Coaching or talent or both?

[Bigorangedan23]

Well he lost his starting quarterback in the spring and lost his best two cornerbacks on defense. These things matter.

Got to suck it up.
Georgia had several players arrested and they recovered.

 

[swampfoxfan]

Illinois is a quality team that was ranked in the top 10 early in the season. It was a good game that saw the defense get run over.

 

[LibertyVol]

Got blasted by a top tier Big 10 program last year, just got spanked by a middle of the road Big 10 team this year, Heupel continues to regress with this program, the biggest loss is GMAC not taking a snap in front of the Nashville crowd, we still only beat one team this year with a winning record, ETSU

I don’t think it is going to get better. I just hate to change coaches. Instability is a killer to a football program. Illinois is not very good. Makes you wonder where Tennessee is.

 

[VolArmy74]

It's both, but talent evaluation is part of coaching. Very few players got better from game 1 to game 13. The entire side of the ball needs to be cleaned out on defense, though I could see keeping Garner.

Joey Halzle is either not good, or Heupel doesn't listen to him. Their supposed off season of coming up with new plans was a failure.

 

[sonofUT62]

Uh, rebuilding year

It was a rebuilding year because the QB left. We found another QB who outplayed the one who left. The excuse for a rebuilding year went up in smoke when Joey started 14/14 against a Kirby Smart defense. If this is the best D and special teams that Heupel can field then good riddance. And I’m honestly trying to remember what the hype is with Garner.

 

[DEFENDTHISHOUSE]

It was a rebuilding year because the QB left. We found another QB who outplayed the one who left. The excuse for a rebuilding year went up in smoke when Joey started 14/14 against a Kirby Smart defense. If this is the best D and special teams that Heupel can field then good riddance. And I’m honestly trying to remember what the hype is with Garner.

Who are you gonna hire?

 

[vavolfan6]

This year was on defensive coaching and scheme. Primarily a lack of effective play in the secondary. Granted we were missing two of our starting CBs the whole year, but the staff has not recruited well in the secondary. It changed the dynamic of the defense and put the offense in tough positions all year. Thankfully we have Jim Knowels taking over next year.

 

[rdk4121]

Defensively we've been a mess all season. We have no talent in the secondary. Farooq is maybe one of the worst players to ever suit up for us. Can't tackle, consistently lost in coverage. Obviously scheme wise we've been bad as well.

Offensively, I'm not sure. We've mostly been good. I don’t think it's talent. Not having Brazzell definitely didn't help us tonight. But I think it's purely execution. Missing blocking assignments, drops, turnovers, etc. I'd be interested to see how many defensive touchdowns our offense allowed this year. I can think of 3 off the jump.

 

[onevol74]

for all you folks fired up about getting rid of Heupel who are you gonna get?

This will be the question at the end of next season.

 

[joevols89]

Whoa now. You can’t be blaming players. Don’t you know it’s always the coaches fault? It’s the coaches fault that we miss tackles. It’s the coaches fault that Gilbert missed that FG. It’s the coaches fault that JA struggled.

Actually yeah, it is.

 

[DEFENDTHISHOUSE]

This will be the question at the end of next season.

Indeed.

 

[onevol74]

Illinois is a quality team that was ranked in the top 10 early in the season. It was a good game that saw the defense get run over.

So I guess our offense was sensational, right?

 

[joevols89]

And how many opt outs did Tennessee have vs Illinois?

Sure we have more talent on paper, but Illinois was an experienced team with top 10 expectations coming into the season. And they only had 3 or so opt outs.

Our starting 22 could’ve opted out and we still out talent Illinois.

 

[rocytop2624]

Do you contend that things to
would have been better had Nico not left. You think that was a negative for this season?

He was a better runner. Heupel is better with A good running QB Niko had more upside. I would love to go with the 2 best QB's who ever it is. Niko had a better arm and legs. Joey had more experience. But he didn't show it tonight.

 

[Carl Pickens]

How many secondary players hit the portal last year?

 

[unfrozencvmanvol]

I think the Georgia game threw this team for a loop and we never recovered. Throw in tons of injuries on the defense and we just couldn’t get any momentum

I think Georgia just played down to their competition that day the way they often do, just for once we were that competition that they screwed around with. We were never as good as we thought at that time.

 

[Carl Pickens]

Our starting 22 could’ve opted out and we still out talent Illinois.

I’m not seeing it

 

[sonofUT62]

Who are you gonna hire?

Pay me what Danny makes and I’ll make a list. I’m not saying fire Heupel tonight but he shoved Inge on the botched call by the crew. He’s obviously frustrated too. This team has zero heart and even less discipline. Yuck.

 

[sonofUT62]

I’m not seeing it

Agreed. Not sure if it was opt outs or something else but I’ve never seen so many last names that I didn’t recognize.

 

[DEFENDTHISHOUSE]

Pay me what Danny makes and I’ll make a list. I’m not saying fire Heupel tonight but he shoved Inge on the botched call by the crew. He’s obviously frustrated too. This team has zero heart and even less discipline. Yuck.

It is what it is. Next season.

 

[Flogballs]

even if it’s talent, that’s still the coaches responsibility.

Obviously we’re getting a new DC but it’s more than just schemes we need some better coaching.

And on offense we clearly had better talent than we expected this year, CJP or Halzle needs some killer instinct.

 

[Doberman]

The question isn’t valid. Everyone knows we need better talent and better coaching. The coaches aren’t responsible for poor execution.

Good coaches don’t have teams that execute poorly. Thats why they’re considered good coaches.

 

[BigOrangeTrain]

Got to suck it up.
Georgia had several players arrested and they recovered.

lol. UGA has out recruited us badly for years. Using them as a measuring stick is dumb.

 

[joevols89]

I’m not seeing it

Coaching can make the difference seem smaller than it is. They recruit in the 40-50 range.

 

[MurphyVol]

He was a better runner. Heupel is a better with good running QB'S Niko had more upside. I would love to go with the 3 brst QB's who ever it is.

We can agree to disagree, I say we lose Arkansas and Miss St with Nico.