Worried that his technical foul might amount to a devastating setback, Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl looked into his players' faces and saw something he hadn't seen all season. Instead of concerned, the 12th-ranked Volunteers looked confident.
"We stress not giving up," said Tennesse's Tyler Smith, who finished with 12 points. "We made a lot of good plays at the end of the game. The technical set us back, but we came back and played hard."
"In the last four minutes, they were the meaner, tougher, more relentless, nastier team, and they won the game," Xavier coach Sean Miller said. "They made three or four unbelievable hustle plays in the last four minutes that turned the game to their favor."
"They really bailed me out," Pearl said. "They stepped it up after I picked up the technical foul. I never saw any doubt in my players' minds that they would win the game. Today was the first day I've seen that look. The look came the last four minutes of the game."
Both head coaches also got technicals for leaving the coaching box -- before Tennessee's defense took over.
However, Miller's was early in the contest while Pearl was called late in the game during crucial moments.
"Four weeks ago, we would have gotten run out of here," Pearl said. "But we've made progress. This is the best we've played. This is the hardest we've competed."
"We lost all our concentration at the end of the game," Xavier's Stanley Burrell said, still fuming. "You don't blow a game like that. This is a hard one to ####. It's very disappointing how we finished the game. We just totally collapsed at the end."
The Vols will be back in action this weekend when they meet nationally-ranked Gonzaga in the Battle In Seattle on Saturday, Dec. 29.
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.
"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.
JaJuan Smith, Ramar Smith and Tyler Smith combined for 38 points as the seventh-ranked Tennessee Volunteers opened their basketball season with their 80-63 victory over the Temple Owls at Thompson-Boling Arena. The Smith Brothers did a great job. Although the Smiths aren't related, they came up with the Smith Brothers nickname in the off-season. The way they played Friday, it's going to stick.
JaJuan led the Smiths with 15 points and five steals; Ramar had 14 points; and Tyler had nine points, five assists and three steals. More than once, the Smiths had the Owls outnumbered.
"There was one play at half-court when the ball was just going," JaJuan Smith said. "It was me and Ramar, and I think Tyler might have got in it. "When I got up, I said, 'Ooh, I think we had 'em dizzy with all those Smiths around.' It's going to confuse folks."
"Yeah, I had 15 points,'' JaJuan Smith said, "but I'm more excited about my five steals.''
Indeed, most all of Tennesse Coach Bruce Pearl's post-game praise was for the defense.
"You definitely can see some of the fruits of what our focus has been,'' Pearl said. "We have a long ways to go defensively, but I think you can see an improved defense effort, focus and physicality."
In his third season at Tennessee, Coach Bruce Pearl has worked hard to bring excitement back to a program that's been overshadowed locally by a wildly popular football program and the Lady Vols women's basketball team, which won its seventh national title last season. Pearl has installed an uptempo style of play focusing on pressure defense and a quick-trigger offense. Tennessee led the Southeastern Conference in scoring last season at almost 81 points per game. Coach Pearl is preaching a more all-around game this year with emphasis on rebounding and free-throw shooting in an effort to improve on last year's 24-11 record.
The seventh-ranked Tennessee Volunteers scored an 80-63 win over the Temple Owls on Friday night. Tennessee broke open a close first half with a 15-5 run which started with a tip-in by Wayne Chism and ended with JuJuan Smith's jumper that made it 29-19. In the final minute of the half Josh Tabb added a tip-in at the buzzer for the Volunteers' 39-24 lead. Tennessee added an 11-0 run to go up 55-34 with 11:41 remaining as Tabb scored on a fast break and Jordan Howell hit a 3-pointer.
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