Neuheisel wins his debut

freaking awesome game. I was there. I'm typing on my iPhone. Kevin craft did a good job of not letting the 4 interceptions get to him. He played great in the second half. Norm chow did an awesome job crafting an offense around a weak off line. The d was scaring me in the late second half probably because they were tired. It almost reminded me of notre dame game two years ago. Great way to start the season. Kudos to crn. National television, lots of attention, recruits watching etc. Tennesse is our second toughest so this game speaks well for the rest of the season. Crowd was hot 68,000 strong. The monopoly is damn close to being over! An great fireworks at the end! Go bruins!

Great game and great effort by the coaches and players. When you have four turnovers in the first half and you're only down 14-7, it's a good sign. UT could never put us away and that's really what Neu, Chow, and Walker are hoping for.

And Wolf, nice comment. Perhaps most fans are on other sites or are out partying after the game. It also may be that the Daily News is more of a USC site. After all, the best parts of town are owned by the Times.

We were at the game too (me and the little bruin boy and girl) and were thrilled with the effort of a team that is young and inexperienced, with a QB still learning the system and coverage keys. Kudos to the coaches for halftime adjustments, to the team, esp. Kevin Craft and the line, for second half heart and effort, and to the fans for hanging in there throughout the game to a win! Remember, Tennessee is no patsy, ranked 18th but much of the same team that beat Georgia (ranked #1) last year. Anyway, a good start no matter how you frame it.

Grades:
Coaching: A They outcoached tennessee with decision making and play calling. Great adjustments in 2nd half. Only negative was the poach punt that led to the field goal.

Defense: A - Defense played with heart. Corner back and safety play needs work as I held my breath a couple of times with the smaller corners. Also, need to learn how to tackle better as small secondary was taken to school once the running back got into defense.

Offense - B - QB was F- in 1st half but B in 2nd half. The offensive line played admirably. Only allowed 1 sack. Play calling and athletic play of quarterback avoiding rush was key (if BO was in, there would have been around 6 sacks). Need to improve on run blocking.

Scott or whoever is using his name...leave the bottle on the bar and go away.

IT is the Intangibles, Brian. The intangibles.

Go Bruins!

WOW what a fantastic game!! i luv this team!!

1) fighting through adversity: with all the pre-season injuries, having to start a 3rd string qb with a baby o-line, and then during the game losing our best receiver, everett, our best tailback, bell, our best tight end, paulson... wow what a performance, dohn u should write a story on that, awesome!

2) coaching staff: when they showed those personal camera shots of chow up in the box, i just had to pinch myself i still cant believe it! im no expert or anything, but wow it has to be evident that the way this game was called was just genius. i took a peek on the tennessee boards and they are all screaming theyve been outcoached. dwalker, you are so legit, i hope we get to keep u for a while longer! CRN, now that hes a little older and wiser, he really is a big-time, big-program, elite type of head coach...recruits have gotta wanna play for this guy!

3) craft: whoa he went from child to man right before our eyes! i hope this jekyl and hyde thing isnt an every game thing tho, but man im proud of that guy.

4) o-line: what a fantastic job they did with what they got. not many rushing yards but thats ok. everyone expected lots of sacks and mess ups and stuff but they were good enough and worked hard enough pre-season to not allow that. hardly any false starts and mishaps, guys, we have a great coaching staff, and kids with tons of heart.

5) defense: the tenn o-line only gave up 4 sacks last season, leading the nation in that (i think). wow price and harwell showed they are elite in the nation what they did to disrupt and penetrate. only thing slowing them down is fatigue. dwalker and his schemes are just awesome.

6) ucla kicking: we are so blessed to have yet another awesome, reliable kicker in forbath, i dont know if that gets enough credit. (punter got skillz too)

7) sucks to be a volunteer!: checking their boards, wow. something about their uniform, they wore orange pants or something that they wore in SEC championship game against lsu, and the white top orange bottom color scheme hasnt been worn since 1992...and they lost. i feel so bad for them. ...not.

awesome stuff, exciting season
GO BRUINZ!!

We will see if Diohn admits he was wrong with his prediction that that the O-Line would lose this game!??
You could argue that they did enough to win the contest!

What more can I say that hasn't already been said about this hard to believe victory and that riveting 4th quarter?

Can't forget the contribution of the Bosworth Bros. in our defensive scheme. And we have good hands in our receiving corps.

I'm not really into grading each part of the team but suffice to say the guys all get a big A from me for their energy, emotion, no-quit attitude, and intelligence.

Did you hear the UT band play "ROCKY FLOP"?

MONOPOLY OVER, GAME ON!!!!!!

Where is the prophet "Lawyer John", who so arrogantly prognosticated that Tennessee would win? Why don't you come out of hiding to admit you were 100% flat out wrong? I would think this to be easy, since it happens so often out of you. When and where shall we meet for that game of poker?

This win now gives this young Bruins squad a feeling of confidence that will last all through this week and next with the bye heading into the BYU game which now looks winnable (is there such a word?) Regardless, an overtime "W" is 100x better than a close loss that fans would have labeled a "moral victory."

Check out this article from the Tennessee newspaper and look at the comments from the Vols fans. You would think they just lost 65-0. Every other comment is to fire Fulmer or that Crompton is the worst QB in Vols history. It is hilarous. BTW - The Bruins def. line is going to be huge as they dominated the Vols vaunted O-line. Go Bruins!!

http://www.govolsxtra.com/news/2008/sep/02/ucla-defeats-tennessee-overtime-27-24/

It was a riveting, highly entertaining game.

And fundamentally Las Vegas had it pegged right. A bruin offensive line that probably would not open up holes for its runners (30 total yards), a ucla defense that would keep the team in the game but probably would not win it for them, and a veteran Vols' offensive line that would be able to move on the ground (about 170 yards).

That said, a fumble by Foster near the goal line that would have put the Vols up by 14 points would have probably driven a stake in the local's heart; also, that punt block and touchdown helped a bit.

If these teams played 10 times Tennessee would probably win 8 or 9. Of course, that means ucla would win 1 or 2, and the stars were aligned properly for this perfect storm to occur on this night.

But does this change the fundamentals of how the game should have been bet? No. A Tennessee bet would still be the smart money.

Of course, I don't bet because I love to root for the underdog, and boy, was that ucla quarterback the underdog for much of the game.

Does anybody know what song was playing when the Bruins ran out on the field in the beginning of the game?

Congrats to the UCLA Trojans on the big win. Seems as if their mascot is the only thing left to take from that prgoram. But hey, anything that helps the Pac-10 beat the SEC is ok with me!

What more can be said of this amazing, great win?! Although we may win a game or two we should probably lose -- and lose some games we should probably win -- I AM SO PROUD OF THIS TEAM, from the coaches on down! The storyline was great and you couldn't write a better script; all the elements of drama were there. Congrats, boys, enjoy this win!

Wow!

What a great second half. Once the first half jitters were worked out at half time, Bruins looked great. They made Tennessee look so-so... and overrated.

If the second half Craft is playing the rest of the way, this is not going to be the poor season so many predicted.

Bruin football is back.

And as a Trojan fan, I am glad to see it! Let's get it on in December!

I don't know. I think Brian was dead-on about the offensive line. I mean 29 yards rushing on 31 carries? That's .935 yards a carry. Yeah, Craft was only sacked once, but the offense was designed to prevent sacks, the use of the shot gun formation, rolling him out, and quick hitters. I seem to recall Craft on the ground a lot and under a lot of pressure. He just did a great job of getting rid of the ball. The O-line didn't exactly dominate the line of scrimmage but, if it helps their confidence, I'll go along with it. Anyway, great win.