Logical thoughts

[Stevorino]

1) Sal's defense is very much still a work in progress. When the Vols are in position, they are incredible - the goalline stands were very impressive. But when they are out of position/confused, it gets REALLY ugly. I think this may be the story of the game.

The defense needs to spend a lot of time in the film room as there was an unacceptable number of busts. Our busts ran Florida's offense. If they can clean this up, they could be pretty incredible by the time we visit South Carolina.

2) People point to the penalties as holding back Florida, but I saw it opposite. Their corners were playing illegally aggressive, hence all of the holding/pass interference calls. I'm not sure what you do about that, but they muzzled all of our electric, big-plays before they could happen. Good gameplan, I guess.

3) Florida's defense is for real. I do not think their offense is all that good, as I think we gave them a lot of it through missed assignments. We have two more defenses like that ahead: UGA & Bama. Although I do think Florida could have the best DL in the country.

This is a better Florida team than last year, no doubt about that (as the visiting gators assured us this week).

4) UGA is still the team to beat in the east. While I don't predict a win in Athens, it is definitely possible. This isn't like the last 2 years where there is just no shot at all. If Tennessee can clean up the breakdowns, we could have a shot at anyone.

5) This team will improve. Talent isn't holding them back and I believe you will see the mental side come into place a little more each week.

My predictions for rest of season:

Akron - Win

UGA - Loss, I think they look really good, enough to give the winner of the west trouble in the SECCG

Miss State - Win. I like Miss State, but I think we can put up some points over them. Their wins vs. Auburn & Troy weren't very impressive.

Bama - Loss.

South Carolina - Toss Up. If I had to put down money, I'd say loss. But I think this is the game that could really be our 'statement' game that we hoped Florida would be. This gives the team a handful of games to work out the defensive kinks and gel more as an offensive unit.

Troy - Kentucky - All wins. I like mizzou too for keeping up with UGA so long, but I think tennessee could really have it together by then.

 

[Ned Ray McWorkher]

Nothing like getting it together AFTER the Florida game.

 

[Titan&Volfan4life]

That's a pretty fair analysis my friend.

I think you and most others are missing the main thing though...Our player roster.

Despite the recruiting deck being stacked badly against CDD from day 1 he's still brought in alot of very good yet still very inexperienced players to make our roster better.

Fact is that the only 2 real CDD recruiting classes are only Sophs and freshmen so we don't have SEC type of 4* and 5* players at every position and the same type of backups on the bench like floriDUHHH and the other really good SEC teams have...yet.

I don't believe we even have all our schollies filled just yet so we still need another class or 2 of good recruits to fill out a much better roster.

There's hardly any real Senior leadership that will get loud with their teammated and demand much better play on the field and set the tone to never give up no matter what which Tennessee has always been known for.

Even in the NFL where players work 10 to 12 hour days only on football it normally takes 2 years to switch from a 4-3 D to 3-4 D and get it down really well so I expected some breakdowns and mistakes but just not as many or the same mistakes over and over again.

Many on this new coaching staff are well known as good recruiters and they haven't had the chance to get their 1st recruiting class on campus yet so I believe we're still 2 years away from being able to compete seriously with the best in the SEC.

It's hard as h3ll to be patient while our entire program is rebuilt from the ground up and I hate losing as much as anyone but the reality simply is that we don't have SEC type players at every starting position much less SEC type players on the bench for a solid 2 deep rotation...yet.

I would like our coaches to get much more demanding and to stop coddling some players and set certain demands or else let the players sit on the bench until they grow up and are ready to give 100% on every snap the entire game.

We can certainly make a bowl game this year and winning more plus winning the bowl game will help towards a better recruiting class after this season.

We're getting there but it's happening too slowly for most of our fanbase and they're going to have to learn to be more patient because no matter who our head coach is it's still going to take more time to get our recruiting merry-go-round back on a solid basis for the normal 4 year recruiting rotation since our cupboard was so bare when CDD took over.

VFL...GBO!!!

 

[knoxville's finest]

1. We didn't contain the edge and that was the most important factor prior to the game starting.

2. Florida D played great. But give Bray and Chaney more credit for continue to try the 80 yard pass rather than the short yards that bowling green and atm had success with.

3. Agree florida has a great d. But Chaney used zero screens and misdirection.

4. The coaches are losers and the kids continue to quit when trailing. 6-6 at best.

 

[Special Ed]

Can't wait for basketball season to begin.

 

[rockybottom]

I hope we are right to be optimistic. I do believe that we have enough talent to win 7 or even 8 games this year, but the truth is that this team has a history of quitting in the face of adversity. It appeared to me that a lot of players on offense quit last night (or at least played uninspired when Florida went up). I thought we quit against Kentucky last year also (Yes, I know the excuse about Bray being sick). I hope that they respect Dooley enough and love Tennessee enough to keep playing, but I'm not so sure. We shall see.

 

[ACvol3]

I've never seen such a dirty defense... Except for maybe last years uf d... Their corners held every single play... Hard to get open when somebody has ur jersey..

 

[IhateGA]

I know I sound crazy, but I still think we will beat Georgia.

 

[CobbVol]

1) Growing pains with the new defensive scheme.

2) Neal had at least 2 opportunities to make the safety/LB miss and take it to the house. He did not and got 9 yards.

3) Given #2, a HS RB can easily see his spot on this team.

4) The thought that we have a tidal wave of JR's heading to the NFL has been diluted.

5) The notion that you do not need to run the ball and have balance should be gone, especially in this league.

6) The I-Formation may not be sexy, but it works for this team. We got at least 5 YPC with a lead fullback.

7) The kicking game remains important in any game and out kickers are woeful.

8) I have a better understanding of why we are recruiting a number of DB's, and it is not all because of graduations.

9) Corrections will be made this week in practice and we will be 3-1 heading to Starkville.

10) I still see this team going 8-4, and Dooley is not going anywhere.

 

[TAF]

1) Growing pains with the new defensive scheme.

2) Neal had at least 2 opportunities to make the safety/LB miss and take it to the house. He did not and got 9 yards.

3) Given #2, a HS RB can easily see his spot on this team.

4) The thought that we have a tidal wave of JR's heading to the NFL has been diluted.

5) The notion that you do not need to run the ball and have balance should be gone, especially in this league.

6) The I-Formation may not be sexy, but it works for this team. We got at least 5 YPC with a lead fullback.

7) The kicking game remains important in any game and out kickers are woeful.

8) I have a better understanding of why we are recruiting a number of DB's, and it is not all because of graduations.

9) Corrections will be made this week in practice and we will be 3-1 heading to Starkville.

10) I still see this team going 8-4, and Dooley is not going anywhere.

I agree with all but #9...we head to Athens first...

 

[VolsSportsFan]

1) Growing pains with the new defensive scheme.

2) Neal had at least 2 opportunities to make the safety/LB miss and take it to the house. He did not and got 9 yards.

3) Given #2, a HS RB can easily see his spot on this team.

4) The thought that we have a tidal wave of JR's heading to the NFL has been diluted.

5) The notion that you do not need to run the ball and have balance should be gone, especially in this league.

6) The I-Formation may not be sexy, but it works for this team. We got at least 5 YPC with a lead fullback.

7) The kicking game remains important in any game and out kickers are woeful.

8) I have a better understanding of why we are recruiting a number of DB's, and it is not all because of graduations.

9) Corrections will be made this week in practice and we will be 3-1 heading to Starkville.

10) I still see this team going 8-4, and Dooley is not going anywhere.

We're playing Akron.

 

[82_VOL_83]

1) Sal's defense is very much still a work in progress. When the Vols are in position, they are incredible - the goalline stands were very impressive. But when they are out of position/confused, it gets REALLY ugly. I think this may be the story of the game.

The defense needs to spend a lot of time in the film room .....

That's a pretty fair analysis my friend.

I think you and most others are missing the main thing though...Our player roster.

.....

VFL...GBO!!!

Two very good posts IMO. However, how many people have the ability now to still read the game and team that way. I know I won't be able to do it until I see "Lord TB of the bottles" win a real game. I do look forward to CSS getting the D cleaned up. They stuffed FL last night at times like they were an FCS team. Other times we looked like we didn't know WTF to do.

 

[TNBV]

I agree with all but #2. A HS RB does not get away from Matt ELam. Both plays you speak of, diving tackles were made from behind.

 

[NEVolFan]

You got #7, 9 right. Dooley will be the coach for some time....BUT he needs to upgrade the O-coordinator position, or he will be squarely on the block next season.

#5 is fundamental to the game...requires no discovery at this point.

 

[howboutmyvols]

I predict we will be 3-2 leavIng Starkville/Athens. We will have 2 SEC wins this year. Book it!

 

[82_VOL_83]

I've never seen such a dirty defense... Except for maybe last years uf d... Their corners held every single play... Hard to get open when somebody has ur jersey..

I honestly think the refs were told by ESPN to keep the flags in the pockets in the 2nd half. The first half took for freaking ever to play. There were holds, personal fouls (punt coverage, FL player hit our guy in the face with both hands right in front of a ref), and A LOT of DB holding in the 2nd half that got overlooked. I know it's sour grapes, but if you get away with it, why not keep doing it?

 

[82_VOL_83]

I hope we are right to be optimistic. I do believe that we have enough talent to win 7 or even 8 games this year, but the truth is that this team has a history of quitting in the face of adversity. It appeared to me that a lot of players on offense quit last night (or at least played uninspired when Florida went up). I thought we quit against Kentucky last year also (Yes, I know the excuse about Bray being sick). I hope that they respect Dooley enough and love Tennessee enough to keep playing, but I'm not so sure. We shall see.

Welcome to VN and yes, I saw the same thing you did. TB's new nickname is "mailman". He mails it in in the clutch.

 

[Donvolson]

Well said. Our secondary is slow, teams will not run up the middle. we needed da'phrictk for this game only, Gator fans are jerk offs either way. Driskell is better than I thought. Is Randolph out for the year? Why does Teague play over Gordon? Vols will get a topflight running back. Who thinks the Gators won't lose 4 games? LSU, USCjr, Georgia and FSU will F them up bad. They got a lot of lucky breaks , then whipped our but when we made stupid, stupid , stupid mistakes and stopped calling running plays completely. Vols fight on!

 

[tennengr]

Your number 1 item is right where it should be. It was obvious to the TV analyst and to the fans that our D got confused several times and big plays were the result. It will take some time for our players to get use to Sunseri's D. I want Sunseri to stay but he may need to "vanilla down" the D a little this year.

How did Tennessee kickers get so bad? This use to be our strong suit.

I hope your right about 8-4. GO VOLS!

 

[Donvolson]

I am used to this crap. Its sad

 

[tm3]

yep UF O is not good thus their 550 yards of total offense.

and PS the best QB on the field last night was not in orange

 

[Vols520]

8-4 is what I predicted as well. I want to like Bray, but he just seems like such a loser to me.

 

[AllVol11717]

1) Growing pains with the new defensive scheme.

2) Neal had at least 2 opportunities to make the safety/LB miss and take it to the house. He did not and got 9 yards.

3) Given #2, a HS RB can easily see his spot on this team.

4) The thought that we have a tidal wave of JR's heading to the NFL has been diluted.

5) The notion that you do not need to run the ball and have balance should be gone, especially in this league.

6) The I-Formation may not be sexy, but it works for this team. We got at least 5 YPC with a lead fullback.

7) The kicking game remains important in any game and out kickers are woeful.

8) I have a better understanding of why we are recruiting a number of DB's, and it is not all because of graduations.

9) Corrections will be made this week in practice and we will be 3-1 heading to Starkville.

10) I still see this team going 8-4, and Dooley is not going anywhere.

Finally there's a thread for those that don't want to run around like our hair's on fire. #5 is where we were killed tonight which is frustrating because even though Neal was a tackle away from some big ones he was finally putting him in that position and still getting 9 yards. 10- Dooley should stay but he needs to replace Chaney the way we replaced Wilcox.

 

[VolinNooga14]

I think more than one of your 10 bullet points needed to reference the 550+ yards we gave up on defense.

 

[AllVol11717]

Also isn't this fanbase that's freaking out the same one that said we need to win at least one of the two between NC State and UF, which we did.