Defense will be OK…

[sjt18]

Fix the defense and we are fine. We are one year removed from the 2nd best defense in the SEC.

We are one year removed from a team that went 3 deep with quality players. Talent carried the DC and made up for his weakness.

So far Banks' Ds vs the SEC have been 12 of 14, 11 of 14, 7 of 14, 2 of 14, and 14 of 16. That's not an improvement trend. You have a one year anomaly due to overwhelming talent... and then evidence of a bad DC.

 

[Fred_Jones]

He's probably looking at yardage. Below are the ranks per sports-reference for the more important stat, which is points allowed per game... I mean, the last time I checked they don't judge the winner based on total yards.

2021: 29.1 (90/130)
2022: 22.8 (36/131)
2023: 20.3 (23/133)
2024: 16.1 (7/134)
2025: 28.8 (92/136)

Thank you - can you lookup yards given up per play? I think that is probably a closer metric. Every season, our defense essentially plays one and half seasons worth of football with this offense.

 

[HalfullVol]

I'm curious if you donate to the athletic department or just love being an expert on where someone spends their money?

Both

Thanks for asking.

Better now?

 

[JHuntVols]

Thank you - can you lookup yards given up per play? I think that is probably a closer metric. Every season, our defense essentially plays one and half seasons worth of football with this offense.

This is for conference games only, considering it's a bit misleading to include the cupcakes we tend to schedule for our out of conference slate. Doesn't really matter how you slice it; year 5 was statistically worse than year 1.

 

[Fred_Jones]

This is for conference games only, considering it's a bit misleading to include the cupcakes we tend to schedule for our out of conference slate. Doesn't really matter how you slice it; year 5 was statistically worse than year 1.

View attachment 794539

Thanks for doing that. Very interesting to see.

 

[sjt18]

Thank you - can you lookup yards given up per play? I think that is probably a closer metric. Every season, our defense essentially plays one and half seasons worth of football with this offense.

yds/play 8th, 6th, 8th, 3rd, and 14th

Scoring 12th, 5th, 8th, 3rd, 14th

3rd down 14th, 6th, 12th, 3rd, 14th

Pass D 12th, 13th, 10th, 6th, 7th

Rush D 13th, 2nd, 5th, 5th, and 15th

 

[volhall16]

Fire Banks & go hire DJ Durkin before another school inevitably scoops him up. Guy’s a good, proven DC. Would be an immediate upgrade over Banks.

 

[sjt18]

He's probably looking at yardage. Below are the ranks per sports-reference for the more important stat, which is points allowed per game... I mean, the last time I checked they don't judge the winner based on total yards.

2021: 29.1 (90/130)
2022: 22.8 (36/131)
2023: 20.3 (23/133)
2024: 16.1 (7/134)
2025: 28.8 (92/136)

Using national rankings is all but useless. Stats across the metrics are pretty consistent vs the SEC.

 

[Misplaced Vol]

It’s like some of you forgot the last 12 years before Heupel. Be thankful.

When you are in base and Vandy just runs the ball in the a gap and gets 8 a pop, that’s personnel not play calling. Fixing a defense is much more about upgrading the Jimmys and Joes rather than the play calling. So fix that with NIL or coach changes.

And yes losing McCoy and Gibson did hurt immensely. Flame away. The lack of tackling.That is absolutely a coaching problem. That is only one of the couching problems. Although this problem illustrates just how poor our defensive coaching is.Rember what our quarterback said,we have to get serious about practice.When your quarterback makes that statement it tells everyone that we have a serious coaching problem. Don't forget the quarterback said that.

 

[sonofUT62]

There isn’t enough money for the defensive side of the ball.
Need more Alpha’s on D.

Maybe take Mike Matthews bag and move that to the defensive side of the line.

Or just move Matthews to Defense

 

[HalfullVol]

Or just move Matthews to Defense

It was my understanding he was pursued by tOSU as a DB.
Did he choose UT due to our commitment to him as a WR?

 

[sonofUT62]

It was my understanding he was pursued by tOSU as a DB.
Did he choose UT due to our commitment to him as a WR?

Probably. Even more notably in my opinion Kirby wanted him as a safety too.

 

[JHuntVols]

Using national rankings is all but useless. Stats across the metrics are pretty consistent vs the SEC.

I think sports stats in general are practically useless given they're all summary statistics with little to no predictive value for determining the outcome of any given individual game.

 

[valoisvol]

Fixing the defense and the o-line would be a great place to start.

I agree, but that’s pretty much the whole team. Probably just need to do a complete overhaul

 

[DarkMode]

I agree, but that’s pretty much the whole team. Probably just need to do a complete overhaul

I'm gonna disagree a little bit. I think we have some pretty good running backs (they would have produced a lot more if we had an offensive line) and, if Aguilar can return, he's definitely a keeper (once again, some of his mistakes originated from a failure of the o-line to protect). On the other side of the ball, IMO Carter, Telander, and Spillman played well and the freshmen DBs showed improvement over the season. I'm interested (like we all are) of seeing what we come up with to fill the obvious holes in both the offensive and defensive lines.

 

[OrangeTsar]

I've said it before, Glen Elarbee was Josh Heupel's best man at his wedding and they've known each other for decades.

I suspect he'll ride or die with Elarbee unless he gets a head coaching gig somewhere.

I don’t fault Elarbee in the least. I think he is one of our better coaches. You don’t consistently have one of the league‘s best running attacks without some elite OL play.
I think also that you don’t get talent like David Sanders to sign with a different coach.
This year was a bit subpar on the OL but looking at the last several years; I think we do very well. I expect that next year will be better without any coaching changes

 

[sjt18]

I think sports stats in general are practically useless given they're all summary statistics with little to no predictive value for determining the outcome of any given individual game.

For predictive use, they're only one factor out of many to give probabilities. To your point, a D with elite talent like UT had last year will smother weaker opponents regardless of what playcalling or game prep to a degree. So what you see is the ups and downs UT had last year even when on average the stats said they were a top D. The Vols allowed 250 ypg more to teams with a winning record than to those with a losing record.

The closer the talent level is, the more critical coaching and playcalling become. The more narrow the performance gap when competing vs good teams vs bad teams... the better job the coaches are doing.

I believe stats are good tool for evaluating a coach's performance and especially over time. My argument against Banks has always focused on playcalling. It just seems to me that good playcallers just outwit him as a rule. Even last year with as much talent on D as anyone, the better offensive coaches just made Banks look like a boob.