Well, I went into the game feeling cautiously optimistic. After the first few series', I was thinking, "here we go again." By the 4th quarter, I was a nervous wreck. When it ended, I was elated.
But the Vols pulled it out. I don't care how it was won or how UT played...a win over a ranked team on the road should always make us happy. That's two road wins against AP top 20 teams, two games into Josh Heupel's 2nd season. Tennessee had zero of those in the time between Fulmer was fired and Heupel was hired. Think about that. Think about what that says about the mental toughness that Josh Heupel has instilled in this program. Yesterday was a turning point. There needs to be (and will be) more turning points, but that was definitely one.
The positive:
-The fact that Tennessee played terribly, shot itself in the foot a thousand times, Hooker was off, Tillman (and others) had drops, Wright fumbled, we got a punt blocked, fumbled a punt, and had more untimely penalties than we've had since the last time we played Pitt...and still won...that's huge. This is the kind of game that good programs win. It's also the kind of game that Tennessee has lost for the last 15 years. Finding a way to pull this game out, in spite of the awful play, and doing it against a ranked team on the road tells me far more about the culture change in this program than all the off-season talk about culture change. They showed it. Again, turning point.
-The play of the defense was a really nice surprise. Especially the pressure they generated up front. Our biggest concern coming into this game (and season) was defense and the DLine's ability to generate pressure was a big part of that. 26 QB pressures was amazing. Some of it came from blitzes, but there were also pressures generated by guys like Young, Baron, and Harrison because they beat their man one on one. LOVE seeing that. What's even more encouraging is that they did it against a good OLine. Pitt came into the game with the reputation of having a good Oline. And they often use extra linemen. Also, Omari Thomas is really good.
-The secondary wasn't great, but they held up pretty well. There were a couple of times when the QB had awhile to throw but had to throw it away or leave the pocket due to good coverage. Our safeties are playing pretty well in coverage and McCollough looks much quicker and trimmer to me.
-McGrath looks pretty reliable. Him hitting one from 50+ was great to see. Having a reliable kicker is huge.
-Jalin Hyatt looks like he's becoming the WR we all hoped. The staff obviously trusts him, given how many times they called his number. He's a guy who can make people miss and do good things with the ball in his hands like Velus last year. Would've liked to have seen him come down with that long TD with his foot in bounds, but that was a tough play and Hooker threw it too far to the outside. He's catching the ball too, which was a problem last year.
-Bru McCoy is becoming a stud. The TD reception was beautiful, but the play I was most impressed by was the one on which he was stopped short on 3rd down and fought to get past the sticks. That play resulted in points for Tennessee. That's a play big time programs make.
-Aaron Beasley is a stud. He's gone from a concern to one of the best players on our defense, if not THE best.
-Tennessee has failed, in the past, to make big plays when it counted. Especially on defense. That sack on 3rd down was a huge play when it was needed most.
-Pitt scored 2 TDs on long plays (see below). But they didn't drive the field on Tennessee's defense. Other than those two long TDs, I think every Pitt point was scored following a turnover, with the exception of their first field goal.
The negative:
-Hooker looks off. He had a few high throws against Ball State before settling in, so I was hoping that was just an early first game thing. But he honestly looks to be repeating a lot of the same issues from last year, namely, when the first read isn't there, he becomes a runner. And his accuracy is off.
-The running game was bad. Wright ran the ball decently, but fumbled and never returned. That's his 2nd fumble in 2 games. He needs to get that corrected because I think he might be our best runner right now, at least until Sampson is ready for real PT. Fortunately, Tennessee won't play many DLines as good as Pitt's.
-The LBs weren't good in coverage. The long TD to the TE was Banks' guy (although Flowers missed the tackle, which would have just made it a long gain instead of a really long TD).
-The penalties, turnovers, drops, and missed blocking assignments were killers. That stuff has to get cleaned up. Last year, Tennessee had 13 penalties and 3 TOs against Pitt. Something about playing them brings out the worst in Tennessee. The good news is, after that game last year, UT seemed to clean things up. Hopefully, the same thing happens this year.
-Where is Jimmy Calloway?
-There was a play on which Burrell gave up a catch and the replay showed him running 4 yards to the outside of the WR who caught the ball. It looked like he was instructed to do that. I have no idea what that was. It was like they were trying to prevent a sideline throw, but it wasn't at that point in the game. Weird.
-Tennessee needed some luck. They had a gimpy backup QB in the 2nd half. They missed 3 FGs (the announcers said that Narduzzi chose this kicker over the incumbent...who was like 17 of 22 last year...weird. But Narduzzi seems like a weird dude). We may not get those kinds of breaks going forward. Although the TD on 4th down that tied the game was a ridiculously good throw off Patti's back foot that was not poorly covered by Burrell.
-As well as the defense played, Pitt still scored on two long TDs, one a run, one a pass. Gotta stop giving up huge plays.
Overall, Tennessee has a lot to clean up, but I think this was a great game for the Vols. In fact, we'll see how the season plays out, but that might have been the perfect 2nd game of the season to get things going. 1) It tested the Vols' mettle in a tight game on the road in which we didn't play well. As I said, that's the kind of game the Vols lose in the past and that doubt had to creep in...overcoming that mental hurtle is big; 2) there were many, many mistakes, which means it's a teachable game from which Tennessee should get better. This staff will allow them to enjoy the win for a day, but it's certainly not the kind of win that will make them complacent. Playing a game like this early can be a great thing if you win it because it does bring out the warts that need to be addressed; 3) the defense showed that it has improved and will gain confidence from this; 4) Tennessee won. One the road. Against a ranked team.
If I trust a Heupel team to correct anything, it's the passing game. I'm sure Hooker and Tillman will get things worked out. The fact that the offense is a concern and not the defense is good because we know the offense will get fixed. If we have the offense playing well in two weeks and the defense continues to play well (and slowly improve, even), this could be a very successful season.
Use Akron as a tune-up to fix those issues, then whip Florida. This team isn't concerned with mental hangups like past teams. They showed that yesterday.
