My Take On Lane Kiffin

If for some odd reason you want to hear my take on Lane Kiffin from this morning on "The Morning Jones" show with Bomani Jones you can click this link, go down to the "The Morning Jones" banner near the bottom, click archives and go to the 3rd clip for today, January 13.

If you get a chance to hear it leave a comment and let me know what you think. It was a little early in the morning so I know I said "you know" a little too much lol.

Want To Know How Vol Nation Is Taking The News Of Lane Kiffin's Abrupt Departure?

I think the picture says it all...

A Contrast In Bad Offensive Coaching

Both my alumni, the Tennessee Volunteers and the Ohio State Buckeyes lost close games yesterday that went down to the wire. The scores were even similar as the Vols lost 19-15 at home and the Buckeyes lost 18-15 at home. But although in my opinion the offensive game plans of each team lost them the game, they were on opposite ends of the spectrum.

With my Vols it was a frustrating game to watch because instead of using our big powerful offensive line and our stable of backs to pound UCLA into submission, Lane Kiffin inexplicably decided to put the game in the hands of senior quarterback Johnathan Crompton. For those who may not have been paying attention last year, Crompton started the season off then as the Vols starting quarterback and then had a just god awful game against UCLA to start the year and lost his starting position. Well he may have had a worse game yesterday and yet Kiffin kept trying to show his guru cred passing the ball instead of unleashing our backs on the Bruins. Mind you last week one of the only points of concern when the Vols faced Western Kentucky was Crompton's interceptions.

Not only was Kiffin pass happy but he was also bootleg pass happy, consistently putting Crompton in positions where he had pressure in his face right away and had to make quick decisions with the ball. For a kid who was already having a tough game, that was almost cruel to watch. Then when we actually get into a situation where we do need a pass, on 4th and 3 near the goal line with the game on the line, Kiffin calls a run right up the middle.

Guru my ass!

Ohio State on the other hand was too conservative, mostly when they got near the goalline. For reasons that are not obvious to me, Jim Tressell decided against going with a quarterback sneak twice when the Buckeyes were within the 2 yard line. Instead of using one of the most dynamic running quarterbacks in major college football right now, Terrelle Pryor, on a sneak, he decided to kick two field goals. Well field goals will get you beat against a good team and USC is a little bit better than good. Besides that Ohio States defense was playing really well up until the last drive of the game and had Pryor not been able to get the ball in the endzone, USC would have had the ball backed up with a freshman quarterback on about the one yardline.

In all reality this is the reason why Tressell now has the reputation of not winning the big games. You can not let opportunities like that slip away just because you are trying not to lose. I found myself being conflicted watching the game because I had a feeling that Ohio State would win and that Pryor would have a big game and also that USC was somewhat overrated. But watching those kinds of coaching moves I had a hard time pulling for Ohio State. I can not abide coaches who do not play to win. They do a disservice to their teams and their schools.

I love watching football and the games yesterday were phenomenal, but I hate to see games where coaches fail their players. I feel like in both of these games the coaches should take full responsibility because they had the better teams but didn't make the better decisions.

Lane Kiffin Hearts Rich Rodriguez

You gotta think that Lane Kiffin is up there in Knoxville loving the fact that there is another relatively young head coach at a storied program in a major conference is getting in a lot of trouble and taking the focus of of him. I wonder if he will send Rich Rodriguez a thank you note, lol.

Rich Rodriguez and Mike Barwis will never say this, but the impression I got was that they thought Michigan was soft.

That was after spending a couple of days last summer in Ann Arbor chronicling the new regime brought in from West Virginia. This was before 3-9, before the end of Michigan's 33-year bowl streak. This was a look at a young, aggressive staff -- Rodriguez the head coach, Barwis the strength coach -- getting ready to rip up the rug and put in entirely new carpet. So to speak.

"It's definitely a culture change," former defensive back Morgan Trent told me. "What first hit us was the strength and conditioning aspect. The lifts we were doing, that was the biggest culture shock. That was rough, it still is rough.

"It's fun to see your body change. Gaining weight and gaining muscle, getting in true shape."

Those words echoed after reading the results of a report in the Detroit Free Press of Michigan's alleged violations of NCAA weekly work limits for athletes.

The Freep quotes several anonymous sources -- parents and players -- saying that the Michigan staff overworked players. Before reading the entire account, my first reaction was, "So what? I bet every program fudges a little bit on the 20-hour NCAA work week."

There is no gray area in the Freep report. The story is solid and well reported, although it was a bit troubling that not one of the accusing sources went on the record. The Freep said the sources feared repercussions from the coaching staff. I'll buy that. Sooner or later, though, names are going to have to be attached with comments.

Sunday's in-season routine at Michigan was especially troubling. Into the facility early in the morning after a game, four hours of lifting, team meetings, perhaps not home until 10 p.m. Some schools have their mandatory off day on Sundays during the season. Even if players aren't off, I can't think of one program that works players to that extent the day after a game.