It was immediately apparent, the way Erik Ainge picked apart the Cal defense last Saturday, that he has regained the confidence he had lost during a disastrous 2005 season. The junior completed 11 of 18 passes for 291 yards and four touchdowns in the Volunteers' 35-18 romp, and looked more than ready to fulfill the potential he had flashed as a freshman. Ainge's performance left me wondering: Just who was the real quarterbacking guru in this game? Cal coach Jeff Tedford is renowned for developing efficient and accurate collegiate passers, having tutored Trent Dilfer, Akili Smith, Joey Harrington, David Carr, Kyle Boller and Aaron Rodgers, all of whom went on to become first-round NFL draft picks (alas, the difficulties those players (sans Rodgers) have had in the pros is a column for another time). But Golden Bears starting quarterback Nate Longshore looked terrible, albeit in the face of a fierce Tennessee pass rush.
In my eyes, the real pass-master at Neyland Stadium on Saturday was Vols offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe, who is back in his old job after seven years in exile. From 1993 to '99, he molded the Tennessee offense into one of college football's most potent. The Volunteers went 63-11 over that span, led the SEC in total offense twice and won the 1998 national championship. Along the way, Cutcliffe groomed Peyton Manning into a superstar. Cutcliffe carries such prestige in Knoxville that Ainge said of him after the game, "If he told me to play without a helmet or a mouthpiece, with one cleat, I'd do it. Whatever he tells me, I'm going to do. I think we've all bought in as an offense." Cutcliffe knew that Ainge would be facing a Cal secondary that was without All-Pac-10 cornerback Tim Mixon, who is out for the year with a torn ACL. And it was Cutcliffe who had Ainge test Mixon's replacement; redshirt freshman cornerback Syd'Quan Thompson, on Tennessee's first offensive play of the game, a 41-yard completion to wideout Robert Meachem. Cutcliffe returned again and again to the matchup of the 6-foot-3 Meachem and the 5-11 Thompson -- who was playing his first college game with a fractured left thumb -- twice producing long touchdowns off of 5-yard hitch routes that saw Meacham shed Thompson's tackles.
It was that sort of astute game-planning that many Volunteers fans felt the team was missing under the man who replaced Cutcliffe after he left to coach Ole Miss, former offensive coordinator Randy Sanders. Tennessee's offense went from overdrive to reverse in the course of seven seasons. On their way to a disastrous 5-6 finish in 2005, the Volunteers ranked 90th in Division I-A in total offense and 101st in scoring offense. Sanders resigned after a loss to South Carolina last October.
Cutcliffe, a year removed from being fired at Ole Miss (where, by the way, he turned Eli Manning into a superstar), had spent the 2005 season hanging out in Knoxville and appearing on local radio. When Tennessee head coach Phillip Fulmer -- a longtime friend -- called on him last November to return to Orange Nation, Cutcliffe jumped at the chance. He immediately began shuffling the offensive staff, bringing in two protégés, tight ends coach Matt Luke and running backs coach Kurt Roper, and moving running backs coach Trooper Taylor to wide receivers.
The remodeled staff has taken charge, and through the first game, at least, Ainge and the Volunteers offense appear to be on a mission. The rest of the SEC better watch out. In Sports Illustrated's college football preview, I picked Tennessee to finish 8-4. One of those losses was supposed to be to Cal. Whoops. With Air Force coming up this weekend, Tennessee should be 2-0 heading into next Saturday's showdown with Florida in Knoxville. I'm starting to think 11-1 isn't out of reach.
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