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Vols hope win over South Carolina acts as catalyst

Published November 1st, 2009 | 1 Comments

KNOXVILLE — Tennessee’s football team is hoping its 31-13 victory over South Carolina on Saturday night means the start of a strong finish to coach Lane Kiffin’s first season.

“It was a good win,” Volunteers quarterback Jonathan Crompton said Sunday. “We needed that right now to kind of start our streak of what we want to do: to finish out the season undefeated.”

Dressed in Halloween-inspired black jerseys with orange pants, Tennessee (4-4, 2-3 Southeastern Conference) took advantage of South Carolina mistakes and turned three fumbles into touchdowns.

The loss knocked the Gamecocks (6-3, 3-3) out of the top 25. The last time they were ranked as high as No. 21 was before the 2007 Tennessee game, when they were 15th. South Carolina lost that game in overtime 27-24 and went on to drop its final three games.

The Vols, meanwhile, used that win to overcome a shaky season start and win their last four games as well as the SEC East title.

Florida has already clinched the division championship for this season — thanks to UT’s upset of South Carolina — but the Vols are looking to finish with a winning record, grab a bowl bid and avoid the kind of finish they had last season.

A 27-6 loss to the Gamecocks last season was the final strike against coach Phillip Fulmer, who was fired two days later. Tennessee closed with a 5-7 record and missed out on the postseason.

INJURY UPDATE: Freshman wide receiver Nu’Keese Richardson did not attend Tennessee’s brief Sunday night practice.

“We’re dealing with an issue with Nu’Keese,” Kiffin said, promising more information Tuesday.

Several Vols stayed on the sideline during practice for health reasons, but Kiffin didn’t rule any of them out for Saturday’s game against Memphis.

Junior starting middle linebacker Savion Frazier was helped off the field late in the win over South Carolina with a knee injury, but Kiffin said the diagnosis was better than initially feared.

Defensive linemen Gerald Williams, a junior, and Marlon Walls, a freshman, were held out with ankle injuries, and junior defensive end Chris Walker missed another day because of a sore lower back. Junior linebacker LaMarcus Thompson sat out after leaving the South Carolina game with a stinger.

Redshirt freshman Herman Lathers, Frazier’s primary backup in the middle, said Sunday night that he has dealt with a blood problem the past two years. He didn’t disclose the name of the condition.

Lathers said he undergoes several tests weekly before getting cleared to play.

“I think it’s a long term thing, with how I’m dealing with it,” Lathers said. “As far as the training room goes, they say the only situation (to fix it) is removing my spleen — which I really don’t want to have happen — so I guess it’s going to be long term.

“I never know when I’m going to play, but I’m always up and ready and prepared for it. I just stay ready and stay focused, and I play when they let me play.”

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Good win on Saturday night. I'll repeat what I said in an earlier thread:

Spurrier: You can't spell Music City Bowl without "U-S-C". :)

C.K. Bigoldi | 11/2/2009 - 12:07 PM - ( Comment

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