Tennessee stumbled into its 2007 season opening on the road at Cal and losing 45-31. On Labor Day 2008, the Volunteers find themselves traveling to the Golden State again for a football opener, this time to Los Angeles to play the UCLA Bruins. The 18th-ranked Volunteers look to get off to a strong start when they open at the Rose Bowl on Monday night against UCLA and new coach Rick Neuheisel.
Neuheisel and his Bruins have another thing in mind. That is to defend home turf and gain some respect in the city of Los Angeles, a town they have to share with a little team to the south that refers to itself as ‘Men of Troy’.
Online oddsmakers at Sportsbook.com , have installed Tennessee the favorite ATS by a 7 ½ -point chalk and -280 on the money line with a 46 total. UCLA backers are getting +240 money line odds.
Tennessee went 9-4 last season to win the SEC East Division, and defeated Wisconsin 21-17 in the Outback Bowl to earn a No. 12 ranking in the final AP poll. While the Vols were one victory away from playing in a BCS bowl, they missed out on any chance to play for the BCS title because of their road woes.
After losing at Cal in their opener , and in its next road game two weeks later was crushed by Florida 59-20. The Volunteers finished the 2007 season 2-4 away from Knoxville, including a 21-14 defeat to LSU in the conference championship game in Atlanta, for their most road losses since dropping four in 1981.
Tennessee had trouble keeping up with its opponents away from Neyland Stadium, allowing an average of 39.5 points and 483.5 yards in road games, compared to 18.3 and 342.6 in seven home contests.
Tennessee's offense will have a new look this season, with Jonathan Crompton taking over at quarterback under new offensive coordinator Dave Clawson. Crompton has the luxury of playing behind five returning starters on an offensive line that allowed a nation-low four sacks last year.
While Crompton will be taking the snaps, he won't be expected to carry the offense. Clawson wants Crompton to get the ball to the team's biggest playmakers, seniors Arian Foster and Lucas Taylor.
Foster rushed for 1,193 yards and 12 touchdowns last season, and is 685 yards away from breaking Travis Henry's school record of 3,078 yards. Taylor had team highs of 73 receptions for 1,000 yards last year.
The Bruins, picked to finish fifth in the Pac-10 , will also look different. Neuheisel, a former Bruins quarterback, replaces Karl Dorrell, who was fired after UCLA went 6-7 last year and lost to BYU in the Las Vegas Bowl.
Neuheisel and new offensive coordinator Norm Chow, however, are experiencing the same problem the previous UCLA coaching staff had; injuries to their quarterbacks.
Patrick Cowan was expected to be the Bruins' starting quarterback, but he injured his knee in spring practice and will miss the season. Ben Olson hurt his foot Aug. 9 and is expected to be sidelined for two months, continuing the pair's run of injuries over the past two seasons.
The Bruins' early season success will now depend heavily on the play of third-stringer Kevin Craft, a junior college transfer who started five games at San Diego State in 2006, and backup Chris Forcier, a redshirt freshman.
These teams have not met since Tennessee's 30-24 win on Sept. 6, 1997 at the Rose Bowl. The Volunteers are 7-4-2 against the Bruins.
The Pick: Look for Tennessee to make a statement today; Vols easily cover -7 1/2 ATS.
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