Hate to be the bubble burster

[lawgator1]

From an outsider's perspective:

1) You can't really tell much from the first game of the season, especially with new personnel in so many key spots. Generally, the most improvement in a year is between games one and two.

2) You can tell even less when your opponent is the typical lesser quality than conference foe. That's true of everyone, Florida tomorrow included.


Give it another game or two before you reach any meaningful conclusion about anything.

 

[Milehigh_Vol]

You can say it, but I would limit it to saying it to yourself only. You say that in public and someone may put you in a padded room.

I was talking about Bowling Green.. lol

 

[Milehigh_Vol]

What team did you watch??

I was talking about Bowling Green...

 

[jsc1973]

From an outsider's perspective:

1) You can't really tell much from the first game of the season, especially with new personnel in so many key spots. Generally, the most improvement in a year is between games one and two.

2) You can tell even less when your opponent is the typical lesser quality than conference foe. That's true of everyone, Florida tomorrow included.


Give it another game or two before you reach any meaningful conclusion about anything.

Best comment in this thread and it comes from a Gator fan...

Bowling Green isn't any good, but we knew that. This was basically a live scrimmage for the coaching staff to see what they had. New coaching staff, and basically a new team with all of the transfers in and out. Pitt doesn't suck and UT will be playing a real game next week. That will tell the tale.

 

[alexbond45]

38-6 vs South Carolina is a blowout curb stomp. 38-6 vs Bowling Green means the season is over. VN mentality.

People would be bad if it was SCAR too don’t lie to yourself

 

[VOLINVONORE]

It's the first game, new coaches, new players, the only thing that concerned me, Milton holding on to that ball too long.

I believe Milton is a good athlete, but we have not yet seen if he is a good QB. Things looked really good in the first quarter. Then Mays was injured and the first attempt to replace him at center failed. When Lane moved over to guard, things improved, at least in the running game. I need to see more of Milton before I can comment on his abilities. A couple of times, I thought I was seeing JG playing again and I hope I never see that again.

I was most disappointed with Milton's running. He ran OK to the right, but seemed very soft running left and up the middle. his running cost us at least 2-3 first downs which we can not allow in the future. He needs to develop "touch" on his passes, especially his deep passes. His long TD in the 4th quarter was a fantastic catch of a ball that should ave been intercepted. He has to get the ball out much quicker or our offense will become very predictable.

I was impressed with the OL and the defense in general. The OL provided good protection for the QB and opened nice holes for the backs. The adjustment at center in the second half was effective. The receivers dropped some balls that should have been caught but it is difficult to catch a bullet at ten yards.

I was almost surprised at how well the defense played, especially in the second half. Playing tighter man defense and effective running game turned the game around.

While I was disappointed in some parts of the game, I do see where improvements can and should be made. The biggest improvement has to be at the QB position. Last nights QB play reminded me too much of what I have seen in the past. We have to get better play form one of our three QBs or we will have a long and disappointed season. I guess we will see if our new coaching staff can get this team on the right road and how long that will take. Fortunately, the greatest improvement in football teams usually come after the first game. I look forward to Pitt game to see what happens.

 

[SilverPoint]

I was encouraged by the fact that we were able to make some good adjustments at half time. The defense shut them down in the 2nd half. It also looked to me that we made some changes to our blocking scheme and the running game was dominating in the 2nd half. Making in game adjustments was not a strength of our previous coaching staffs.

 

[VolsSportsFan]

Agree dont want to give the big 3 anything.

ROFL...yeah...that's it.

 

[2k15]

People would be bad if it was SCAR too don’t lie to yourself

This is just..... stupid. The last time Tennessee beat an SEC team (that wasn't Vandy) by 30+ points was Kentucky in 2015. Beating South Carolina 38-6 would be a freaking gift from God.

 

[KB5252]

I know we were never going to be a very good football team this year. Looking at the schedule my thoughts were this was a 5-7 win football team.

After seeing the offense my thoughts are we have to have a more consistent passing game. There were multiple issues last night QB, WR, O line. That has to be cleaned up but my biggest issue was QB. Milton looks like a stud Freshman QB prospect. Except he isn't a freshman. We have to get him up to speed and comfortable.

After seeing what I did last night on offense my best guess is we are a 4-6 win team.

I just want to see Heup build the offense up and show improvement.

 

[Delmar]

38-6 vs South Carolina is a blowout curb stomp. 38-6 vs Bowling Green means the season is over. VN mentality.

Agree. There are a ton of Chicken Littles on VN. Oh woe is me. I did not expect them to be hitting on all cylinders in the first game. Milton has a ton of talent but is a work in progress that Heupel is going to have to harness. Running backs better than I thought. Defensive line got more pressure than all of last year including against the lesser teams on the schedule. Too many dropped passes by Hyatt. Cost them a couple of key first downs and at least one TD. Chalk it up as a win and get better for Pitt.

 

[youcancallmeAl]

I know we were never going to be a very good football team this year. Looking at the schedule my thoughts were this was a 5-7 win football team.

After seeing the offense my thoughts are we have to have a more consistent passing game. There were multiple issues last night QB, WR, O line. That has to be cleaned up but my biggest issue was QB. Milton looks like a stud Freshman QB prospect. Except he isn't a freshman. We have to get him up to speed and comfortable.

After seeing what I did last night on offense my best guess is we are a 4-6 win team.

I just want to see Heup build the offense up and show improvement.

i'm hoping for more wins than four, otherwise I agree with your take. If that QB play is the best we've got, then it's gonna be a long season. Hopefully, he had opening day jitters and will settle down and play better. He certainly needs to develop touch on his passes, especially the deep ones. I don't know whether that's just who he is, i.e. - just doesn't have that talent, or if he has that ability but just didn't play well. I'm glad we have a longer week to prepare for next Saturday.

 

[Delmar]

I think it’s stupidly presumptuous to pretend to know what the BG players were thinking. As far as I could tell, they were commanding the second quarter going into halftime and kept it close enough for half of the game. That’s what the tape shows. You show me where on the tape BG let you know they never had a chance. You are wearing some big orange glasses, that’s for sure.

They scored two field goals. It was never “close”. Nobody that I know has put on the orange glasses. There is a new coach, a new scheme, a new QB and a ton of new players to integrate. Anybody that thought we were going to be humming right out of the box is a fool and knows nothing about football. Steady improvement and player development is what I want to see this season. Anything else is gravy.

 

[0nelilreb]

From an outsider's perspective:

1) You can't really tell much from the first game of the season, especially with new personnel in so many key spots. Generally, the most improvement in a year is between games one and two.

2) You can tell even less when your opponent is the typical lesser quality than conference foe. That's true of everyone, Florida tomorrow included.


Give it another game or two before you reach any meaningful conclusion about anything.

I hate when you make us agree with you .. back to the political forum you reptile .

 

[0nelilreb]

This is just..... stupid. The last time Tennessee beat an SEC team (that wasn't Vandy) by 30+ points was Kentucky in 2015. Beating South Carolina 38-6 would be a freaking gift from God.

Nah it would just be a good weekend

 

[Delmar]

I don’t know why you’re so angry about this. My only point was that Pruitt’s team didn’t suck right off the bat and managed to beat bad teams. Yeah, Pruitt lost his first game against the 17th ranked team in the country, but Heupel would’ve done so as well if that was his competition yesterday.

How do you know Heupel didn’t call a vanilla game so as not to show Pitt much? Looked like we only ran basic plays all night. Based on his history at Oklahoma and UCF, his playbook is a whole lot thicker than what was shown last night. Sure there’s plenty of room for improvement but to expect them to look in mid season form is foolish. Expect steady improvement and hopefully get a win or two we don’t expect. That will be a successful first season.

 

[Air_Force_Vol27]

I just don’t see it. Our running backs are great especially Evans performance. Allowed a 126 ranked out of 127 offense March down the field on us keep it close. Qb position IMO is wide open. I could almost see 2 qbs playing equal time next game.

What's funny is the defense played better than I expected.

 

[Vol Main]

Heupel picks his guy and rides.

 

[2k15]

How do you know Heupel didn’t call a vanilla game so as not to show Pitt much? Looked like we only ran basic plays all night. Based on his history at Oklahoma and UCF, his playbook is a whole lot thicker than what was shown last night. Sure there’s plenty of room for improvement but to expect them to look in mid season form is foolish. Expect steady improvement and hopefully get a win or two we don’t expect. That will be a successful first season.

We called vanilla plays all night and still couldn't even execute them. You think next week we'll do better with a more complex gameplan? How does that work?

 

[BeardedVol]

How do you know Heupel didn’t call a vanilla game so as not to show Pitt much? Looked like we only ran basic plays all night. Based on his history at Oklahoma and UCF, his playbook is a whole lot thicker than what was shown last night. Sure there’s plenty of room for improvement but to expect them to look in mid season form is foolish. Expect steady improvement and hopefully get a win or two we don’t expect. That will be a successful first season.

Because it's a ridiculous assertion, and no coach actually does this in real life.

 

[butchna]

We called vanilla plays all night and still couldn't even execute them. You think next week we'll do better with a more complex gameplan? How does that work?

Way sharper by season’s end than first game in almost a calendar year? Been known to happen.

 

[Vol Farmer]

I wouldn’t pull the tape measure out to far to judge this game. Any thoughts?

 

[Woodlawn VOL]

I just don’t see it. Our running backs are great especially Evans performance. Allowed a 126 ranked out of 127 offense March down the field on us keep it close. Qb position IMO is wide open. I could almost see 2 qbs playing equal time next game.

The only "marched" down the field on 2 possessions both in the second quarter and were stopped both times once they got fairly close to the goal line. They had a grand total of 218 of total offense, they didn't do much marching. Our defense minus them 2 drives played well, especially upfront. Offense has to improve the passing game but the OL played well as did the running backs. Milton did struggle some with downfield passing game. GBO!!!!!

 

[KB5252]

How do you know Heupel didn’t call a vanilla game so as not to show Pitt much? Looked like we only ran basic plays all night. Based on his history at Oklahoma and UCF, his playbook is a whole lot thicker than what was shown last night. Sure there’s plenty of room for improvement but to expect them to look in mid season form is foolish. Expect steady improvement and hopefully get a win or two we don’t expect. That will be a successful first season.

While I agree that his playbook is deeper I don't agree he's holding back because he doesn't want to show Pitt something. If he's holding back it's likely because he knows what the qb's are capable of processing at this point. And judging by Milton's struggles he's right up to, if not past that point.

 

[0nelilreb]

What's funny is the defense played better than I expected.

We were missing more than a couple of our very talented kids on offense and defense , we have a brand new coaching staff with new schemes on both sides of the ball , a brand new QB , in our very first normal game since Covid started , against a sucky opponent that has nothing to lose by throwing everything in the book at us and we all bought into the ESPN / SEC network 70 point game hype . There isn’t a coach we have ( in my opinion ) that can’t coach these kids into being much better by our next game .