2025 Vols can be summed up with the sentiment of “Disappearing when it matters.”
1. We give opponents the opportunities they need to hang in or win. Great teams curb stomp opponents that are down.
2. When we do make the breaks we don’t take advantage. Get a turnover? 3 and out. Score? Give up a huge run to seal it.
3. When one side of the ball steps up the other falls flat. Great teams don’t always take advantage of breaks but they do so most of the time. This team just can’t build off of opportunity.
We got away with it a few times this year. Tonight we dug too deep of a hole.
Bummer that what could have been an underdog story has turned into a cautionary tale.
See y’all in a couple weeks. Go Vols.
Good summary of that debacle last night. Sorry for the length here but I’m not going to bother reading or commenting on every thread. The usual culprits will be out in force and not worth reading. I’ll just leave my thoughts here. Offense was inconsistent all night and the TO’s were killers. Joey picked a bad time to have his worst game. (Give Venables and OK credit for making him uncomfortable all night). O Line was a disaster most of the night. Play calling at critical moments was abysmal.
And then there’s that defense. After a pretty good first half, they reverted to form in the second. Gave up 140 yds in the 3rd qtr alone. Have to question the scheme. As noted before, I have never seen so many wide open spaces in a defense where opponents are just running free. The play that did me in was the one where we had them 3rd and 19 and allowed a 20 yd run by Mateer. We literally rushed 4 and dropped the other seven 20 to 25 yards back and still couldn’t stop him. Inexcusable.
Coaching? Well I’ve been resistant to totally blaming Josh. For the most part, he’s been great. Brought excitement back after 20 years in the wilderness and in the face of crippling sanctions due to Beldar. But he has been guilty (like Fulmer) of being too loyal to his assistant buddies and promoting guys like Halze who doesn’t have the experience to be an OC. I attribute our offensive success to Josh’s scheme more than I do Halze’s brilliance. But when things got rough, I saw little adjustment from this staff and that includes Josh. I can’t explain Banks who has the experience. One good year out of five and this year is an abomination.
Bottom line- This season is over and this loss was mostly self inflicted. Josh has to make changes in this staff or he is going to be increasingly under fire. As far as I’m concerned, Banks, Martinez, Halze and Ellarbee (and some players like Boo) can hit the door. If Josh keeps this staff intact, he does so at the peril of getting on a major hot seat.
And here’s the downside of the new era in college football. When you’re eliminated from the playoffs, very few (fans or players) will care about the rest of the season or some insignificant bowl game. It will be a huge challenge to keep this team interested in Florida or Vandy. As far as I’m concerned, it’s basketball time in Tennessee.
