is it still acceptable to say "look what heupel inherited"

[Butch s]

Alabama had 9 offensive possessions. Over half of them didn’t result in points.

But sure, the defense is the link in the chain that broke down.

One 99 yd td drive
One 91 yd td drive
You good with that ???

 

[JMSqb11]

One 99 yd td drive
One 91 yd td drive
You good with that ???

Not ideally. But an am I fine with half of Bama’s total yards coming from 2 drives only took 11:28 off the clock, yes I am.

Our defense gave up 4 scoring drives which were less than half of the total number of possessions Bama had.

It’s rather simple. Had the offense played to their average, we win that game. The offense crapped the bed. The defense played fine.

 

[FranklinVFL]

Not five years in. They all are his people now. Either via HS recruiting or portal. They are all his.

 

[UTFranklinVol]

Alabama had 9 offensive possessions. Over half of them didn’t result in points.

But sure, the defense is the link in the chain that broke down.

this. our defense isn't why we lost considering it was the lowest scoring output of the year. our offense totally crapped the bed.

 

[J C Higgins]

Yes, all things considered. I'm 84 and can't remember any SEC program that was in as bad of shape as this one was when he became head coach. We were on probation, several players had left and we had scholarship limitations when arrived and for several years after.

 

[VolsSportsFan]

If he would just shave

 

[sonofUT62]

USC’s sanctions were way more severe than ours.

Kiffin is about on par with Heupel. Good coach, not a championship contender

Kiffin has a former NFL head coach as his QB coach and a former SEC head coach as an analyst. Golding is a highly respected DC. He may not be much better than Heupel but he’s sure AF trying a lot harder:

 

[UTFranklinVol]

Yes, all things considered. I'm 84 and can't remember any SEC program that was in as bad of shape as this one was when he became head coach. We were on probation, several players had left and we had scholarship limitations when arrived and for several years after.

all that is true but that was half a decade ago. and how do you explain 2022? was all that just incredible luck? I don't believe so. Heupel has had plenty of time.

 

[J C Higgins]

all that is true but that was half a decade ago. and how do you explain 2022? was all that just incredible luck? I don't believe so. Heupel has had plenty of time.

Yes, we were fortunate that year because we had a QB who could make rapid and appropriate reads, throw accurately and run well. That allowed for the rapid pace of play. We haven't had that since.

 

[RockyTop140]

If you were able to factor out the anamoly of year two (though some will point to guys like Cignetti and say you cant...Cig isn't playing big boy ball in a big boy league...let him have more than one top ten team on his schedule and ill show you multiple losses), then we are were I expected to be in Year 5.

Program is stable, trending in a positive direction, pulling in better talent at key positions, and in the right conversations.

All of that said, even with yet another new starting QB, year 6 needs to see a big step up in the product. The team must win the top 10 battles and not be in the talk of a borderline CFP squad....anything less and its time for Danny White to open the bank account.

Theres still a lot of ball left this season, but I agree. We have got to see a much improved defense next year. Hit the portal hard and patch it up.

Heup has to improve his clock management and in-game decision making. The good news is I don't think hes an egomaniac unwilling to change things up. I hope he will continue to improve

 

[UTFranklinVol]

If he would just shave

if he shaved he'd be mistaken for Bobby Hill

 

[UTFranklinVol]

Not five years in. They all are his people now. Either via HS recruiting or portal. They are all his.

and don't forget he had the first 8 million dollar QB in college football history

 

[hUTch2002]

my ideal coach is Josh Heupel with better coaching staff and better decision making, vision casting and killer instinct.

but if we are really going to play the game of "unlimited resources and suspend reality the I would put these coaches on the list:

Kirby Smart - wild success at a football program that is beneath the university of tennessee
Ryan Day - inherited a good program but has made his own name in not dropping off even one little bit.
Nick Saban (yes that's right Nick Saban)
Curt Cignetti (yes old but that guy did more good with less talent than Tennessee on its worst day ever) if he can win like that at Indiana he could win multiple titles with the resources Tennessee has.

I also think Lane Kiffin is just now entering his peak years of his career

we can't have any of those coaches but you specifically said "who is your model coach" and "unlimited resources" so I am suspending reality here.

So Kiffin, who has done less than Heupel with more years and no UGA every year. Ok, sure.

 

[DeepSpringsVol]

I dont want Heupel fired but he needs to figure some situational awareness things out. Gets ultra conservative when the other team hasn't proven ro be able to even slow you down ala Georgia this year. Time management including timeout usage.

As for the what he inherited conversation. It is true he inherited a poor situation but let's not forget he got really lucky with that 2022 team. He was going to run with Joe Milton who wasnt doing well at all. Injury dragged Hendon Hooker off the bench. Had it not been for Milton getting hurt and Hooker coming in out of necessity we wouldn't have gotten it all together.

 

[nomads-11]

NOOOO!!!! I inherited a division of 80 people, by year 3 I was cooking. I'd already hired and "fired" a number of people and made sure the rest got the training that they needed, even though it was 1-2 years out. CJH is MANY years younger than me, but he's never been pushed. Quite frankly at his $$$ amount who would do it? No one paid my ass that. No different, in a hubris moment, I got more sh1t done, made more progress in two years than he has in 5. CJH is at a crossroads ...he needs to decide who he is.

 

[MemphisVol77]

Our defense couldn't get enough stops and not when we needed one most.

But I agree that penalties, drops and poor execution on offense draw a more direct line to yesterday's loss.

B.S.

The defense came out and forced a 3 and out to start the 2nd half then recovered a fumble on the next drive.

After recovering the fumble the offense once again had an opportunity to make it a 1 score game

I think watching Mike Matthew's drop a pass, that hit all 10 fingers, on 3rd and long to leave us out of field goal range was the straw that broke the camels back.

 

[rocketskates]

Airing of the grievances for JM SQUIB and Ricky Vol

 

[CMcEver]

Yes, it's not truly the 5th year considering how destroyed the program and roster was and having to deal with sanctions the first few. We beat who we're supposed to beat and recruiting has improved. Based on roster, this year was predicted to be 8 wins, we aren't underperforming, the next 2 years will be telling though.

 

[MemphisVol77]

I've seen it mentioned several times that it's year 5 and they're all Heupel's players. I double checked and did the math just to be sure. You guys are right, they're all Heupel's players.

Who's arguing they're not Heupel's players though?

Didn't we preemptively self impose most of the scholarship hits on the front end to to make it progressively easier to sign full classes as the sanctions came to an end? If so, could signing smaller classes from 21 - 23 have any correlation with presently having one of the youngest 2-deeps in the country? Is there any kind of year-to-year linear recruiting metric we could contrast the recruiting classes against the sanctions with?

I'm not trying to give Heupel any kind of blanket pardon. I just think there's a lot of pre-emptive dismissal of the nuace and impact the sanctions have had on Heupel's ability to recruit and the quality of recruits he's been able to go after.

I love message boards. Let's just assume NIL and the transfer portal means sanctions have had no impact. Then we can do the arithmetic on one hand, conclude they're all Heupel's players, pretend we're psychologists, and make up Freudian babble to explain our theories about Heupel's shortcomings.

 

[General Jack]

B.S.

The defense came out and forced a 3 and out to start the 2nd half then recovered a fumble on the next drive.

After recovering the fumble the offense once again had an opportunity to make it a 1 score game

I think watching Mike Matthew's drop a pass, that hit all 10 fingers, on 3rd and long to leave us out of field goal range was the straw that broke the camels back.

When we cut the lead to 23-13 Alabama went on a 99 yard drive.

When we cut the lead to 30-20 they went on a 75 yard drive.

A stop in either case would have given us the opportunity to make it a one score game, despite how poorly we had played.

We needed a stop, didn’t get it.

 

[General Jack]

Alabama had 9 offensive possessions. Over half of them didn’t result in points.

But sure, the defense is the link in the chain that broke down.

I didn’t say that, there’s plenty of blame to go around.

But can’t overlook how far our defense has slipped.

 

[Orange-U-Glad]

I do not think a conversation about firing Heupel is in any way legitimate. I am unhappy about the sloppy play, the missed tackles, and the needless penalties that make it harder to win. We have 4 conference games left. Every one is winnable and every one is losable, depending on how well we minimize mistakes and play solid football. I believe this team has the talent to be unbeaten, but mistakes by coaches and players have cost us both games.

 

[jeff1vol]

Hahahaahaaa... Cmon. Year 5. In the pay for play era.

 

[SNAFU]

The regression in our defense can't be explained away. We are back to playing at year 1 and 2 levels despite being in year 5 and supposedly being talented.

The fact that we still CANNOT TACKLE is a problem that began with Butch. I don't know when the pervasive dropped passes began but this is a problem. I can handle losing games to the most talented teams but not because of the lack of playing fundamental football.

 

[OmahaOmaha]

So obviously you think Heupel should be fired.

If he goes 7-5, YES. Look at next year's schedule. And from now on. 9 SEC games. You better be a top 10 Coach & Staff or you will be buried in 10th place.