09/07/2008 - Nashville, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rookie Chris Johnson logged 127 total yards, including 93 on the ground with a receiving touchdown, as the Tennessee Titans used a terrific defensive effort to shut down the Jacksonville Jaguars, 17-10 in the season-opener for both teams.
The loss may have been costly for the Titans (1-0), as quarterback Vince Young went down with a sprained left knee late in the fourth quarter. Young rolled to his right and threw a pass that was dropped by LenDale White, who rushed for Tennessee's other TD. Jaguars linebacker Daryl Smith jumped to block the pass and fell directly on the lower half of Young's left leg.
The young signal-caller finished with 110 passing yards with a touchdown and two interceptions on 12-of-22 passes, while Bo Scaife had a game-high 105 receiving yards on six receptions for Tennessee, which won back-to-back season openers against its AFC South rival.
The Tennessee defense shined with six sacks, three turnovers and 33 yards against on the ground.
David Garrard had little time to throw for Jacksonville (0-1), finishing with 215 yards on 23-of-35 throws, including two picks and a TD. The dynamic backfield of Maurice Jones-Drew and Fred Taylor were held to 31 combined yards on the ground, with Taylor tallying 18 for the Jaguars, who won their first playoff game since the 1999 campaign last season. Matt Jones led the receiving corps with six catches for 80 yards.
The Jaguars couldn't cash in on good field position on their opening drive, and the Titans took advantage, driving down the field behind consecutive carries of 18 and 11 yards from Johnson. The march stalled, however, and the home team settled for a 47-yard Rob Bironas field goal.
Early in the second, the Jags caught a break when Young was intercepted by Gerald Sensabaugh, who returned the pick 23 yards to the Tennessee five. On 3rd-and-goal, Garrard hit Greg Jones on a play-action pass into the right flat for the game's first TD a little under five minutes into the frame.
Johnson carried the Titans to their first touchdown of the game minutes later. He had a rush for 18 yards off the left tackle and followed up Scaife's 27- yard reception with a pair of catches for 20 and seven yards, respectively, the latter resulting in the East Carolina product's first career touchdown.
On the ensuing possession, Garrard drove the Jags down inside the opponent's 20, but Kyle Vanden Bosch broke through the offensive line, punched the ball out of the quarterback's hands and recovered the fumble to help Tennessee maintain its 10-7 lead at the break.
Jacksonville appeared to tie the game midway through the third quarter, but Josh Scobee's 37-yard field goal went wide right. Replays showed the kick went directly over the top of the goal post.
After Tennessee's Cortland Finnegan notched his second interception with 8:20 left in the game, Young gave the ball right back by throwing it into the arms of defensive end Derrick Harvey.
It mattered not for Tennessee, as Tony Brown swallowed Garrard 11 yards behind the line of scrimmage on first down, and Jacksonville punted three plays later with just over six minutes left.
Young went down with 4:14 remaining in the game and Kerry Collins came in to find Scaife across the middle on 3rd-and-15. The tight end had nothing but green in front of him, rumbling down the field for a 44-yard gain. Another third-down conversion -- a 21-yard pass to Justin Gage -- set White's goal- line dive to pay dirt, capping the nine-play, 80-yard drive.
The Jags went down the field -- aided by a roughing the passer penalty -- and had 1st-and-goal at the nine with 2:33 left, but three straight incompletions forced coach Jack Del Rio to opt for a 27-yard field goal from Scobee and a one-possession game.
Jacksonville had one last chance with 14 ticks remaining and the ball on the their own 30, but, fittingly, Albert Haynesworth sacked Garrard to end the game.
Game Notes
The Jaguars missed mammoth offensive tackle Richard Collier, who remains in critical condition after he was shot early Tuesday morning outside an apartment complex in Jacksonville...Tennessee leads the all-time regular season series with the Jaguars, 15-12...Brown and Haynesworth each had two sacks...White finished with 40 yards rushing on 15 carries. Johnson also had 15 carries for the victors...Jones-Drew tallied 37 receiving yards in the loss.
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My fellow Americans, as tempting as it may be to don the coat and HD-ready tie in order to deliver this State of the Game address before the cameras, I know better. As Brad Paisley sings on his latest album, "I'm so much cooler online."
The ideas for this annual essay to kick off the MySportsbook.com college football betting preview flowed like frat-house beer, which is to say they were cheap and spilled all over the floor. The 2007 season will be better than 2007, if only because there will be more of it. A year ago, the NCAA Football Rules Committee made two rule changes in the interest of speeding up the game. These changes went over like Kobe burgers at a vegan banquet.
To its credit, the rules committee rectified its mistakes. This season the clock once again will start when a kickoff is received, rather than when it is kicked, and the clock will not start so quickly on a change of possession.
However, kickoffs have been moved back five yards, to the 30, which will force more returns. (Thus forcing the clock to run. Clever, huh?) Special teams might decide a lot of games, because coaching strategy will come straight out of another new Paisley lyric (almost), I'd like to check you for kicks.
Paisley sings with a twang, which is why he's appropriate for this college football season. The sun coming up over the 2007 college football betting lines season rises from the south. It's a Southern football world. As the Southeastern Conference begins its 75th year, the power shift is noticeable.
Eight-figure budgets, glamorous settings -- and that's just for the head coaches. The SEC has four coaches who have won national championships -- the greatest aggregation of coaching know-how since Eddie Robinson dined alone.
Steve Spurrier, Phil Fulmer, Nick Saban and Urban Meyer have given lie to the idea that a conference championship game is too daunting a hurdle on the road to No. 1. In six of the past 10 seasons, the national champions played and won a conference championship game -- three of the six (Tennessee, 1998; LSU, 2003; Florida, 2007) from the SEC.
There will be more of the same this season, if the preseason prognostications are correct. Six SEC teams are in the preseason coaches' poll, more than from any other conference. Only one conference has talent so deep that a team with 15 returning starters, including the best quarterback in the league, from an eight-win season is considered an afterthought. That may speak more to Kentucky's losing legacy than to the wisdom of the predictions, but there you have it. And seriously, keep an eye on Wildcats QB Andre' Woodson.
The reach of the South extends all the way to No. 1. Take a look at the team that is a consensus pick to win the national championship. The quarterback is from Shreveport. The best wide receiver is from Nashville. The top recruit is from New Orleans.
So what's the campus doing in Los Angeles? Hey, it is the University of Southern California.
USC lost two Pacific-10 Conference games a year ago, the first time that had happened in five seasons, and university officials withstood the urge to form blue-ribbon panels to unearth the cause of such a disaster. Instead, the Trojans gathered themselves and routed Michigan, 32-18, in the Rose Bowl.
USC's losses at Oregon State and at UCLA last year should have given pause to those who question the Pac-10's football prowess (such as, without naming names, L.M. from Baton Rouge). The league only got deeper this season; Dennis Erickson is taking over an Arizona State team that never quite got out of its own way under his predecessor, Dirk Koetter.
Erickson will resume his quest to become the first coach to win a national championship at two schools. Both he and Spurrier, now in his third season at South Carolina, returned to college football at schools with lower profiles than where they won their titles.
That isn't the case for the third coach looking for the national championship double. You may have missed this, but NASA reported the astronauts on the space shuttle last spring made contact with what can only be described as beings from another galaxy.
The leader of the aliens said, "We come in peace," followed by, "So how do you think Nick Saban will do at Alabama?"
The public is reacting to the new Crimson Tide coach as if he is the Barry Bonds of college football -- beloved at home for what his fans believe he is going to do, hated on the road for his intimidating attitude and for what his detractors believe he did (bend NCAA recruiting rules). I made this comparison from the dais at a charity dinner in Mobile, Ala., last month, and the chill that washed over me didn't come from the air conditioning.
Saban will attempt to prove that he can remake in Tuscaloosa what he built in Baton Rouge, much like another member of the national championship fraternity. Bobby Bowden is attempting to remake at Florida State what he built at, um, Florida State. Bowden rebuilt his offensive staff, bringing in four new coaches led by Saban's former offensive coordinator, Jimbo Fisher, to jump-start an offense that has been dead for a couple of years.
The Atlantic Coast Conference is expected to show new signs of life, too. That is said with no disrespect toward last season's champion, Wake Forest, which provided one of the best story lines of 2007. The Demon Deacons begin this season in their customary position, overshadowed by the Virginia Techs, Miamis and Florida States.
It's not that Wake will find it difficult to duplicate its success in 2007 as much as the feeling that success engendered. Surprising success is the narcotic of sport. It never feels quite so euphoric the next time. Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese has figured this out. He refers to 2007, when a league looked down upon by fans and foes alike took three undefeated teams into November, as "Cinderella."
The fairy tale may be over, but the Big East has four genuine Heisman Trophy candidates in Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm, West Virginia tailback Steve Slaton and quarterback Pat White, and Rutgers tailback Ray Rice. Rutgers, as did Wake Forest and, of course, Boise State, proved last season that the have-nots in college football occasionally have quite a lot.
The Broncos' rousing 43-42 overtime victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl has raised the profile of all schools in conferences that don't get automatic BCS bids. This season, TCU and Hawaii are the preseason favorites to burst through the BCS doors and earn an at-large bid. The Warriors return 14 starters from an 11-3 team, including quarterback Colt Brennan.
Brennan not only broke the single-season record with 58 touchdown passes in 2007, but he also led Division I-A in passing efficiency (186.0). The senior is expected to contend for the Heisman Trophy, and neither his success nor the rise of his team should come as any surprise in the 2007 season.
After all, Hawaii is the southernmost team in the country.
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