To be a meaningless bowl game

#1
VOLociraptorr

VOLociraptorr

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#1
Some of you act like we don't have any hope.

Let's use some logic
1. Best players opted out.

2. Heupels physical appearance has nothing to do with how good/bad of a coach he is. (Belicheck wore a cut off hoodie back in the day)

3. Interim DC was coaching

4. Defense sucked but now we have someone in place who should make us at least 30 spots better.

5. Our reporters make it seem like we're going to bring in some dudes this portal cycle

It was the music City bowl. We'll be all right
 
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#3
#3
VOLociraptorr said:
Some of you act like we don't have any hope.

Let's use some logic
1. Best players opted out.

2. Heupels physical appearance has nothing to do with how good/bad of a coach he is. (Belicheck wore a cut off hoodie back in the day)

3. Interim DC was coaching

4. Defense sucked but now we have someone in place who should make us at least 30 spots better.

5. Our reporters make it seem like we're going to bring in some dudes this portal cycle

It was the music City bowl. We'll be all right
Click to expand...
I was hoping people might be able manage their expectations a little bit better than they have given who has opted out, who was injured, coaching changes, etc…but some people are acting like we lost a CFP game or lost to Illinois in September or October. We lost a Music City in December. Let’s see where this goes over the next month with portal additions and staff changes.
 
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#5
#5
VOLociraptorr said:
Some of you act like we don't have any hope.

Let's use some logic
1. Best players opted out.

2. Heupels physical appearance has nothing to do with how good/bad of a coach he is. (Belicheck wore a cut off hoodie back in the day)

3. Interim DC was coaching

4. Defense sucked but now we have someone in place who should make us at least 30 spots better.

5. Our reporters make it seem like we're going to bring in some dudes this portal cycle

It was the music City bowl. We'll be all right
Click to expand...
I think this was a big learning season for Heupel. We all knew there was a lot of holes on the defense. We simply didn’t fill enough holes with the portal prior to the season.
 
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#6
#6
our defense didn't look any worse without those players/DC. we would all have taken 30 points given up by our defense. offense looked slow and out of sync from the first snap against a very mid level big 10 team. Can't help but laugh at the physical appearance shots fired at Huep haha
 
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#11
#11
This team got bad karma starting out with McCoy out and losing Gibson 1st game, Boo being a head case and ineffective. D seemed to never have a chance.

Firing Heuple would be the dumbest decision DW could ever make. The talent is coming, if Heuple cannot take advantage of it then the hot seat, but he deserves a chance to rebound.
 
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#12
#12
Almost every aspect of this team ran off the track somewhere during the season. Not sure why, but Heup has got to get the mojo going again for next year. It is possible with new coaches and impact players from the portal. Next year will be make it or break it for him. Don't think we necessary have to win 10 or 11 wins, but we need to be bigger & tougher, play harder, be more disciplined and show improvement during the year.
 
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#13
#13
To a high quality coach, no games are meaningless.

Any staff with more common sense than a garden pea knew they were going to have several opt outs for a non-playoff game.

This team had several weeks to prepare other players to step up. Live game action to assess what you have.

Tenn has a better roster top to bottom than Illinois.

There were no new wrinkles on offense to attempt to confuse Illinois. No discernible defensive plan.

The defense over the year, and I’m not talking about schemes and calls, I’m talking about basic, you should’ve learned this **** in pop warner football tackling and tracking got worse.

Tennessee needs a coaching staff that’s intensely focused on the process throughout the whole year. High-quality reps in practice and demanding excellence 100% of the time.

Players already have friends in college. They don’t need their coach to be their buddy. They need men that will instruct them about football and life.
 
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#14
#14
VOLociraptorr said:
Some of you act like we don't have any hope.

Let's use some logic
1. Best players opted out.

2. Heupels physical appearance has nothing to do with how good/bad of a coach he is. (Belicheck wore a cut off hoodie back in the day)

3. Interim DC was coaching

4. Defense sucked but now we have someone in place who should make us at least 30 spots better.

5. Our reporters make it seem like we're going to bring in some dudes this portal cycle

It was the music City bowl. We'll be all right
Click to expand...
The game last night was another example of a couple of games this year and last. It was an uninspired performance were nobody on the field was excited to play football. Meaningless bowl game is an excuse. It has happened during the regular season too when the games mattered. There is reason to be concerned after last nights game because apparently they are not using the portal very well based upon the talent on the field last night.
 
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#15
#15
djwes said:
To a high quality coach, no games are meaningless.

Any staff with more common sense than a garden pea knew they were going to have several opt outs for a non-playoff game.

This team had several weeks to prepare other players.

Tenn has a better roster top to bottom than Illinois.

There were no new wrinkles on offense to attempt to confuse Illinois. No discernible defensive plan.

The defense over the year, and I’m not talking about schemes and calls, I’m talking about basic, you should’ve learned this **** in pop warner football tackling and tracking got worse.

Tennessee needs a coaching staff that’s intensely focused on the process throughout the whole year. High-quality reps in practiced and demanding excellence 100% of the time.

Players already have friends in college. They don’t need their coach to be their buddy. They need men that will instruct them about football and life.
Click to expand...
^^^^^^ this x100^^^^^

Anyone who thinks otherwise is ignorantly blind
 
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#16
#16
VOLociraptorr said:
Some of you act like we don't have any hope.

Let's use some logic
1. Best players opted out.

2. Heupels physical appearance has nothing to do with how good/bad of a coach he is. (Belicheck wore a cut off hoodie back in the day)

3. Interim DC was coaching

4. Defense sucked but now we have someone in place who should make us at least 30 spots better.

5. Our reporters make it seem like we're going to bring in some dudes this portal cycle

It was the music City bowl. We'll be all right
Click to expand...

I love how the best counter to the very apparent and evident sloppiness of Heupel is to go to Belicheck.... Billy B won 6 Super Bowls. He can do whatever the hell he wants. Same with Andy Reid.

Those guys consistently showed that their "programs" were disciplined and serious.

You can not say the same about Heupel. I'm not going to sit here and rail on his appearance, but this entire season showcased that our team is being led by someone who doesn't put weight (no pun intended) on being a sound and discipline and consistent team. It isn't like he is season 1 or 2 into a rebuild where building a culture takes time.

I'm not sure if the Nico situation really threw him for a ringer with upending his offseason, but not once did Heupel come across with that fire and passion on the sidelines or press conferences that he has shown in years past.

The good news is that in the NIL era, it is easy to overhaul rosters and fix things in one offseason. Hopefully he uses the 2025 campaign as a wake up call and can spend this offseason instilling a culture of good habits
 
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#17
#17
Other then Redmond, who on defense progressed and improved over the season? They started a Freshman at LT and only took advantage of it on 1 play. Farooq may be the only other one that has shown any improvement over the season. He still isn't a SEC quality starter yet. The regression at D-line and LB this year was disappointing. They paid the price for not hitting the portal for D-line help. They put to much confidence in their young players.
 
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#18
#18
1. Losing to Illinois on a national stage is an embarrassment. Full stop.

2. Sloppy appearance and sloppy play should be discussed together as potentially correlated variables.

3. Head Coach fully owns DC situation.

4. The talent should be here . Period.

5. We should still beat Illinois with the talent we do have. Others develop. We squander. Others play up. We sleep on the field. Every damn game.

5. Consistent on field issues stem from consistent in house issues.

6. No game is meaningless. You play every game like it’s your last or you don’t even take the field. This pop warner ****.

#CoachingSearch
 
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#23
#23
volfeeva said:
Vols played tough, didn't quit . Could have won a close game even missing our key players. Take away Joey's fumble, or the missed FG and we have the lead. I dont see anything that cant be fixed
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just playing tough and not quitting isn't enough in year 5. the rest of that is just the same stuff over the past several years. fixable stuff that isn't getting fixed.....
 
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#24
#24
Cartervol said:
Illinois was a decent team. They just exposed Tennessee's weaknesses like ever other good team this year did. Shouldn't have surprised anyone.. No real improvement from week to week. Good thing this year is over..
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if we are a good team with a good coach in YEAR FIVE this doesn't happen. a decent team with no better talent than us shut down the one thing our head coach is supposed to be great at.


Guess Butch was right.... takes 7 years to build a program.....
 
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#25
#25
After marinating on the game last night, for me, it all comes down to how we consistently manage to do less with more talent than other teams. This game is a great example of that. We have talent. We are capable of playing at a high level, even without some of the more elite players. Yet we consistently come out sloppy and ill-prepared. I think the NIL and the portal have eliminated school pride and heart. Illinois played with pride and heart. We did not. Clock management in the late fourth quarter was suspect. Again. Heup looks disinterested most of the time. So do most of the players except Star Thomas and Bishop. We either need to step up and play the NIL/portal game like some of these other schools or we need to start playing with heart and developing players.
 
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