and 12 different receivers had receptions. The only thing the Gamecocks stopped was A&Ms defense’s opportunity to play.

GET IT RIGHT; IT’S KEVIN “FLIPPIN” FOOTBALL: At some point we’re all going to come to the realization it’s not the QB that makes Kevin Sumlin’s offense; it’s Sumlin’s offense that makes the QB. Kenny Hill who only recently escaped Sumlin’s doghouse and apparently barely won the starting job over highly regarded freshman Kyle Allen celebrated by throwing for school single-game records 44 completions and 511 yards in his first start. Impressive no doubt but it’s seemingly just more of the same for Sumlin tutored QBs and directed offenses. Hill may be headed for superstardom but more than likely he’s just the latest in the line of individuals blessed to be Sumlin’s signal caller. Case Keenum; Johnny Manziel, Hill, it doesn’t matter. Throw in Sam Bradford during Sumlin’s seasons as Oklahoma’s Co-Offensive Coordinator as well. In his three full seasons under Sumlin’s watch Keenum threw for 5020 (08), 5671 (09) and 5631 (11) yards and the Cougars offense averaged 563, 563, 481 and 599 ypg Total Offense from 2008 through 2011 respectively. Manziel threw for 7820 yards and ran for 2169 in his two seasons as A&M’s trigger-man and the Aggies averaged 550 ypg in the last two seasons. There is no question that Sumlin and his staff have an eye for talent. There is also little doubt they coach em up and put them in a system that assures success.

LONG ROAD TO ATLANTA FOR PRESEASON FAVORITES: Most of the pro pundits –and hacks such as I- had Alabama and South Carolina as solid favorites to meet in Atlanta on December 6th to play for the SEC Championship. After one week of results I would be willing to wager there’s a better chance that neither makes it than both. The back end of the Tide’s defense –Saban’s specialty- is anything but championship caliber surrendering 365 passing yards and the only thing that kept it under 400 were wide open West Virginia receiver drops. The QB play was adequate but Blake Sims is light years away from becoming A.J McCarron. Auburn, LSU and Texas A&M all look capable of keeping Bama from the Georgia Dome for the second consecutive season. The Tide has a much better chance of overcoming a bad first impression than the Gamecocks however. Spurrier’s boys looked totally overmatched and uninspired in a listless effort that looked more like the Brad Scott years. Their defense was atrocious, Dylan Thompson looked ill-equipped to be the full-time starter at QB and Mike Davis apparently has both physical and personal accountability issues. Even the ballyhooed Cock offensive line rated by many the best in the SEC looked overwhelmed. I wondered if Spurrier’s run of 11 win seasons was in jeopardy last season after losing both DC Ellis Johnson and Marcus Lattimore. It looks as though the correction took one more season than expected.

WHO LET THE DAWGS OUT: The Dawgs are running and they’re capable of doing it in a pack. The clear leader is Todd Gurley who rushed for 198 yards and broke Rodney Hampton’s school record for all-purpose yards (290 in 1987) with 293. He’s not alone; Nick Chubb is every bit the stud he was reputed to be registering 70 yards and a TD on only 4 carries and if Keith Marshall returns to form Hutson Mason may have the luxury of spending his only season at the switch simply handing the ball off. As a team Georgia rushed for 328 yards on 41 carries which calculates to 8 yards per clip. That was against a Clemson team that always fields an athletic, physical front seven which in-turn will send shockwaves through the offices of every defensive coordinator with Georgia remaining on their schedule.

WHAT WE WILL LEARN IN WEEK 2:

WHO’S RUNNING WITH THE PAC? Oregon and UCLA garnered more pre-season hype in the North and South Divisions of the PAC-12 but Stanford and USC will certainly have their say starting with their head-to-head matchup Saturday. Stanford has won four of the last 5 but the Trojans took last season’s meeting 20-17.

CHANGE OF VENUE GOOD FOR VU? Vandy and Ole Miss have split games the last two seasons by scores of 27-26 and 39-35 with the Rebels breaking a 75 yard TD run –and the Commodores hearts- with only 1:05 remaining to win last season’s matchup. In a strange twist the Rebels will visit Nashville for the second consecutive year with this year’s game moved to LP Field. The Dores certainly hope the change of scenery means a turnaround from the dreadful performance versus Temple in Week 1. Here’s guessing that a lot more current Rebels play games in the Titan’s home in the years ahead than Commodores.

GRANDADDY OF EM ALL IN SEPTEMBER: In what used to be taboo for both conferences a couple of Big-10 and PAC-12 title contenders will meet when Michigan State travels to Eugene to face the Oregon Ducks. Cross-country jaunts have never been very kind to the Big-10 reps and the home team is 4-0 all-time in the series. As early as the game is scheduled either team could overcome an early loss and still have an outside chance to make the Rose Bowl which will host one of the semi-final games of the maiden College Football Playoff

GREAT RIVALRY RECESS: The world of college football continues along its ludicrous path as Notre Dame’s agreement to play a number of ACC opponents… yes I said ACC opponents… in the future will indefinitely interrupt one of the game’s great rivalries. Notre Dame and Michigan will play their last scheduled game on Saturday in South Bend. The underdog has won seven of the last 10 which is good news for the Wolverines with the Irish favored by 6. The bad news for the Maize and Blue is they are 1-6 in their last 7 games vs ranked opponents.

COUGARS IN FOR A STAMPEDE? I don’t know what’s more shocking the fact that BYU is 3-1 all-time versus Texas or that they rushed for 550 yards against the Horns last season? Texas QB David Ash will miss the game due to a concussion suffered in Week 1 vs N Texas State but my guess is the Longhorns would like to simply hand the ball off and give the Cougars a dose of what they received last season.

BUCKEYES PROBABLY BAD LUCK FOR HOKIES: J.T Barrett struggled early replacing Braxton Miller but the Buckeyes weathered the storm in Annapolis. Now they open the home portion of the 2014 season versus Virginia Tech. I’m not sure Ohio State belongs in the Top-10 but if they do the Hokies are in trouble since Tech is 6-29 versus Top-10 teams in the Frank Beamer era.

WHAT WE MUST SEE FROM VOLS IN GAME 2:

IMPROVE THE RUNNING GAME: The Vols were a paltry 39 for 110 yards on the ground vs Utah State and every attempt looked to be executed at walk-through speed. So far Butch Jones running attack appears to need a dual threat QB that has yet to sign his scholarship papers to be effective. Even with an inexperienced O-line and the staff’s aversion to two-back sets we have to figure a way to get more from the ground game. Exorcising the Jimmy Ray Stephens Jinx may be one of their greatest challenges of the Butch Jones era.

PROLONG THE PASSION: The Vols were as impassioned on Sunday as any edition of the Big Orange we’ve seen in years. Now they need to bring the swagger and energy to a sweltering noon Saturday sandwich game that they displayed on a festive opening night in as close to a spotlight as the TV glut era affords

NEXT WEEK WILL COME “SOONER” ENOUGH: As impressive as the opening win was we are not experienced or talented enough to win a game in which we exhibit anything less than total concentration. After an unexpectedly easy win over a quality opponent and a road game versus a National Championship contender looming this is one of the few spots on the schedule that the Vols could get caught looking ahead.

CONTINUE THE STINGINESS: One of the more impressive first game stats was ZERO turnovers. The Vols need to continue refusing to help their opponent.

WHAT VOL FANS SHOULD KNOW ABOUT ARKANSAS STATE?

OFFENSE

-Fredi Knighton will be the 2nd consecutive dual-threat QB the Vols have faced in 2014. Knighton ran, threw and caught a pass for 368 all-purpose yards in his 1st start vs Montana State last week

-RB Michael Gordon emerged in Ark State’s last two 2013 regular season games with 38 carries for 316 yards (8.3 ypc). On the season he had 754 yds and 10 TDs

-Gordon (7-68) and Johnston White (12-48) combined to average 6.1 ypc vs Montana State

-WR J.D McKissic has 185 receptions in his two seasons in Jonesboro. He also had 1430 all-purpose yards with rushes and kick returns thrown in for good measure

-WR Tres Houston may be the compliment to McKissic the Red Wolves need with 8 catches for 87 yards last Saturday. He also completed a 45 yard throwback pass to Knighton

-TE Darion Griswold has four career TD catches

-The offensive line which fueled the leading rushing offense in the Sun Belt in 2013 returns only two starters including Jr C Bryce Giddins who has started all but two games in his career.

DEFENSE:

-The Red Wolves return 8 starters on a defense (but only 1 D-Lineman) that finished third in the Sun Belt in Scoring Defense in 2013

-Sr LB Qushan Lee –College Football News Pre Season Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Year- led the Sun Belt in tackles in 2013 with 134 and recorded his 5th career interception Saturday

-CBs Rocky Hayes (4 career Ints) and Artez Brown (CFN 1st team All Sun Belt) lead an experienced Red Wolve secondary

SPECIAL TEAMS

-Luke Ferguson handles the PK and P duties for Ark State. He connected on FGs from 23, 29 and 41 vs Montana State and averaged 48.5 yards/punt with all 4 killed inside the 20

-McKissic was the leading kickoff returner (30 YPKR) and 4th leading punt returner (8.5 YPPR) in the Sun Belt in 2013

OTHER FUN STUFF

-Blake Anderson is Arkansas State’s 5th head coach in 5 years (Steve Roberts-2010, Hugh Freeze-2011, Gus Malzahn-2012, Bryan Harsin-2013)

-The Red Wolves are three-time defending Sun Belt Champs in spite of the revolving door of the Head Coach’s office.

-Ark State played 12 true freshmen versus Montana State including Blaise Taylor the son of former UT Assistant Coach Trooper

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FREDDY: The blog falls on a perfect day to honor my big brother Freddy. He is the reason that I love sports as I do and helped instill in me an appreciation for their proper place in my life through his ability to enjoy them without allowing them to become all-consuming. He is and always has been my idol and confidant but more importantly my friend. I love you Brother and hope you have a great day because no one deserves it more. Happy Birthday!

IN A PERFECT WORLD: Jacob Gilliam’s dream season would have been a complete one.

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