Had great seats at the game today, and had a good look at a lot of what was going on.
The Vols had a good game plan for today and executed it well, with a couple of obvious exceptions.
I was in the camp that said that I thought this game would be a lot closer than most folks thought, though I expected Florida to win (I said that in a thread around here somewhere). I knew that the Vols have an excellent defense.
Eric Berry is a beast who any fan would love to have on their team.
Hardesty ran strong and looked really good. The future at RB looks to be in good hands for the next couple of years.
Florida players, after the game, were commenting about being glad for the win but unhappy that they didn't play as well as they felt that they should have. Too many missed tackles was the main complaint. This game should help the Gators as the year wears on.
I was also surprised to hear that Florida played some pretty sick players today. Jeff Demps started the game with a 101 degree fever. Aaron Hernandez, Florida's only legitimate tight end was in isolation with the flu all day yesterday. We had Wilson on the left side of the O-line (known for missed assignments, unfortunately) due to another sick player. That was the side where UT often broke through to get to Tebow.
2 of our primary receivers, Deonte Thompson and David Nelson, were also sick. Nelson tried to play, but just wasn't able to be effective.
Brandon Spikes, our defensive leader, limped off the field a couple of times with an ankle injury. He left the game for good in the 2nd quarter, if I remember correctly.
It's no excuse, though, because the team should be deep enough to handle illness to key players. UT was able to take advantage of this.
The good news for the Gators is two-fold: 1) They won the game, and 2) the sick players will return to being healthy.
I think the future direction for both teams looks bright.
Florida players needed a game like this to ground them after hearing how great they are for the last few months. It should have the benefit that the Ole Miss game had last year, without the pain of losing.
For Tennessee, I believe that today's game provided a blueprint for how they will play tough opponents this year. The team should have confidence that they can hang with just about anyone if they just follow today's game plan. They can worry about playing pretty next year. This year will be about running the ball and hanging close in big games, waiting for the opponent to make mistakes.
Most Florida fans that I talked to were glad to get the win and admit that the hype was a bit much for this one.
The Tennessee fans that I talked with were pretty happy that their team played hard for the whole game and nearly put themselves in a position to have a shot at winning.
I felt that it was time for Tennessee to try to make a move (gamble a little) when the score went to 23-13 and Tennessee had the ball with around 5 mins to play, rather than continuing to let the clock run. It was time to hurry up and try to score and see if they could execute an onside kick. But it seemed at that point that Kiffen was satisfied to either lose by 10 or perhaps to lose by 3 or 7 with a score, but the clock management did not look like a team making a run at winning after staying in the game up until that point.
That aside, I think the players executed the plan, on both offense and defense, almost exactly as the coordinators wanted.
It was a good game by the Vols, and the fans should be proud of the effort put forth by their team today.
Nice game!
I look forward to seeing folks next year!
The Vols had a good game plan for today and executed it well, with a couple of obvious exceptions.
I was in the camp that said that I thought this game would be a lot closer than most folks thought, though I expected Florida to win (I said that in a thread around here somewhere). I knew that the Vols have an excellent defense.
Eric Berry is a beast who any fan would love to have on their team.
Hardesty ran strong and looked really good. The future at RB looks to be in good hands for the next couple of years.
Florida players, after the game, were commenting about being glad for the win but unhappy that they didn't play as well as they felt that they should have. Too many missed tackles was the main complaint. This game should help the Gators as the year wears on.
I was also surprised to hear that Florida played some pretty sick players today. Jeff Demps started the game with a 101 degree fever. Aaron Hernandez, Florida's only legitimate tight end was in isolation with the flu all day yesterday. We had Wilson on the left side of the O-line (known for missed assignments, unfortunately) due to another sick player. That was the side where UT often broke through to get to Tebow.
2 of our primary receivers, Deonte Thompson and David Nelson, were also sick. Nelson tried to play, but just wasn't able to be effective.
Brandon Spikes, our defensive leader, limped off the field a couple of times with an ankle injury. He left the game for good in the 2nd quarter, if I remember correctly.
It's no excuse, though, because the team should be deep enough to handle illness to key players. UT was able to take advantage of this.
The good news for the Gators is two-fold: 1) They won the game, and 2) the sick players will return to being healthy.
I think the future direction for both teams looks bright.
Florida players needed a game like this to ground them after hearing how great they are for the last few months. It should have the benefit that the Ole Miss game had last year, without the pain of losing.
For Tennessee, I believe that today's game provided a blueprint for how they will play tough opponents this year. The team should have confidence that they can hang with just about anyone if they just follow today's game plan. They can worry about playing pretty next year. This year will be about running the ball and hanging close in big games, waiting for the opponent to make mistakes.
Most Florida fans that I talked to were glad to get the win and admit that the hype was a bit much for this one.
The Tennessee fans that I talked with were pretty happy that their team played hard for the whole game and nearly put themselves in a position to have a shot at winning.
I felt that it was time for Tennessee to try to make a move (gamble a little) when the score went to 23-13 and Tennessee had the ball with around 5 mins to play, rather than continuing to let the clock run. It was time to hurry up and try to score and see if they could execute an onside kick. But it seemed at that point that Kiffen was satisfied to either lose by 10 or perhaps to lose by 3 or 7 with a score, but the clock management did not look like a team making a run at winning after staying in the game up until that point.
That aside, I think the players executed the plan, on both offense and defense, almost exactly as the coordinators wanted.
It was a good game by the Vols, and the fans should be proud of the effort put forth by their team today.
Nice game!
I look forward to seeing folks next year!
Thanks for the post
