Are we perfect? No...

#26
#26
JMSqb11 said:
I'm still shocked that Heupel had 2 timeouts in his pocket and didn't use one after picked up the first down with 13 seconds left

Or spike the ball and keep the 2 timeouts. Plenty of time to run if he wanted with Star and get 10 yards to set up Gilbert at the bare minimum.

It was just a very weird game for Heupel. He looked so uncomfortable that last 2 minutes of regulation.
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maybe his head was throbbing from them damn cowbells
 
#27
#27
...but we are a damn good football team, nonetheless.

Not so sure to raise the "Damn Good Football Team" flag yet on my front yard my friend, so will settle for a "Very good football team" for now. Years back, in the SEC, a Very Good Team would guarantee you 5-6 wins in the league however, anyone notice the parity that has been going on in the past few years in the SEC? Vandy a guaranteed W anymore? Mizzou? Kentucky? Gamecocks? Not so fast my friends, not so fast.

We have plenty of room to improve on execution on the field plus, managing/coaching the Xs & Os and the clock. We get those right, and then I would agree that we are a Damn Good Team
 
#28
#28
WeNeedaQB said:
I think we had three plays that took us from an easy 21 point win to a nail biting win in overtime. Dropped punt, personal foul on lineman for body slamming ball carrier and the terrible OPI call on Brazzel (spelling?) that took away a TD.
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I’d also add the weak defensive PI against us. Think it might have been on Redmond but cannot remember 100%.
 
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#29
#29
We are good not great. We survived yesterday and credit the team for gutting out a tough W on the road. This was always a slight rebuild season though and I will be satisfied with a 8-4 or 9-3 regular season. Going 10-2 and a return trip to the playoff would be icing on the cake and exceed my expectations for this season and this team.
 
#30
#30
Big Orange Captain said:
We are good not great. This was always a slight rebuild season. I will be satisfied with 8-4 or 9-3 and 10-2 and a return trip to the playoff is just icing on the cake.
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We’re better than I thought we’d be, and we still have a chance to get better.

This bye week is coming at a very good time.
 
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#31
#31
JMSqb11 said:
I think this team is decent and will get better with the guys coming back from injury paired with guys like Redmond getting this valuable playing time. However, I think this win was in spite of the coaching.

I feel for Heupel because that was a game we normally lose just on its own, but he tried to make it even harder to win with his decision making.

He's still a young coach so the face he is still making these awful in game management decisions repeatedly is concerning. Especially since his entire coaching career/philosophy is predicated on him being a former QB and offensive coordinator for years.

I hope it is just brain farts because at the end of the day, he took this job at death's door and has gone 41-16 while basically making Neyland Stadium a no win zone for opposing teams minus Georgia.

But man I have never seen a coach so uncomfortable on the sidelines like he was the final 30 seconds of regulation. He just looked like he had no idea on what he wanted to do while having timeouts in the backpocket.

It also killed me that our pass rush was getting to Shapen the entire second half and on that last play, we didn't all out blitz the guy. MSU dropped the gametying touchdown, we didn't stop it.

The one good takeaway from this game is I think we will lay the smackdown on Arkansas to get all the pentup frustration out the system
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I would agree with all of this, except they didn’t drop the game tying TD. Carter broke it up
 
#32
#32
zeppelin128 said:
That muffed punt really screwed up the momentum of the game: 3 and out for our defense followed by the Heupel scripted first drive for a TD would have punched them in the mouth, calmed the cowbells a bit, and set the tone.

Oh well, such is life sometimes. A win is a win, especially on the road for a program that has a pattern of dropping one head-scratching loss on the road each year.

Our guys never quit and kept fighting, that's the important part.

Edit: shout out to the Staley redemption arc. He had a rough game, but fought like hell and picked up a critical first down in the 4th.
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Agree on Staley. Some players would have turtled up, but he stayed aggressive and engaged. Maybe it will rub off on some coaches?
 
#34
#34
I agree with the muffed punt set the stage for a dogfight type situation. Few tough calls etc. That all being said, I think it was Carter, awesome play to end the o/t. Appears he came off his guy or area, and tipped that ball on the last play. Great play! Defense made huge plays.

To add. State fans were easy to be around. Great trip!
 
#36
#36
Delmar said:
Not hard for me. Many of them are probably miserable in their regular lives and it just bleeds over. That’s why my Ignore list is so long. No patience for trolls or the incessantly negative.
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Great post, agree 100% (many of them are probably miserable in their regular lives and it just bleeds over).
 
#38
#38
Everyone said 4-1. Plus, its not about how good you feel your team is - its if they're better than the competition:
Arkansas and Kentucky are BUTT.
It was ALWAYS going to be a long shot to beat Bama in T Town.
It was always going to be a long shot to win in the swamp because of weird voodoo.
Tenn may catch a break with Mateer's injury.
I cant imagine losing to even a very good Vandy at home.
Find a way to get to the playoffs. For some teams that may even be 9 wins. This year, a playoff spot is another successful season.
 
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#39
#39
WeNeedaQB said:
I think we had three plays that took us from an easy 21 point win to a nail biting win in overtime. Dropped punt, personal foul on lineman for body slamming ball carrier and the terrible OPI call on Brazzel (spelling?) that took away a TD.
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Bad defensive PI call that extended their drive to a touchdown and the two picks as well. They are a good football team and we gave them some help; but still managed to win. No disrespect to MSU, but we could’ve and should’ve won by 3 scores. A win is a win and I’ll take it though. Especially a SEC road test.
 
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#40
#40
PTS
JMSqb11 said:
I'm still shocked that Heupel had 2 timeouts in his pocket and didn't use one after picked up the first down with 13 seconds left

Or spike the ball and keep the 2 timeouts. Plenty of time to run if he wanted with Star and get 10 yards to set up Gilbert at the bare minimum.

It was just a very weird game for Heupel. He looked so uncomfortable that last 2 minutes of regulation.
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PTSD from Georgia game maybe but I think everyone has it out of their system now
 
#41
#41
DaddyChad said:
Clock management was horrible. Some of this though is lack of execution still. We win comfortably if not for self inflicted wounds. Pop up INTs, dropped balls, etc.

I will add what Heupel and Aguilar have accomplished as late as he got here is impressive. Heupel is a great developers, great play caller as well, late game management though is terrible. I wouldn’t have expected to be a contender for anything this year before the season started. Aguilar has been a blessing for us.
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I think some of that is trust. You aren't going to put all your faith in a QB who has only been here for 2 months. Heupel could do no wrong in 2022 when it came to his clock management. He was excellent. He was also fine with Milton in 2023, though the team wasn't as successful because both of those guys knew the system inside and out.

I think the problems this year stem more from Aguilar having to cram so much material in that there are times he still gets confused, which is to be totally expected, and a coach who expects his QB to line up and go like Hooker did his last year. That's just normal and not a fault of either of them. It's just part of the growing process that Aguilar has been unfairly thrust into due to the late transfer (all thanks to the antics of our last QB).
 
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#43
#43
JMSqb11 said:
I'm still shocked that Heupel had 2 timeouts in his pocket and didn't use one after picked up the first down with 13 seconds left

Or spike the ball and keep the 2 timeouts. Plenty of time to run if he wanted with Star and get 10 yards to set up Gilbert at the bare minimum.

It was just a very weird game for Heupel. He looked so uncomfortable that last 2 minutes of regulation.
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It is a calculated risk that going fast puts the defense in a position cause they are expecting the same thing. Hyatt benefitted from several of those. A timeout COULD greater benefit the D. There are ZERO absolutes that in these game situations.
 
#44
#44
perico said:
I think some of that is trust. You aren't going to put all your faith in a QB who has only been here for 2 months. Heupel could do no wrong in 2022 when it came to his clock management. He was excellent. He was also fine with Milton in 2023, though the team wasn't as successful because both of those guys knew the system inside and out.

I think the problems this year stem more from Aguilar having to cram so much material in that there are times he still gets confused, which is to be totally expected, and a coach who expects his QB to line up and go like Hooker did his last year. That's just normal and not a fault of either of them. It's just part of the growing process that Aguilar has been unfairly thrust into due to the late transfer (all thanks to the antics of our last QB).
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Idk. I see your point but he trusted Joey to throw up a Hail Mary that actually could’ve burned us if it was intercepted. There wasn’t much back to catch a fast DB if they catch that ball. You had Aguilar and some Oline back. I think the game just got away from him. And I think Josh is a great coach, probably one of the better ones in the game right now but he has area where he can improve. He also put the ball in Aguilar’s hands to convert a fourth down at about midfield at one point.

I do think there is something to they’re still learning what Joey can and can’t do well though within this system.
 
#45
#45
VFL-82-JP said:
...but we are a damn good football team, nonetheless.

Look, none of us is perfect. Not you. Not me. Not that fella or gal over there. And that includes our coaches and players.

A head coach probably makes 150+ decisions in the course of a ball game. His coordinators probably about the same amount, each. Most of those decisions are made in a second or two: see, consider, decide. Just about as fast as you can say those three words. Given that, it would be surpassing strange for them not to get a handful of things wrong. Come on, be honest, how many of you scored better than 97% on a 4-hour exam, while riding in a HMMWV in the streets of Baghdad with IEDs all around? By that, I mean distractions and concerns all around you while making each of those split-second decisions.

All that to say, our coaches are ****-hot. They are excellent. Even if they did mess up clock management that one time.

And our players, too. People on these boards giving grief to Telander ... Carter (either/both) ... our kicker ... hell, our QB! This fella who is night and day better than anything we've had since Hendon Hooker, who had like 15 minutes to study the playbook before the first game. Someone even down-talked our freshman right tackle, in his first appearance in a college game, ever, even though he did a marvelous job under those conditions.

All these lads are really, really good. Put it this way: they are able to stand toe-to-toe with anyone in the nation (barring possibly Ohio State, still having trouble seeing past that game last December).

We have the talent now. Now. We can compete for the SEC and national titles now. We can be that good, with these lads. Occasional mistakes and all. And it's only gonna keep getting better.

So stop whining about how we're not perfect. Stop pole vaulting over every little blemish you see like it caused us to start the season 0-5.

If you can't see all the good in our current team, coaches and players alike, maybe just chill out and let the rest of us enjoy some good football.

There. Nega-Vol lightning rod struck.

Go Vols!
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Note to self, I’m not perfect. Thanks!!
 
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#46
#46
I used to work with a brilliant guy who, usually after he fixed something for me, would say, "It's better to be lucky than good." Truth was, he was both. I think that's the way this team is. The chaos they create on both sides of the ball creates oppurtunities for our best players to shine. And, who fills the spot of "best player" is determined by the moment. I love the chaos this team presents on the field. Especially when I consider my expectations of the past few seasons. This team is fun. They're lucky AND good.
 
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