Author's Note: First of all, one hopes that
Hurricane Rita will spare Texas as much as possible,
and that nerve centers of care and support for
already-traumatized and displaced Katrina victims ---
such as Baton Rouge, site of Monday's Tennessee-LSU
game --- will remain as stable as possible in the
presence of further potential disruption. Secondly,
one must realize that the exodus of College Gameday
from the scene and a handful of other events --- such
as Tennessee arriving on Monday morning instead of
flying in the previous night (due to a lack of hotel
space in Baton Rouge, owing to the need to house
Katrina evacuees) --- will alter the emotional
dynamics of the game and, therefore, the game itself.
This is not pleasant, but it's the way it is, and
frankly, it's the way it should be. The biggest focus
in the state of Louisiana right now is not this game,
but the necessary efforts to maintain care for Katrina
and, if need be --- scary as it sounds --- provide
help for those who might be displaced by Rita. Let the
following peek into Vols-Tigers be placed in proper
perspective.
Monday, Hurricane Rita have already made landfall
somewhere around the Texas-Louisiana border but the
brunt of the storm will have already passed. Still,
the after-effects of the storm are likely to continue
to cause problems for both the home standing Tigers
and the visiting Vols. Even if the rain --- which
could be substantial --- has subsided, the track will
probably be sloppy and ballhandling will be priority
number one, two, three, four, five, six, and
twenty-four in this game.
So, Erik Ainge, will Rick Clausen give you the inside
dish on why bigger brother Casey couldn't pack in the
pigskin or lock up the laces?
JaMarcus Russell, you let a ball slip right out of
your hands two weeks ago in dry, climate-controlled
Tempe, Ariz., against the Sun Devils, making a 19-play
drive amount to nothing. Are you and your other
dropsies-prone mates ready to squeeze that odd-shaped
sucker?
And will either one of you quarterbacks be able to
throw the ball with any remote level of precision...
that is, if you can safely secure the snap from
center?
Furthermore, being reminded of the fact that
Tennessee's Kevin Simon dropped a Chris Leak
interception early in the second half of last week's
game at the Swamp, will any of you defensive players
be able to hang onto interceptions or secure fumbles
when they come your way? As South Carolina knows from
its close loss to Georgia, dropped interceptions can
decide games as much as anything.
Ballhandling, on offense and defense, is central to
this contest, and the reality of that statement is
undeniable.
It's true that Tennessee's mistakes against the Gators
were of the mental variety more than physical. Britton Colquitt won't get caught dead throwing a fake punt
pass in this game, and punts just might be allowed to
bounce instead of risking the chance of a muff. But on
kickoffs and scrimmage plays, the ball will need to be
handled, and two talented but distracted teams forced
to play a game under anything but normal conditions
--- in terms of both the prevailing weather and the
strong, mixed emotions bombarding the Rita-dominated
lead-up to tee time --- will win not based on their
skill or physical prowess, but on how well they can
hang onto the dadgum rock.
It's unfortunate on a particularly profound level that
Rita has taken the emotional juice out of this game,
much as it did for LSU's much-anticipated battle with
Arizona State two weeks ago. But it's also a stroke of
bad fortune that, on this smaller football-only scale,
the merits of this game --- which had some intriguing
matchups (Skyler Green against the Vols' secondary;
Gerald Riggs against the Tigers' front four;
beleaguered UT offensive coordinator Randy Sanders
against beleaguered LSU defensive coordinator Bo
Pelini; celebrated UT defensive coordinator John
Chavis against celebrated LSU offensive coordinator
Jimbo Fisher) --- will merely come down to who has the
better good-hands people.
You won't be able to leave this game with a definitive
understanding of who has the better team; games with
decent weather define the full measure of raw athletic
excellence and quality. On this Monday night in Cajun
Country, it all comes down to which team has a better
hold on the situation... and especially the football.
The Vols and Tigers while try to be the Mother of all
Mudders in their fight for SEC survival.