Vols Preparing For Monday Opener at UCLA

The college football season kicks off this week... several games Thursday night... a bunch on Saturday... even some Friday and Sunday games... then on Monday night, on prime time ESPN-TV, the Tennessee Vols take on the UCLA Bruins in Los Angeles.

The Vols are defending SEC eastern division champions. Four starters are back in the offensive line, there's tremendous depth at wide receiver, they have one of the best tailbacks in the country in Arian Foster, their defensive secondary could be one of the nation's best... but with all of that, the Vols are flying under the national radar this season, ranked only 18th in the preseason polls.

The main reason is they have an untested quarterback in Jonathan Crompton, who'll be running the west-coast offense installed by new offensive coordinator Dave Clawson. That puts quite a bit of pressure on that offensive group.

Monday night's game will mark the return of Rick Neuheisel to UCLA... the former Bruins quarterback is their new head coach. Norm Chow, the former Southern Cal and Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator now runs the Bruins offense, which is down to their #3 quarterback come Monday. Ben Olson and Patrick Cowan are both out with injuries. Former San Diego State starter Kevin Craft, who played last season at Mt. San Antonio Junior College, will start at quarterback for the Bruins Monday night.

The game starts at 8:00 on ESPN.

Click here to hear what Vol head coach Phillip Fulmer has to say about the game.