At halftime I was thinking that I would write about how Tommy West was outclassed and out-coached by Tennessee head man Lane Kiffin. After watching the second half I came to the conclusion that great coaching doesn't do a whole lot without talent.
With inferior talent on the field in the second stanza, the Memphis offense lit up the Vol D for three touchdowns and a lot of yards. Good thing the Tennessee offense came to play in the first half or this game could have been interesting.
Lane Kiffin was upset last week about his teams offensive performance and he obviously made an effort this week to make sure it wouldn't happen again. Kiffin picked up on certain formations and tendencies he saw on film and exploited every defensive weakness exhibited by the Tigers.
Lane Kiffin has said that each game plan on offense is different and he will call plays that he thinks will work against a certain defense. He certainly dialed up the correct play calls tonight.
Jonathan Crompton played an almost flawless game tonight leading the Vols to 42 first half points. Crompton threw for a career high 331 yards on 21-27 passing. He also threw a total of five touchdown passes. Tennessee mixed the run and the pass, and the Vols effectively utilized all available personnel as Crompton completed passes to seven different receivers.
Excellent game by Crompton who showed tremendous confidence in his receiving core. He was sharp with his passes and he threw on time. Crompton mentioned after the game how he has confidence in Denarius Moore, so much confidence in fact that he knows where he is going to be on every play.
Nick Stephens looked sharp and decisive once Kiffin had a little chat with him after his first offensive possession. Stephens looked confident and threw the ball well.
His one glaring flaw was an intercepted pass late in the fourth quarter that was clearly forced into coverage. Stephens finished the evening completing on 5 of 9 passes for 1 touchdown and the one pick.
The Vol offense was multiple with a lot of shifts that gave them a decided match-up advantage. Passes were thrown to tight ends, running backs and wide receivers.
Kiffin saw an advantage with Gerald Jones and Denarius Moore especially. Memphis never figured out a way to cover either one of those wideouts. Gerald Jones amassed 97 yards on 4 receptions with a touchdown.
Denarius Moore caught seven balls covering 76 yards and 1 touchdown. Even Luke Stocker got into the action with 3 catches for 60 yards.
Now that all of the positive stuff is out of the way, is anyone else concerned with Tennessee's depth problem? Memphis was able to move the ball at will against the 2nd and 3rd team members in the second half. Tennessee has a lot of work to do when it comes to building depth.
The defensive effort in the second half was pretty pathetic and really dampened what could have been a huge homecoming celebration in Knoxville. The crowd was primed and ready for a confidence building beat down on Memphis, but give credit to the Tigers who never quit.
I was surprised to see how much base 4-3 defense Kiffin played in the second half. There looked to be very few defensive adjustments. I guess the bottom line tonight would say Kiffin wins the first half and West wins the second.
The loss of Nick Reveiz and Savion Frazier was evident in this game. The Vol linebackers were virtually invisible in the second half. Herman Lathers is strong, very strong and he is going to be someone to watch in the future, but he has a long way to go in pass coverage.
The Vols missed Janzen Jackson defensively and the Vols are much better against the run when Eric Berry is playing close to the line of scrimmage. Memphis was able to break some big plays when Berry floated deep into pass coverage.
Some stats of note:
Monterio Hardesty finished the night with 60 yards rushing. Bryce Brown who continues to impress, ran the ball 11 times for 55 yards and scored 1 touchdown.
Tennessee converted on 8-13 3rd down conversions and also converted on 3-4 4th down conversions.
Tennessee finished the game with 566 yards of total offense, Memphis gained 403 yards, most of that coming in the second half.
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