London Vol
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GAME 8 – KENTUCKY 28 OCT 2023
There is an old saying “meet the new boss, same as the old boss” which roughly translates that whilst everybody has changed the result is just the same. I know that for many years Kentucky fans only used the football season to pass time before the real action i.e the basketball season started, but actually the Wildcats football team have been at least Tennessee’s equal if not better over the last decade, so a record of 36 wins from 39 games against Kentucky defies gravity. With this in mind I always felt that it will be OK in the end and its now 37 out of 40.
Back to the game, as you will see below, there were some great performances (Milton, Thornton, Wright, Sampson, the Defensive Tackles and Charles Campbell to mention a few) and some bad performances (the whole secondary, dumb penalties of which Herring clapping for the second successive week and Beasley fighting after a missed Kentucky field goal were the pick, and the Zebras).
Having mentioned the Refs, I feel obligated to highlight that I don’t believe in this conspiracy theory that the refs are deliberately calling against the Vols and to support this we were the beneficiary of a huge call in our favor from the Keyton catch/non catch and they also did get the 10 second runoff rule at the end correct, I just think they are bad and to have two consecutive weeks (was it the same crew?) where the opponent did not get one call for holding is beyond parody. Enough said.
QUARTERBACKS A
Milton has now had two back-to-back impressive games with yesterday the best of the two and It will now be interesting to see if he can elevate the Vols to beating either Georgia or Missouri. His stats 18-21-228-1-0 does not do justice as he delivered some big time throws but he also showed good touch for the Nimrod touchdown (imagine the reaction if he overthrew him). He also ran well which gives Tennessee a whole new dimension to the offense. The last point I wish to make is an intangible and that is that he at last giving the impression that he is putting the team “on his back”. Kudos to Joe.
RUNNING BACKS A+
253 yards at 5.4 yards per pop, let’s get this into context, Kentucky had the No.2 Rushing Defense in the SEC, allowing only 95.7 yards per game, so that is a whopping 157 yards ABOVE their average. Jaylen Wright continues to post massive stats with 120 yards @ 10.9 ypc and don’t under appreciate his game setting 52-yard TD run on Tennessee’s first possession. But incredibly, the star to me was Dylan Sampson. His stats of 75 yards @ 4.4 ypc were much smaller than those of Wright, but it was the drives where he was breaking tackles time and again.at the end where he literally closed out the game that was the difference to me. Whilst Jabari Small has done no wrong, he is clearly the 3rd Running Back and his number should be called likewise going forward.
WIDE RECEIVERS B+
Finally, the WRs stepped up to the plate and none more so than Dont’e Thornton. Not only did he look more comfortable on the outside (sorry, but he looked scared “underneath” when playing in the slot) but he also fought hard for YACs which helped convert big 1st downs. Chas Nimrod also snared a big 39-yard TD. Overall I didn't see any drops which is a welcome change.
TIGHT ENDS C
I really thought that this might be the game where McCallan Castles might break out so zero catches for the TEs was a disappointment. But the C grade is based on a big block by Castles that was important .
OFFENSIVE LINE B+
Quite a weird night for the O`LINE, on one hand they deserve lots of credit for the rushing game against a stout Defense but then on the other hand they were overpowered in the 3rd quarter and at this point I thought the result was ominous. Yet they came good in the 4th quarter to help close out the win. Overall, I still think this unit has overachieved this season and Glen Elarbee should take a bow.
DEFENSIVE LINE A
The first priory for Tennessee coming into this game was to stop Ray Davis who was the leading SEC rusher with a whopping 136.3 rushing yards per game. So, for the D`LINE to restrict him to only 42 yards at 2.6 ypc is elite and every Lineman deserves praise. Unfortunately stopping the run forces our opponent to go one dimensional and that has often spelt danger for our porous secondary and last night it certainly did (see below). The one knock on this Unit was the time Leary had to throw but as mentioned at the beginning the lack of pass rush was more due to the dodgy no calls from the black and whites.
LINEBACKERS C-
Slightly disappointed with the Linebackers whilst they did help with good gap integrity stopping the run, their pass coverage was poor in my opinion. They have been good this year but last night was not their finest hour.
DEFENSIVE BACKS F
Oh dear, we were lulled into believing that they had improved (granted, that was with Kamal Hadden on the pitch) but maybe that improvement was more down to the push rush in previous games. Well, last night Leary has time to pick apart the secondary and the result was his second highest passing total of his career
CHARLES CAMPBELL A+
Campbell has been quietly good all year, but last night was a night where we could not afford any mistakes and he delivered under pressure with successful kicks of 49, 44, 35 and 34 yards. I think I heard that he now has a career 100 out of 100 extra points. Whilst Chase McGrath will never need to buy a drink in Knoxville again, Campbell is actually and upgrade.
I went to bed happy last night /this morning in the knowledge that Vols are now a healthy 6-2 having navigated through the ‘landmines’ of Virginia, South Carolina Texas A&M and Kentucky with a 4-0 record, which means we will finish at least 8-4 and whilst we will be underdogs against Georgia and Missouri, one or two upsets are not out of the question.
Please feel free to discuss the above after all its just my thoughts
GO VOLS
There is an old saying “meet the new boss, same as the old boss” which roughly translates that whilst everybody has changed the result is just the same. I know that for many years Kentucky fans only used the football season to pass time before the real action i.e the basketball season started, but actually the Wildcats football team have been at least Tennessee’s equal if not better over the last decade, so a record of 36 wins from 39 games against Kentucky defies gravity. With this in mind I always felt that it will be OK in the end and its now 37 out of 40.
Back to the game, as you will see below, there were some great performances (Milton, Thornton, Wright, Sampson, the Defensive Tackles and Charles Campbell to mention a few) and some bad performances (the whole secondary, dumb penalties of which Herring clapping for the second successive week and Beasley fighting after a missed Kentucky field goal were the pick, and the Zebras).
Having mentioned the Refs, I feel obligated to highlight that I don’t believe in this conspiracy theory that the refs are deliberately calling against the Vols and to support this we were the beneficiary of a huge call in our favor from the Keyton catch/non catch and they also did get the 10 second runoff rule at the end correct, I just think they are bad and to have two consecutive weeks (was it the same crew?) where the opponent did not get one call for holding is beyond parody. Enough said.
QUARTERBACKS A
Milton has now had two back-to-back impressive games with yesterday the best of the two and It will now be interesting to see if he can elevate the Vols to beating either Georgia or Missouri. His stats 18-21-228-1-0 does not do justice as he delivered some big time throws but he also showed good touch for the Nimrod touchdown (imagine the reaction if he overthrew him). He also ran well which gives Tennessee a whole new dimension to the offense. The last point I wish to make is an intangible and that is that he at last giving the impression that he is putting the team “on his back”. Kudos to Joe.
RUNNING BACKS A+
253 yards at 5.4 yards per pop, let’s get this into context, Kentucky had the No.2 Rushing Defense in the SEC, allowing only 95.7 yards per game, so that is a whopping 157 yards ABOVE their average. Jaylen Wright continues to post massive stats with 120 yards @ 10.9 ypc and don’t under appreciate his game setting 52-yard TD run on Tennessee’s first possession. But incredibly, the star to me was Dylan Sampson. His stats of 75 yards @ 4.4 ypc were much smaller than those of Wright, but it was the drives where he was breaking tackles time and again.at the end where he literally closed out the game that was the difference to me. Whilst Jabari Small has done no wrong, he is clearly the 3rd Running Back and his number should be called likewise going forward.
WIDE RECEIVERS B+
Finally, the WRs stepped up to the plate and none more so than Dont’e Thornton. Not only did he look more comfortable on the outside (sorry, but he looked scared “underneath” when playing in the slot) but he also fought hard for YACs which helped convert big 1st downs. Chas Nimrod also snared a big 39-yard TD. Overall I didn't see any drops which is a welcome change.
TIGHT ENDS C
I really thought that this might be the game where McCallan Castles might break out so zero catches for the TEs was a disappointment. But the C grade is based on a big block by Castles that was important .
OFFENSIVE LINE B+
Quite a weird night for the O`LINE, on one hand they deserve lots of credit for the rushing game against a stout Defense but then on the other hand they were overpowered in the 3rd quarter and at this point I thought the result was ominous. Yet they came good in the 4th quarter to help close out the win. Overall, I still think this unit has overachieved this season and Glen Elarbee should take a bow.
DEFENSIVE LINE A
The first priory for Tennessee coming into this game was to stop Ray Davis who was the leading SEC rusher with a whopping 136.3 rushing yards per game. So, for the D`LINE to restrict him to only 42 yards at 2.6 ypc is elite and every Lineman deserves praise. Unfortunately stopping the run forces our opponent to go one dimensional and that has often spelt danger for our porous secondary and last night it certainly did (see below). The one knock on this Unit was the time Leary had to throw but as mentioned at the beginning the lack of pass rush was more due to the dodgy no calls from the black and whites.
LINEBACKERS C-
Slightly disappointed with the Linebackers whilst they did help with good gap integrity stopping the run, their pass coverage was poor in my opinion. They have been good this year but last night was not their finest hour.
DEFENSIVE BACKS F
Oh dear, we were lulled into believing that they had improved (granted, that was with Kamal Hadden on the pitch) but maybe that improvement was more down to the push rush in previous games. Well, last night Leary has time to pick apart the secondary and the result was his second highest passing total of his career
CHARLES CAMPBELL A+
Campbell has been quietly good all year, but last night was a night where we could not afford any mistakes and he delivered under pressure with successful kicks of 49, 44, 35 and 34 yards. I think I heard that he now has a career 100 out of 100 extra points. Whilst Chase McGrath will never need to buy a drink in Knoxville again, Campbell is actually and upgrade.
I went to bed happy last night /this morning in the knowledge that Vols are now a healthy 6-2 having navigated through the ‘landmines’ of Virginia, South Carolina Texas A&M and Kentucky with a 4-0 record, which means we will finish at least 8-4 and whilst we will be underdogs against Georgia and Missouri, one or two upsets are not out of the question.
Please feel free to discuss the above after all its just my thoughts
GO VOLS
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. I do think our secondary effectiveness is directly related to the amount of pressure our line puts on the QB. Our edge guys are speed rushers and not overly physical rushers and last night was not able to use their speed much last night JMO. Thanks for the analysis…it’s spot on.
