McCoy: "Personally, I liked it … It was kind of crazy, but it was cool. Coach Kiffin is trying to get everyone fired up about Tennessee football, and it worked. He had everyone in that room fired up."

Smith: "I loved it, especially when that coach ripped off his shirt like The Incredible Hulk. It was high intensity. I enjoyed the whole day. They [Tennessee] definitely moved up on my list."

Volger: "It was awesome. I didn’t know how to react at first. I said to myself, ‘Oh my God, these people are crazy.’ Then after talking to them later in the day, I realized that’s just their style. That’s how they go."

. . . to our use of end zone dances and blackouts and suchlike. I’m not quoting him verbatim, but the gist of his question was this:

“When are y’all going to just line up and beat somebody?”

The difference, of course, is that Mark Richt already had a fine track record of going out and winning games without gimmickry (Tennessee 2001, Auburn 2002, and particularly Alabama 2002 spring to mind).

Good for Lane Kiffin for firing up the recruits. He’s also ticking off the competition. It’s never a good idea to turn an institutional rivalry into a personal feud, particularly when your annual slate requires you to go up against Bobby Johnson, Urban Meyer, Mark Richt, Nick Saban, and Steve Spurrier each and every autumn.

Let’s see how impressed the recruits are when other S.E.C. teams start breaking one off in the Vols in order to put Laney-Boy in his place.

That’s Gillett’s schtick, right?