If our Defense plays like Oklahoma State did....

[1974Vol]

Was it the coaching? Of course. But to dismiss the players inability to actually play is silly. They share their fair amount of the blame for being the worst team in 121 years of football.

And don't forget us fans...we could have done more but didn't...no, we just sat there on our sofas and big comfy chairs in front of our plasma and 4G screens with our beer and sandwiches and did jack while Vandy beat our brains in. I'll take that regret to my grave. So there's blame enough to go around for us all...

 

[FLVOL_79]

And don't forget us fans...we could have done more but didn't...no, we just sat there on our sofas and big comfy chairs in front of our plasma and 4G screens with our beer and sandwiches and did jack while Vandy beat our brains in. I'll take that regret to my grave. So there's blame enough to go around for us all...

Blame the fans? Thats like blaming gravity for being overweight..

 

[sjt18]

Was it the coaching? Of course. But to dismiss the players inability to actually play is silly. They share their fair amount of the blame for being the worst team in 121 years of football.

Poor play does not necessarily equal a lack of talent. The 2005 team was actually more talented than the 2006 team. Exit Sanders. Enter Cut. Vols go from 5 wins to 9 and from 17 ppg to 27 ppg. One off season with a QB whose confidence was completely broken and a decline in overall talent.... Cut turned them around.

An interesting component to that comparison (to me anyway) is that Sanders was lax on discipline. The Vol O got progressively less disciplined the longer he was OC after Cut. Production went out the window with discipline. An easy measure of that is that UT with Cut scored over 400 pts in 6 of 8 seasons. With Sanders, UT achieved 400 pts once in 2001... scored under 300 twice in his 7 seasons... and scored the fewest points since 1964 in 2005 in spite of having an extra game.

Why is that interesting? Pruitt seems to be a disciplinarian more in the mode of Cutcliffe. Jones... was not consistent with discipline or strong at critical times.

 

[TheMookieMonster]

Eh. I mean I hope we play as well as Oklahoma State did but they were ranked #11 for a reason. The talent is there on our team, but my concern isn't that we didn't recruit well enough to beat WVU, it's that Butch Jones didn't just fail to develop these players, but he actively made them worse. Saturday will be very interesting to me because it will tell me all I need to know on whether or not one off season is enough time to rid talented players of the stench of Butch Jones and tap into all of that dormant talent.

 

[jakez4ut]

Why is that interesting? Pruitt seems to be a disciplinarian more in the mode of Cutcliffe. Jones... was not consistent with discipline or strong at critical times.

yeah, this is why i think i'll be shocked if this team finds ways to beat itself. we will get beat by better teams. yes.

but i don't see us shooting oursleves in the foot, finding ways to lose.

 

[sjt18]

Eh. I mean I hope we play as well as Oklahoma State did but they were ranked #11 for a reason. The talent is there on our team, but my concern isn't that we didn't recruit well enough to beat WVU, it's that Butch Jones didn't just fail to develop these players, but he actively made them worse. Saturday will be very interesting to me because it will tell me all I need to know on whether or not one off season is enough time to rid talented players of the stench of Butch Jones and tap into all of that dormant talent.

Had the thought earlier while mowing... what if the individual development wasn't that bad but rather Jones lacked the HC talent to put things together?

I know talent is a big component but guys can't be totally undeveloped and make immediate impact in NFL camps like Vickers and Mosley have. Maybe the position coaches were doing their thing OK... and Jones just screwed it up when it came to putting the pieces together?

 

[TN Outlaw]

Blame the fans? Thats like blaming gravity for being overweight..

Spoons made me fat

 

[sjt18]

K-State and particularly the second half was very interesting when it comes to defending Grier and the WVU O.

KSU's D was not talented. It is not hyperbole to say they had only one starter who would have started for UT... last year. They gave up 28 pts to WVU in the 1st half with the last 7 coming on a Hail Mary TD with no time left in the half to a receiver who stood in the end zone... uncovered... during the entire flight of the ball with KSU defenders within 10 yards.

In the 2nd half, KSU was effective in getting stops. You don't seem to beat WVU by denying them "big plays". You beat them by forcing them to execute 3 plays in a row repeatedly to sustain drives.

KSU also pressured Grier. He was not effective when they did. They seemed to have figured out WVU's playcalling. Some of what WVU likes to do is easy to defend while you blitz if you guess right.