London Vol
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GAME 8 - KENTUCKY
I do enjoy the Indy500, and the SEC has similar traits. Before the race all the teams think it could be “their year”. Soon after the start some of the usual hopefuls quickly fall by the wayside (South Carolina, Kentucky, Mississippi St, Arkansas), you get big teams that perennially disappoint (Florida, LSU, Texas), some teams always stay in the middle of the pack (Texas A&M, Auburn, Missouri), sometimes a small team surprises everybody (Vanderbilt), you also get very competitive teams that don`t realistically have a chance of winning the competition but are good nonetheless (Ole Miss) and then you have the “bluebloods” who are serious contenders to winning the whole race (Alabama, Georgia). So where do I rank Tennessee?
QUARTERBACKS A +
I’ve been concerned that Joey Aguilar might not be fully fit after last week’s neck injury and if he was “second hand” we would probably have incurred a bad loss. But I needed not to worry, 396 yards 3 TDs and 0 INTs was pivotal in last night’s win. A special mention of the “5 bombs, all over 35 yards” when none were even attempted last week at Alabama. It is interesting after the last two years when the long past frequently had too much "mustard on them", Aguilar gives the ball so much air that its up to the WR to go and get it and this week they were all caught. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking this is a poor Wildcat Defense as Texas last week racked up only 179 yards against it and The Vols had 504 yards last night.
RUNNING BACKS C
Kentucky decided to try to stop the run by loading the box and it succeeded, well it did until they watch the rerun on Monday and see what happened to their Secondary without the two deep safety support that most teams now use to stop the big plays from Tennessee. It was not a good day for the RBs and they only broke the 100-yard barrier due to a bunch of garbage time runs. After two big weeks for DeSean Bishop it was Star Thomas`s turn to be the No 1 (I managed to not type Star here) Running Back.
WIDE RECEIVERS A +
When Chis Brazzell II has 138 yards Mike Matthews 107 yards and Braylon Staley 105 yards, add this to no obvious drops, then this can only be described as an excellent day at the office. It is quite clear this Defense or more accurately the Secondary is not going to improve this season, so these guys are going to need to show up every week if Tennessee are to reach the goals they have set themselves.
TIGHT ENDS B
Hello, Ethan Davis, it was lovely to see you at last. When the game was still in the balance just before half time, he not only converted an important 1st down with a tough catch, but he then snared a TD that eased as lot of tension.
OFFENSIVE LINE B
The O`Line started shaky last night as they did last week, this resulted in a SACK and no Running Game. But they slowly gained a foothold in the game, as a result Aguilar started to hit his WRs and by the end of the game they were dominant. David Sanders is starting to rack up some quality reps which can only help Tennessee going forward. I would like to mention Wendell Moe who made a number of power pushes at important times
DEFENSIVE LINE B +
I thought they came out ready to play and fought hard all game. It must be really frustrating forcing the opponent into repeated 3rd and longs only for the Secondary to give up a big play. Most of the interior contributed and Domonic Bailey recorded the best stats with 1 SACK and 1½ TFLs. Like Moe, Nathan Robinson was another unsung hero and he also recorded another TFL. The DEs are one of The Vols strongest Units yet for the second week they failed to record significant stats, but this week they were at least penetrating into the backfield so it was better, but not back to the early season form.
LINEBACKERS B -
I have called for Edwin Spillman, who was a beast with a massive 15 tackles, to get more playing time and with the injury to Arion Carter we saw what he has to offer, when Carter returns these two should be the starters. Not for the first time Jadon Perlotte showed plenty of promise and he seems to have the knack of being in the area where the ball is, this is something you can’t coach.
DEFENSIVE BACKS E -
There are more holes in the Secondary than there are at Augusta. The safeties are still a big liability, although Edrees Farooq improves this grade with his athletic Pick 6. Ty Redmond still makes loads of mistakes, but I still wish to stick with him as I think better days are ahead and these moments are the traditional Freshmen “lumps” he’s taking. But most of my ire is saved for Boo Carter, he has never settled down it would seem from his disruptive close season and in hindsight Tennessee show have cut him adrift like they did with last years QB. Blown coverages and missed tackles are sadly a part of the game but not trying is totally unacceptable and the way he ambled back for Kentucky’s 2nd TD was quite frankly embarrassing. The season is too far gone to expect much improvement from the Secondary unless Jermod McCoy appears, so its going to be a shoot out every week or lose.
COACHING B
It’s easy to blame coaches for lack of production especially Tim Banks and Willie Martinez when it’s the players who make mistakes, but overall I thought the coaching wasn’t bad. The best points were a game plan which included the long game again and for the second week running there was a number of positive adjustments at half time. Finally, that drive just before half time was well drawn up and delivered.
BIG MOMENTS – DOUBLE DIP
Double Dip either side of half time is often described as an important part of the game and with just over 1 minute left of the first half Kentucky closed the game to 28-21 and were getting the ball at the start of the second half, this no doubt made everybody in orange nervous. But after a really important drive and TD just before half time and a big stop on the first Kentucky drive at the start of the second half, it meant actually Tennessee had the Double Dip.
So now we have completed 333 miles or 2/3rds of the race, which category do I fit Tennessee in? A very competitive team that don’t realistically have a chance of winning it all but are good nonetheless
GO VOLS
I do enjoy the Indy500, and the SEC has similar traits. Before the race all the teams think it could be “their year”. Soon after the start some of the usual hopefuls quickly fall by the wayside (South Carolina, Kentucky, Mississippi St, Arkansas), you get big teams that perennially disappoint (Florida, LSU, Texas), some teams always stay in the middle of the pack (Texas A&M, Auburn, Missouri), sometimes a small team surprises everybody (Vanderbilt), you also get very competitive teams that don`t realistically have a chance of winning the competition but are good nonetheless (Ole Miss) and then you have the “bluebloods” who are serious contenders to winning the whole race (Alabama, Georgia). So where do I rank Tennessee?
QUARTERBACKS A +
I’ve been concerned that Joey Aguilar might not be fully fit after last week’s neck injury and if he was “second hand” we would probably have incurred a bad loss. But I needed not to worry, 396 yards 3 TDs and 0 INTs was pivotal in last night’s win. A special mention of the “5 bombs, all over 35 yards” when none were even attempted last week at Alabama. It is interesting after the last two years when the long past frequently had too much "mustard on them", Aguilar gives the ball so much air that its up to the WR to go and get it and this week they were all caught. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking this is a poor Wildcat Defense as Texas last week racked up only 179 yards against it and The Vols had 504 yards last night.
RUNNING BACKS C
Kentucky decided to try to stop the run by loading the box and it succeeded, well it did until they watch the rerun on Monday and see what happened to their Secondary without the two deep safety support that most teams now use to stop the big plays from Tennessee. It was not a good day for the RBs and they only broke the 100-yard barrier due to a bunch of garbage time runs. After two big weeks for DeSean Bishop it was Star Thomas`s turn to be the No 1 (I managed to not type Star here) Running Back.
WIDE RECEIVERS A +
When Chis Brazzell II has 138 yards Mike Matthews 107 yards and Braylon Staley 105 yards, add this to no obvious drops, then this can only be described as an excellent day at the office. It is quite clear this Defense or more accurately the Secondary is not going to improve this season, so these guys are going to need to show up every week if Tennessee are to reach the goals they have set themselves.
TIGHT ENDS B
Hello, Ethan Davis, it was lovely to see you at last. When the game was still in the balance just before half time, he not only converted an important 1st down with a tough catch, but he then snared a TD that eased as lot of tension.
OFFENSIVE LINE B
The O`Line started shaky last night as they did last week, this resulted in a SACK and no Running Game. But they slowly gained a foothold in the game, as a result Aguilar started to hit his WRs and by the end of the game they were dominant. David Sanders is starting to rack up some quality reps which can only help Tennessee going forward. I would like to mention Wendell Moe who made a number of power pushes at important times
DEFENSIVE LINE B +
I thought they came out ready to play and fought hard all game. It must be really frustrating forcing the opponent into repeated 3rd and longs only for the Secondary to give up a big play. Most of the interior contributed and Domonic Bailey recorded the best stats with 1 SACK and 1½ TFLs. Like Moe, Nathan Robinson was another unsung hero and he also recorded another TFL. The DEs are one of The Vols strongest Units yet for the second week they failed to record significant stats, but this week they were at least penetrating into the backfield so it was better, but not back to the early season form.
LINEBACKERS B -
I have called for Edwin Spillman, who was a beast with a massive 15 tackles, to get more playing time and with the injury to Arion Carter we saw what he has to offer, when Carter returns these two should be the starters. Not for the first time Jadon Perlotte showed plenty of promise and he seems to have the knack of being in the area where the ball is, this is something you can’t coach.
DEFENSIVE BACKS E -
There are more holes in the Secondary than there are at Augusta. The safeties are still a big liability, although Edrees Farooq improves this grade with his athletic Pick 6. Ty Redmond still makes loads of mistakes, but I still wish to stick with him as I think better days are ahead and these moments are the traditional Freshmen “lumps” he’s taking. But most of my ire is saved for Boo Carter, he has never settled down it would seem from his disruptive close season and in hindsight Tennessee show have cut him adrift like they did with last years QB. Blown coverages and missed tackles are sadly a part of the game but not trying is totally unacceptable and the way he ambled back for Kentucky’s 2nd TD was quite frankly embarrassing. The season is too far gone to expect much improvement from the Secondary unless Jermod McCoy appears, so its going to be a shoot out every week or lose.
COACHING B
It’s easy to blame coaches for lack of production especially Tim Banks and Willie Martinez when it’s the players who make mistakes, but overall I thought the coaching wasn’t bad. The best points were a game plan which included the long game again and for the second week running there was a number of positive adjustments at half time. Finally, that drive just before half time was well drawn up and delivered.
BIG MOMENTS – DOUBLE DIP
Double Dip either side of half time is often described as an important part of the game and with just over 1 minute left of the first half Kentucky closed the game to 28-21 and were getting the ball at the start of the second half, this no doubt made everybody in orange nervous. But after a really important drive and TD just before half time and a big stop on the first Kentucky drive at the start of the second half, it meant actually Tennessee had the Double Dip.
So now we have completed 333 miles or 2/3rds of the race, which category do I fit Tennessee in? A very competitive team that don’t realistically have a chance of winning it all but are good nonetheless
GO VOLS
