"Jonathan Zenon scored on an 18-yard interception return with 9:54 left to put LSU (11-2) ahead, then Darry Beckwith picked off another pass by Erik Ainge deep in Tigers territory to seal it."
Yes, that was the bottom line.
Ainge played like a poised senior until his final few throws, when he tossed the ball to the wrong team. Zenon stepped in front of a receiver making a square-in and had an easy romp to the end zone.
"I shouldn't have thrown it," Ainge said.
However, I went to http://www.govolsxtra.com/ for a little consolation from Vol fans and was disappointed to read so many comments bashing and hating on Ainge. Some criticism is fair enough but blaming a loss completely on a quarterback, at any level, reveals only a lack of general football knowledge. Sad to see. Sometimes I am ashamed to be a native Tennessean and Vol fan. But, hey, there always were plenty of #### to go around.
I also can't believe the continuous Philip Fulmer hating when he had us only a few plays away from the first SEC Championship in nine years. And it's not like we didn't play for that championship in 2001 and 2004 as well. We have won the East Division three of the last seven years. That's something to be proud of, not something to fire a coach over. I can handle winning the East every three years with Florida and Georgia in our division.
And so many people bashing Jonathan Hefney? That one I really don't get.
When a four loss Vol team beats the two teams that beat the two loss SEC champion Tigers that are going to play in the National Championship Game, in this age of such tight parity that the number one and two teams in the BCS lose on each of the the last two weekends of the season, said behavior is simply not merited.
Considering he had just pulled down 14 rebounds in the San Antonio Spurs' 88-78 victory over the Miami Heat at the American Telephone and Telegraph Center on Wednesday, it seemed fair to ask Francisco Elson if Heat center Shaquille O'Neal, all 7-foot-1 and 325-plus-plus-plus pounds of him, had been less of a challenge than the Houston Rockets 7-6, 310-pound Yao Ming.
"Shoot," Elson said, with a note of derision and a glance of astonishment. "That's a big job right there."
Not only did Elson defend O'Neal, he actually outplayed him. Elson finished with an 11-rebound advantage on O'Neal and did solid defensive work on the former MVP, as well.
"I thought Francisco did a good job all the way around," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "He worked very hard on Shaq. That's a tough job to give to anybody. So I thought doing that and still concentrating on the boards was really great on his part."
"We know Miami is a very good rebounding team, especially with Shaq on their team," said Elson, who played the entire fourth quarter while Tim Duncan rested on the bench. So we boxed out very well and everybody got down and rebounded."
Elson also rediscovered his shooting stroke, making 6 of 11 shots and scoring a season-high 12 points.
Miami played its fourth-straight game without Dwyane Wade, their leading scorer last season. He is recovering from offseason surgeries on his knee and shoulder.
It should come as no surprise that the Heat haven't been very good without him. At 0-4 this season and 0-7 in the preseason, Miami hasn't won a game — postseason, exhibition or otherwise — since beating Indiana on April 13. Unofficially, the Heat are on a 17-game losing streak. Wade has been medically cleared to return to the court, but the date for his debut remains tentative.
"Hopefully, things get better when Wade comes back," O'Neal said. "He's a great player, and he's going to make everyone else better."
In the meantime?
"We need everyone else to step up their game and play harder," O'Neal said.
Ricky Davis (14 points) and Udonis Haslem (10) answered O'Neal's plea to an extent, but it wasn't enough to help Miami avoid its 20th loss in 21 trips to San Antonio. With the top scoring option in Miami's offense floundering, the Heat remained flummoxed. The 78 points they scored Wednesday brought down their league-worst scoring average to 82.8.
"Unfortunately, our second option is on the bench," Miami coach Pat Riley said, in reference to Wade.
The last time the Heat beat the Spurs on the road, Miami's rookie guard Daequan Cook was in the fourth grade, Jason Williams had yet to transfer to the University of Florida and Penny Hardaway was on the way to his third All-NBA team. In other words, it has been a while.
''You don't have to tell me,'' Riley said before Wednesday night's game. ``It's been tough for us here the past 20 games. But you never know in this league -- with the expected and unexpected.''
''It's frustrating and nobody likes to lose,'' said Haslem, who also had nine rebounds while helping to limit Duncan to 12 points. ``It's not a good feeling. It's not where we want to be or hoped to be. But you have to look at the big picture. We still have a lot more basketball to play. No sense whining and holding your head down.''
Things won't get any easier for the Heat, which returns home Friday to play the Suns and then plays 11 of the next 16 on the road. Those aren't exactly ideal conditions to cure lingering defensive problems and scoring droughts that have plagued the Heat. Miami hasn't been able to generate offense late in the shot clock or stop others from doing so.
''We're just not playing a whole 48 minutes,'' said Davis. ``But it's always discouraging when you're losing games. It doesn't matter if it's one, five or 10. We just have to keep talking, keep working on it.'
'''What was good enough to win tonight became flat and soft,'' Riley said ``The bottom line is we need to play defense for four quarters.''
The Tennessee Volunteers still can not stop the run.
The Arkansas State Indians (1-2) were paced by Reggie Arnold who gained a game-high 130 yards and scored once on 16 carries.
The Vols are giving up a staggering 37.5 points a game. UT ranks 107th out of 118 teams in the nation in scoring defense. And most coaches will tell you scoring defense is the critical stat in the pantheon of college football numbers.
California lit up the Vols for 45 points on opening day. Then Florida hung 59 on them.
Whatever chance Tennessee has to salvage its season counts heavily on the defense finding some answers.
Kentucky ranks No. 17 nationally in total offense. The Arkansas Razorbacks rank No. 19 in total offense, almost totally on the strength of their ground game.
If UT's defense doesn't get significantly better, it will set a dubious standard. The most points UT has allowed in the modern era was in 1988 when opponents averaged 26.0 a game.
The Vols are off Saturday. Between now and Georgia's visit on Oct. 6, the defense has significant work to accomplish on the practice field.
The Tennessee Vols (1-2) have lost 13 times in their past 29 games, but they hadn't lost as badly as they did Saturday in 26 years. It was Tennessee's biggest loss since 1981's 41-0 drubbing by Georgia. It was the most points the Vols have given up since 1995's 62-37 loss in Gainesville.
"We pretty much got our butts kicked by our biggest rival," Vols center Josh McNeil said.
The Vols ran for 37 yards on 21 carries. They had minus-11 rushing yards against Florida last year and 66 two years ago.
"You can't do too many things when you can't run the football," UT senior tight end Chris Brown said.
You can't do too many things when you give up 554 yards of total offense, either. Florida had 299 passing yards and 255 on the ground."We cannot continue to give people big plays," Phil Fulmer said. "We cannot help good teams that way, as we did with Cal and Florida."
The defense has to make tackles. Jonathan Hefney needs to step up and be the All-American caliber player he was hyped to be before the season. He's supposed to be the leader in the secondary and has looked awful all season.
Something needs to change damn it! Lack of running offense aside, we damn sure can't give up that much yardage.
Tennessee falls to Florida the headline reads on the official University of Tennessee sports site. Yeah, right, like off of a cliff. Picture Wile E. Coyote. Woooooooooooooooooooooooooo. Poof.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) -- Tim Tebow made one huge play against Tennessee last year. He made nearly all of them Saturday.
Tebow threw for 299 yards and two touchdowns, ran for 61 yards and two scores, and lifted No. 5 Florida to a 59-20 romp over the 22nd-ranked Volunteers.
Not bad for his first Southeastern Conference start.
Tebow completed two passes underhand and another one falling down. He hit Riley Cooper and Cornelius Ingram with perfect throws in the end zone. And he ran over and around Tennessee defenders much of the day.
His performance even earned him a kiss on the side of the face from roommate Tony Joiner.
The defending national champion Gators (3-0, 1-0) extended their winning streak to 10 games, stretched their home winning streak to 18 and improved to 7-0 iagainst their three biggest rivals under coach Urban Meyer. Florida hasn't lost to Tennessee, Georgia or Florida State since 2004.
Last year in Knoxville, Tebow replaced Chris Leak and converted a fourth-and-1 play in the fourth quarter that led to the go-ahead touchdown in the 21-20 victory.
He did much more Saturday.
His best play probably will be overlooked, too. He rolled left on fourth-and-3, bought time and then threw across his body to David Nelson for a 14-yard gain.
Percy Harvin scored on the next play, making it 42-20 and essentially sealing the victory on the opening play of the fourth quarter. Harvin shook two defenders, spun out of a tackle and then trotted into the end zone.
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