Postgame Thoughts

#1
TNHopeful505

TNHopeful505

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#1
1. Justin Worley definitely shut up a lot of critics tonight. Can't ask for more than what he did. Only 11 incompletions, and several of those were on the WR's. His only mistakes were the two overthrown deep balls. I'm very happy with his performance. Very efficient. Managed the game well, and Bajakian called a good game to help get him in a rhythm.

2. Loved our tempo in the first half, but noticed we slowed down in the second. If we could keep up that pace we were running for a while, then holy cow. That was crazy fast offense. You could tell we wore Utah State down defensively.

3. Jancek put together a GREAT game plan to contain Keeton. So sick of hearing about him, and we shut him down. He was the only thing about Utah State that was even slightly competitive tonight.

4. Our open field and wrap up tackling was noticeably better tonight. I didn't see many missed tackles at all. Fundamentals have drastically improved. That's big.

5. A.J. Johnson....gotta love that guy. Glad he stuck around. Hoping he has a huge year.

6. Our receivers did a okay job, but there were too many drops and missed opportunities in my opinion. Where was Vic Wharton and Johnathan Johnson? Thought it was odd they both had great camps and yet didn't hear their names at all. Vic got on the field during mop up. Just thought I'd see more of him.

7. I'm so glad that Pig straightened up and got back on the team. Kid is an incredible player.

8. Pearson has got some good moves to him.

9. Josh Smith is going to be a great receiver. He's going to be Mr. Dependable.

10. NINE Tennessee Receivers had long plays over 12 yards. That's pretty impressive as well.

11. Run game has GOT to improve. Was not impressed at all. Hurd and Lane were great on their touchdowns, but average 2-3 ypc isn't gonna get it done in the SEC. They've got another week to figure it out.

12. D-Line played incredible. Loved the push, loved the physicality. Even when we had players like Couch, Sentimore, Smith, McCullers, this line looks like one of the best lines we have had in a while.

13. Not concerned that Medley missed a FG. Kid was in high school a year ago. It's Neyland.

14. "Third Down For What" is kind of annoying EVERY third down....

15. I just notice something about this team. They have swagger. They just have confidence. They have a physicality to them. Watching the defense tonight, it's like the commentator said, "This is the NEW Tennessee defense." I sure hope so.

Great game. Now let's get ready for Arkansas State. One game at a time.
 
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#2
#2
TNHopeful505 said:
1. Justin Worley definitely shut up a lot of critics tonight. Can't ask for more than what he did. Only 11 incompletions, and several of those were on the WR's. His only mistakes were the two overthrown deep balls. I'm very happy with his performance. Very efficient. Managed the game well, and Bajakian called a good game to help get him in a rhythm.

2. Loved our tempo in the first half, but noticed we slowed down in the second. If we could keep up that pace we were running for a while, then holy cow. That was crazy fast offense. You could tell we wore Utah State down defensively.

3. Jancek put together a GREAT game plan to contain Keeton. So sick of hearing about him, and we shut him down. He was the only thing about Utah State that was even slightly competitive tonight.

4. Our open field and wrap up tackling was noticeably better tonight. I didn't see many missed tackles at all. Fundamentals have drastically improved. That's big.

5. A.J. Johnson....gotta love that guy. Glad he stuck around. Hoping he has a huge year.

6. Our receivers did a okay job, but there were too many drops and missed opportunities in my opinion. Where was Vic Wharton and Johnathan Johnson? Thought it was odd they both had great camps and yet didn't hear their names at all. Vic got on the field during mop up. Just thought I'd see more of him.

7. I'm so glad that Pig straightened up and got back on the team. Kid is an incredible player.

8. Pearson has got some good moves to him.

9. Josh Smith is going to be a great receiver. He's going to be Mr. Dependable.

10. NINE Tennessee Receivers had long plays over 12 yards. That's pretty impressive as well.

11. Run game has GOT to improve. Was not impressed at all. Hurd and Lane were great on their touchdowns, but average 2-3 ypc isn't gonna get it done in the SEC. They've got another week to figure it out.

12. D-Line played incredible. Loved the push, loved the physicality. Even when we had players like Couch, Sentimore, Smith, McCullers, this line looks like one of the best lines we have had in a while.

13. Not concerned that Medley missed a FG. Kid was in high school a year ago. It's Neyland.

14. "Third Down For What" is kind of annoying EVERY third down....

15. I just notice something about this team. They have swagger. They just have confidence. They have a physicality to them. Watching the defense tonight, it's like the commentator said, "This is the NEW Tennessee defense." I sure hope so.

Great game. Now let's get ready for Arkansas State. One game at a time.
Click to expand...

I completely agree on this but on the flip side Utah State has been extremely good against the run for a couple of years now. I'll be surprised and very concerned if we don't rush for 175-200 next week.
 
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#3
#3
GLDunlap said:
I completely agree on this but on the flip side Utah State has been extremely good against the run for a couple of years now. I'll be surprised and very concerned if we don't rush for 175-200 next week.
Click to expand...

Well, that may be true as well. But I would expect a Sr. running back like Lane, and a 5* RB like Hurd to do better than 2-3 ypc.

But yes, that was one thing Utah State did well. I'll be interested to see how next week goes.
 
#4
#4
Going back to my post on Friday! "I totally believe that this will be the game that Tennessee breaks back onto the national scene. An impressive showing before an exclusive national audience will bring immeasurable attention back to Rocky Top! All we need is a sold out stadium cheering them onto a resounding victory and we are back. Let's make sure that Tennessee strikes fear into the hearts of all of their opponents this year. Yes, this is a feel good post, but I feel the break out coming. I really do! It is high time VolNation rides a wave of victories and I think we have the horses to do it! Go, Vols!"
 
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#5
#5
SeniorDrill said:
Going back to my post on Friday! "I totally believe that this will be the game that Tennessee breaks back onto the national scene. An impressive showing before an exclusive national audience will bring immeasurable attention back to Rocky Top! All we need is a sold out stadium cheering them onto a resounding victory and we are back. Let's make sure that Tennessee strikes fear into the hearts of all of their opponents this year. Yes, this is a feel good post, but I feel the break out coming. I really do! It is high time VolNation rides a wave of victories and I think we have the horses to do it! Go, Vols!"
Click to expand...

Calm it bro.

We do this every year. We beat a lesser team soundly. We may even win a second game against a lesser team soundly.
We get our hopes up and think that "this year will be the year"
And then Florida turns around and kicks our keister.

I'm happy about how we played tonight. I think that we saw some really positive things heading in some really positive directions.

BUT...we will see exactly what kind of team we have in two weeks.

I hope that we can perform with consistency against Arkansas State next week. I hope that we can focus on getting the run game into the second level, and breaking some big plays. The O-Line needs to improve, and the run game will see a different defensive front than they did tonight. Hopefully that will lead to more success.

But I will wait until Oklahoma before I believe that we have a team that can do better than 6 games. Right now, bowl game. That's the goal. Bowl is Goal.
 
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#6
#6
Loved watching this team just go out there n have fun.

The players are buying into Butch Jones: This team is something special. Butch Jones has convinced players to buy into his “brick by brick” rebuilding process and this team acts like a happy family. The players run over to each other after injuries and walk their teammates off the field. They sprint to huddles and gather like I’ve never seen a Tennessee do in recent memory. This team will be fun to watch moving forward and definitely has an unrivaled camaraderie.
Click to expand...

This is from the saturdaydownsouth page.
 
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#9
#9
TNHopeful505 said:
Calm it bro. We do this every year. We beat a lesser team soundly. We may even win a second game against a lesser team soundly.
We get our hopes up and think that "this year will be the year" And then Florida turns around and kicks our keister.
I'm happy about how we played tonight. I think that we saw some really positive things heading in some really positive directions. BUT...we will see exactly what kind of team we have in two weeks. I hope that we can perform with consistency against Arkansas State next week. I hope that we can focus on getting the run game into the second level, and breaking some big plays. The O-Line needs to improve, and the run game will see a different defensive front than they did tonight. Hopefully that will lead to more success. But I will wait until Oklahoma before I believe that we have a team that can do better than 6 games. Right now, bowl game. That's the goal. Bowl is Goal.
Click to expand...
Really? You don't see any difference between this year's and last year's team? I do. A whole lot of difference. This is the first time I saw it in a real ball game. Do you realize how close we were last year to being 7-5 instead of 5-7? I was calling 7-5 this year but after seeing South Carolina's performance, I now think we will go 8-4 to include an upset of either Georgia or Florida. Team 118 is already SEC caliber whether you want to believe it or not. JMO.
 
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#10
#10
I thought the offensive play-calling was almost terrible. How many times can you get the ball in plus territory and not get points? Do we have any other run plays other than the Dive?
 
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#11
#11
SeniorDrill said:
Really? You don't see any difference between this year's and last year's team? I do. A whole lot of difference. This is the first time I saw it in a real ball game. Do you realize how close we were last year to being 7-5 instead of 5-7? I was calling 7-5 this year but after seeing South Carolina's performance, I now think we will go 8-4 to include an upset of either Georgia or Florida. Team 118 is already SEC caliber whether you want to believe it or not. JMO.
Click to expand...

A&M can and will score on anyone. I wouldn't put too much stock in to that loss. Thompson looked bad and as good as Davis is, he can't do it with that type of QB play but they're still a 8-10 win team.
 
#12
#12
GLDunlap said:
I completely agree on this but on the flip side Utah State has been extremely good against the run for a couple of years now. I'll be surprised and very concerned if we don't rush for 175-200 next week.
Click to expand...

I agree - I also think a lot of it had to do with our O-Line, which seems to be our weakest position group by a good margin.

They'll improve.

I think Hurd looked really good for a freshman - he'll get better about hitting the hole hard & fast like I do.
 
#14
#14
Say what you want about the 3rd down music- it helped get the crowd get/stay amped up. I loved it! That's the loudest the stadium has been deep into a game for a long time.
 
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#15
#15
GahLee said:
I thought the offensive play-calling was almost terrible. How many times can you get the ball in plus territory and not get points? Do we have any other run plays other than the Dive?
Click to expand...

I thought the playcalling was pretty solid on both sides of the ball.

Hurd was shoestrings away from hitting some big plays on those dives.
 
#16
#16
SeniorDrill said:
Really? You don't see any difference between this year's and last year's team? I do. A whole lot of difference. This is the first time I saw it in a real ball game. Do you realize how close we were last year to being 7-5 instead of 5-7? I was calling 7-5 this year but after seeing South Carolina's performance, I now think we will go 8-4 to include an upset of either Georgia or Florida. Team 118 is already SEC caliber whether you want to believe it or not. JMO.
Click to expand...

There is an obvious difference in team 118 but we don't have the depth yet to win 8 games, nor a running game at this moment.
 
#18
#18
The lack of a run game really concerns me and Worley needs to hit a receiver with the deep ball but overall pretty good!
 
#20
#20
Team is very athletic. Vols deserve respect. Utah State is a solid team. Very excited about this season.

And I absolutely LOVE 3rd down for what
 
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#21
#21
pls_no_woo said:
I've got a postgame thought (a question, rather):

why the hell was SEC network saying the 1997 SEC Championship team was Tennessee's first SEC championship?

Throughout the game, there was an ad saying how afterwards SEC Network would show the 1997 Auburn - UT game and how it was our "first" conference championship...

perhaps I'm missing something but that pissed me off
Click to expand...

It was our first sec championship game victory. Maybe that's what they meant.

Only had a sec championship game since 92
 
#23
#23
GLDunlap said:
I completely agree on this but on the flip side Utah State has been extremely good against the run for a couple of years now. I'll be surprised and very concerned if we don't rush for 175-200 next week.
Click to expand...

My thoughts exactly.
 
#24
#24
I thought that the running game would have been better if the O line was better. Those backs were doing the best they could with minimal push at times.
 
#25
#25
SeniorDrill said:
Really? You don't see any difference between this year's and last year's team? I do. A whole lot of difference. This is the first time I saw it in a real ball game. Do you realize how close we were last year to being 7-5 instead of 5-7? I was calling 7-5 this year but after seeing South Carolina's performance, I now think we will go 8-4 to include an upset of either Georgia or Florida. Team 118 is already SEC caliber whether you want to believe it or not. JMO.
Click to expand...

First off, read the last item on my list. Of course I see a difference. I see a huge difference. But does that mean I think we're going to dominate every single opponent, go 12-0 and win a NC? No. Could it happen? Sure.

But we will have to play well against every single SEC team, and we are not a complete football team yet. We need to work on the run, and our young players still need to develop.

But absolutely I see a difference. And yes, we looked like an "SEC Caliber team," but so do a lot of teams in the SEC.

Like Butch said, it's not about hoping to win. It's about earning the right to win. One game at a time. Do I believe that every team is beatable? Absolutely. And if we're focused and we execute, and our D plays like it did last night, then absolutely we can do some special things this year.

I'm just trying to say wait to judge this team until we play somebody that NOBODY expects us to beat.
 
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