Music City Bowl Looks To Be A Toss Up

The Music City Bowl, which annually pits the ACC against the SEC, looks to be one of the toughest games to figure out in this bowl season.

I'm excited to say I will be attending this game on Thursday evening and I expect to see a game that could come down to the final possession.

With the game being played at LP Field, it should be predominantly loaded with Tennessee fans.

Here's arguments for both teams on why they will win:

Tennessee's argument

Tennessee could have very easily finished the season 7-5 if not for getting hosed by the refs in the LSU game.

This team has finally hit its stride, winning four in row to end the season. Tyler Bray has also given the Vols some stability at quarterback.

The game may be technically on neutral field, but let's get real here. This will basically be like a home game for the Vols.

North Carolina's argument

One thing that leans heavily in North Carolina's favor is the inexperience in their opponent. A lot of these Freshman and Sophomore on Tennessee may come out skidish to start the game.

The Tar Heels will need to jump on them early, much like they did against Florida State back on November 6th.

The biggest weapon for the Tar Heels is easily T.J. Yates at quarterback. You take out his four-interception game against Virginia Tech, and Yates would be considered a quarterback who rarely turns the ball over.

All season long this team has been playing with a chip on their shoulder after dealing with the multiple suspensions. This season probably should've ended in a better bowl game than the Music City Bowl, but it's still impressive that they even got this far with all they had to deal with as a team.

Final Verdict

In the end I see the inexperience of the Vols ( over 50 Freshmen) will hurt them in this game.

The pro-UT crowd will give the Vols a lift that will keep the game interesting all the way to the end. However, North Carolina will find a way to get the win late in the game.

Look for Yates to carry the Tar Heels to a slim victory over Derek Dooley and the Vols.

Final Score: North Carolina 27, Tennessee 24

UT Turns Down Chance To Play USC

There was plenty of bad blood created between the Vols and the Trojans after Lane Kiffin decided to unexpectedly split for Southern Cal.

Lane Kiffin came right out and proposed settling the dispute on the field for the 2011 kickoff game, but the Vols declined.

I'm sure every UT player who was ditched by Kiffin was foaming at the mouth at getting the chance to get even with the coach that ditched them like a prom date.

This game would have generated so much in television rating but unfortunately we won't see it in 2011, but it is a possibility in the following couple of years.

The UT athletics director said that the schedule was tough enough, and I can definitely understand where he's coming from. After all they play in what I think is the best all around conference in college football.

The Vols have already gotten one back on Kiffin by getting one of his players who transferred just last week. It was defensive end Malik Jackson who decided to make the transition to Tennessee.

I see a rivalry in the making for sure and hopefully these two teams will meet real soon, but in the mean time both programs have a lot of work to do to return to glory.

Kiffin Ditches Rocky Top for Sunny SoCal

So that's what that nasty odor was that had been in Knoxville for the past 14 months. This whole time I thought it was all the players that couldn't stay out of trouble, but I was completely wrong. It was Lane Kiffin.

This is another clear example that college football is sadly not about the athletes anymore. It's about how much money a school is willing to pay their coach. The coach's desires comes first, and then the students thereafter. That seems backwards to me.

I'm reminded time and time again about that NCAA commercial that says "Most of us will be going pro in something other than sports". That means that most of these kids are getting their last chance to play their sport before they become a person in the real world. Don't they deserve the best experience they can get?

Instead of getting a good experience, many of these players are getting a good idea of what betrayal tastes like.

What's going to come of the nine verbal commitments who chose Tennessee thanks to Kiffin. Is Kiffin going to bring them with him to Southern California? I doubt it.

Kiffin has a whole new recruiting pool he can dip his hands into once he gets to the west coast. Sadly enough, these nine recruits will probably get lost in the dust and be left with one of two options. Unless they chose Tennessee for a reason other than Kiffin, then they're stuck at a school that they really didn't want to go to. If they do decide to leave they'll be left scrambling for a new school.

What really makes Kiffin look like a snake is how he left. People are saying that Kiffin gave a very brief statement to his players that basically said "USC is my dream job and I couldn't pass it up". It has also been reported that many of the players got hostile and had to be calmed down by the interim head coach.

Not only is he leaving Tennessee without a head coach, but he's also taking his daddy, Monte Kiffin, and the recruiting coordinator Ed Orgeron.

Oddly enough, Kiffin is still setting himself up for a lot of scrutiny. He still hasn't proven that he's that great of a coach and now he's inheriting a program that hasn't experienced a losing season since back in the 90's. If USC becomes an average program than Kiffin will easily be to blame, and it's my every hope it happens that way.

I can't blame Tennessee fans for feeling betrayed and I guess they're finding out that the fall from grace is a long way down.

Just When Everything Seemed Good On Rocky Top

Another title wave hit the young Lane Kiffin era on Thursday as three freshman football players were arrested after attempting to rob a convenience store in Knoxville.

It's almost impossible to even believe this story is true. To think that not one, but three players were dumb enough to do this beyond my comprehension. You've got the world in front of you and endless opportunities and you throw it all away.

This all occurred early this morning and all three players were arrested for attempted robbery.

There are two main reasons, among others, that makes this a hard hit on the Tennessee football program.

For starters, two of the three players were huge pieces to Lane Kiffin's great recruiting class. That's the small impact.

You have to look to the future to see the bigger impact this has on the program. Imagine how parents are going to feel sending their kids to play for a team that has a blemish like this on it's reputation.

Everything was finally starting to run smoothly for Lane Kiffin. The Vols have reached 5-4 and are coming off a crushing of South Carolina. The chanting of "Rocky Top" was finally starting to be heard around the streets. This might quiet them down a little bit.

You can't help but feel sorry for Kiffin because it's not really his fault that three knuckleheads decided to throw everything away and attempt a robbery with a pellet gun. One of them even had the audacity to wear UT gear during this whole charade.

Kiffin is really going to have to pull this team together as they prepare for Ole Miss on Saturday. It's Tennessee's last true test of the season and they need to make the most of it.

If Tennessee figures out a way to finish 8-4 then hats off to Lane Kiffin because he truly is fit for coaching the big boys in college football.

War of Words Between Kiffin and Meyer

First off I have to give the Vols a lot of credit for hanging with the Gators on Saturday. They left the Swamp with at least a little bit of dignity by only losing by ten and running the football down the throat of the national champs. The point spread was 30 and some were even bold enough to call for a 40-point spread!

What use to be one of the better rivalries in college football would have gotten little publicity this season if not for Lane Kiffin popping off at the mouth shortly after being hired as Tennessee's new coach in December.

Kiffin ignited the fire initially by stating,"Singing Rocky Top all night long after we beat Florida next year. It's gonna be a blast so get ready". And then my favorite statement that directly accused Urban Meyer of cheating in his recruiting practices. With that the rivalry was instantly renewed.

Even though the game has passed and Florida got the win, Meyer still can't seem to shut his mouth or act even somewhat classy.

First off he hardly even acknowledged Kiffin at midfield after the game. Now I can let that slide, but accusing a group of guys of not playing to win is an insult to the Tennessee players that gave everything they had during that game. And to add onto that, Meyer also blamed the flu bug for why his team didn't perform at its best. So I guess Meyer is one of those guys that makes excuses for when he doesn't perform up to expectations.

Kiffin shot back by saying, "the next time we don't perform like we wanted we'll blame it on us being sick". I'm starting to like this guy more and more.

It's going to take some time, but Kiffin has this program going in the right direction. He's in the middle of cleaning up the mess Philip Fulmer left behind, but he'll eventually get stuff straightened out on Rocky Top. Just give him a chance.

Kiffin Commits Another Recruiting Violation

Either Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin didn't do his homework on the NCAA rulebook or he's a cheater. Maybe even a little of both.

Either way, Kiffin recently committed his sixth recruiting violation since becoming the head coach of Tennessee football.

His latest violation was video taping by media outlets of his meetings with future recruits. The funny part is it was taped by ESPN cameras for Outside the Lines.

I might have to give Kiffin a free pass on this one. The fact that even ESPN may not have been aware of this rule is pretty funny.

Kiffin is setting himself up for more and more pressure going into the upcoming season. He already has to deal with the Florida Gators being furious after he called out their coach as a cheater. He has also lost several recruits during the offseason.

Who knows, maybe Kiffin will turn out to be a good NCAA coach who can return this spiraling program to prominence once again. One thing is for sure, he has to stop with all the violations before the NCAA gets involved with this and starts a serious investigation.

All these violations, which have all been secondary violations, may not end up hurting the football program in the long-run. It is getting them a lot of attention on a national level.

However, if UT follows up these troubling offseason with another poor season like 2008, then Kiffin could face an enormous amount of scrutiny from a fan-base that has little patience.

Stay tuned for my SEC football preview which will be in a couple of weeks!!!!