University of Tennessee Athletics
Game Preview: ULL vs. Tennessee
October 29, 2007 | Football
Tennessee-La.-Lafayette Series History/Notes
Tennessee???s lone previous meeting with Louisiana-Lafayette came on Sept. 5, 1992, with the Volunteers posting a 38-3 season-opening victory in Knoxville (ULL was then known as Southwestern Louisiana). That game holds a degree of significance in the fact that it was the first head coaching win credited to Phillip Fulmer.
Fulmer, now in his 16th season at the Big Orange reins, boasts a 4-0 career record against current members of the Sun Belt Conference, including a 48-27 win over Arkansas State earlier this season. Fulmer is 7-3 all-time against teams from the state of Louisiana.
Five players on Tennessee???s 2007 roster???Chris Brown (Destrehan), Ahmad Paige (Monroe), Jarrod Shaw (Lafayette), Lucas Taylor (Carencro) and Ja???Kouri Williams (Plaquemine)???hail from the state of Louisiana. Brown and Taylor both have started every game for UT this season, and Brown also has served as a game captain.
Tennessee head strength and conditioning coach Johnny Long is a native of Baton Rouge, La., and UT wide receivers coach Trooper Taylor twice coached against Louisiana-Lafayette during his five-year stint as an assistant at Tulane (located in New Orleans).
Cajuns??? defensive line coach Shawn Quinn played college football and graduated from Carson-Newman College in Jefferson City, Tenn., before serving as a graduate assistant at Tennessee from 1999-2001.
Before the summer of 2006, this week originally was slated as an off-week for the Vols. Tennessee was scheduled to play Central Florida on Sept. 29 of this season before the Knights opted out of that contract last summer. The Vols announced the game against Louisiana-Lafayette on July 18, 2006.
Vols Lead FBS In Sacks Allowed
Tennessee???s offensive line has allowed just three sacks this season, and just two against starting quarterback Erik Ainge. Overall, the Vols have attempted 311 passes, meaning UT???s opponents are averaging one sack in every 103.7 attempts.
The Big Orange lead the nation (FBS) in sacks allowed, giving up just more than a third of a sack per game (0.38). Three of Tennessee???s remaining opponents currently average close to two or more sacks per game. Vanderbilt ranks tied for 11th with 3.13 sacks per game; Arkansas is tied for 55th with 2.13 sacks per game, and Kentucky is tied for 67th with 1.89 sacks per game. Tennessee faces that trio on consecutive Saturdays from Nov. 10-24.
The Vols??? outstanding pass protection???a credit to offensive line coach Greg Adkins and the depth of his unit???has given Ainge plenty of time to make good decisions when throwing the football. Ainge has thrown five interceptions in 300 attempts this year. For his career, Ainge is averaging one interception every 33.0 pass attempts.
Prior to a fourth-quarter sack by South Carolina against Ainge last Saturday, the senior had attempted 290 straight passes without being sacked. His only other sack this year came during the season-opener at Cal in what would have been his third attempt of the game/season.
Vols Taking Care of Business in Homecoming Games
Tennessee has celebrated Homecoming 83 times since the first festivities in 1916. In those games, the Volunteers have posted a record of 64-16-3 (.789).
In the 14 Homecoming games that Phillip Fulmer has coached, Tennessee is 13-1 with an average margin of victory of 24.2 points. The only Homecoming loss in the Fulmer era came at the hands of Miami (Fla.), 26-3, in 2002.
Only once in school history has Tennessee hosted a team in the Sun Belt Conference for homecoming. That game, against Louisiana-Monroe in 2000, was a 70-3 Tennessee win.
Ainge 18th On SEC's Career TD Passes List
Senior quarterback Erik Ainge is on track to hold a prominent place on the SEC???s all-time chart for career touchdown passes. He presently ranks 18th in SEC history with 55 scoring strikes.
Ainge joins a pair of former Volunteers on the SEC???s top-20 list. Peyton Manning (1994-97) ranks second in SEC history with 89 touchdown passes, and Casey Clausen (2000-03) ranks seventh with 75.
2005 Wide Receivers Signees Coming of Age
Tennessee wideouts Josh Briscoe, Austin Rogers and Lucas Taylor were all members of UT???s 2005 signing class. Their collective impact on the Vols??? offense had been minimal prior to this season, but they have been clutch thus far in 2007.
- All three players have already set new career-highs for catches and yards.
- Taylor has 47 catches for 690 yards and three touchdowns this season. The Carencro, La., native is currently second in the SEC with 86.2 receiving yards per game and is fourth in the SEC averaging 5.9 receptions per game.
- Rogers has 35 catches for 428 yards and one touchdown this season. The Nashville, Tenn., native averages 53.5 yards per game and is tied for ninth in the SEC with 4.4 receptions per game.
- Briscoe has 35 catches for 291 yards and two touchdowns this season. The Shelby, N.C., native is tied for ninth in the SEC with 4.4 receptions per game.
Berry Living Up To The Hype
Eric Berry came to UT as one of the nation???s most highly soughtafter prospects, and the Fairburn, Ga., native has done nothing to diminish those thoughts during his freshman campaign.
Berry has started all eight games this season and is currently fifth on the team with 45 tackles after setting a career-high last weekend against South Carolina with 12. Berry is third in the SEC among true freshmen in tackles and trails rookie leader Rolando McClain of Alabama by only two tackles.
The starting safety also has added a big-play element to Tennessee???s defense. Berry???s 96-yard interception return for a touchdown at Florida tied for the third longest in the history of Tennessee football. It was the longest by a Vol since Art Reynolds returned an interception 96 yards against Memphis State in 1972.
Berry???s 52-yard fumble return to set up a first-and-goal against South Carolina was the longest fumble return by a Vol since Julian Battle rumbled 81 yards for a touchdown at Notre Dame in 2001.
Foster Climbing UT's All-Time Rushing List
Junior tailback Arian Foster???s 139-yard performance against Mississippi State Oct. 13 propelled him into the top 20 on UT???s all time rushing list.
He currently ranks 13th in school history with 1,901 career rushing yards and needs just 189 yards to break into Tennessee???s all time top 10.
Foster is on pace to net 1,050 rushing yards this season. That would give him the 12th-best single-season total in school history. And should his career average of 63.4 rushing yards hold steady throughout his career, Foster could make a serious run at Travis Henry???s school record of 3,078 career yards (1997-2000).
Coker Getting Drives Off To Good Starts
Sophomore tailback LaMarcus Coker has been a force in the kick-return game this season, having already set a UT single-game record with 207 return yards against Florida.
In seven games played this season, Coker is averaging 26.7 yards per kickoff return, a mark good enough for fourth in the SEC. For the season, Coker has 21 returns for 560 yards, which puts him on pace to set new UT single-season marks in both returns (28, Willie Gault in 1980) and yards (662, Willie Gault in 1980).
The speedy tailback is also climbing up UT???s career kick-return charts. Coker is currently tied for eighth all-time in return yardage with 740 and is ninth in career returns with 30.
Coker took over the kick-return duties in the Florida game Sept. 15. Since, Tennessee???s average starting field position when Coker returns a kick is the 31-yard line. He has returned seven kicks past the 35-yard line and been tackled inside the 20 only three times.
Perhaps Coker???s most crucial kick return this season came last week against South Carolina. Tennessee trailed 24-21 with just 1:24 remaining in the game when Coker took a kickoff at the 10 and returned it 37 yards to the Tennessee 47, trekking from one sideline to the other in the process. The return set up the Vols??? offense for a game-tying, field-goal drive.
