The Powder Blue Neuheisels Bring Down "Big Orange" 19-15

Lane Kiffin got his first test as head coach at Tennessee facing L.A.'s other college football team, UCLA, and didn't pass.

Neither the Vols or the Bruins lit it up offensively. UCLA only had 186 yards of total offense but the Vols only could generate 208 yards.

A big reason why the Bruins prevailed at Neyland Stadium Saturday was that their quarterback, Kevin Prince, made the least mistakes. Prince was 11-23 for 101 yards and a touchdown but no interceptions.

Tennessee quarterback Jonathan Crompton hasn't endeared himself to the Vol nation and after his performance Saturday against UCLA the fans of big orange are seeing red.

Crompton stat line: 13-26 passing for 93 yards, no touchdowns but 3 interceptions.

Tennessee head coach Lane Kiffin took the blame for Crompton's performance when asked if he considered pulling his starting quarterback.

"No. I thought I didn't do a very good job today of taking care of Jonathan." Kiffin said. "I tried to stay with the run game a lot of times as you can see with the lopsided ratio of run-to-pass. I think we ran the ball 44 times or something. We've got to do better. I think that showed today, which is my fault for playing some players who haven't practiced enough because of injuries and hoping they would go out there and make plays. That really makes Jonathan suffer. So we didn't do very many good things around him."

So Kiffin was hell bent on running the ball down the throats of UCLA and the Bruin defense didn't break.

"Our defense from the second to the end of the third quarter really dominated the ball." UCLA head coach Rick Neuheisel said, "From field position to turnovers, I felt like our defense was taking over the game so I didn't feel it was necessary to be risky offensively."

So what results will the Vols have against SEC defenses which are among the best. I can't imagine what the 3rd Saturday in October will be like for UT when they face Alabama. UCLA's defense might have dominated Saturday but they didn't look as awesome as Alabama's has been.

Kiffin may not be very confident in his offense and after Saturday, especially the passing game.

Meanwhile UCLA just might be a factor in the Pac-10. You don't go into the den of Neyland Stadium and win without being a really good football team. Winning a close game against an SEC team on the road will be huge for the Bruins confidence. This was a team that already felt disrespected nationally, in the Pac-10 and in L.A. UCLA earned respect Saturday.

Tennessee has some work to do.

Tennessee Photo Courtesy: Amy Smotherman Burgess/Knoxville News

UCLA Photo Courtesy: AP