OGbabyaviVol
Performing horse rectal exams for a living
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Well, our Vols walked into the swamp and completely dominated the Florida Gators, and did something that we haven’t done since 2003! And then we did it in a way that maybe hasn’t been done ever. Let’s be honest… If we wanted to, we could’ve named our score. Josh chose to run the ball down their throat and mix in a little pass along the way, and try to get out of there healthy and fresh. We also were able to get Moe another full week of rest to get his knee healthy. We will need him next Saturday. @I4Jay said it last night… This team and especially the defense looks different since boo was kicked off. We still look terrible at safety, but nothing‘s gonna change until we get new blood in the room. In walks the Vanderbilt Commodores and cocky Diego Pavia. He has been running his mouth since the preseason and has definitely given some bulletin board material to our team. If we remember, he said they can beat Tennessee anywhere and at any time, and then made the statement yesterday that he is the best college football player in the country. How are we going to respond to that? Also, can we take the effort that we put into last night and carry it over to next week, or are we going to think we have arrived and not put in the work this week? Josh reminds me a little bit of Fulmer, in that His team seems to play their best when their backs are against the wall, like last night. Will we see the same team who came out playing with their hair on fire and focused and motivated, or we see the team that we have seen often come out flat? I’m not sure. I haven’t seen enough sample sizes without boo to feel confident that this team is a lot better with him out of the locker room. Let’s look at some keys to the game.
1. Start fast! We need to do the same thing that we did last night and put our foot on the pedal early. It would be great to win a toss, defer, and stop them three and out and force a punt, and then go down to score. However the start of the game plays out, we need to take the ball down and score and do it often. Make them feel some pressure that they cannot play ball control, and have eight or nine minute drives.
2. Which defense do we see Saturday? There’s no doubt this defenses look better since boo was removed from the team. However, we still suck at safety, and I did not like to see us get pushed around in the trenches once Florida decided to run the ball. They were absolutely gashing us and I thought that would be the game plan from the start with them, but thankfully they look like they wanted to try to establish Lagway throwing the ball. Vanderbilt off fence is very good… I threw up in my mouth a little bit saying that. They run motion all the time as I candy and I’m pretty concerned. It’s gonna give us fits as we tend to not have great discipline with our eyes and get out of alignment. I felt Banks had a pretty good plan against Pavia last year, but he was also hurt. I’m not sure if that plan works this year or not. I really hope that we see Perlotte way more than Ben Bolton or Telander. We need someone with speed to spy Pavia and not let him run around back there! I think we have to keep them under 24 points to win the game, and I’m still not convinced we can do that. #6 is FAST and is a major problem to defend, and of course the TE is elite. I’m not sure we have anyone to defend him.
3. Be physical! I loved how physical we played last night! I loved that we decided to come in and run the ball right down Florida’s throat and did it. I hope this can give this offense and especially the line the confidence that we can run the football effectively. We are gonna need to do that against Vanderbilt. They love sending pressure from all over the place and tend to have free runs at the quarterback. That scares me with Joey getting hit from his blind side to cause a fumble or making a bad decision for an interception at a very bad time. We need to run the ball for over 200 yards again, it is as simple as that!
4. Win the turnover battle. We have to protect the ball! We cannot give up a defensive score to them to change momentum, and we certainly cannot give them a short field. Protect the ball, and then the defense needs to force Pavia to make some bad decisions.
5. Make Pavia pay for his mouth he’s been running! Make sure Pavia can hardly walk out of the stadium when the game is over! I hope we have a very aggressive game plan on defense and make pay via pay for these comments he’s made. I hope we hit him all night long and let him know that you don’t walk into Neyland and beat Tennessee.
6. Can we get a Neyland crowd to BE LOUD the entire game??!! Everyone keeps saying that Neyland is loud, but we all know it is not loud as it used to be. Can that change this week? Can our fans be on fire for this game wanting to destroy Vanderbilt and ruin any chances they have for the playoffs? We will find out.
Prediction: I’m just not sure how this plays out. I’d probably be a little bit more confident, except two teams have walked into Neyland this year and beat us… And they did it because we gave the game away to them. I’m just not sure that we don’t have the same thing happen and rear it’s ugly head again. Can we have focus and great eye discipline to not fall for all the motion they run? I’m not so sure. They are really good on offense, and that defense looked really good yesterday too. Can this team lock back in and not think they have a ride because of what they did last night? Can we put the same focus into the preparation for Vanderbilt this week that they said they put in the Florida last week? I think that will decide the game. I think that decides if we win or lose. If we come out on fire like we did last night, we win the game. If we come out a little listless and flat because we think it’s just Vanderbilt, we will lose. I’m just not convinced we can put two games together, because Heupel sometimes doesn’t give me the most confidence as an elite motivator. Let’s hope this game plays out differently than I envision it.
Vols - 23
Andy - 31
ONE TEAM, ONE HEARTBEAT!
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