Take this win as a positive

[Bigorangefan 98]

Many on here will poo poo this win, but many on here forget a few years ago we probably lose. This teams finds ways to win and definitely keeps themselves in it. This team has mental toughness that we didn’t have before CJH showed up

I take it man. Get out there with a w

 

[Orangethumb]

Lots of concerns but a W is a W. Miss St will beat some folks. Those cowbells are even annoying on TV.

 

[Gandalf]

There was a TON to critisize but at the end, the guys kept at it and didnt let the big moment get past them - that kind of pressure play helps forge winners.

 

[PEPPERJAX]

Many on here will poo poo this win, but many on here forget a few years ago we probably lose. This teams finds ways to win and definitely keeps themselves in it. This team has mental toughness that we didn’t have before CJH showed up

Only goofy bastards poo poo SEC road wins. Good post buddy.

 

[OrangeTsar]

People need to realize it’s hard to win on the road in the SEC and the transfer portal has only made it even more challenging. Miss State is a quality team this year.

The secret to road games is to jump on em early and take the crowd out of the game

 

[Vol524]

I know how Georgia felt a couple of weeks ago. We did to State what the Dawgs did to us. We didn't play well at all. But we found a way to win. Proud of how the team kept fighting. GO VOLS

 

[TNVOLFN]

People need to realize it’s hard to win on the road in the SEC and the transfer portal has only made it even more challenging. Miss State is a quality team this year.

My gripe is how sloppy we were in all 3 phases of the game. Offense - struggled running the ball, couple of costly turnovers; Defense - tackling was abysmal, though better in the 2nd half - the coverage bust when we went up 27-24 was inexcusable. Special Teams - muffed punt, missed FG, gave up a fake punt (Damn I miss Coach Ekeler!!!)

All said, I'll absolutely take it. But we were really sloppy and won't make the CFP if we repeat those mistakes.

 

[Lekvolrrah]

How in the world can we be positive when coach keeps doing stupid things and doing them again in other games????

I remain positive. I also agree with this. Its incredibly frustrating to see these same patterns. Got the dub tho on to the next.

 

[BearCat204]

Never poo poo a win. A win is a win, especially on the road in the SEC. It was ugly, but you always need a really ugly win in a year.

 

[volmanbill]

This reminds me of the 98 Arkansas game in some ways.

 

[cyclevol]

We aren't even in this game with Nico. Plus we know how Kirby felt two weeks ago, won a game we had no business winning.

I don't see we had no business winning. They got lucky several times on 3rd and long. We spotted them a TD, they gave one back. We missed a catch for a TD and had a bad call take away another. We were killing them on the field and they were getting lucky. Sooner or later when you don't punch it in and keep giving gifts, a team gains confidence and starts punching you in the mouth. We would have killed them in Neyland, but we still beat them at their place and mostly in spite of ourselves. I'd take our team and it's players over theirs any day. They gonna be hurting too after this one, probably lost a bunch of players to injury.

 

[therealitytheory]

Crappy time management is going to cost us eventually. That last 2 minutes was bush league.

I'd like for CJH to admit things weren't handled properly in that last minute of regulation.

 

[cyclevol]

This reminds me of the 98 Arkansas game in some ways.

Seriously....that was Mississippi State. We didn't make a lot of key plays, made mistakes, they played loose and got some big 3rd and longs on lucky plays. They had nothing to lose and we had everything to lose. We are now like any of the top teams. Everybody wants to beat us, but now we can break their hearts!

 

[BigOrangeFanatic]

I will say, this team definitely has plenty of flaws, but a Mike Matthews drop and a PI call on the Brazzell play, if those go the other way, Aguilar is over 400 yards with 3TD, 1 Rush TD and the feel of the game is totally different.

We also shot ourselves in the foot plenty of times on offense.

 

[PEPPERJAX]

State won’t play this good for the rest of the year, it was their SuperBowl. This was more about what UT didn’t do, we shot ourselves all game long.

Both teams had huge blunders. The Vols muffed a punt, Dropped a TD, and threw two INTs.
Mississippi State had a pick six, gave up a sack for a scoop score, and missed FG.

 

[perico]

I'd like for CJH to admit things weren't handled properly in that last minute of regulation.

Joey has still only been on campus for a couple of months and looked confused in the last minute. You can't coach experience. As good as he has been, he's still inexperienced in our offense.

 

[JMSqb11]

Many on here will poo poo this win, but many on here forget a few years ago we probably lose. This teams finds ways to win and definitely keeps themselves in it. This team has mental toughness that we didn’t have before CJH showed up

This win has given more questions than answers.

The pro’s: our young guys forced to play defense due to injuries are getting valuable experiencr

Our defense made grown ass men plays before end of regulation and at the goal line in OT

The con’s: Heupel has shown more ways of game mismanagement. The look on his face to me was screaming “We need to score a TD, but we can’t afford to punt and put it on the defense, but I don’t want to depend on a field goal attempt to end regulation”

He literally looked like he no idea on what he wanted to do.

To me this is concerning because He’s still a young coach. This isn’t an older coach showing signs of the game passing him by.

 

[KoachKrab127]

Today’s win reminds me of our win against Pitt in 2022. We should have won the game by more. We didn’t play well, but we won in OT. Let’s move on and hope we can correct our mistakes. We definitely did in 2022.

 

[ButchPlz]

Whole game was an egg, from playcalls to execution to officiating and everything in between, but we won on the road in the conference against a solid- not great, but solid- team. Better than an L.

 

[ETV]

People need to realize it’s hard to win on the road in the SEC and the transfer portal has only made it even more challenging. Miss State is a quality team this year.

They are much improved in year 2 with Lebby. Considering they're 0-12 in conference play and with the way they were playing, I thought they were going to break the streak against us.

 

[ETV]

The secret to road games is to jump on em early and take the crowd out of the game

They'll need that in Gumpville and Gainesville.

 

[VOLINVONORE]

This is a game we play badly enough to lose, but we didn’t. That is a positive for the team and coaches. It shows a lot of heart to come back from all the mistakes and bad breaks we had and still win. Kind of help| them mental part of preparing for future games.

 

[Tennessee Jedd]

How in the world can we be positive when coach keeps doing stupid things and doing them again in other games????

*slap* because we won. What's the matter with you people?

 

[BornAndRaisedVOL!]

A win is a win, but man, we played like dook

 

[Capt Whiskey]

Today’s win reminds me of our win against Pitt in 2022. We should have won the game by more. We didn’t play well, but we won in OT. Let’s move on and hope we can correct our mistakes. We definitely did in 2022.

My thoughts exactly. Not all wins are by 4 TD’s. You don’t get the same team each week. Sometimes you got to grind it out when the breaks go against you and put on “more steam”. I feel like the road W at Pitt in ‘22 was a confidence builder. Hopefully, this W does the same for the ‘25 Vols.