So, now what?

#1
orange+white=heaven

orange+white=heaven

VN GURU
Joined
Feb 16, 2005
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#1
I'm pretty sure I've seen every aspect of the game blamed for the fact that the Tennessee Volunteers are tied for the top of the SEC East. Every coach, the QB, every section of the defense. Recruiting even, to some degree.

It occurs to me that the only conclusion one can reasonably draw from this across the board(pardon the pun) blame fest, is that no aspect of this team is performing to the level we seem to expect.

I'm done pointing fingers one place or another. There either will or will not be an SEC title game appearance. Not a person on this planet could make an argument I would believe that they know what these last four games will be played like. This year, you just cross your fingers when they open the 'T', and hope something good happens.

My point really, is that the whole outfit, players and coaches, are acting a little like this is their first time on the ice. There is plenty of blame to go around.

Yet they do stick together, and they may just win this thing.

When everything pretty much is screwed up, well, then I know who to go looking for at season's end.

But how do you hold a guy accountable who just won the East? I think I could pull the trigger, but I'm certain the national backlash would be enormous.

How could something so wrong, in the end, turn out being so right?

If this little memo seems a bit confused, it is because that is exactly where I am. Confused.
 
#2
#2
If we win the East I don't see him getting fired.

If we don't, I do see why he should be fired.
 
#4
#4
I think that we have also missed something here. Everyone else is having the same problems. UF, UGA, UK, and others have all had up and down games this season. I'm not sure if gatorade suddenly changed their formula or what but this season has been strange to say the least.

On to your posts, I'd agree-you never know what your going to get with this team. They can look very good at time and very bad at times. One has to wonder how an offense with running backs that have played great at times and with a sr. qb can look so bad at times. It's a mystery to me.
 
#5
#5
I'm just curious why TN didn't make any kind of adjustments at halftime. I know we were up by 21, but they had to have know that SC was going to come out and play much better in the 2nd half, and that they would definitely be making adjustments...DUH!

Now I will answer my own question. I work here at UT, and one of our instructors has one of the football players in his class. He said he asked him what they were doing at halftime, and he said "nothing, we just went to the bathroom, and had something to drink". "We were told we pretty much had the game won, so we really didn't do or talk about anything". :crazy:
This is VERY disturbing!
 
#6
#6
onevolfan said:
I'm just curious why TN didn't make any kind of adjustments at halftime. I know we were up by 21, but they had to have know that SC was going to come out and play much better in the 2nd half, and that they would definitely be making adjustments...DUH!

Now I will answer my own question. I work here at UT, and one of our instructors has one of the football players in his class. He said he asked him what they were doing at halftime, and he said "nothing, we just went to the bathroom, and had something to drink". "We were told we pretty much had the game won, so we really didn't do or talk about anything". :crazy:
This is VERY disturbing!
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Wow.
 
#7
#7
onevolfan said:
I'm just curious why TN didn't make any kind of adjustments at halftime. I know we were up by 21, but they had to have know that SC was going to come out and play much better in the 2nd half, and that they would definitely be making adjustments...DUH!
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I've seen this said a couple times so what adjustments should they have made at halftime with a 21-0 lead? Seems to me the 1st half gameplan was pretty good.
 
#8
#8
utvolpj said:
I've seen this said a couple times so what adjustments should they have made at halftime with a 21-0 lead? Seems to me the 1st half gameplan was pretty good.
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Not really. If you look at it most offensive stats were even or SC was slightly ahead. Even though the score was 21-0 the big difference was turnovers and penalties. We didn't dominate the first half of that game like we did Georgia. We were fortunate and caught some breaks.
 
#9
#9
utvolpj said:
I've seen this said a couple times so what adjustments should they have made at halftime with a 21-0 lead? Seems to me the 1st half gameplan was pretty good.
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Yeah, but they could have at least talked to them about how they're going to have to come out and play better in the 2nd half because SC sure as crap is going to, or something like that. And, to tell them they pretty much had the game won...How STUPID is that??.
Not just sit back there and eat doughnuts, or whatever.:birgits_giggle:
 
#11
#11
She absolutely loved her 1st trip and is now saying "we" when referring to UT :). She met Bruce Pearl and Fuad Reviez and screamed louder than I did. When we walked into Neyland she only said "WOW" and looked around. Made me wish I still did that.
 
#12
#12
vol_freak said:
Not really. If you look at it most offensive stats were even or SC was slightly ahead. Even though the score was 21-0 the big difference was turnovers and penalties. We didn't dominate the first half of that game like we did Georgia. We were fortunate and caught some breaks.
Click to expand...

Prior to the last play of the half (meaningless 19 yd run), the stats were as follows:

SC Total offense 127 yards
Tenn Total offense 225 yards

Double the stats (including the 19 yd run) to see what they would look like over 60 minutes and you get:
SC Total offense 292 yds
TN Total offense 450 yds
^ Typically if you see final game stats like this its a pretty good beatdown.


SC's deepest penetration (I'm not adding the joke here) in the 1st half ended with a punt from the Tennessee 42. On the other hand, all of UT's 1st half possessions, except the first, ended on SC's side of the field. After not scoring on their first 2 possessions, the Vols scored on 3-of-the-next-4... with the only non-score coming on a missed field goal just prior to the half.
 
#13
#13
utvolpj said:
I've seen this said a couple times so what adjustments should they have made at halftime with a 21-0 lead? Seems to me the 1st half gameplan was pretty good.
Click to expand...

Spurrier may be the best coach in the country at making halftime adjustments; you can't just stand pat. You have to at least TRY to anticipate SC's adjustments and add a few wrinkles accordingly. It's not much of a chess match if one of the players isn't even thinking one move ahead.
 
#14
#14
vol_freak said:
Not really. If you look at it most offensive stats were even or SC was slightly ahead. Even though the score was 21-0 the big difference was turnovers and penalties. We didn't dominate the first half of that game like we did Georgia. We were fortunate and caught some breaks.
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You're right we didn't dominate but the 2 drives to end the 1st half made me think we would just do more of the same in the 2nd. (A penalty did keep 1 going though)
 
#15
#15
Vercingetorix said:
Spurrier may be the best coach in the country at making halftime adjustments; you can't just stand pat. You have to at least TRY to anticipate SC's adjustments and add a few wrinkles accordingly. It's not much of a chess match if one of the players isn't even thinking one move ahead.
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Maybe Spurrier should have made some plans for the 1st half :)
 
#16
#16
allvol said:
Prior to the last play of the half (meaningless 19 yd run), the stats were as follows:

SC Total offense 127 yards
Tenn Total offense 225 yards

Double the stats (including the 19 yd run) to see what they would look like over 60 minutes and you get:
SC Total offense 292 yds
TN Total offense 450 yds
^ Typically if you see final game stats like this its a pretty good beatdown.


SC's deepest penetration (I'm not adding the joke here) in the 1st half ended with a punt from the Tennessee 42. On the other hand, all of UT's 1st half possessions, except the first, ended on SC's side of the field. After not scoring on their first 2 possessions, the Vols scored on 3-of-the-next-4... with the only non-score coming on a missed field goal just prior to the half.
Click to expand...

Hmmmm. I stand corrected. I pulled the halftime stats from my phone on ESPN and that was not what it looked like. I double checked and you are correct.

The ESPN halftime stats must have been incorrect. That or user error.
 
#17
#17
vol_freak said:
Hmmmm. I stand corrected. I pulled the halftime stats from my phone on ESPN and that was not what it looked like. I double checked and you are correct.

The ESPN halftime stats must have been incorrect. That or user error.
Click to expand...

After the 2nd half of the game, I was second guessing what had occurred in the first half as well until I checked the drive charts.

The thing is, the offense was so bad in the 2nd half its hard to think of the first half as the same team.
 
#19
#19
utvolpj said:
She absolutely loved her 1st trip and is now saying "we" when referring to UT :). She met Bruce Pearl and Fuad Reviez and screamed louder than I did. When we walked into Neyland she only said "WOW" and looked around. Made me wish I still did that.
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Thats awesome man...glad she enjoyed it, cant wait to see my wifes expression when I take her to the arky game....how did you run across pearl??
 
#20
#20
What trophy it is that the SEC awards for winning the eastern division? 8 or 9 wins and sneaking into the SECCG is not a successful season when you have "the dean" of SEC coaches and his handpicked offensive guru playing a Senior QB while your two toughest divisional rivals are supposed to be in rebuilding years. If somehow the Vols win the SECCG and win/make a VERY respectable showing in New Orleans, then I think you can offset the regular season losses (including two woodshed beatdowns by UF and Bama) with post-season performance.

This thread did get me thinking though about whether any coach has been fired after winning a conference division. All I could come up with was Gary Barnett being fired after winning the Big12 North in 2005, and he'd had significant personal problems the year before. I guess there is also some question as to whether Gene Stallings would've received the axe had he not resigned after winning the SEC West in '96 but losing the his third consecutive SECCG to the Gators. Mike Dubose and Terry Bowden were moved aside within less than a full season of winning the SEC West, but in both of thier cases it took a shaky start throught the first half of the following season.
 
#21
#21
VolfanMike said:
Thats awesome man...glad she enjoyed it, cant wait to see my wifes expression when I take her to the arky game....how did you run across pearl??
Click to expand...

We were at the Vol Walk and he was driving some people around in a golf cart. He stopped right next to us so we went to meet him (she's a cute blonde so he liked her). I got a good pic with him too.

Hope your wife enjoys it like my g/f did. Nothing like watching someone on their 1st visit. She asked when we're going back.
 
#22
#22
This is totally off the subject, but why do some of you all have those little stars spinning around under your "join date"?
 
#23
#23
onevolfan said:
This is totally off the subject, but why do some of you all have those little stars spinning around under your "join date"?
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You get 1 for every year of being on the board.

Either that or it's the number of quality posts I've made. :p
 
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