I haven't had a chance to rewatch like I normally do before posting these games, so I reserve the right to change my mind after I watch Freak's full game video on his YouTube channel.
The drive back to Nashville was really depressing last night. It felt like I had something taken from me. It felt like some of those old Florida games. The Gaffney catch, especially. We could've ended that game so many times. Stop them on 4th down. Nope. Stop the 2 pt. conversion. Nope. Hit the FG. Nope. Three times, if we make 1 play, we win. And one would think that on each of those plays, we had a better than 50% chance of success. Anyway....
-I think Spillman needs to start and play more than Telander. Telander didn't play well. I know he has more experience, but he's not athletic enough. And we need a freshman (Harmon or Burns?) to take the 4th LB spot from Bolton. That LB group was not good yesterday. And like the defense as a whole, there were too many missed tackles.
-One of the more underrated aspects of missing Gibson and McCoy is their tackling ability. Especially Gibson...he doesn't miss open field tackles. Yesterday, our DBs missed a lot of tackles. I wish we had a more dynamic safety than Turrnetine...he took a terrible angle on the UGA WR screen that went for a TD, but I get why he's in there. He also makes some plays that casuals don't notice. He took away the dig route on the Joseph strip sack, which was where Stockton wanted to go with the ball. I do like Farooq...that kid will hit you.
-One nice adjustment by Banks was in stopping the run. They had a lot of success running the ball in the first half, but then Tennessee shut down their run game...Until the long run in OT. Nonetheless, we missed Moi and Hobbs. We really need to get them back healthy and stay healthy on the DL. If we can do that, it can be a really good group because some guys like Robinson and Wallace have gained some valuable PT and proven that they can be counted on as the 5th and 6th guys in the interior DL. Just don't want them as the 3rd and 4th guys. I like Bailey at DT and hope he stays there when the 2 injured guys come back. I think we have SDE well set with West, Weathersby, and Dye.
-I know we can go back and 2nd guess Heupel's decision to be conservative after the strip sack fumble and the end of the game before the missed FG. But at the end of the game, he put the team in position to upset UGA with a FG that Gilbert should hit. He did hit it a few minutes later in OT. If he hits in regulation, no one is 2nd guessing Heupel. That said, I understood the end of game decision more than the prior one. End of game, he'd just had a false start move us back. He didn't want to risk another penalty moving that from a very makable range to a tough one. But the one after the recovered fumble seemed overly conservative, I know there was a penalty in there that may have affected play-calling, but I bet if he had it to do over again, he's letting Joey go for the throat. It seemed out of character for Josh. That's why I think he'll learn from it.
-The WR group is awesome. I said on this board before the season that I thought they had a chance to do what the DB group did last year...go from one of the biggest question marks on the team after a complete overhaul, to a strength. They've done that. Think about it...the two biggest question marks going into the season were QB and WR. Those are now our two biggest strengths. Reason #7,734 that preseason expectations are usually meaningless in college football.
-Star Thomas should be our primary RB going forward. He sees the openings, he hits them quickly, and he runs angry. He finishes runs better than any other RB on the team. This isn't based on one game. This has been the case for all three games. He's earned it. Bishop should be the 2nd RB, and Lewis should get minimal carries at this point. He's just not seeing things as well. I'd pare this to a 2-man RB rotation, at least in SEC games.
-I'm really surprised we're not throwing to Ethan Davis. I thought we would this year. And I thought we would do it against UGA.
-What the hell was that PI call on Georgia's game-tying drive?! A) The DB (Turrnetine?) didn't touch the guy and B) He caught it 8 yards out of bounds...so obviously not catchable inbounds. I'd love to ask that ref what the hell he saw.
-For those who thought that Heupel had been figured out because SEC defenses had adjusted...isn't it funny what happens to this offense when you have a QB who makes quick, good decisions? And who is accurate? That Staley TD was WIDE open. Aguilar hit him. Nico would miss those throws...and he would've overthrown Brazzell on the deep balls. I was trying to explain to a poster a few weeks ago on this board why it's MUCH better to underthrow a deep ball than to overthrow it. Yesterday, we saw why. Speaking of which, where has THIS Chris Brazzell been?! Kid looked like Randy Moss out there. It might be time to start worrying if he leaves early for the NFL...although "worry" might not be the right word. It would be great for the program/recruiting and we will still be loaded at WR next year.
-I know we're down about the failure to close the game out. Elite programs do that and we didn't. But one attitude/psychological aspect of elite programs that we did show was in coming back after Georgia punched us in the mouth. That game felt like prior games in which we would jump out to a lead, then Georgia (or somebody else) would come back, take the lead, then Tennessee was done. See: 2024 Georgia game. But Tennessee showed a lot of heart and guts after Georgia dominated the 2Q and retook the lead. One thing about Heupel teams: I'm always proud of the effort and competitive makeup, even when the execution is lacking. There were some years under Dooley, Butch, and Pruitt when that wasn't true of the effort and competitive makeup.
-The Neyland crowd wasn't great. Yes, it got loud in the 4Q (and Georgia made some amazing plays in that noise), but for a game that big, it didn't seem as normally loud. I don't know why. Maybe ticket prices pushed out the loud fans for the wine and cheese crowd? I sure hope it's better than that vs. Oklahoma.
-Gunner Stockton is better than we thought he was. The TD throw at the end was a great throw. He made a lot of good throws and took a beating.
-The LEOs were really good. Caleb Herring was awesome. I didn't think he played well against Syracuse, but he turned it around. Josephs made the huge play causing the fumble and Ross also applied pressure. That group is a strength.
-The offensive line played well. They protected Aguilar and allowed the offense to put up 38 in regulation. Running the ball was tough sledding at times, but started to open up a little in the 4Q. Given the opponent and opposing coach, it's hard to criticize the oline much at all. That UGA defense is chock full of athletes.
Small picture: that sucked. It hurts like hell. We blew a chance to remove an albatross and blew it.
Big picture: this team is good. We have a really good QB and WRs. I'd say we have a really good offense. The defense needs to get better, but will. Mostly, that means getting healthy. But it also means growing and improving. Ty Redmond will only get better. Heupel should learn from this...about his team mostly, and how to call plays accordingly. If Gilbert gets a shot at redemption, I bet his makes the most of it.
One knock on Heupel teams has been that they always lose one they shouldn't on the road. This year's candidate is Miss State. Well, I think yesterday assures that we won't overlook Miss State. That will be this team's first opportunity at redemption against an SEC opponent. Beat Mississippi State, get healthy during the off week, get revenge on Arkansas in Neyland, then go to Tuscaloosa (hopefully) healthy with Hobbs, Moi, and maybe McCoy back and a real shot to beat the Tide. Do that, and your only tough games left are OU at home and a struggling Florida team on the road.
This team has a very real chance at a fantastic season. Let's not lose sight of that. Go Vols!
