DiderotsGhost
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Oh, how I missed football! I've missed sports so badly over the past 6 months, they could've put Akron vs Toledo on a few weeks ago and I would've watched it with intense interest. So happy our Vols are back!
That said, this season is going to be an unusual one. Covid is serious and unlike the NBA bubble, there's very little you can do to shield college football players from it. While most of them will be OK, we know there have been some very bad cases even among young people based on viral load. It's difficult to know how things will play out, but I'll enjoy watching so long as they play. But let's be cognizant that these are unique circumstances.
Big Picture Stuff
The W. Happy we got the W. It wasn't the prettiest game, but considering the circumstances with how much Covid has disrupted our team and our practices, I'll happily take an ugly win. I think we've got to keep that in mind with any performance evaluation. No one on this team has practiced as much as they need to.
Running game looks improved. Many of us predicted an improved running game this season, but you know how offseason predictions go. 133 yards on 33 carries wasn't an amazing performance, but I thought it was a very sold performance and we saw a lot of flashes of brilliance there. Ty Chandler, in particular, had a great game with 86 yards on only 13 carries.
QB pressure great. The one area where I thought we clearly beat out SC was on QB pressure. Our defense was in Collin Hill's face all night, while JG got good protection for most of the night.
Rushing D was solid. SC averaged about 3.6 yards per carry, on 28 carries, for 101 yards. We averaged 4.0 yards on 33 carries for 133 yards, so we won that battle.
Passing game struggled. JG was consistently inconsistent. He did have some very nice drives, but also way too many passes thrown well over our receivers heads. While it's frustrating, I'm reluctant to draw dramatic conclusions from Game 1. Outside of Josh Palmer, almost all of our receivers are new or at least didn't play much last year. That's challenging when you're not getting a lot of practices. In spite of the several misfires, JG didn't make any big mistakes (0 INTs). But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried about QB this season. Collin Hill looked like the better QB last night to me; and Hill faced much more pressure than JG and still had the better game IMO. We'll learn more against Mizzou and Georgia, but right now, I view JG as a QB whose good enough to make a bowl game, but not good enough to seriously compete for the SEC East. Hope I can eat my words by the end of the season, but we'll see.
Receiving corps. The WR group will be one of the keys this season. It's still a bit of a question mark, but I think we saw some encouraging signs last night. We knew Josh Palmer was good already, but Brandon Johnson had a good night, with 3 catches for 73 yards. We got a little bit out of Velus Jones and Ramel Keyton as well. But we still need more from that position group. They disappeared during stretches mid-game and it was obvious at times how much the offense misses Jauan Jennings and Marquez Callaway.
Playcalling was good. Lot of gripes about playcalling, but I'm going to be the contrarian and say I thought Chaney's playcalling was pretty good. Keep in mind, the playbook is more limited than it would typically be due to the lack of practices. Execution was the much bigger issue IMO. If JG doesn't throw so many passes well over the WRs' heads, we probably end up with 40+ against a very good Muschamp-coached defense. Can't complain too much about that.
Game Notes
To'o To'o! This is one dude I never worry about. He'll be one of the best LBs in the SEC this season. Nice to see him get his first career TD on the INT return.
Brandon Johnson 1-handed catch. One of the greatest catches in Vol history. No exaggeration. That was not a great pass by JG and when I saw it where the ball went, I thought there was no chance Johnson was getting that one. Absolutely amazing catch!
4th and 1 at the 29. We should've gone for it. Thought it was weird that we kicked the FG there given Pruitt's tendencies in the past. I'm not just saying that because we missed. A 47 yarder is no chip shot even with Cimaglia. Whereas, you convert a very high % of the time on 4th and 1. Given that math, I think it's almost always the correct decision to go for it in that particular situation. You're almost as likely to convert the 4th down as you are to make the field goal. That was my biggest coaching gripe; otherwise, I thought the coaching was good, and most issues were execution.
Good to see the new guys out there. Tyler Baron and Morven Joseph both had tackles. Jimmy Holiday made a great play at the end of the game. Also a Jalin Hyatt sighting. So we had some true Freshman out there seeing some action.
Shi Smith murdered us. 140 yards on 10 receptions. He WAS South Carolina's offense and Collin Hill made some excellent pinpoint passes to him. I don't think this is a close game without Shi. Probably more like 31-10.
South Carolina. Collin Hill better than expected; he was better than JG for sure. I think South Carolina is going to be better than expected this season. That said, this is a Muschamp-coached team and I don't have a lot of faith in Muschamp. Still, while the Gamecock fans are likely mad, I thought they played very well. Bobo is a huge upgrade at OC for them. Their biggest problem, just like us, is that they drew an extremely difficult schedule (Auburn, A&M, and LSU from the West). So even with improved play, they are likely a 3-7 or 4-6 team, whereas, they probably would be more like a 7-5 or 6-6 team under the old schedule.
What did I miss? I'm sure I'm forgetting about a lot. I just wanted to enjoy the game; didn't take notes or anything. What other insights did we glean from this game?
SEC Quarterback Ratings
After one week, here's how I'd rate the QBs.
1. Costello, Miss State.
2. Trask, Florida.
3. Nix, Auburn.
4. Corral, Ole Miss
5. Mac Jones, Alabama
6. Brennan, LSU
7. Hill, SC
8. Wilson, Kentucky
9. JG, Tennessee
10. Mond, A&M.
11. Franks, Arkansas.
12. Robinson, Mizzou.
13. Bennett, Georgia.
14. Seals, Vandy.
The top 2 Quarterbacks are both coached by the two coaches known for being "QB whisperers", Mike Leach and Dan Mullen. For Costello, it was just one game, but it was an upset of the national champs. If he continues to play like that and Miss State can even get to 6 wins, he's in contention for the Heisman. Trask also had a great game and looks like he's taken another step forward.
I don't think Georgia will stay that low on the list, but their passing game looked rough in Week 1, against a greatly overmatched Arkansas team.
Brennan at LSU played well, but his performance got overshadowed a bit by Miss State's huge upset.
That's it! Just feels great to have some Tennessee Vols football again! I didn't think we would a few months ago.
GBO!
That said, this season is going to be an unusual one. Covid is serious and unlike the NBA bubble, there's very little you can do to shield college football players from it. While most of them will be OK, we know there have been some very bad cases even among young people based on viral load. It's difficult to know how things will play out, but I'll enjoy watching so long as they play. But let's be cognizant that these are unique circumstances.
Big Picture Stuff
The W. Happy we got the W. It wasn't the prettiest game, but considering the circumstances with how much Covid has disrupted our team and our practices, I'll happily take an ugly win. I think we've got to keep that in mind with any performance evaluation. No one on this team has practiced as much as they need to.
Running game looks improved. Many of us predicted an improved running game this season, but you know how offseason predictions go. 133 yards on 33 carries wasn't an amazing performance, but I thought it was a very sold performance and we saw a lot of flashes of brilliance there. Ty Chandler, in particular, had a great game with 86 yards on only 13 carries.
QB pressure great. The one area where I thought we clearly beat out SC was on QB pressure. Our defense was in Collin Hill's face all night, while JG got good protection for most of the night.
Rushing D was solid. SC averaged about 3.6 yards per carry, on 28 carries, for 101 yards. We averaged 4.0 yards on 33 carries for 133 yards, so we won that battle.
Passing game struggled. JG was consistently inconsistent. He did have some very nice drives, but also way too many passes thrown well over our receivers heads. While it's frustrating, I'm reluctant to draw dramatic conclusions from Game 1. Outside of Josh Palmer, almost all of our receivers are new or at least didn't play much last year. That's challenging when you're not getting a lot of practices. In spite of the several misfires, JG didn't make any big mistakes (0 INTs). But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried about QB this season. Collin Hill looked like the better QB last night to me; and Hill faced much more pressure than JG and still had the better game IMO. We'll learn more against Mizzou and Georgia, but right now, I view JG as a QB whose good enough to make a bowl game, but not good enough to seriously compete for the SEC East. Hope I can eat my words by the end of the season, but we'll see.
Receiving corps. The WR group will be one of the keys this season. It's still a bit of a question mark, but I think we saw some encouraging signs last night. We knew Josh Palmer was good already, but Brandon Johnson had a good night, with 3 catches for 73 yards. We got a little bit out of Velus Jones and Ramel Keyton as well. But we still need more from that position group. They disappeared during stretches mid-game and it was obvious at times how much the offense misses Jauan Jennings and Marquez Callaway.
Playcalling was good. Lot of gripes about playcalling, but I'm going to be the contrarian and say I thought Chaney's playcalling was pretty good. Keep in mind, the playbook is more limited than it would typically be due to the lack of practices. Execution was the much bigger issue IMO. If JG doesn't throw so many passes well over the WRs' heads, we probably end up with 40+ against a very good Muschamp-coached defense. Can't complain too much about that.
Game Notes
To'o To'o! This is one dude I never worry about. He'll be one of the best LBs in the SEC this season. Nice to see him get his first career TD on the INT return.
Brandon Johnson 1-handed catch. One of the greatest catches in Vol history. No exaggeration. That was not a great pass by JG and when I saw it where the ball went, I thought there was no chance Johnson was getting that one. Absolutely amazing catch!
4th and 1 at the 29. We should've gone for it. Thought it was weird that we kicked the FG there given Pruitt's tendencies in the past. I'm not just saying that because we missed. A 47 yarder is no chip shot even with Cimaglia. Whereas, you convert a very high % of the time on 4th and 1. Given that math, I think it's almost always the correct decision to go for it in that particular situation. You're almost as likely to convert the 4th down as you are to make the field goal. That was my biggest coaching gripe; otherwise, I thought the coaching was good, and most issues were execution.
Good to see the new guys out there. Tyler Baron and Morven Joseph both had tackles. Jimmy Holiday made a great play at the end of the game. Also a Jalin Hyatt sighting. So we had some true Freshman out there seeing some action.
Shi Smith murdered us. 140 yards on 10 receptions. He WAS South Carolina's offense and Collin Hill made some excellent pinpoint passes to him. I don't think this is a close game without Shi. Probably more like 31-10.
South Carolina. Collin Hill better than expected; he was better than JG for sure. I think South Carolina is going to be better than expected this season. That said, this is a Muschamp-coached team and I don't have a lot of faith in Muschamp. Still, while the Gamecock fans are likely mad, I thought they played very well. Bobo is a huge upgrade at OC for them. Their biggest problem, just like us, is that they drew an extremely difficult schedule (Auburn, A&M, and LSU from the West). So even with improved play, they are likely a 3-7 or 4-6 team, whereas, they probably would be more like a 7-5 or 6-6 team under the old schedule.
What did I miss? I'm sure I'm forgetting about a lot. I just wanted to enjoy the game; didn't take notes or anything. What other insights did we glean from this game?
SEC Quarterback Ratings
After one week, here's how I'd rate the QBs.
1. Costello, Miss State.
2. Trask, Florida.
3. Nix, Auburn.
4. Corral, Ole Miss
5. Mac Jones, Alabama
6. Brennan, LSU
7. Hill, SC
8. Wilson, Kentucky
9. JG, Tennessee
10. Mond, A&M.
11. Franks, Arkansas.
12. Robinson, Mizzou.
13. Bennett, Georgia.
14. Seals, Vandy.
The top 2 Quarterbacks are both coached by the two coaches known for being "QB whisperers", Mike Leach and Dan Mullen. For Costello, it was just one game, but it was an upset of the national champs. If he continues to play like that and Miss State can even get to 6 wins, he's in contention for the Heisman. Trask also had a great game and looks like he's taken another step forward.
I don't think Georgia will stay that low on the list, but their passing game looked rough in Week 1, against a greatly overmatched Arkansas team.
Brennan at LSU played well, but his performance got overshadowed a bit by Miss State's huge upset.
That's it! Just feels great to have some Tennessee Vols football again! I didn't think we would a few months ago.
GBO!
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