Jan. 1, 2008 Tampa, Fla. - Raymond James Stadium - ESPN - 11 a.m. EST
Tennessee and Wisconsin are renewing football ties for the first time in 26 years when the 2008 Outback Bowl kicks off New Year’s Day in Tampa, Fla.
“We’re thrilled to have the Volunteers (winners of the Southeastern Conference Eastern Division and owners of a 9-4 record this season) back in our Outback Bowl,” said Jim McVay, Outback Bowl President/CEO. “We think we have a classic matchup with a Wisconsin Badgers team at 9-3 (that finished fourth in the Big Ten Conference this season)."
“We’re excited to be playing an outstanding football team like Wisconsin,” said Tennessee (Head Coach Philip) Fulmer, who now in his 16th season owns a 146-45 overall record. “We’re excited about going back to Tampa."
“We are excited about the opportunity to play Tennessee,” (Wisconsin Head Coach Bret) Bielema said. “We’ve got our work cut out for us but it should be a classic Big Ten-SEC matchup."
Tennessee was the only SEC team to finish undefeated at home this season, going 7-0, but the Badgers matched that record at Camp Randall Stadium when they defeated Michigan 37-21 on Nov. 10.
Tennessee and Wisconsin have met just once previously on the gridiron, and that matchup was also of the bowl variety. The Volunteers defeated the Badgers 28-21 in the Garden State Bowl in East Rutherford, N.J., on Dec. 13, 1981.
Tennessee landed three players on the 2007 Coaches All-SEC first team. Left guard Anthony Parker made the first-team offensive line, while middle linebacker Jerod Mayo was among the top linebackers named and free safety Jonathan Hefney was a member of the first-team secondary unit.
Four Wisconsin football players earned first-team All-Big Ten honors. TE Travis Beckum and DB Jack Ikeqwuono were both consensus first-team selections, while C Marcus Coleman was a first-team choice of the media and kicker Taylor Mehlhaff was a first-team selection by the league’s coaches.
Wisconsin is bolstered by good news.
Beckum said Thursday that he has decided to return to the Badgers for his senior season.
“Playing at Wisconsin in front of the greatest fans in college football is something I want to continue doing for one more year,” said Beckum, a junior and finalist for the 2007 John Mackey Award. “I looked into my options and found the best one is right here with this university. I’m enjoying being a Badger and can’t wait for our bowl game in Tampa, as well as for next season. I’m glad this decision is behind me and I’m looking forward to another year at Camp Randall.”
Meanwhile, Tennessee is suffering from coaches leaving the program.
Offensive Coordinator David Cutcliffe has been named Duke’s next head football coach. The whirlwind courtship began with a Tuesday phone call, a Wednesday interview on the Durham, N.C., campus and two days of negotiations and decision-making, Cutcliffe said he expects only minimal distractions leading up to the Vols’ Jan. 1 Outback Bowl date with Wisconsin.
Assistant head coach for player development and wide receivers coach Trooper Taylor has accepted the co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach position at Oklahoma State University. Taylor is also expected to coach at Tennessee through the Outback Bowl.
Does Wisconsin have the mo? Is it bad karma for Tennessee? Does it matter when a football game kicks off at 11:00 a.m. Eastern? Are any football players actually awake that early in the morning? Oh well, wake up on the 1st, grab a Big Orange juice, add Vodka if necessary (you Badgers may want a Bloody Mary instead) and set up camp for an entire day of New Year's Day College Football bowl games.
Is Tennessee a second tier SEC team as many seem to be enjoying saying this year? I am not sure of that yet.
I wasn't that impressed with Kentucky last night.
Let's see how Georgia and Tennessee goes. Then we will know more.
The Bulldogs have won their last three visits to Neyland Stadium. UT rallied for a 51-33 triumph a year ago in Athens—the Vols second straight win at UGA’s Sanford Stadium. The visiting team has won the last five games in this series.
“We have to play the run well, better than we have done to this point," said Tennessee Coach Phillip Fulmer. "Their two backs are quality backs, hard to tackle and certainly a challenge for anyone that plays them. We can’t forget about the past, obviously, but the first order of business will be to take on their run game and try to get the downs and distances in our favor. Defensively, our challenge is to be consistent in our gap patrol, playing off blocks and making the tackle. The big plays that we have given up have come from these areas that we have addressed during the open date.
The Tennessee Volunteers return home to take on the Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles on Saturday night at Neyland Stadium. Tennessee was unable to stop the run against the California Golden Bears last Saturday. Can they stop the Golden Eagles or will their backs be tempted to clean off shelf space for the Heisman on Sunday morning? We look for this question to be answered on Saturday night in front of the faithful.
From utsports.com
Tennessee owns a perfect 4-0 record in its all-time gridiron series with Southern Mississippi, which dates to 1950. All four meetings took place in Knoxville, and two of the four wins were shutouts. The Vols posted a 56-0 triumph in 1950, and the three most recent clashes all have come during the Phillip Fulmer era. Fulmer’s Vols defeated the Eagles 42-0 in 1995, 44-20 in 1997 and 19-16 in 2000.
Fulmer is 13-1 all-time against current members of Conference USA (1-0 vs. East Carolina, 1-0 vs. Houston, 2-0 vs. Marshall, 6-1 vs. Memphis, 1-0 vs. Southern Miss and 2-0 vs. UAB) and has never lost to a C-USA team at Neyland Stadium.
Tennessee owns an all-time record of 45-4 (.918) against current Conference USA teams, and that includes an unblemished 32-0 mark at home. All four of UT’s wins over Southern Miss have taken place in Knoxville.
The 72,516 fans at Memorial Stadium did their best to provide a homefield advantage resembling Neyland Stadium's edge, packing Strawberry Canyon well before kickoff and out-shouting the 10,000 Volunteer fans packed into the south endzone. Bears fans shouted at the top of their lungs when DeSean Jackson scampered 77 yards for his sixth career punt return for a touchdown. Jackson led the 12th-ranked Golden Bears as they avenged last season's humiliating loss to the No. 15 Volunteers with a 45-31 victory Saturday night.
Justin Forsett rushed for 156 yards and a score, and Nate Longshore passed for 241 yards and two TDs as the Bears (1-0) racked up the most points scored against the Volunteers in 12 years to win the opening weekend's only matchup between ranked schools. Tennessee's first trip to the West Coast since 1997 was hardly encouraging for coach Phillip Fulmer's defense, which hadn't given up this many points since a 62-37 loss to Florida in 1995.
Cal led 38-21 early in the third quarter. But the Volunteers pulled within seven points on Daniel Lincoln's field goal in the opening minute of the fourth at 38-31. Then Forsett's TD run with 9:10 to play pushed Cal back to a comfortable lead. Tennessee's no-huddle offense finally bogged down in the fourth quarter and the Cal defense finished off the Bears' eighth straight home victory since 2005.
Erik Ainge had 271 yards passing and three TD throws despite an injured finger. Ainge wore a white wrap on two fingers of his throwing hand after injuring his pinkie during practice this week. The senior was exceptionally sharp while completing 14 of his first 15 throws. Arian Foster rushed for 89 yards and Chris Brown caught two TD passes from Ainge.
The Volunteers also had a scare with 4:10 to play when starting defensive end Xavier Mitchell left the field on a stretcher with his neck immobilized after a hard tackle. Tennessee had no immediate word on the nature of the senior's injury.
Last year Tennesse put a big whooping on Cal that was much worse than the final score indicated as Cal managed late meaningless scores. Unfortunately, this years Cal team probably has revenge on its mind.
From: UTSPORTS.COM
Tennessee and California have met three times previously on the gridiron, with all meetings taking place in Knoxville. The Bears posted a 27-17 win in 1977, and the Vols triumphed over Cal by a score of 38-12 in 1987. Most recently, in last year’s season-opener, UT defeated California 35-18 in Neyland Stadium.
One of Tennessee’s biggest special teams challenges heading into the 2007 season is the effort to replace departed placekicker James Wilhoit. A four-year starter for the Vols from 2003-06, Wilhoit ranks second on the school’s all-time scoring chart with 325 career points.
Junior punter Britton Colquitt earned first-team All-SEC honors a year ago and enters 2007 as the SEC's top punter according to the league's head coaches.
Following Tennessee’s practice on Friday, Aug. 24, head coach Phillip Fulmer announced that seniors Erik Ainge, Jonathan Hefney, Xavier Mitchell and Eric Young would serve as the Vols’ captains for the California game.
Quarterback Erik Ainge enjoyed a tremendously productive junior year in 2006 that saw him rank among the national leaders in numerous passing categories and climb in the UT records book.
Tennessee’s defense has allowed just six opposing ballcarriers to rush for at least 100 yards in the last 37 games. During that span, the opponents’ top rusher has averaged 77.2 yards per game.
Senior free safety Jonathan Hefney has a chance to stand atop Tennessee’s all-time list for starts by a position player,* as he enters 2007 with a streak of 36 consecutive starts.
Cornerback Eric Berry is one of the top three cornerbacks on the Vols’ defensive depth chart coming out of summer camp and could join select company if he is given the start at California. Berry would be the first defensive player and only the third player overall in the Philip Fulmer era to start a season-opener as a true freshman.
It always scares me when our pre-season press is talking about our kickers. Sure General Neyland made it plain that football is a game that consists of controlling territory . And the kicking game is a huge part of that. But is that all we have?
We couldn't stop Penn State's running game back on January 1st. Have we gotten that figured out now?
Is Berry that good at cornerback? Or are our other cornerback's that bad?
Tune in Saturday night and we will see if any of these questions are answered.
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