How Tennessee Kept It Close

Lane Kiffin wasn’t right. The Vols didn’t win, and let’s get this straight, it was a double digit loss made to look much closer by an uncharacteristic fumble and a crap celebration penalty call that kept the touchdown drive alive.

Nonetheless, Big Orange Nation will take it. The mighty Gators had promised a butt whipping and were not able to deliver. There is a moral victory to be taken away from this game by UT fans, unfortunately UT’s players were celebrating as well (more on that later).

The Kiffins’ game plan was masterful. Here’s how they stayed with the best team in college football:

• Keep everything in front of you: What good does it do you to have a player that runs a 4.2 forty if he’s unable to get into space. The Vols didn’t allow Florida’s playmakers the opportunity to get one on one in the open field. There was a white jersey or two in front of every Gator as soon as they touched the ball.
• Don’t miss tackles: This was the key to keeping Florida’s speed in check. You don’t want to get into a foot race with the Gators. The first guy made the tackle almost every time. If a tackle was missed, the ball carrier was slowed enough to allow another Vol defender to make a play.
• Don’t throw downfield until you absolutely have to: The Vols threw downfield 5 times in the game. Two of those passes were picked off, another was almost picked off, one should have been called intentional grounding, and Crompton over threw everyone one the other. It helped the Vols that Charlie Strong refused to play the virtual 4-4 that UCLA used to stymie the Vols rushing attack, but Kiffin’s ability to develop a game plan that didn’t rely on Crompton’s arm was magnificent.  
• Make sure that Jeff Demps, Jermaine Cunningham, and Aaron Hernandez have swine flu: Not that it was intentional or the root cause of Florida’s failures (although, again, they still won by double digits), but it doesn’t hurt to have a guy averaging 14 ypc and the team’s leading receiver quarantined with fevers measuring in the triple digits.
• Don’t kick to Brandon James: Chad Cunningham didn’t make the same mistake that he made last year.
• Play to keep it close: Lane Kiffin chose not to pass with 6 minutes left down by 10. Instead, he gave Florida the ball back and hoped that he would catch a break. It ended up keeping the Vols from having even a sliver of a chance to win, but it did minimize Jonathan Crompton’s chances of throwing a pick-six that might have opened it up for Florida.