This isn’t on Heupel

I can't and won't blame this on the officials as I saw it being fairly close on the flags. We had a couple non calls to our benefit and so did Bama. IMO this one is on the play calling completely. How many times on 4 & 1 have we ran from the shotgun and how many times has it worked. Playing a second half not to lose is usually a failure to win. This is on the coaching staff.
 
This is all on Heupel. Blame goes with the money. Play calling in the 2nd half was absolutely horrible. Bama proved they could not cover Squirrel and Heupel shut him out in the second half. They had nothing for the come back routes in the 1st half and it disappeared in the second half. They crapped the bed.
 
He dodged the bullet on the first 4th try in Vols territory with the INT. The second one was a bad decision also & the play call horrible.

Run into the line with Ollie Lane & Cooper Mays vs 4 Bama 300lbers? Cmon Josh.

If Joe had kept it he may have had a chance but Bama had a OLB out there
 
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Bro, the 4th down play calls were as bad as Milton’s step out of bounds on the 3rd down free play last week.

This year is very clearly a throw away/ rebuilding year. We just weren’t made aware of that fact until tonight.
 
The refs didn’t help, but neither did going for it on fourth and short twice with obvious plays. He’s lucky only one of those dumb calls cost him points. McCullough bailed him out on the first one. I still think he’s a good coach but hopefully he takes this as a learning experience. If we get up a few scores on another opponent, don’t play to sit on the lead. Dumbest strategy ever.
0-5 on fourth down last 2 games, sometimes you just have to punt🤦‍♂️
 
When are we going to quit going for 4th down in our own territory from the shotgun. Also I'm tired of Sampson playing 3rd behind the others. He runs s hard and straight ahead. No dodging. He should always be the 4th down back. But please not from our own end of the field. A gassed defense can't rest.
 
Face it, they don’t trust Joe to throw on the other side of 50 and they dont trust him to throw all game like our favorite Hooker.

that effects how they are calling game…
Agreed, but that still doesn’t take away the fact that they changed their scheme in the second half and made changes to the tempo. Furthermore, that also doesn’t explain the ignorant 4th and 1 call at midfield down 3 against a surging Bama. Nor does to explain why you go into the redzone 3 times and rely on your running backs, what only two times?
 
Think about this if Milton did not get hurt last year Heuple would have kept Hooker on the bench all year.

It was year before last, and after the Pitt game, Milton was cleared to return and JH stuck with HH.
You don't know what you are talking about.
I know what I'm talking about just because i missed the year you know what I meant and he stuck with Hooker because after putting him in he then realized what he had.
 
Holds the ball way too long. And not very accurate when he throws it.

Put a more competent QB back there and you would see immediate improvement.

And I like him a lot and respect him a ton. I really hoped that he had developed more. But he didn’t.
I don't disagree with any of that. Yes, he does hold it too long, doesn't see open receivers at times, and has some accuracy issues (I'd say he's more accurate than not, though). However, the coaches played to his strengths in the first half. Alabama saw what were were doing and adjusted to those strengths. It looked like we failed to counter. Factor in the boneheaded two 4th down calls and you're putting your players in a position to fail.

That sums up the second half. It's like someone sat back and said, "What can we do to ensure this team does not succeed in this game."
 
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Guys... pls stop blaming the refs. It's embarrassing. Did we get some bunk calls? Yes. But we lost by 14. The lose was because we couldn't score in the second half

While Heupel made a few bad calls the refs definitely had a huge impact on the game! Let's start with the missed hold on Bamas first touchdown in the 2nd half. Thats 7 points. Wonder how different things would be if half of the other 12 missed calls would have been called. Absolutely this one is on the refs
 

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This team still chokes when the big opportunities are in front of them. The coaching staff has to figure out how to get this program past that. Taking the next step is hard, but that is what we’re supposedly paying big bucks to the head coach to do.

As good as last season felt, it still wasn’t anything other than “nice.” No championship. Not even a chance at one. That choke against SCar made sure of that. Showing up and beating Clemson was good, but … well … we see how this follow-up season has been so far: under-performing, choking at crucial times (in the Swamp and today), still can’t seem to gain consistency on the road, etc.

We’re three seasons in. I was hoping for better. Didn’t expect perfect but better than what we’ve seen so far. Losses are frustrating. However, the consistent inconsistency is maddening.
Most analysts predicted 9-3 or 10-2, so not sure I’d say we’re underperforming. Also, did you forget what he walked into? I’m sorry, but if 11-2 and what could end up 9-3 or 8-4, or heck MAYBE even 10-2 (huge stretch, I know, but it’s still a 1% possibility), isn’t meeting or exceeding your expectations after the dumpster fire he walked into, then I have to ask, what were to expecting? Because a natty or even a trip to Atlanta is just laughable.

Today was a huge black stain on Heupel’s tenure, as it was by far his worst coached game. And although I agree with you that there have been some major head scratching inconsistencies, you have to also acknowledge the fact the dude basically had to rebuild both sides of the football from the day he started. That fact cannot be ignored and is absolutely why we’re in the situations we keep finding ourselves in.
 
I wish we would've called a better play than a run up the middle.

Every time there was a close play for us they went to replay to see if they could take it away. We made 4th down TWICE and didn't due to lousy spots.
You punt there up 3 on the road vs a more talented team with QB issues.
 
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Let me preface this by saying he didn’t call a perfect game by any stretch, but the nonstop snowball of flags or lack thereof are impossible to gameplan against.

We ran well, threw well, hell we even defended well. Nothing you can do to beat the stripes on top of it all. Some calls could’ve been different, but hindsight is 20/20 when in a fair game this is completely different.

We were screwed the second we laced them up. Team did enough to win, Bama just could play beyond the rules and refs created new rules on the fly to screw us.
He’s making millions a year. This loss and every other loss is squarely on him. His team laid an egg in the second half.
 
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Bro, the 4th down play calls were as bad as Milton’s step out of bounds on the 3rd down free play last week.

This year is very clearly a throw away/ rebuilding year. We just weren’t made aware of that fact until tonight.
Speak for yourself. Nothing about this roster made me think a repeat of 2022-2023 was on the horizon. Too many people drank the Kool Aide. I always saw 8-4 as reality, and so far, other than calling for a loss to A&M, I’m right in the money. So we win out but lose to UGA, I consider a 9-3 season exceeding my expectations. Of course we also have Mizzou and UK coming up, so we very well may be looking at 7-5, which at that point I do feel is a major step back.
 
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