London Vol
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I guess the conversation with my wife this morning will go something like.
The wife “how did it go last night?”
Me “we lost 38-14”
The wife “lost by 20+ points again to a big boy, so no change with your new coach”
Me after wiggling my pencil will say “not so fast”.
Whilst I want to win EVERY week and moral victories are actual losses, remember every journey starts with just one step. If your being realistic (I get the frustration and impatience) last night was really about assessing where we are with the Heupel project and my frustration at losses was really born from the fact I was actually pleased with what I saw. I just loved the commitment, the journey has started.
QUARTERBACKS
If fit, Hendon Hooker is surely our starting QB for the rest of this season (I had him third on my pre-season depth chart, I admit I was wrong). His passing game is acceptable, he is by far the best scrambler of the three and he even avoided catastrophe by dealing with two bad snaps. In fact the overthrow of a wide open Warren late in the first half was the only real blemish I can remember. As for Milton, he demonstrated, with half his passes badly overthrown and I mean badly overthrown, that he not the answer yet. Heupel must be flabbergasted that with all that talent he seems to make no adjustments or development every week (I can see the Michigan fans smiling and winking right now). I am beginning to wonder if it’s a maturity thing? I was surprised after Bowling Green when he said "he played well", really? Also Heupel said that Milton “wasn’t fit”, if so, and he still called his number and not Baileys. Not a good look for Bailey.
RUNNING BACKS
The biggest pleasant surprise of the night was the performance of Small and Evans, they combined for 109 yards from 22 carries at nearly 5 yards a pop, contributed 46 yards from two shovel passes and a 47 yard screen pass that went for a touchdown. Throw in some good scrambling and draw plays from Hooker and an end-around from Hyatt, this was a good day for this department. The RBs were way more productive that I thought they would be last night.
WIDE RECEIVERS
A bit of a mixed bunch here, Payton again looked like the primary receiver, with Jones being his main sidekick. But I must balance this with the four drops (Florida had none) that also seemed to come at really important moments of the game. A quick mention of Calloway, I know, you know and he will most definitely know he made a couple of really bad drops, however I am really pleased that he is not getting a load of blame for last night. Please remember that he is a freshman who, before he is finished at Tennessee will have many great nights. Just dust yourself down young man, learn from it and move on. We’ve still got your back.
TIGHT ENDS
As I said last week Warren has now separated himself from Fant at the top of the depth chart. The overthrow to him just before half time was a big moment of the match and with that completion his stats would have been mighty impressive.
OFFENSIVE LINE
If the QB and the RBs are having a good day you can presume that the O Line is also. Although it wasn’t perfect with some false starts and the odd missed assignment, the guys really gutted it out (and you can’t ask for more than that) this was epitomized by the Cooper Mays heroic participation. I just hope he has not done any lasting damage as we really need him going forward.
DEFENSIVE LINE
505 yards will suggest that it was not a good day at the office for the D Line but like the score, it doesn’t tell the whole story. At the end of the 3rd quarter we actually had more yards in less time of play than Florida. However they wore down in the 4th quarter. By the way Florida ran for more yards against the much vaunted Alabama Defense than they did last night.
LINEBACKERS
Again, I felt that Banks (after his usual bone headed play), Mitchell, Beasley and Page held their own and that was given the opposition. Whilst this part of the team is unlikely to be the stars of the show this season, I didn’t see To`o To`o and Crouch do any better last year.
DEFENSIVE BACKS
Felt the DBs played a little too soft at times but also did well on other occasions. Flowers 12 tackles, and Taylor's strip was very impressive.
SPECIAL TEAMS
I guess everybody has an off-week and this week it was their turn. Running into the kicker, targeting and an unsportsmanlike amounting to 30 yards of penalties on ONE play is inexcusable, a low snap causing a 35 yard punt and a missed field goal right on half time (a 47 yarder is no gimme) were the low lights.
COACHING
They deserve a mention. In almost every area of the team there is improvement, no doubt down to proper coaching. Players I always regarded as depth players at best, people like Jackson , Beasley, Page, Tillman, Lane and Davis are really contributing. Also the players are giving their all for Tennessee so they have clearly “bought in” to the Heupel way.
COMING UP
Now we come to the most important part of the season in my opinion. MIZZ and USC are both winnable but with some of the indiscipline (10 penalties again), dropped passes, bad clock management and most concerning the numbers of injuries, both these games are also losable. Win both and the two cup-cake games (sorry VANDY) still to come and this season will be viewed as progress, whilst lose both and 4-8 will not.
Yes, I was gutted as we could have been level (the aforementioned missed field goal and dropped catch) going into the 4th quarter, which was really way above my expectations but what that really shows is that we might, just might be on the right road.
GO VOLS
The wife “how did it go last night?”
Me “we lost 38-14”
The wife “lost by 20+ points again to a big boy, so no change with your new coach”
Me after wiggling my pencil will say “not so fast”.
Whilst I want to win EVERY week and moral victories are actual losses, remember every journey starts with just one step. If your being realistic (I get the frustration and impatience) last night was really about assessing where we are with the Heupel project and my frustration at losses was really born from the fact I was actually pleased with what I saw. I just loved the commitment, the journey has started.
QUARTERBACKS
If fit, Hendon Hooker is surely our starting QB for the rest of this season (I had him third on my pre-season depth chart, I admit I was wrong). His passing game is acceptable, he is by far the best scrambler of the three and he even avoided catastrophe by dealing with two bad snaps. In fact the overthrow of a wide open Warren late in the first half was the only real blemish I can remember. As for Milton, he demonstrated, with half his passes badly overthrown and I mean badly overthrown, that he not the answer yet. Heupel must be flabbergasted that with all that talent he seems to make no adjustments or development every week (I can see the Michigan fans smiling and winking right now). I am beginning to wonder if it’s a maturity thing? I was surprised after Bowling Green when he said "he played well", really? Also Heupel said that Milton “wasn’t fit”, if so, and he still called his number and not Baileys. Not a good look for Bailey.
RUNNING BACKS
The biggest pleasant surprise of the night was the performance of Small and Evans, they combined for 109 yards from 22 carries at nearly 5 yards a pop, contributed 46 yards from two shovel passes and a 47 yard screen pass that went for a touchdown. Throw in some good scrambling and draw plays from Hooker and an end-around from Hyatt, this was a good day for this department. The RBs were way more productive that I thought they would be last night.
WIDE RECEIVERS
A bit of a mixed bunch here, Payton again looked like the primary receiver, with Jones being his main sidekick. But I must balance this with the four drops (Florida had none) that also seemed to come at really important moments of the game. A quick mention of Calloway, I know, you know and he will most definitely know he made a couple of really bad drops, however I am really pleased that he is not getting a load of blame for last night. Please remember that he is a freshman who, before he is finished at Tennessee will have many great nights. Just dust yourself down young man, learn from it and move on. We’ve still got your back.
TIGHT ENDS
As I said last week Warren has now separated himself from Fant at the top of the depth chart. The overthrow to him just before half time was a big moment of the match and with that completion his stats would have been mighty impressive.
OFFENSIVE LINE
If the QB and the RBs are having a good day you can presume that the O Line is also. Although it wasn’t perfect with some false starts and the odd missed assignment, the guys really gutted it out (and you can’t ask for more than that) this was epitomized by the Cooper Mays heroic participation. I just hope he has not done any lasting damage as we really need him going forward.
DEFENSIVE LINE
505 yards will suggest that it was not a good day at the office for the D Line but like the score, it doesn’t tell the whole story. At the end of the 3rd quarter we actually had more yards in less time of play than Florida. However they wore down in the 4th quarter. By the way Florida ran for more yards against the much vaunted Alabama Defense than they did last night.
LINEBACKERS
Again, I felt that Banks (after his usual bone headed play), Mitchell, Beasley and Page held their own and that was given the opposition. Whilst this part of the team is unlikely to be the stars of the show this season, I didn’t see To`o To`o and Crouch do any better last year.
DEFENSIVE BACKS
Felt the DBs played a little too soft at times but also did well on other occasions. Flowers 12 tackles, and Taylor's strip was very impressive.
SPECIAL TEAMS
I guess everybody has an off-week and this week it was their turn. Running into the kicker, targeting and an unsportsmanlike amounting to 30 yards of penalties on ONE play is inexcusable, a low snap causing a 35 yard punt and a missed field goal right on half time (a 47 yarder is no gimme) were the low lights.
COACHING
They deserve a mention. In almost every area of the team there is improvement, no doubt down to proper coaching. Players I always regarded as depth players at best, people like Jackson , Beasley, Page, Tillman, Lane and Davis are really contributing. Also the players are giving their all for Tennessee so they have clearly “bought in” to the Heupel way.
COMING UP
Now we come to the most important part of the season in my opinion. MIZZ and USC are both winnable but with some of the indiscipline (10 penalties again), dropped passes, bad clock management and most concerning the numbers of injuries, both these games are also losable. Win both and the two cup-cake games (sorry VANDY) still to come and this season will be viewed as progress, whilst lose both and 4-8 will not.
Yes, I was gutted as we could have been level (the aforementioned missed field goal and dropped catch) going into the 4th quarter, which was really way above my expectations but what that really shows is that we might, just might be on the right road.
GO VOLS
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