'25 Recruiting Forum: Official Arkansas vs Tennessee Pre-game/Game Thread

#2,552
#2,552
TheMookieMonster said:
I appreciate that he takes accountability, but who is the person responsible for teaching the defense to execute on the play calls? We do not need to make excuses for Banks. He recruits and developers the players.
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You can teach all you want. When the players step on the field it’s up to them to execute the calls and be in the positions they’re supposed to be in
 
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#2,553
#2,553
SmyrnaATLVolisback said:
I just checked the stats again.

One penalty for Arkansas.

One MF POS MF penalty

One. Only one
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Just wait until next week...it will be ridiculously obvious...and yet Marco and his denier crew will say..."Nothing to see here besides incompetence"


They tried to deep six us today.
 
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#2,555
#2,555
MarcoVol said:
You can teach all you want. When the players step on the field it’s up to them to execute the calls and be in the positions they’re supposed to be in
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So no matter how bad it gets, no matter how many points are given up, as long as Banks is teaching them things at practice it’s never his fault? That doesn’t really make any sense. It can be a shared responsibility, but feels like you’re trying to make excuses for Banks. He clearly has fault for how this defense is playing. It’s his defense.
 
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#2,559
#2,559
Jack Burton said:
Heupel turned too conservative at some point. We used to go for it on 4th and short to keep opponents on their heels. Now we punt. What’s Heupel doing running clock and turtling 8 minutes left in the game? We’ve been lucky the last 2 games against inferior competition.
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This is so true! I don’t know what happened either. Does the refs constantly screwing him and his team have something to do with it?
 
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#2,562
#2,562
TheMookieMonster said:
So no matter how bad it gets, no matter how many points are given up, as long as Banks is teaching them things at practice it’s never his fault? That doesn’t really make any sense. It can be a shared responsibility, but feels like you’re trying to make excuses for Banks. He clearly has fault for how this defense is playing. It’s his defense.
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You have your opinions, I have mine.

I don’t think Banks is infallible but I can promise you he’s not teaching players to not stay in their lanes, to not cover a part of the field, to take bad angles. Position coaches prob more to blame for that than him but also it’s on the players to execute and be disciplined when they’re on the field.

Bad play calls go to Banks. But I’ve yet to see any VN football guru explain in detail the scheme Banks calls that doesn’t work and what specifically schematically the opposing offense is doing and then what specifically schematically the adjustments should be.

Heupel is a football coach’s son and safe to say he understands everything about intricacies of defense considering his offensive prowess, yes? You think if Banks is inadequate at teaching the defense that he wouldn’t do something about it? Not being a smart azz, asking legitimately.
 
#2,569
#2,569
TheMookieMonster said:
So no matter how bad it gets, no matter how many points are given up, as long as Banks is teaching them things at practice it’s never his fault? That doesn’t really make any sense. It can be a shared responsibility, but feels like you’re trying to make excuses for Banks. He clearly has fault for how this defense is playing. It’s his defense.
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Nobody is saying that Banks is free from ridicule or judgment. Some of us just look at the elite defense of last year and realize that the guy obviously knows how to call a game. Then you look at this season, and yeah it's not an elite defense. We recognize that. We just also recognize a few things. These are no "excuses". These are observable catalysts that can and do affect a team's performance.

1. Our biggest strength from last year is replaced by 2 newcomers with McCoy and Gibson out.
2. We lost a first and second rounder on the d-line to the NFL, and our biggest space eater to graduation
3. We don't have a true coverage safety who can break on the ball. This is one that is fully on Banks since he coaches and recruits safeties. Fortunately we have 2 borderline 5 star safeties/ athletes committed for next season
4. Our EXPERIENCED linebackers are not the most athletic guys. They regularly get beat to the sideline, but they are the guys that know the defense, know their role and can read the play better than young guys
5. We are playing a TON of young players. It's what happens when you have a covid year where everyone gets another year of eligibility, and then everyone runs out of eligibility at the same time. We've had 11 true freshmen play snaps on the defense this year.
6. Our offense is running up tempo again which leaves our defense with little time to catch their breath. They've played close to 40 minutes pretty much every game.
7. The offense struggles on third down at times and rarely goes for it on 4th. Which puts the defense back on the field
8. A lot more teams are running no-huddle offense now. Watching the Mississippi state game was the first time I've been on the other side of a "Heupel" offense and it's a nightmare.
9. Mediocre teams are just generally more talented than they used to be. Teams like Mississippi state and Kentucky used to literally be 95% 3 stars with maybe a handful of 4 stars. They had no chance against good teams. Now these teams are getting much more talented guys from the portal/ high school because of NIL.
10. Tennessee is coming out of one of the strictest recruiting probations of the modern era. We haven't been afforded the same amount of scholarships, official visits, or unofficial visits as other teams for the past 5 years. Hell we couldn't even call or text recruits for 28 weeks out of a 5 year period. That's SEVEN MONTHS where we couldn't even send a "good morning" text to recruits. That's a disconnect that greatly affects recruiting.

Again, these are not excuses. These are just observations of things that might explain the drop off in defensive performance. Games could be called differently, sure. But I don't know how you expect another top 10 defense (which banks and Heupel had in basically every defensive statistic last year) with all of this going on. You fire banks, you probably lose 10-15 guys in the portal. But you probably lose the entire defense's morale as well.

We're six games in and are on pace to be 10-2 again. The defense shows flashes of hope with us leading the country in sacks, being 2nd in defensive touchdowns, 7th in tackles for loss, and top 5 in fumbles recovered. Let's not give up on them yet. A lot of football to be played
 
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#2,570
#2,570
What a wild game to be at. Refs were beyond terrible and the fans let them know it.

Arkansas was gashing us almost all game long. Brutal first half. I’ve never been a huge Banks fan but he’s got too much talent to have this bad of a defense. We’re not getting even average play at LB and safety. Carter is a beast but inconsistent. Telander isn’t fast enough.

I thought 27 flashed at LB.

Petrino was running circles around Banks. We won because we got fumbles—that’s it.

Proud of the team for rallying but we need a new voice at DC.
 
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#2,572
#2,572
Govolsman98 said:
I just don't think a lot of the defensive players are good yet. Banks has clearly shown he's a good coach
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Clearly? One good year out of 5?

Even granting your premise, it means nothing in year five. In this era, you aren't going to have pre-NIL Bama level of consistency.

But we have the worst defense in the SEC. If that's somehow a talent issue, that's just as damning as glaringly bad coaching.
 
#2,574
#2,574
MarcoVol said:
You can teach all you want. When the players step on the field it’s up to them to execute the calls and be in the positions they’re supposed to be in
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By this standard, there's no such thing as bad coaching at this level of football.

There's not a coach out there that forgot to teach the players the plays lol
 
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