London Vol
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GAME 12 – UTEP 23 NOVEMBER 2024
Yesterday was a unique day as whilst supporting the Vols it was the first time that I was going to have more than half an eye on other matches as well. Suddenly I was interested to see if Indiana got pasted by THE Ohno St, then Army against Notre Dame and amazingly then wanting Florida to beat Ole Miss. Now if anybody wishes to understand the seismic change to College Football there it is. But I endorse the Play Offs for the simple reason that in any other year our season would have finished after the second half collapse in Athens last week.
Much has been said about the bias and favoritism of the selection committee, but I believe the real reason why Tennessee was on the ‘outside looking in’ was when being compared against fairly similar resumes, the one area that Tennessee has been weak in was the ‘eye test’. The games that may have cost us were the inability to convincingly put away both Kentucky and Mississippi St, two teams who were there for the taking. So my observations about the UTEP game was more on slash plays, eye catching moments and basically if Nico can look what most of us think he will be, then it would not too late to get a golden ticket. Remember the one thing that unites the College football power-brokers is five letters M-O-N-E-Y and as the Vols have already appeared I believe 4 times on prime time TV and the ratings for the Alabama game was huge, believe me, the money men want us in the playoffs just as the do Texas who will get in unless they totally implode.
To make this week’s grades more relevant I listed before the game something in italics that I wished to see.
QUARTERBACKS B+
Two 40-yard completions – failed. Well Nico Iamaleava got going after a slow and inaccurate start but with the aid of a bunch of short fields he finished with an impressive stat line of 17:23 for 209 yards, 4 TDs and 0 INTs. But no big completions again and he missed on another bomb. Maybe he is just not accurate on this type of throw, but what he did do well was to throw multiple short passes over the middle especially to the TEs. I am still high on Iamaleava but the idea of two magical seasons and off to the NFL hasn’t happened, still I believe he will get there in the end.
RUNNING BACKS A
Peyton Lewis gets his first hundred-yard game –never had a chance but not his fault. Because of the slow start, Dylan Sampson stayed in the game far longer than most believed he would so Lewis just didn’t get the carries. Still 46 yards from 7 carries at 6.6 y.p.c when he was given the rock was very good again and he also reached the checkerboard twice. So, as I have said on multiple occasions he will be possibly just as good next season as Sampson has been this season. Cameron Seldon showed some moxie and Khalifa Keith (in garbage time) showed we have depth as well.
WIDE RECEIVERS B-
Mike Matthews introduces himself to the Vol Fans – not quite A nice catch and a TD on the next play which was ruined by a stupid penalty from Holden Staes got me interested, but the last I saw of him was when he was not being able to haul in another TD pass. I hope he stays in Knoxville as he runs some smooth routes and has soft hands (not something that is common in the receiver’s room this season) and could have a classic Sophomore Surge in 2025. I was delighted that Bru McCoy snared a couple of TDs after all that he has gone through in Knoxville, yet another who can rightly claim to be a Vol for Life.
TIGHT ENDS A-
Miles Kitselman has another big game receiving – fair to say, more accurately another good game. Miles did nothing wrong, as he did have to share the limelight with the other TEs who combined to have 6 catches for 83 yards. The reason why I marked this Unit down slightly was because Holden Staes had a couple costly penalties,
OFFENSIVE LINE B
Nico and Gaston have clean jerseys at the end of the game - true. I felt the Sacks Nico suffered was more down to his indecision rather than the lack of blocking. 241 yards rushing is a stat that acknowledges that they had a good day in the trenches. One pleasing moment was watching Lance Heard blocking downfield for a rushing TD and celebrating wildly immediately afterwards, As he has gotten fitter he has gotten better and I hope he is in for a big season next season which we will need as it will be a much changed Offensive Line.
DEFENSIVE LINE B
Keep the rushing yards to under 75 yards – success. The final reckoning was 81 yards at 2.1 y.p.c so it was a good day also for the D`Line. But the real stats that stick out were the 4 SACKs and 15 TFL`s. There were many names who were beneficiaries, but I would like to point out James Pearce who had 2 SACKs and 2.5 TFL`s. Padding his stats will be important when it comes to The Draft as he has been a menace this season it will not cut it with the draft evaluators.
LINEBACKERS C
Both Arion Carter and Jeremiah Telander clog up the middle with discipline - mostly yes, Carter continues to make some good plays, but Telander again only had one tackle. Kalib Perry and Jalen Smith are starting to perform at a level that will be threatening Telanders reps..
DEFENSIVE BACKS A+
Ricky Gibson finally gets his deserved INT – no, but everything but, On the very first play I thought I had struck gold with a throw Gibson's way, but dispute blanket coverage, alas no INT. However, he did everything else with sticky coverage, clean tackling and a forced fumble. He and Jermod McCoy are fast becoming as good a pair of DBs as in the country, and both are back next season. After years of being critical of Willie Martinez it is time to give him credit for their development, especially Gibson. Another name who deserves a mention is Andre Turrentine who is quietly having a really solid season.
PLAY OFFS
Back to the bigger picture, with losses for Alabama against Oklahoma (perhaps OKA weren’t too bad after all), Ole Miss against Florida (perhaps FLA weren’t too bad after all) and Texas A&M, add the drubbing of Indiana and the one point win for Penn State, the only word I can think of for Tuesdays selection committee is CHAOS. But to think we enter the final game of the regular season needing only to beat Vanderbilt to get into the playoffs (I know they are not the usual Commodores this season) and even maybe get a home game, I would have taken that like a shot at the start of the season.
Please post your comments and opinions as I really enjoy them.
GO VOLS
