Are we any better?

[Pruitt Will Do It]

It will take a while to get better it's not going to happen overnight

 

[hUTch2002]

Nine wins isn't great when you play twelve games and the only reason we point to those seasons as "great" is because we have sucked so badly since firing CPF

And those teams actually only won 8 in 12 games. The 9th win came in game 13 for both teams. Decent years but certainly not great.

 

[Pruitt Will Do It]

Secondary is lost. Poor fundamentals, even after a lot of intensive coaching this year. Not a good sign moving forward.

For example... our young DB did not turn his body or head or raise an arm to increase his chances of defending against a pass (a few times). That just makes no sense at this juncture. If technique has been coached up in this area, and you have run stride for stride with the guy for 4 seconds at full speed, you should know its a hot route and the ball is coming your way. So, help yourself out man, and get involved in the last 500 msec of the play.

Otherwise it seems like your are praying the ball is over-under thrown or bounces off your helmet. And those scenarios were not in your favor yesterday.

You're pretty much screwed when you have a lot of freshmen in your secondary

 

[hUTch2002]

Why would they back off?

They didn’t. WV was still slinging it late. Grier threw a TD pass with 2 minutes left. That’s not backing off.

 

[jacvols]

If you guys really think that this team hasn’t improved from last year then your delusional. Pruitt saved us from another 20 points bc of his audibles last years team the game would have been over by the 1st quarter

They may have improved but that game could have been over by the 1st qtr. or early in the 2nd qtr . if Grier didn't miss Wr. wide open streaking down the field or theRB he missed that was open on the wheel route.

 

[jim43]

I, like every Tennessee Vol Fan, hates losing. Yesterday was no exception. There were lack of calls by officials which hurt us; not to beat us, but made it worse.

We had some young guys who simply did not make good judgments, and/or did not react as they should have.

We will improve greatly by the next game, and I believe, throughout the season.

After listening to Coach Pruitt last night, and this morning, I am convinced even more that we have the right man. He does not make excuses, and he sees the mistakes and where there is lack of effort. He pulls no punches. That is the only way we can improve, and I am convinced he will address each problem.

He took a terrible situation and has made the most of it.

I am very disappointed in the negative comments made by many after only one game. I would love to see the evaluation of each of those negative people after they had just begun their job or career. I would bet it would probably not be pretty, or something they were satisfied with. And they probably stepped into a situation which was not nearly as bad as the one Coach Pruitt stepped into.

I look forward to watching our team and our coaches work out the kinks and become the team we have been hoping for.

GO VOLS!

 

[titansvolsfaninga]

That’s probably a little premature. But, I will say there’s no cause for optimism at this point. I grade him a D- in his debute.

well, you're a fool.

 

[TexasVolfan1]

I thought we looked improved over last year at least on offense but that’s not saying much. I think a lot of us over estimated our talent, we just don’t have any true difference makers right now especially on defense.

 

[Other_Guy]

Those 9 win teams were 5 or 6 win teams without Dobbs.

 

[hUTch2002]

Well...I said 7-5 is attainable because it allows for us losing 4 more games this year....IMO...UGA, AUB, BAMA, + 1 more....which means that I believe we go 4-4 in the SEC... Fla, USCe, KY, Mizzou, and Vandy....

I would be ecstatic if we won all of those games...meaning we would finish 8-4....

I do believe 7-5 is completely achievable...I just don't CJP and crew will allow us to fold under like CBJ and crew did last year....

I think we have to beat UF to get 7-5 as I don’t see us running the table from SC on. I’ll be very curious to see how UF fares against KY next Saturday. While I still lean towards UF beating us due to Mullen being a good coach and, of course, the recent series history, I don’t think it is an absolute in any way. I seriously believe we will make a bowl.

 

[hUTch2002]

I, like every Tennessee Vol Fan, hates losing. Yesterday was no exception. There were lack of calls by officials which hurt us; not to beat us, but made it worse.

We had some young guys who simply did not make good judgments, and/or did not react as they should have.

We will improve greatly by the next game, and I believe, throughout the season.

After listening to Coach Pruitt last night, and this morning, I am convinced even more that we have the right man. He does not make excuses, and he sees the mistakes and where there is lack of effort. He pulls no punches. That is the only way we can improve, and I am convinced he will address each problem.

He took a terrible situation and has made the most of it.

I am very disappointed in the negative comments made by many after only one game. I would love to see the evaluation of each of those negative people after they had just begun their job or career. I would bet it would probably not be pretty, or something they were satisfied with. And they probably stepped into a situation which was not nearly as bad as the one Coach Pruitt stepped into.

I look forward to watching our team and our coaches work out the kinks and become the team we have been hoping for.

GO VOLS!

Are you blind? We are the worst team to ever play college sports. I’m kidding. Great post! The expectations of some were unrealistic and there wasn’t much respect for a solid WV team. Even had we won 40-14 I would still be saying we don’t yet know what kind of team we have nor what kind of coach we have. It takes time and the fan base needs to be patient. I like Pruitt and think he can be good but it will be a while before we can tell.

 

[JCHateSteve]

The offense is better, despite the O line. The defense is not and might actually be worse. All and all, I'd say we are about the same, the suck is just distributed differently.

 

[rickyyrs]

Everyone on VN seems to completely discredit WV and what potentially might be the best PASSING attack we see all season.

Yeah i thought that too about WV. But Alabama passing game looks good under Tua. Look people a lot of you wanted Chip Kelly here too. Guess what, he lost his first game at UCLA to Cincinnati. At least we lost to a ranked team in WV. It just goes to show, you have to have the players, and after what Dooley and Butch Jones wrecked this program it will take a while to get it back. Pruitt will get the job done. You will see.

 

[VolAmerican]

I must have missed where a 4-8 team last year was supposed to come out and be world beaters the FIRST game of the year.. Damn, if anyone watched that game and didn't already see an improvement over last year you should quit watching football and get your eyes checked.

Right. We did move the ball well on several drives. We just stalled out half way down the field. Hopefully we can have more complete drives throughout the rest of the season. I thought the game plan and overall team play was improved. Remember we were only down 13-7 at half and one of those field goals came right before the half. We just didn’t play for 60 min.

 

[Booker512]

Yeah i thought that too about WV. But Alabama passing game looks good under Tua. Look people a lot of you wanted Chip Kelly here too. Guess what, he lost his first game at UCLA to Cincinnati. At least we lost to a ranked team in WV. It just goes to show, you have to have the players, and after what Dooley and Butch Jones wrecked this program it will take a while to get it back. Pruitt will get the job done. You will see.

Yea. I agree. First game against a very solid WV team. Maybe their preseason hype ends up being true. For all we know theyre BIG12 champions by the end of the season. I saw a lot of bad, but I also saw a lot of good. Anyone saying our offense didn’t look better is a moron. Our O line took a couple of series to get going, but once they did, we had a couple decent drives. Palmers hands didn’t look like bricks, so that was nice.

The only way some of our problems can be corrected is by recruiting. Period. You can’t coach speed or height or reach. Our D line is completely depleted. Period. I wouldn’t feel comfortable even saying we have a power 5 D line at this point. No other way to say it. The lack of talent there is kinda eye opening. The secondary needs experience and more time. Lots of freshman out there. I think trying to cover that receiving corps and passing attack made it look worse than it will end up being, but I will say Warrior looked slow and lost. He just isn’t an SEC caliber player.

Saw a lot of high tackling too. So that needs to be fixed. I saw a lot of runners get hit and then go forward 5-6 yards before being brought down. Not much excuse for that. Pad levels need to come down.

 

[WeeohdeeWood]

Yes we're a better team. I seen a coaching staff actually make adjustments in the first quarter and taught and coached the whole game.
Not waiting til halftime to adjust or not adjust.
I seen a head coach that hates losing more than us shoulder the blame for how his players played. Not Butches players, his players.
I seen players not quitting and giving it their best effort for the most. These just aren't the players for this style of football but they give effort. We're just missing a few D linemen and that Alpha dog in the middle like Al Wilson. A leader on the field that won't except no less than 100%. Unfortunately those kids haven't been recruited yet.

Hang in there Volnation

 

[Crazy Ivan]

I remember when Saban went 6-6 his first regular season at Bama, which was no improvement at all on Shula's 6-6 regular season the season before. And I remember a whole lot of Vol fans ridiculing Bama fans for Bama hiring him. Those are probably the same Vol fans that are on here moaning because Pruitt didn't build Rome in a day.

 

[SlipKidVol]

They’ll go 3-9

Boo

 

[Jeepkuntry]

I thought the offensive line played like crap. I thought that would be one of our strengths. If they keep it up, JG will be hurt by mid October.

 

[SPRINGHILLVOL]

Too many Jones leftovers. let the young guys play. They will make mistakes and learn … I think they can beat Kentucky and Vandy in SEC. but no sure thing. What a great set of wins: ETSU, UTEP, CHARLOTTE, KENTUCKY (maybe),Vanderbilt (maybe)..the players needed to compete are not
the defense from last year or the current offensive line . Tennessee will not be competitive this year. maybe next year or the year after when the Jones era is washed out of the football team... I hope Florida game proves me wrong..

 

[butchna]

Who in the hell said we should be a powerhouse? How about score more than 14 against one of the worst defenses in all of football, or this defensive genius not let wide receivers run wide open all day? That team yesterday was no different than if Jones were still here. I’m sure you were defending Dooley and Jones also

You equate giving up 40 to an All-American QB and an All-American WR and another 100 catch WR corps to giving up 42 to Vandy last year? How long did your elementary school go before switching to graphite?

 

[Bauce]

Are we better YES!! I think I heard the announcers say that our long TD drive that we have not done that in like 2-3 years or something like that

 

[photovol]

Are we better YES!! I think I heard the announcers say that our long TD drive that we have not done that in like 2-3 years or something like that

Don't listen to the announcers, because it hasn't been 2-3 years, it just seems like it has been a lifetime

 

[Bauce]

Regardless...major improvement

 

[Wezcoast]

Isn’t this new coach supposed to be a pretty good D coach? If so then where was the improvement? Our guys literally looked lost.

They were lost. Our team isn't as slow as we looked. It was the crippling grip of uncertainty. We'll be much better in November.