Kiffin, Perception, and the Way Vol Fans Are Preparing For Saturday
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Here's the full column.
At some point Tuesday, the line for the Tennessee-Florida game passed 30. Think about that for a second. Thirty points!
That is the biggest underdog the Volunteers have been in any game in the modern era. The only teams playing football anywhere in the country that are bigger dogs than Tennessee this weekend are Rice and North Texas. They're playing at Oklahoma State and at Alabama. For Florida fans, the huge line is early payback for Lane Kiffin's brazen talk in the offseason, prelude to the time when he comes to understand what The Swamp is all about.
But for the nation at large, Kiffin's talked this game into his favor. How? Lose and it's expected. Merely cover the spread and he emerges as a victor of sorts, he's avoided the horrid beating so long predicted. When can you last remember that being the case? That Tennessee could lose to Florida, and so long as they do it in a respectable manner, the losing coach wins?
Welcome down the rabbit hole of college football expectations, where perception governs reality. Kiffin is Brer Rabbit and he lives in the briar patch.
Meanwhile, Kiffin's comments have gotten so much attention that it's worth asking if a coach's words have ever moved the line more significantly in college football history. But the truth is this, no matter how much bluster gets published about Florida having a bee in its bonnet and no matter what Lane Kiffin had said in the offseason, Tennessee was going to be a three-touchdown underdog in this game. They just were.
After all, in 2001, Tennessee went into the Swamp as the nation's No. 5 team taking on the No. 2 Gators. Pretty even match-up, right? Nope, the Vols were an 18-point underdog, even on a team with future NFL All-Pros Albert Haynesworth, John Henderson, Donte Stallworth and Jason Witten. With a team Phil Fulmer called the best he ever coached at Tennessee going against a Florida team that probably isn't as good as this year's edition, the Vols were picked to lose by almost three touchdowns.
So even with a team on par with Florida headed into the Swamp, Tennessee can be a heavy underdog. When it's a rebuilding program with a head case at quarterback going up against against a national championship contender with a saint at quarterback, why should there be any surprise the line is as large as it is?
As for the idea that Florida typically treats Tennessee with kid gloves, like a little brother who wanted to wrestle, it's completely wrong. Florida has always tried to choke Tennessee into submission and would've tried again even if the coach was Mother Theresa reincarnate (also known as Mike Shula). I know, I was at the 59-20 game when Meyer scored 21 fourth-quarter points to run up the score in 2007.
Add in the loss to UCLA last weekend and the talent disparity between the teams and 30 points doesn't quite seem that far out of reach, even before Kiffin made his quip about singing Rocky Top all night long in Gainesville.
So when you get right down to it, what's the actual value of Lane Kiffin's talk? The foot-in-the-mouth transgression columnists have equated to calling down the thunder?
Three or four points, a field goal in the spread, hardly the fire-and-brimstone differential everyone is talking about.
But what Kiffin has managed to do is stir up Florida's fan base so much that they're going to be using a cannon to kill a fly. All the Gators need to do to win this game is grab a flyswatter, lean over and smash the Vols. But that isn't good enough anymore, the Gator blood is up, they're demanding complete and total evisceration of all things orange. The same is true across the country, people are tuning in on Saturday because they're expecting to see carnage of a Biblical scale, Meyer turning to the television screen, baring his fangs above his absent chin, and every male child under the age of six dying at once in the state of Tennessee.
Anything less and the expectations don't live up to the hype. All Lane Kiffin has to do is stay within four touchdowns of the Gators and he wins the perception battle. He's Sarah Palin -- a great analogy by Tim Brando -- entering the first Vice-Presidential debate. The bar has been set so low that Kiffin can't help but clear it. Don't believe me? How would you react to a 35-7 loss for the Vols? That's 28 points. Only five times since this series started play in 1916 has one team beaten the other team by that many points.
Yet, this year, that's not enough to make real news, is it?
The main storyline out of the game would be Kiffin surviving to fight another day. And, yet, even with all that said, Tennessee fans are really nervous as the week nears.
Here's the rest, including Nu'Keese playing the role of Helen of Troy.
(By the way, I'm posting hot chicks from Florida this week in an effort to reverse the karma.) Labels: lane kiffin florida nukeese richardson helen of troy
Posted by Clay Travis at 9:12 AM
 
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