BigOrangeTrain
Morior Invictus
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- Jan 30, 2013
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7 turnovers cost us A&MThis was not a 'championship' team. It was not a championship team on paper . It was a team that was picked to win the SEC east. It lacked all around depth especially at linebacker and offensive tackle ...which happen to be the positions devastated by injury. It is also a team that played arguably the toughest schedule in the nation.
Regular season:
5-7
6-6
8-4
9-3 ??
This is improvement ( assuming we win out ) What is being argued presumably is the rate of improvement . Some folks want it all and want it all right now. There have been mistakes and things I dont agree with. There has been bad luck especially with a mountain of injuries. Dont say that preventing injuries are a coaches responsibility. This crop of injuries has concussions and mechanical injuries and fractures that are out of a trainers scope of influence. Relax, we just lost a game we were not supposed to lose. Every coach , every team loses games they are not supposed to and it happens every week. The recruiting class is fine. It is typical and normal for offensive linemen to be rated 3 stars . There are enough 4s and the class will grow and upgrade until signing day. Dont jump Eddie...step away from the ledge.
7 turnovers cost us A&M
Poor coaching and execution cost us S.C. imho
(In b4 - the "just enjoy the damn win." No, you don't have to bask in the glory of beating an OVC team when you should be in play-off discussion!! Go win the NIT and have fireside chats with Cuonzo. Bring hot chocolate.)
I think everyone has to share the blame on the Jalen Hurd fiasco but I think the guy making $4M per annum has earned the right to shoulder the vast majority of the blame. Any real coach would have done something about it.
I'm so sick and tired of this paper tiger offense. We know how quickly it will fold like a cheap tent in the wind against even a mediocre SEC defense. Will Vandy completely shut our game down? I said Arkansas was the measuring stick last year - if Butch was in the West right now, oh lawdy. He's tenure has marked the weakest the SECE has ever been since divisional play. Backing into the East this year makes the 2007 Vols look like the 1985 Bears. I strongly defended the 2007 team's right to be there; this one will be hard to defend. Will those who absolutely piled-on the 2007 squad show any consistency?
The con-job against Northwestern will grate on me forever. I hate everything about that now.
The "eff them all" sideline explosion confirms Butch is exactly where Boro-Vol says he is. Any good coach with real confidence laughs at the boo-birds in that situation - understands that every SEC fan base has mouthbreathers, clueless students.
I have been one of Butch's staunchest champions that he does everything right Monday - Friday (I was probably the first to say he's got a lot to prove on Saturdays). However, the super, once-in-a-generation legacy class has inflated his Monday to Friday stats. His recruiting this year, in a banner year for Tennessee talent, is demonstrating he ain't getting it done against the top-6 SEC teams.
The man and his BSiA has fielded two teams that should have competed for the play-offs. Neither will. In any mediocre year for the East, he would not make the SECCG. It would almost be fitting for Florida and LSU not to reschedule.
Doesn't matter that Butch does nothing but make me mad now. I'm not Haslam or Thunder; I'm just one of the guys who keeps folks employed at the alumni office. I'm trying to think what could make me feel like Butch is the man again:
1. Own the Jalen Hurd situation and give the fans a professional accounting of what actually happened
2. Win out convincingly
3. Lock down this state in recruiting; take no verbals as gold and go win back those recruits
4. Show that the gap v Bama wasn't as shocking as we saw in Knoxville (if we do back into the SECCG)
5. Humble yourself before the fanbase that has given you, frankly, what has been an internship and a lot of OJT in a big-time program for $4M per annum
I think Hurd as been told how good he was all his life. I also believe Hurd has gotten a lot of bad advice from what would appear to be a split home. I hope he finds what hes looking for and I hope he didn't burn bridges.
I do think it is safe to assume he will not be back in a few years to take a curtain call in Neyland to a thunderous applause. No VFL honors for him on or off the field. He could have been a lifetime hero like Al, Peerless, etc. but not now. IMO very sad.
Against Florida, the offense didn't actually start scoring until about 4.00 minutes left in the 3rd quarter. I'm rather astonished at how that went down.
To me, there was nothing special in the offense regarding Georgia. In fact, basically Barnett and Juauan won that game and it took a miracle. Can you imagine if we don't pull off that Hail Mary and where the masses would be now?
I've seen too many times this offense get snapped in half when defenses push into the box. And that's with a Josh Dobbs back there who bails us out of a lot. We saw what happened against Alabama. To say nothing of Appy State and Ohio.
This requires definitive proof. Not having the SECE wrapped up with Team 120 and given the state of the East doesn't bode well. Many feel this may well be Butch's best team at Tennessee.
Proving that we still have an upward trajectory will help ameliorate my anger - for what it's worth. For me, watching the loss to USCe, watching the dumpster fire drama during the week, watching in-state 5* talent go somewhere else suggests we've peaked. Beating TTech does nothing, for me, to alleviate those concerns. It was great timing for the team to have this game though given the soap opera we all lived through this week.
Chance Hall tried to play hurt and the back-up was no kind of ready against Bama.
Our very first possession after we picked up a couple first downs running, Dobbs dropped back on 2nd down and Chance Hall got moter boated right over to give up a sack. 3rd down was the exact same thing.
Our pass protection didn't get any better when Chance Hall left the game.
I wouldn't say Debord kept him capped so much as I'd say he was keeping him alive. I don't think Bama was dareing Dobbs to beat them intermediate as the speed of their penetration took the deep threat away.
I think I saw two deep passes that Malone might have caught but he had no fight in him and let the DB beat him to break it up. I saw one for Jennings where the DB got away with a hold. Other than that, after Bama collapsed the pocket and took the deep pass away they could sit underneath the intermediate routes.
Dobbs passing has definitely been an issue. I would put Bama more on the line collapsing than I would his accuracy.
Now USCe, I have absolutely no excuse for Dobbs. That was probably the worst passing I've seen from him as a Vol. 3 yards and a cloud of dirt lol.
I'm a Butch supporter but I hope he's willing to pull Dobbs if he throws like that again.
Moron and to think that is coming from you!!!!Haha, orangecat, you're a moron. Yes, enjoy it. It's football. We have a team. They wear orange. They go out and play games. When we win those games, we enjoy them. That's true whether it's Bama or Vandy or Tennessee Tech. That's how it works. You enjoy when we win.
You are right Memphis ...but the similarity between those two games is that Bama and SC were able to stop Dobbs from running especially on the edge . Bama is just Bama. SC mush rushed and sat underneath in the running lanes . There were actually more receivers in a zone than defenders at times, still couldnt hit them . Also in the first half of these 'comeback' games ...the script was to hit intermediate passes and build the run off of the passes. This zone running we do is more like sprint draw running and the pass has to be established. So when the passes failed ...they turned to the outside zone . The defense stretched to stop and this opened interior running and intermediate passing.
No outside zone equals no intermediate passing which equals no interior running
Hit intermediate passing would open things up too.
We are not by design a deep passing team. Yes it is the spread ...but it is a west coast route tree which IS intermediate passes
So the biggest question of all ...why are we running a passing tree that our senior QB cannot execute ? Simplify the passing game and open the zone running game up .
I-Form lol !
Run Jelly off tackle, short passes to Kamara & Wolf in the flat, motion Byrd 4 yrd sideline curls, Malone & Jennings crossing routes to draw the defense inside.
(In b4 - the "just enjoy the damn win." No, you don't have to bask in the glory of beating an OVC team when you should be in play-off discussion!! Go win the NIT and have fireside chats with Cuonzo. Bring hot chocolate.)
I think everyone has to share the blame on the Jalen Hurd fiasco but I think the guy making $4M per annum has earned the right to shoulder the vast majority of the blame. Any real coach would have done something about it.
I'm so sick and tired of this paper tiger offense. We know how quickly it will fold like a cheap tent in the wind against even a mediocre SEC defense. Will Vandy completely shut our game down? I said Arkansas was the measuring stick last year - if Butch was in the West right now, oh lawdy. He's tenure has marked the weakest the SECE has ever been since divisional play. Backing into the East this year makes the 2007 Vols look like the 1985 Bears. I strongly defended the 2007 team's right to be there; this one will be hard to defend. Will those who absolutely piled-on the 2007 squad show any consistency?
The con-job against Northwestern will grate on me forever. I hate everything about that now.
The "eff them all" sideline explosion confirms Butch is exactly where Boro-Vol says he is. Any good coach with real confidence laughs at the boo-birds in that situation - understands that every SEC fan base has mouthbreathers, clueless students.
I have been one of Butch's staunchest champions that he does everything right Monday - Friday (I was probably the first to say he's got a lot to prove on Saturdays). However, the super, once-in-a-generation legacy class has inflated his Monday to Friday stats. His recruiting this year, in a banner year for Tennessee talent, is demonstrating he ain't getting it done against the top-6 SEC teams.
The man and his BSiA has fielded two teams that should have competed for the play-offs. Neither will. In any mediocre year for the East, he would not make the SECCG. It would almost be fitting for Florida and LSU not to reschedule.
Doesn't matter that Butch does nothing but make me mad now. I'm not Haslam or Thunder; I'm just one of the guys who keeps folks employed at the alumni office. I'm trying to think what could make me feel like Butch is the man again:
1. Own the Jalen Hurd situation and give the fans a professional accounting of what actually happened
2. Win out convincingly
3. Lock down this state in recruiting; take no verbals as gold and go win back those recruits
4. Show that the gap v Bama wasn't as shocking as we saw in Knoxville (if we do back into the SECCG)
5. Humble yourself before the fanbase that has given you, frankly, what has been an internship and a lot of OJT in a big-time program for $4M per annum