| Each week during the season, Joel Buchsbaum highlights key college games.
This week Buchsbaum previews the Southeastern Conference championship game. He breaks down
each team, provides a scout’s perspective on key players and picks a final score.
SEC championship
game:
Louisiana State vs. Tennessee |
Saturday, Dec. 8, 2001
at Atlanta |
 |
Volunteers DL
John Henderson
|
If Tennessee can beat a red-hot Louisiana State team, the Volunteers will play Miami
(Fla.) for the national championship, unless the Bowl Championship Series formula is a
total fraud.
The Volunteers scored a very exciting, well-deserved victory over Florida because they
were able to control the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. On offense, they
were able to run against the Gators’ defense, and on defense, Tennessee totally shut
down Florida’s running game. It should be noted that in each of Florida’s
losses, the running game was completely shut down, and the Gators didn’t have ace RB
Earnest Graham.
On paper, Tennessee has the better team. However, the better team on paper hasn’t
played out in the last couple of weeks, throwing everything into a topsy-turvy situation.
LSU has been very hot lately, and the young players are coming of age. WR Josh Reed has
been playing like a Heisman Trophy candidate.
Quarterbacks — In Rohan Davey, LSU has a very talented, yet
streaky quarterback. He can look like a franchise player one week and a very ordinary
player the next. In recent weeks, Davey has developed so much confidence with Josh Reed
that Davey is just throwing the ball up to him, leading to costly interceptions.
Tennessee’s young Casey Clausen is learning on the job, but he is an above-average
quarterback already.
Running backs — Tennessee’s Travis Stephens and LSU’s
LeBrandon Toefield may be the two best running backs in the SEC this year. Stephens is a
very small back in terms of size, but he has tremendous power and balance for a back his
size. In the Florida game, when Stephens gained 226 yards on 19 carries, much of his
yardage came after contact. Toefield is a very talented young back who can run with power
and speed, but he has been hampered somewhat by injuries this year.
Receivers — At tight end, Tennessee’s Jason Witten had two
turnovers that could have been costly against Florida. In terms of ability, he is
tremendous. He has excellent hands, tremendous size and can be a devastating blocker.
LSU’s Robert Royal may have the best pass-catching skills of any tight end in the
SEC, and he has become an above-average blocker. He could be a big weapon for the Tigers
in this game. At wide receiver, Tennessee has two tremendous gamebreakers in Donte
Stallworth and Kelley Washington. Florida did a great job of taking them out of the game
but left Bobby Graham open almost the entire game, and the Vols’ third wide receiver
had the game of his career. LSU has one great wide receiver in Josh Reed. Reed does not
have anything close to blazing speed, but he’s a converted running back with
tremendous ball skills, great cutting ability and excellent running ability after the
catch. Last week vs. Auburn, Reed had 10 catches for 186 yards.
Offensive linemen — One of the biggest keys to Tennessee’s
win over Florida was the way its offensive line manhandled the Gators’ defensive
line. OLT Reggie Coleman, who has had an up-and-down career, probably had the game of his
life. He totally neutralized and at times dominated Florida DE Alex Brown.
Tennessee’s best offensive lineman, OLG Fred Weary, was dominating as usual, and the
rest of the line really stepped up. At least on paper, LSU has a very ordinary offensive
line, although ORG Dwayne Pierce can be dominating at times.
Defensive linemen — LSU has a defensive mastermind as head coach
in Nick Saban, but it doesn’t have the talent up front or in the secondary that
Tennessee possesses. Tennessee has the best set of defensive tackles — John Henderson
and Albert Haynesworth — in the college game. Henderson appears to be back now that
his high ankle sprain doesn’t appear to be bothering him, and he had one of his best
games of the year against Florida. Haynesworth has probably been the Vols’ best
defensive lineman for much of the year. DE Will Overstreet has been a great achiever who
can get up the field and rush the passer. Constantin Ritzmann also has some pass-rush
ability. Bernard Jackson is playing much better and is considered a pro prospect. The Vols
totally shut down the Gators’ running game and repeatedly sacked and hit QB Rex
Grossman.
Linebackers — This is the strength of LSU’s defense. Trev
Faulk and Bradie James are outstanding players, although they are not great, great
players. Both are juniors and would be making a mistake if they came out in this
year’s NFL draft. They are not in a class with the really elite linebackers and could
definitely use another year in college. However, both can be impact players in this game.
For Tennesse, Eddie Moore made some big plays against Florida, and Dominique Stevenson has
been its best linebacker over the course of the year. Both are undersized but run
extremely well.
Defensive backs — LSU’s biggest problem is a lack of speed.
Ryan Clark is a smart, heady free safety who gets an excellent jump on the ball, but he
doesn’t have pure speed and at times will gamble and lose. Lionel Thomas, the strong
safety, can also be a liability in coverage. Both cornerbacks are learning on the job.
Tennessee has two very talented corners in Andre Lott and Jabari Greer. Teddy Gaines
probably has the best speed of the trio. The Volunteers are inexperienced but talented at
safety with Julian Battle and Rashad Baker.
Special teams — Tennessee is loaded with big-play return men and
has a very reliable placekicker in Alex Walls. Walls has had a little bit of an off season
on his longer kicks. But inside 40 yards, he’s pretty much money in the bank.
However, the Vols have some problems with their punting game at times. Left-footed P
Dustin Colquitt has a very strong leg, but he’s kind of erratic and you can block his
kicks. One thing Tennessee does well is kick-snapping, which makes it much harder to block
kicks.
Coaching — Tennessee’s Phil Fulmer did a great job of having
his team ready and motivated to play the type of smashmouth football it had to play to
beat a skillful team like Florida. Fulmer did make one very questionable call, going for a
two-point conversion that could have come back to haunt Tennessee had Florida been able to
convert a two-point conversion of its own.
Prediction: Tennessee 30, LSU 24 |
