Loss in opener magnifies Vols' weaknesses

Tennessee opened up their season with an embarrassing 45-31 loss at the hands of a California team they blistered the year before in Knoxville.

But, all is not lost in Knoxville. The game had zero bearing on Southeastern Conference play and national respect.

Vol tight end Chris Brown lumbers downfield after hauling in one of his seven receptions. (T-G Photo by Danny Parker) [Click to enlarge]

Quarterback Erik Ainge noted that an SEC championship is goal No. 1. In regards to national polls: "In the SEC, if you win ballgames, it's amazing how fast you can climb back up."

The offense did their job for the most part. Putting up 31 points in a season opener typically does the job.

"We always think 31 points would be enough, but obviously it wasn't," tight end Chris Brown said. "Whatever the defense allows, we have to score more. That's the kind of mentality we have. There's nothing we can do about it. We can't affect what the defense does. We just have to go out there and execute and do what we do."

Ainge noted that his team didn't play poorly, but simply didn't get it done on the national stage.

"We made a lot of plays, but we've just got to make the key plays," the four-year starter said. "Everybody did a good job, but good doesn't win against the 12th-ranked team in the country. We need to step it up, and we need to play great. We can be great, we just need to go about it in practice."

The largest question mark on offense coming into '07 was who would fill the void left at wide receiver.

"We need to establish a go-to guy and some of us stepped up tonight," said Brown, who caught seven balls for 54 yards and two scores. "We need even more guys to step up."

Lucas Taylor did his part, totaling 103 yards receiving on six receptions.

Another thing the defeat did for Tennessee was cast a beam of light on their weaknesses. The play at safety was lackluster to say the least.

"I was disappointed in our safeties because they had a number of opportunities to stop drives and get us (off the field)," coach Phillip Fulmer said. "Eric Berry came in and looked really good."

Berry, who came to Knoxville under the impression he would roll over to cornerback, must stay on the field whether he is at safety or on the corner.

"We had been trying to rotate him in at corner and looking at him a little bit at safety if we had an emergency and it looked like we had an emergency. He was as fast as anybody out there."

There are still 11 games to go on the regular season schedule, starting with Southern Miss this Saturday in Knoxville.