KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Team meetings at the Birmingham Marriott were winding down the night before Tennessee was set to take on top-ranked and unbeaten Alabama in 2009, and Ed Orgeron wanted everyone's attention.
To get the Vols pumped up, the fiery defensive line coach took an overhead projector and hurled it into a wall, where it shattered into pieces. Then it was Lane Kiffin's turn. The brash young head coach had an announcement.
"He gets up there and says, 'I've already called back to the University of Tennessee and told them that we're going to stay an extra night after we beat Alabama tomorrow, and we're going to go eat some of those Dreamland ribs and hang out at their bars,'" recounted Marlon Walls, then a freshman defensive lineman.