I gotta say, Oregon really is looking like one of the most probable contenders for the National Championship. Stacked offense. If their D tightens down, then they will win it for sure, I think.
As for the Vols, they have a lot of freshmen starting now. Very young. Great energy in the first half, good running game, and the fact the defense held a pac 10 powerhouse to 3 points starting out was impressive, but they had to go the full 60 minutes if they were to have any shot at victory. Seems like they lost their energy after coming out from that break from the lightening storm, and from there on it was downhill. Defense gave up. Oregon adjusted to shut down Tennessee's outside running game. Sad site to see, that's for sure!
As for Daniel Lincoln, regardless of the loss, he is putting up EXTREMELY impressive stats thus far and I look forward to seeing my boy graduate from UT this year and potentially move onto the NFL. While it's rare for a kicker to go drafted, unless a team is desperate, they'll grab one late here & there, there's still a good chance he can earn some props for his performance vs Pac 10 opponents such as Oregon and prove his NFL readiness to go undrafted free agent and sign on with a team. That'd be sick to have a good friend playing professionally!