My Thoughts on the Mississippi State Game, After Sleeping on it

[Mccage]

We got home last night from spending my birthday weekend in the North Carolina side of the Smokies near Bryson City (hometown of one Heath Shuler), so I haven’t had a chance to rewatch. Therefore, I'm not comfortable stating afew thoughts I have until they're "confirmed" on rewatch. I do know that I did not enjoy this game at all. I got so tense at the end of the game I got a calf cramp. But I gutted it out on the last 3 plays of the game and continued watching while massaging my calf. I gave my all for Tennessee.

The bad:

-We didn’t look focused at all. It felt like another Tennessee road game under Heupel against an inferior opponent in which we just don’t show up mentally. A fumbled punt. Penalties. Dropped passes, including what should have been a long TD. Missed tackles. Giving up the fake punt 1st down. It just felt like they were checked out for much of the game.

-Why can’t we protect the edge in the run game? It's been a problem all year.

-Why did Hood pull the WR’s jersey on that long incomplete pass that was called for PI? Yes, it was uncatchable and shouldn’t have been called, but my God, there was NO NEED to even give the ref an opportunity to make the bad call. Hood could have turned around and started jogging back to the line of scrimmage and he wasn’t catching that pass. Just no need. Lack of focus.

-Gilbert missed another. Yes, he hit one or two after that, but he seems to be in his own head a little. Hope I'm wrong.

-The clock management at the end of the game is concerning. Why Heupel didn’t call TO after Bishop’s 1st down is beyond me. You can’t take the TOs with you. He was coaching like we had no timeouts.

-Telander needs to be a backup. Not a starter or co-starter. Spillman is clearly a better option.

-We continue to see communication breakdowns in the secondary. The long pass that Turrentine gave up on a bust should have been a TD. We were lucky it wasn’t. I really hope they can get that stuff fixed over the bye week.

-Kaleb Beasley got beat deep. He hasn’t been nearly what we hoped he’d be, at least not yet. Farooq missed some tackles too.


The good:

-That’s a game we lose in past years. This team not only showed a collective toughness that we haven’t seen in the past, but also a bunch of individuals showed some mental fortitude. Staley had a terrible game, fumbling a punt, letting another roll to the 1, missing a block on a Matthews reception that could’ve been a TD. But on 3rd and 6 on the game tying drive, there he was, fighting for the first down when he should’ve been stopped. Arion Carter had some missed tackles. But there he was, breaking up the final 4th down pass. Aguilar threw some INTs, but was a steady presence at the end of the game. Dudes kept their heads up and kept fighting after screwing up. That’s a great indicator of a tough team.

-Chris Brazzell. Good Lord, that kid is good. Throw him the ball more. What a turnaround from last year.

-DeSean Bishop is a fantastic pass blocker. That’s why he starts. Glad he got the winning TD because he does the little things.

-Tyre West was a beast. Caleb Herring might be the next James Pearce. We can really rush the passer. Hobbs will give us even more pass rush inside. Now learn to stop the run. Please.

-Ty Redmond is turning into a really good CB. It’s getting harder and harder to pick on him now.

-We continue to see offensive creativity. I loved the single wing look on the tying TD.

-David Sanders is going to improve this Oline. What a great first play for that kid. And he had a crucial block on the tying TD.

-Van Dorsalaer should be the #2 TE, whether Davis is healthy or not. Two HUGE blocks in that game, including on the winning TD. He’s exactly what you want in a TE…a great combination of toughness and athleticism. I hope his PT starts going way up.


Two weeks to get better. There is a lot to improve on, but I’d rather have them do it off a win than a loss. No major injuries that I know of in that game, so we have a chance to go into the Arkansas game healthier than we’ve been all year (including going into Game 1). It’ll be fun to see what they do with this off week. They should be fired up to beat Arkansas after what they did to us last year.

Some of our better pass rushers likes to use inside move and their real good at it. I think at least a couple times they guessed wrong and got caught inside and their WR’s did a good job blocking.Ole fluffy could carry the mail too! I went back and watched our edge getting caught inside on more than one occasion because this is a major concern of mine.

 

[ftsandersvol]

I have a wild theory on the end of regulation. I dont think Heupel wanted Gilbert to have a chance to miss another potential game winner. If he did, he would be toast for the year. So he ran out the clock in a half-hearted fashion and played for overtime. I may be wrong but...

That is a wild theory. He may be called in late in a game not to win it, but to keep us from losing it. He needs as much experience in those situations as possible.

 

[marcusluvsvols]

We got home last night from spending my birthday weekend in the North Carolina side of the Smokies near Bryson City (hometown of one Heath Shuler), so I haven’t had a chance to rewatch. Therefore, I'm not comfortable stating afew thoughts I have until they're "confirmed" on rewatch. I do know that I did not enjoy this game at all. I got so tense at the end of the game I got a calf cramp. But I gutted it out on the last 3 plays of the game and continued watching while massaging my calf. I gave my all for Tennessee.

The bad:

-We didn’t look focused at all. It felt like another Tennessee road game under Heupel against an inferior opponent in which we just don’t show up mentally. A fumbled punt. Penalties. Dropped passes, including what should have been a long TD. Missed tackles. Giving up the fake punt 1st down. It just felt like they were checked out for much of the game.

-Why can’t we protect the edge in the run game? It's been a problem all year.

-Why did Hood pull the WR’s jersey on that long incomplete pass that was called for PI? Yes, it was uncatchable and shouldn’t have been called, but my God, there was NO NEED to even give the ref an opportunity to make the bad call. Hood could have turned around and started jogging back to the line of scrimmage and he wasn’t catching that pass. Just no need. Lack of focus.

-Gilbert missed another. Yes, he hit one or two after that, but he seems to be in his own head a little. Hope I'm wrong.

-The clock management at the end of the game is concerning. Why Heupel didn’t call TO after Bishop’s 1st down is beyond me. You can’t take the TOs with you. He was coaching like we had no timeouts.

-Telander needs to be a backup. Not a starter or co-starter. Spillman is clearly a better option.

-We continue to see communication breakdowns in the secondary. The long pass that Turrentine gave up on a bust should have been a TD. We were lucky it wasn’t. I really hope they can get that stuff fixed over the bye week.

-Kaleb Beasley got beat deep. He hasn’t been nearly what we hoped he’d be, at least not yet. Farooq missed some tackles too.


The good:

-That’s a game we lose in past years. This team not only showed a collective toughness that we haven’t seen in the past, but also a bunch of individuals showed some mental fortitude. Staley had a terrible game, fumbling a punt, letting another roll to the 1, missing a block on a Matthews reception that could’ve been a TD. But on 3rd and 6 on the game tying drive, there he was, fighting for the first down when he should’ve been stopped. Arion Carter had some missed tackles. But there he was, breaking up the final 4th down pass. Aguilar threw some INTs, but was a steady presence at the end of the game. Dudes kept their heads up and kept fighting after screwing up. That’s a great indicator of a tough team.

-Chris Brazzell. Good Lord, that kid is good. Throw him the ball more. What a turnaround from last year.

-DeSean Bishop is a fantastic pass blocker. That’s why he starts. Glad he got the winning TD because he does the little things.

-Tyre West was a beast. Caleb Herring might be the next James Pearce. We can really rush the passer. Hobbs will give us even more pass rush inside. Now learn to stop the run. Please.

-Ty Redmond is turning into a really good CB. It’s getting harder and harder to pick on him now.

-We continue to see offensive creativity. I loved the single wing look on the tying TD.

-David Sanders is going to improve this Oline. What a great first play for that kid. And he had a crucial block on the tying TD.

-Van Dorsalaer should be the #2 TE, whether Davis is healthy or not. Two HUGE blocks in that game, including on the winning TD. He’s exactly what you want in a TE…a great combination of toughness and athleticism. I hope his PT starts going way up.


Two weeks to get better. There is a lot to improve on, but I’d rather have them do it off a win than a loss. No major injuries that I know of in that game, so we have a chance to go into the Arkansas game healthier than we’ve been all year (including going into Game 1). It’ll be fun to see what they do with this off week. They should be fired up to beat Arkansas after what they did to us last year.

This is a great post. Every single point is accurate. My 2c:

1. I dont know that we can stop the run between the Tackles without Telander. He is strong there but struggles in space vs the run and pass.

2. We are still lost at Safety. Turrentine has taken bad angles for 4 years straight. Farooq is young but hes struggling too. This is the only real weakness on the team besides maybe kicker. Its the only position that we have missed on in the portal...we cant develop HS kids to be SEC calber Safeties...we have had problems at Safety for 5 years straight. We have 6 new DBs in the 25 class. We need to spend money in the portal...again..and get at least 1 starting Safety this year. Its so frustrating.

 

[Volnanza]

C'mon. That kid doesn't even shave yet. Poor thing.

I was just thinking the same thing. I'm also trying to remember the last kicker we had that never missed. We've had some really good ones.

 

[marcusluvsvols]

I was just thinking the same thing. I'm also trying to remember the last kicker we had that never missed. We've had some really good ones.

Gilbert got in a little funk last year too and missed some FGs....it just never cost us a game. He will probably be fine. That doesn't matter though. We will never get that win back against UGA...which has beat us now 9 years in a row? A choke is a choke. That loss will hurt this team and may keep us out of the playoffs.

 

[Carl Pickens]

On Gilbert, the man is 8-10 on field goals, longest is 53, and his xp kicks are 30-30. He is fine. His two misses from the 40-49 range. One just happened to matter a lot.

No kidding.

 

[NighthawkVol]

This is a great post. Every single point is accurate. My 2c:

1. I dont know that we can stop the run between the Tackles without Telander. He is strong there but struggles in space vs the run and pass.

2. We are still lost at Safety. Turrentine has taken bad angles for 4 years straight. Farooq is young but hes struggling too. This is the only real weakness on the team besides maybe kicker. Its the only position that we have missed on in the portal...we cant develop HS kids to be SEC calber Safeties...we have had problems at Safety for 5 years straight. We have 6 new DBs in the 25 class. We need to spend money in the portal...again..and get at least 1 starting Safety this year. Its so frustrating.

I like that they're starting to work Walton in some in SEC games. He has a high ceiling. But yeah, it's been the worst position under Heupel. At this point, Turrentine is what he is, but hopefully, Farooq and Beasley can improve as the season moves forward.

 

[perico]

- Staley did have an awful game. But I'll credit him on the game-tying drive for putting his head down and driving his way through the defender to pick up the 1st down on a critical 3rd down play. If he gets stopped short there like he probably should have, that becomes a high pressure 4th down that we have to convert. Prior to that play it looked like he had money on the Bulldogs.

- Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think Peyton Lewis played after he completely whiffed on a block (I believe it might have been the play immediately before one of the Kitzelman tips for INTs. Lewis does some good things, but I think he's option #3 at the RB position now.

The block wasn’t Peyton’s fault as much as it was multiple guys out of whack. The kid laid some wood on a couple of others in pass protection.

 

[BearBryant]

We got home last night from spending my birthday weekend in the North Carolina side of the Smokies near Bryson City (hometown of one Heath Shuler), so I haven’t had a chance to rewatch. Therefore, I'm not comfortable stating afew thoughts I have until they're "confirmed" on rewatch. I do know that I did not enjoy this game at all. I got so tense at the end of the game I got a calf cramp. But I gutted it out on the last 3 plays of the game and continued watching while massaging my calf. I gave my all for Tennessee.

The bad:

-We didn’t look focused at all. It felt like another Tennessee road game under Heupel against an inferior opponent in which we just don’t show up mentally. A fumbled punt. Penalties. Dropped passes, including what should have been a long TD. Missed tackles. Giving up the fake punt 1st down. It just felt like they were checked out for much of the game.

-Why can’t we protect the edge in the run game? It's been a problem all year.

-Why did Hood pull the WR’s jersey on that long incomplete pass that was called for PI? Yes, it was uncatchable and shouldn’t have been called, but my God, there was NO NEED to even give the ref an opportunity to make the bad call. Hood could have turned around and started jogging back to the line of scrimmage and he wasn’t catching that pass. Just no need. Lack of focus.

-Gilbert missed another. Yes, he hit one or two after that, but he seems to be in his own head a little. Hope I'm wrong.

-The clock management at the end of the game is concerning. Why Heupel didn’t call TO after Bishop’s 1st down is beyond me. You can’t take the TOs with you. He was coaching like we had no timeouts.

-Telander needs to be a backup. Not a starter or co-starter. Spillman is clearly a better option.

-We continue to see communication breakdowns in the secondary. The long pass that Turrentine gave up on a bust should have been a TD. We were lucky it wasn’t. I really hope they can get that stuff fixed over the bye week.

-Kaleb Beasley got beat deep. He hasn’t been nearly what we hoped he’d be, at least not yet. Farooq missed some tackles too.


The good:

-That’s a game we lose in past years. This team not only showed a collective toughness that we haven’t seen in the past, but also a bunch of individuals showed some mental fortitude. Staley had a terrible game, fumbling a punt, letting another roll to the 1, missing a block on a Matthews reception that could’ve been a TD. But on 3rd and 6 on the game tying drive, there he was, fighting for the first down when he should’ve been stopped. Arion Carter had some missed tackles. But there he was, breaking up the final 4th down pass. Aguilar threw some INTs, but was a steady presence at the end of the game. Dudes kept their heads up and kept fighting after screwing up. That’s a great indicator of a tough team.

-Chris Brazzell. Good Lord, that kid is good. Throw him the ball more. What a turnaround from last year.

-DeSean Bishop is a fantastic pass blocker. That’s why he starts. Glad he got the winning TD because he does the little things.

-Tyre West was a beast. Caleb Herring might be the next James Pearce. We can really rush the passer. Hobbs will give us even more pass rush inside. Now learn to stop the run. Please.

-Ty Redmond is turning into a really good CB. It’s getting harder and harder to pick on him now.

-We continue to see offensive creativity. I loved the single wing look on the tying TD.

-David Sanders is going to improve this Oline. What a great first play for that kid. And he had a crucial block on the tying TD.

-Van Dorsalaer should be the #2 TE, whether Davis is healthy or not. Two HUGE blocks in that game, including on the winning TD. He’s exactly what you want in a TE…a great combination of toughness and athleticism. I hope his PT starts going way up.


Two weeks to get better. There is a lot to improve on, but I’d rather have them do it off a win than a loss. No major injuries that I know of in that game, so we have a chance to go into the Arkansas game healthier than we’ve been all year (including going into Game 1). It’ll be fun to see what they do with this off week. They should be fired up to beat Arkansas after what they did to us last year.

You might want to apply for a head coaching job.

 

[KTrain]

The block wasn’t Peyton’s fault as much as it was multiple guys out of whack. The kid laid some wood on a couple of others in pass protection.

The sack I saw was when the defender juked Lewis and basically got around him with him barely grazing him. Some of these agile D-ends move like little jukey guys.

 

[Pride85]

He's getting paid and it's year 2. 10 years ago, I'd have more compassion....not anymore.

And that is the reason I detest NIL even more than online gambling. Your determination shouldn't be based on pay, but these "improvements" to the game have created cynical fans.

 

[VOLtaism]

I have a wild theory on the end of regulation. I dont think Heupel wanted Gilbert to have a chance to miss another potential game winner. If he did, he would be toast for the year. So he ran out the clock in a half-hearted fashion and played for overtime. I may be wrong but...

I thought it was clear CH was trying to get into field goal range leaving no time on the clock for MSU to tie the game.

 

[Godfatha]

I will get roasted for this....but my confidence in our kicker is extremely low. He constantly has the "deer in headlights" look. I had no doubt he was missing the kick against UGA and didn't feel much better had he gotten a chance in regulation this past weekend.

No roasting here. Sometimes the truth hurts and is unpopular.

 

[marcusluvsvols]

I like that they're starting to work Walton in some in SEC games. He has a high ceiling. But yeah, it's been the worst position under Heupel. At this point, Turrentine is what he is, but hopefully, Farooq and Beasley can improve as the season moves forward.

Yeah I don't think Turrentine is gonna blossom late like McCollough did. McCullough really struggled before having a good senior season and getting drafted. He started all 17 games for the Rams last year and had 4 picks and pick6. Turrentine looks like the same guy he was last season. In fairness to him, before MSU he played nearly every snap on defense which is waaay too many snaps for anyone except generational athletes like Eric Berry. Some of his problems have to be from fatigue...but thats on the coaches. I am glad that the MSU WR dropped that long TD pass when he ran past Turrentine this week. We would probably have lost the game if he caught that ball...

 

[NighthawkVol]

Yeah I don't think Turrentine is gonna blossom late like McCollough did. McCullough really struggled before having a good senior season and getting drafted. He started all 17 games for the Rams last year and had 4 picks and pick6. Turrentine looks like the same guy he was last season. In fairness to him, before MSU he played nearly every snap on defense which is waaay too many snaps for anyone except generational athletes like Eric Berry. Some of his problems have to be from fatigue...but thats on the coaches. I am glad that the MSU WR dropped that long TD pass when he ran past Turrentine this week. We would probably have lost the game if he caught that ball...

McCollough wasn’t drafted. He was an UDFA, as I recall.