GAME NOTES: The lowly UL-Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns have traveled to Knoxville for a non-conference clash with a group of Tennessee Volunteers who are just one win shy of bowl eligibility. UL-Lafayette is coming off a bye week, and the team will need all the rest to overcome what seems to be a significant disparity in talent. The Ragin' Cajuns suffered a 39-32 loss to Florida Atlantic last time out in a heart-breaking overtime game. Considering that UL- Lafayette has had no luck against teams from its own Sun Belt Conference, facing a team from the talent-packed SEC seems like a daunting task. As for Tennessee, it has won three of its last four outings to move to 5-3 overall. The Vols showed a great deal of toughness last weekend to outlast nationally- ranked South Carolina by a 27-24 final in overtime. Tennessee is now 4-0 at home, an obvious reason for confidence. The Vols can also feel good about the fact that their only previous series meeting with UL-Lafayette resulted in a 38-3 victory back in 1992. That win was the first as Tennessee's head coach for Phillip Fulmer.

UL-Lafayette is averaging 24.4 ppg and 388.4 total ypg this season, and the Cajuns rely heavily on the ground attack to move the ball and score points. In fact, 242.5 ypg are generated by the run at an average of 5.6 yards per carry. Michael Desormeaux, the team's quarterback, is the top ground gainer with 833 yards and six touchdowns. As a passer, Desormeaux has completed 53.4 percent of his throws for 1,106 yards and eight touchdowns against seven interceptions. The top receiver on the roster is Derrick Smith, as he has made 35 catches for 583 yards and three touchdowns. ULL lost the last game to Florida Atlantic despite rushing for 317 yards on 53 carries. Desormeaux ran the ball for 145 yards, including touchdown runs of 19 and 32 yards. As a passer, he totaled 121 yards on 14 completions and was intercepted once.

The defensive unit of UL-Lafayette has been horrendous this season, the most obvious reason for the 1-7 record. The Ragin' Cajuns are allowing 37.8 ppg and 494.0 total ypg, numbers that are simply unacceptable. They have yielded 19 rushing touchdowns and 19 passing scores, as they have proven to be weak against both means of attack. Foes are gaining 5.0 rushing ypc and 12.2 yards per pass completion. Antwyn Zanders has made 57 total tackles to lead UL- Lafayette. Once again, the Cajuns put forth a weak defensive effort in the narrow loss to Florida Atlantic two weeks ago. A total of 434 yards were surrendered to go along with 39 points.

Tennessee gained a modest 317 total yards against South Carolina in last weekend's overtime victory. The Vols posted 101 rushing yards on 28 carries for an unimpressive average of 3.6 ypc. As for the passing game, they averaged 8.3 yards per completion, a poor figure by any standards. Fortunately, Tennessee was able to take full advantage of four South Carolina turnovers, as two of the three offensive touchdowns scored by the Vols came on short drives. Tennessee is posting 31.2 ppg and 404.0 total ypg this season, solid numbers for the offense. Erik Ainge, the team's quarterback, has completed 65 percent of his passes for 2,013 yards with 14 touchdowns and five interceptions. Lucas Taylor leads the Vols in receiving with 47 catches for 690 yards and three scores. As for the ground attack, Arian Foster is tops with 700 yards and nine touchdowns.

Considering that Tennessee surrendered 501 total yards and 31 first downs to South Carolina last weekend, it is hard to say that the Vols played well defensively. Afterall, the defenders spent more than 36 minutes on field. Still, the fact that Tennessee was able to come up with four takeaways overshadowed all the yardage allowed. Opponents are racking up 31.2 ppg against the Vols, who are yielding 418.5 total ypg. Considering that Tennessee is scoring and surrendering the exact same amount of points while also yielding more yards than it gains, the club is fortunate to be 5-3 at this point. Many big plays have been made through the air against the Vols, and there has been room to run on the ground as well.

Clearly, Tennessee does not play good enough defense to be mentioned among the elite teams in the SEC. Still, the Vols will easily move to 6-1 by destroying UL-Lafayette this weekend.

Sports Network Predicted Outcome: Tennessee 41, UL-Lafayette 9