DiderotsGhost
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Who would've thought we would be 7-5 after that BYU loss? Or the Florida loss? We didn't even really show signs of life till that Georgia game, but here we are ... probably the most improved team in America over the second half of the season. While the schedule was certainly easier, Mizzou, Kentucky, and South Carolina are also much tougher outs than Georgia State and BYU. We were definitely a much improved team by November.
Here are my thoughts on the game, the season, and next year. I'll keep this version shorter than most.
Vandy
JG. Not a great performance by JG. It does seem like he has a tendency to struggle against the same teams. He struggled against Florida 2 years in a row. He also struggled against Vandy 2 years in a row. That said, JG found a rhythm in the 2nd half. I think he started 0 for 7 and then went 6 for 10 for 120 yards. Maybe we should still be starting Maurer and bringing JG off the bench; he does seem to have a weird tendency to struggle at the start of games. I do wonder if he picks up some things on the bench that he doesn't immediately see on the field. In any case, we won the game and JG played well in the 2nd half after a difficult start.
O-line. Give credit to the O-line for some great run blocking. That was the biggest reason for our near 300 yard rushing performance. Still, it wasn't perfect. While we finally got a huge push in the run game, we struggled with pass protection at times, and got too many penalties. I'll give the OL a solid "B".
Gray. 25 carries for 246 yards. That's the 5th best performance in UT history. If Gray had gotten 5 more yards, it would've been the 2nd best performance in UT history. Great game by Gray, even if a lot of credit goes to the O-line for giving him some huge holes to run through.
Defense. Once again we did an excellent job shutting down a good rushing attack. We've gone from one of the worst rush defenses in the country in 2017 to one of the best at the end of 2019. Pruitt, Rocker, and these defensive coaches deserve a lot of credit for turning this around. It's crazy to think that D-line was considered one of our weakest position groups at the start of the season; Rocker has done an A+ job coaching them.
Jennings. JJ was visibly frustrated much of the game, but glad he got one big catch, finishing with 2 receptions for 56 yards. Just short of scoring the touchdown on the 50 yard catch, but a huge play to seal the game.
Bowl Game and Next Season
Destination unknown. Seems like there are a lot of possibilities for bowl games, but I'll go on the record as saying I'm excited no matter who we play. Some possibilities include Minnesota, Louisville, Michigan, and Indiana. Think some people are putting too much stock into the opposing teams laundry (Michigan isn't necessarily "better" than Minnesota), but I'm just happy to have another game to watch!
Tougher schedule in 2020. It's easy to say we should continue our upward trajectory next season, except we will likely play 4 top 10 teams (with a very tough OOC trip to Norman, OK). We're going to be in a similar situation to Texas A&M this season in that it's tough to show improvement because we play so many elite teams. Maybe we can pull off 1 big upset, however, out of the 4. If we go 7-5 or 8-4 next season, I think that would still be a very positive result. 9-3 and Pruitt deserves COY.
Defense. In 2 seasons under Pruitt, we've gone from the #71 defense in the country (based on defensive efficiency ratings) to #36. We lose our best player next season with Daniel Bituli. Also some big losses with Darrell Taylor and Nigel Warrior. Nevertheless, I think we'll continue to see improvement on D. While we'll have to find some answers at LB, we bring back most of our secondary and virtually our entire D-line; we should also get back Gooden next season. So I think we should continue to see improvement on D.
Losses on offense. I'm more worried about the offense next year. Losing Jauan Jennings and Marquez Callaway will be difficult to compensate for. Jennings brings intangible quaities that very few WRs in CFB will be able to match. Also very likely that we lose Trey Smith, who has been an absolute beast out there on O-line this season. Even with the blood clot issues, I think he's easily a top 3 round draft pick. There are no sure things in the NFL draft, but Trey is about as close as it comes, so some team is going to be willing to deal with the blood clot risks knowing they are getting a potential top 5 O-lineman in the league.
Running game. The good news is that we probably won't lose any RBs. We'll likely get back Chandler and Jordan. Eric Gray should also be back with a nice breakthrough performance on his resume now. Carlin Fils-Aime redshirted this season, so he'll be back for a RS Senior year next year as well. We also add 3-star Tee Hodge, who looks more like a 4-star right now. So hopefully, we see improvement in the running game to compensate for some of the big losses in the receiving game.
QB play. It's been uneven this season. JG had great games against South Carolina, Mizzou, and Miss State. He had poor games against BYU, Florida, and Vandy. Maurer had a stellar performance against Georgia in the 1st half, but hasn't been able to replicate that since then. The good news is that all 3 of our QBs should improve next year with a 2nd season under Chaney. We should also add Kasim Hill (who's already on the team, but ineligible this year) and Harrison Bailey (our blue-chip recruit). So while WR play may not match this year, we'll hopefully see improvement at QB.
Improvement under Pruitt. See my other post on this. We've improved from 99th to 54th on offensive efficiency and 71st to 36th on defensive efficiency in 2 years under Pruitt. That's pretty amazing. Let's hope it continues!
Recruiting. The next month will be very crucial. We'll probably land a top 20 class regardless, but how we fare in the next few weeks recruiting may be the difference between a 20-ish an top 10-ish type class. Pruitt has not been recruiting quite on the same level as Butch was, but he's certainly been better at player development and talent evaluation. Pruitt seems to consistently hit on 3 stars that are underrated. That gives me some hope, but I do think we have to take the next step in recruiting to be able to compete with the Alabamas and Georgias of the world.
Self-Promotion
I will put in a plug for myself if that's alright. I feel like after 3 years of service with my material often being stolen without credit by some other websites, I deserve that
I've been looking for a job as a Data Scientist for several months. If anyone is recruiting for Data Scientist / Quant Researcher type positions in Atlanta, Charlotte, Nashville, or really anywhere in the Southeast / Texas / Florida, feel free to reach out to me. I'm a Python programmer with experience with SQL, R, and Scala. I also have a lot of expertise in finance and accounting.
It's been a frustrating search; I got rejected after 13 rounds of interviewing with a company in Miami a few months ago and rejected after 6 rounds of interviews with another company here in Atlanta. I was one of the best investment managers in the US for several years before I switched over to data science. I also managed my own startup for 2 years.
Don't think we have private messaging here on VN, so contact me at dg.volnation@gmail.com .
So yeah ... that's my plug! Sorry to do that, but really just want to find a good job soon.
Hectic week for me, so I have to keep it shorter than usual. I look forward to the bowl game!
GBO!
Here are my thoughts on the game, the season, and next year. I'll keep this version shorter than most.
Vandy
JG. Not a great performance by JG. It does seem like he has a tendency to struggle against the same teams. He struggled against Florida 2 years in a row. He also struggled against Vandy 2 years in a row. That said, JG found a rhythm in the 2nd half. I think he started 0 for 7 and then went 6 for 10 for 120 yards. Maybe we should still be starting Maurer and bringing JG off the bench; he does seem to have a weird tendency to struggle at the start of games. I do wonder if he picks up some things on the bench that he doesn't immediately see on the field. In any case, we won the game and JG played well in the 2nd half after a difficult start.
O-line. Give credit to the O-line for some great run blocking. That was the biggest reason for our near 300 yard rushing performance. Still, it wasn't perfect. While we finally got a huge push in the run game, we struggled with pass protection at times, and got too many penalties. I'll give the OL a solid "B".
Gray. 25 carries for 246 yards. That's the 5th best performance in UT history. If Gray had gotten 5 more yards, it would've been the 2nd best performance in UT history. Great game by Gray, even if a lot of credit goes to the O-line for giving him some huge holes to run through.
Defense. Once again we did an excellent job shutting down a good rushing attack. We've gone from one of the worst rush defenses in the country in 2017 to one of the best at the end of 2019. Pruitt, Rocker, and these defensive coaches deserve a lot of credit for turning this around. It's crazy to think that D-line was considered one of our weakest position groups at the start of the season; Rocker has done an A+ job coaching them.
Jennings. JJ was visibly frustrated much of the game, but glad he got one big catch, finishing with 2 receptions for 56 yards. Just short of scoring the touchdown on the 50 yard catch, but a huge play to seal the game.
Bowl Game and Next Season
Destination unknown. Seems like there are a lot of possibilities for bowl games, but I'll go on the record as saying I'm excited no matter who we play. Some possibilities include Minnesota, Louisville, Michigan, and Indiana. Think some people are putting too much stock into the opposing teams laundry (Michigan isn't necessarily "better" than Minnesota), but I'm just happy to have another game to watch!
Tougher schedule in 2020. It's easy to say we should continue our upward trajectory next season, except we will likely play 4 top 10 teams (with a very tough OOC trip to Norman, OK). We're going to be in a similar situation to Texas A&M this season in that it's tough to show improvement because we play so many elite teams. Maybe we can pull off 1 big upset, however, out of the 4. If we go 7-5 or 8-4 next season, I think that would still be a very positive result. 9-3 and Pruitt deserves COY.
Defense. In 2 seasons under Pruitt, we've gone from the #71 defense in the country (based on defensive efficiency ratings) to #36. We lose our best player next season with Daniel Bituli. Also some big losses with Darrell Taylor and Nigel Warrior. Nevertheless, I think we'll continue to see improvement on D. While we'll have to find some answers at LB, we bring back most of our secondary and virtually our entire D-line; we should also get back Gooden next season. So I think we should continue to see improvement on D.
Losses on offense. I'm more worried about the offense next year. Losing Jauan Jennings and Marquez Callaway will be difficult to compensate for. Jennings brings intangible quaities that very few WRs in CFB will be able to match. Also very likely that we lose Trey Smith, who has been an absolute beast out there on O-line this season. Even with the blood clot issues, I think he's easily a top 3 round draft pick. There are no sure things in the NFL draft, but Trey is about as close as it comes, so some team is going to be willing to deal with the blood clot risks knowing they are getting a potential top 5 O-lineman in the league.
Running game. The good news is that we probably won't lose any RBs. We'll likely get back Chandler and Jordan. Eric Gray should also be back with a nice breakthrough performance on his resume now. Carlin Fils-Aime redshirted this season, so he'll be back for a RS Senior year next year as well. We also add 3-star Tee Hodge, who looks more like a 4-star right now. So hopefully, we see improvement in the running game to compensate for some of the big losses in the receiving game.
QB play. It's been uneven this season. JG had great games against South Carolina, Mizzou, and Miss State. He had poor games against BYU, Florida, and Vandy. Maurer had a stellar performance against Georgia in the 1st half, but hasn't been able to replicate that since then. The good news is that all 3 of our QBs should improve next year with a 2nd season under Chaney. We should also add Kasim Hill (who's already on the team, but ineligible this year) and Harrison Bailey (our blue-chip recruit). So while WR play may not match this year, we'll hopefully see improvement at QB.
Improvement under Pruitt. See my other post on this. We've improved from 99th to 54th on offensive efficiency and 71st to 36th on defensive efficiency in 2 years under Pruitt. That's pretty amazing. Let's hope it continues!
Recruiting. The next month will be very crucial. We'll probably land a top 20 class regardless, but how we fare in the next few weeks recruiting may be the difference between a 20-ish an top 10-ish type class. Pruitt has not been recruiting quite on the same level as Butch was, but he's certainly been better at player development and talent evaluation. Pruitt seems to consistently hit on 3 stars that are underrated. That gives me some hope, but I do think we have to take the next step in recruiting to be able to compete with the Alabamas and Georgias of the world.
Self-Promotion
I will put in a plug for myself if that's alright. I feel like after 3 years of service with my material often being stolen without credit by some other websites, I deserve that
I've been looking for a job as a Data Scientist for several months. If anyone is recruiting for Data Scientist / Quant Researcher type positions in Atlanta, Charlotte, Nashville, or really anywhere in the Southeast / Texas / Florida, feel free to reach out to me. I'm a Python programmer with experience with SQL, R, and Scala. I also have a lot of expertise in finance and accounting.
It's been a frustrating search; I got rejected after 13 rounds of interviewing with a company in Miami a few months ago and rejected after 6 rounds of interviews with another company here in Atlanta. I was one of the best investment managers in the US for several years before I switched over to data science. I also managed my own startup for 2 years.
Don't think we have private messaging here on VN, so contact me at dg.volnation@gmail.com .
So yeah ... that's my plug! Sorry to do that, but really just want to find a good job soon.
Hectic week for me, so I have to keep it shorter than usual. I look forward to the bowl game!
GBO!
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