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

#2,606
#2,606
jakez4ut said:
5 sacks, 9 or 10 tfls.

We were much better in the second half.

My main issue is how we treated the 2nd to last possession. That was bad.
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I get it. I was being facetious. It was more about the none holding calls on both sides of the ball, and I usually keep my mouth shut about officiating, hence 🙄. And you’re right about the 2nd to last possession. I was screaming at my TV (thank the good Lord it’s still standing). I don’t know why CJH seems to coach like his butt is puckered up in the last of a close game.
 
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#2,607
#2,607
So uh, where was the most talented WR in the SEC? (Brazzell)

Another note - how has our defense gotten so much worse a year later without losing much personnel? Our safeties are playing terrible. Can we really not find two guys more athletic??
 
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#2,609
#2,609
Go Fight Win said:
Getting double teamed. He had that end zone drop though that was tough


Seemed they tried to have Walton in at safety some and he did alright I thought
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I think we we going to see more and more youth play (perlotte, other linebackers, Walton, etc.). I don’t think they want too, but they have to.
 
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#2,616
#2,616
Heupel's Offseason Beard said:
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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Too many facts. Not enough emotional overreactions. Not enough finding justifications for those preconceived opinions. 1000011586.gif
 
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#2,618
#2,618
The D's primary problem is schematic and calls. Alignment issues as well. All of that is coaching related minus Rodney Garner. The D-line keeps us in every game. Having 5 guys in the box against 6 or 7 blockers in a play action, run first offense while spending over half the game in soft zone including Cover 3 is just dang stupid. Banks sucks and Heup allows it to happen. So is taking your foot off the gas pedal knowing your D is bad as well as gassed. It was a replay of MS State with Arky using worse roster talent and a makeshift coaching staff against us.

Five years in. Time to call it like it is. Good, not great. Never will be without a serious staff upgrade and Heup not going conservative in the second half.

When I watch an IU program dominate Oregon, I see what quality coaching can bring using average roster talent. In comparison, besides being out of positiion and left on islands, our guys are undisciplined and make dumb decisions frequently, while having much more talent. That comes from the top.
 
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#2,622
#2,622
Vols4us said:
The D's primary problem is schematic and calls. Alignment issues as well. All of that is coaching related minus Rodney Garner. The D-line keeps us in every game. Having 5 guys in the box against 6 or 7 blockers in a play action, run first offense while spending over half the game in soft zone including Cover 3 is just dang stupid. Banks sucks and Heup allows it to happen. So is taking your foot off the gas pedal knowing your D is bad as well as gassed. It was a replay of MS State with Arky using worse roster talent and a makeshift coaching staff against us.

Five years in. Time to call it like it is. Good, not great. Never will be without a serious staff upgrade and Heup not going conservative in the second half.

When I watch an IU program dominate Oregon, I see what quality coaching can bring using average roster talent. In comparison, besides being out of positiion and left on islands, our guys are undisciplined and make dumb decisions frequently, while having much more talent. That comes from the top.
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CJH just now got above 50% on the roster blue chip ratio
We currently are and have out performed our talent level since he has arrived

I was pissed last night again but our DC is capable of calling a good defense. We have seen it. Our current defense plays good in spurts and they look like machines when it happens but they also get their asses handed to them sometimes

I think we lack overall experienced players on defense
Our young inexperienced guys are pretty damn good

We are very young
 
#2,623
#2,623

Sunday Four Downs: Tennessee keeps on winning ugly with 34-31 decision over Arkansas​

Winning ugly football games is continuing to become a norm for the Tennessee program, but they are wins nonetheless. The Vols now sit at 5-1 with a 2-1 mark in Southeastern Conference play after completing their third-straight one-possession game in conference action.
Here’s the Sunday Four Downs following a rewatch of the football game.

Arkansas Explosive Run Plays​

The Hogs tallied four plays on the ground that exceeded 20 yards or more in the ballgame. These rushes went for 38, 26, 22 and 22 yards, respectively. Arkansas in total registered 10 run plays that were for 10 or more yards in the ballgame. Additionally, Tennessee found success on the ground as well with four run plays of 20 yards or more and nine rushes of 10 or more yards in total. This game did not defend the ground attack well on either side.

It’s worth noting the bulk of these chunk plays on the ground came in the first half when the Hogs rushed for 157 yards. The Vols buckled down some in the second half, allowing only 83 yards on the ground. In the fourth quarter alone, Tennessee allowed just 22 rushing yards, but obviously entered the final frame with a 10-point lead. Still, it needs to be better.
I thought I’d break down each Arkansas run play where the Tennessee defense was gashed for 20 yards or more and decipher what went wrong.

Mike Washington 38 yards | 11:33, 1Q
Arkansas pulled both guards. Play side guard kicks out on Caleb Herring (end man) while the other leads up the B gap on the safety (Edrees Farooq). Herring actually did a nice job setting the edge as it was tight. Farooq over-pursued and allowed for the big gain. Spillman blitzed off backside edge and Arion Carter got caught in traffic in the middle. Thay also sent wideout in motion to the backside to get corner (Ty Redmond) to follow in man. This was blocked up well and executed just as they’d want it to.
Mike Washington 26 yards | 7:39, 1Q
Coming off a penalty for hands to the face by Jaxson Moi, Tennessee’s defense gave up a run of 26 yards on the next play. Bad sequence. On this play, I would call it four missed tackles – or at least four players in position to make a tackle and came up empty – two of which in the backfield. Washington displayed good eyes and patience on the run to avoid both Domonic Bailey and Moi from both sides as he climbed the pocket. He then broke ankle tackles from both safeties Andre Turrentine and Farooq. Washington was up the sideline before Colton Hood could get to hm to push him out. Thankfully, Jordan Ross followed with a strip sack fumble on the next play.
Braylen Russell 22 yards | 6:04, 1Q
First play after a punt on a three-and-out from the Tennessee offense and the big back (Braylen Russell) joined the party. He just went right up the middle as the offensive line just washed down the tackles and backside linebacker (Edwin Spillman) didn’t get over to cover the gap. Jeremiah Telander ran himself out of the play as well as play side backer.
Taylen Green 22 yards | 10:35, 2Q
It’s 3rd & 8 and the Vols brought the house with seven on the line all coming. Josephs lost contain when Green spun out to run left. Telander had a horrible angle. Green hit the edge and got to the maker for the first down. It was as simple as that. Lost contain and poor angle from the linebacker when it was an absolutely busted play due to the Tennessee pressure.

Three Takeaways but Just 7 Points​

For as aggravating as Tennessee’s defense has been at points in time this season, the squad is good for what feels like a couple of takeaways each and every ballgame. That was once again the case on Saturday as the Vols forced four fumbles and recovered three of them to hand the football back to the offense.
Unfortunately, Tennessee’s offense managed just one score off the turnovers, which was a three-yard Peyton Lewis touchdown in the fourth quarter on a short field after the Joshua Joseph forced fumble and Jadon Perlotte recovery at the Arkansas 19-yard line.
Jordan Ross’ strip-sack fumble in the first quarter went nowhere as the Vols went three-and-out on the ensuing possession. Edrees Farooq’s forced fumble on the first drive of the third quarter led to another three-and-out where the Vols actually lost two yards on the drive. Ross was also involved on that play with Arion carter recovering.
Additionally, Tennessee’s offense was able to score just one touchdown on two of the punts forced by the defense and was also forced to punt after the defense held its water for a turnover on downs in the third quarter by the Arkansas offense.
In total, Tennessee managed 14 points off 23 plays for 129 yards on the six defensive stops the Vols had in the ballgame where the Hogs didn’t find any points on the drive. When there’s glaring issues defensively in a ballgame, the offense must capitalize on the stops and takeaways. Tennessee’s offense did not do that enough in this one.

Some Glaringly Bad Defensive Stats​

We wrote about this last night, but just in case you weren’t up at 1 a.m. ET, here it is again. Tennessee’s defense does a couple of things well like tackles for loss, sacks and takeaways. Obviously, it’s giving up way too many points and yards – especially on the ground. More than that, even, the Vols are so bad through six games in these three critical areas: third downs of seven yards or more, explosive plays and redzone touchdowns.
Arkansas was 7-of-13 on third downs Saturday night during the 34-31 loss in Knoxville to the Volunteers. Five of the seven conversions were of seven yards or more. All conversions for the Razorbacks were of at least six yards. On the season against Power 4 opponents, offenses have converted 13-of-35 (37%) third or fourth downs that were of seven yards or more.
Secondly, Tennessee’s defense is giving up way too many explosive plays of at least 20 yards. Arkansas tallied eight plays of at least 20 yards on Saturday offensively. Opponents have now logged 32 snaps of at least 20 yards against the Tennessee defense in six games. To put things into perspective, the Vols surrendered just 45 such plays in all of the 2024 season that consisted of 13 games.
Finally, redzone defense has got to improve. The Hogs, who are elite in this metric, scored four touchdowns inside the redzone on Saturday night on a perfect 5-for-5 game in the category. On the year, the Vols have allowed now 18 touchdowns on 23 redzone opportunities by opponents. Tennessee is allowing way too many touchdowns and not enough field goals.
Again, to look back at the 2024 campaign – Tennessee gave up just 17 redzone touchdowns on 37 trips. So, the Vols have given up one more redzone touchdowns (18) in less than half the games (6) than the defense allowed last season (17) in 13 games.

Guys Stepping Up​

I wouldn’t say the offense played its best football game on Saturday, but scoring 34 points proves they were far from bad. As mentioned above, those 34 points could have been so much more if the offense could have capitalized more than once off the three defensive turnovers or more than twice on the six defensive stops.
Still, Tennessee was able to run the football well against a poor defense and quarterback Joey Aguilar continued to make plays with his arm and his legs (59 yards) in a game where they prepped for four different defenses during the two-week span due to all the changes for the Hogs.
Arkansas made it a point to take Chris Brazzell out of the ballgame. They double covered him plenty and shaded help his way. Still, the veteran should have caught his eighth touchdown of the season in the first half.
With Brazzell being a nonfactor for much of the day, Braylon Staley stepped up big time. It was great to see this after his tough ballgame in Starkville two weeks ago. The redshirt-freshman hauled in six catches (on eight targets) for 109 yards. The middle of the field was open for Staley and Aguilar.
DeSean Bishop had himself a ballgame and the Razorbacks had no answer for him until he got hurt in the second half. Peyton Lewis continues to look better running the football. He scored twice in the second half to go along with a 33-yard on eight-carry performance and iced the game late in the fourth quarter on a 4th & 1 out of jumbo formation with reserves Brian Grant and defensive lineman Carson Gentle brought in as extra blockers.
Freshman tight end Jack Van Dorselaer logged 31 snaps, an SEC career-high. Redshirt-freshman William Satterwhite was forced into action for 19 snaps in SEC play. It was far from perfect, but Tennessee was able to survive with some reserves getting extended time.
 
#2,624
#2,624

The Day After -- Tennessee survives in 34-31 win​

Hot and Not
HOT
Desean Bishop — Tennessee’s running back got heated up rushing for 146 yards on just 14 carries. Bishop averaged 10.4 yards a carry. He opened the game hot and stayed that way until he injured his ankle in the fourth quarter.
Negative play Vol defense — The Vols’ defense forced three more turnovers and had five more sacks on Saturday. Tennessee has 26 sacks on the season and they have now forced 11 takeaways.
Braylon Staley — Tennessee’s slot receiver had sixcatches for 109 hards in the first half. Staley now has 31 catches on the season for 431 yards.
Max Gilbert — Tennessee’s placekicker went 2-for-2 including a huge 50 yard field goal to open the second half to give Tennessee its first lead of the game.
Third quarter defense — In the third quarter, the Vol defense gave up 92 yards on 21 snaps forcing two fumbles, a turnover on downs and a punt.
NOT
Third down/big play defense — The struggles continue for Tennessee to get off the field. Arkansas converted 7-of-13 third down attempts. Teams are converting 38% of their third downs on the season. The Vols’ zone defense in the secondary continues to be a struggle. Tennessee continues to struggle to limit explosive plays. Arkansas had eight plays of 20+ yards.
Penalties — It was not a well officiated game. But still, the Vols had too many penalties. You are going to have a hard time winning games with 10 penalties. Again, it was a poorly officiated game, but Tennessee still has too many self inflicted wounds.
3rd down offense — Tennessee only converted 2-of-9 third down attempts. One of the two was on the last play from scrimmage that wasn’t a kneel down. Now that was a huge conversion but Tennessee had a tough time staying on the field.

Defining moments​

Josephs strips Perlotte recovers — Tennessee’s defense continues to force negative plays. Saturday they had five sacks and forced three fumbles. No fumble was bigger than Joshua Josephs fourth quarter hit on Taylen Green that forced a fumble that freshman Jadon Perlotte recovered. Tennessee scored four plays later and stretched the lead to 34-17.
Joey Aguilar runs for 28 — Leading by three, Tennessee had to move the sticks. Arkansas had three timeouts plus the two-minute warning to try and get the ball back and tie the game up or go for for the win. Tennessee flipped the field on first down when Aguilar ran up the middle for 28 yards with 2:54 to play.
Tennessee’s first quarter answer — Down 7-0, Tennessee’s offense needed to answer against an unknown defense and Tennessee opened the game with a perfect script carving up the Razorbacks on a seven play, 75 yard drive that saw Tennessee run the ball four of the last five plays. Tennessee didn’t have a third down play on the drive and for the sixth time this season the Vols had scored on their opening drive.
Third quarter turnovers — Tim Banks’ defense gave up yards, but twice in the third quarter the defense bowed their neck inside their own 30 yard line. Tennessee’s Edrees Farooq forced a fumble on Arkansas’ opening possession of the second half and on their next possession, Tennessee forced a turnover on downs from their own 25 ending a Razorback threat.

Inside the numbers​

264 — Number of rushing yards gained by the Vol offense who averaged 6.6 yards a carry. The 264 yards is more than Tennessee had in their first two SEC games combined.
5 — Number of quarterback sacks recorded by Tennessee. The defense now has 26 sacks on the season. Last season they had 29 for the entire year.
8 — Number of plays of 20+ yards given up by Tim Banks‘ defense on Saturday. Arkansas averaged 6.5 yards a snap.
10/1 — Number of penalties on the Vols compared to penalties against Arkansas

Gameball​

My game ball goes to Desean Bishop. Bishop had 146 yards on 14 carries before he got injured. Coming into the game, I didn’t feel like Tennessee had really gotten a running back into a rhythm. Bishop opened the game hot and he stayed hot until he injured his ankle in the third quarter.
I won’t give him a game ball but certainly a couple of shoutouts. Welcome back Daevin Hobbs. In his fist game of the season, Hobbs had 5=five tackles a sack and forced fumble. Also, Joshua Josephs is playing really good football. He’s making money every time he plays.

Biggest question/concern moving forward​

It’s Tennessee’s defense. They continue to struggle on third down. If they don’t get any pressure with the front four, there are gaping holes in zone defense. Tennessee’s defense is being incredibly opportunistic and creating negative plays, but they are also giving up way too many plays. If they don’t start limiting explosive plays then they are going to have a hard time with the remaining schedule.
Offensively, they have to limit penalties and stop hurting themselves with self inflicted wounds.
There’s always the concern of health coming out of SEC games, but certainly the health of Bishop is a concern for next week.
Tennessee is competitive. They are tough and they don’t panic. They are 2-1 in SEC play with all three games settled by seven points or less and two in overtime. Can they keep winning this way?
 
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