Voltopia
Score fast, score hard, no mercy.
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I'm pretty disheartened Tennessee didn't come away with a win tonight, but I have to say, I'm not surprised. Not if I'm honest with myself. The Vols this year remind me of those old early 2000s Kentucky teams, the ones which could explode for big leads and then find every way possible to then lose at the end. See, back in the early 2000s, the only thing more reliable than John Chavis squandering fourth quarter leads was watching Kentucky blow it in the fourth quarter on the JP Game of the Week. You'd flip on the TV a few hours before kickoff, realize the only SEC game was the JP game, and 50% of the time it was Kentucky and the other 50% it was Vanderbilt and then every now and then it was Mississippi State but back then Mississippi State wasn't even really a program anymore so we don't need to assign them any percentage points. Anyone watching back then knows what I mean. Anyway, those Wildcat teams could get ahead of anyone, even schools like Tennessee or Florida, and then the other team would mount a furious rally and score enough to win at the end. All the time. Death, taxes, and the Wildcats blowing leads. And the one thing that always stuck out about those games was depth -- or more specifically, the lack of depth. Kentucky always lacked depth, especially on their lines. And the teams with more depth - Tennessee, Florida, Georgia, LSU, so on, could just grind them into submission. Didn't matter how the game had gone, as long as the other team kept its composure and stayed close ... well, one last Gerald Riggs handoff and it's still a loss for the Wildcats. A timeless tale from that era.
I say this because I'm not happy Tennessee lost, but at the same time I don't put a lot of stock in the fact we lost. Tennessee can do better, and we should expect that and even demand that as fans, yeah, but this year's team is the poster child for talent (Jennings, Chandler, Tuttle, Phillips, Callaway, etc.) without depth right now. The announcers for the game even said "Hey Tennessee has some great skill players." And they're right. We do. Jauan Jennings could start on any team -- THAT'S RIGHT GARY DANIELSON, ANY TEAM -- but we are not a complete roster and we look it. I used to be able to name the first 8-9 linemen for Tennessee on both sides of the ball, but these days I peek a few spots down the roster and I don't even recognize all the names. And while depth isn't an excuse for poor coaching or losing games, it is a buffer for those problems. Depth lets a coach hide deficiencies and conceal their mistakes. And when you do make a mistake, depth lets you recover from it more easily. Les Miles knew a bit about this I suspect, what with being able to open his screen door and fall over five star players down in the bayou. Just drive around in an airboat and coax 'em onboard with a scholarship and some etouffee. Bah.
Anyway. Point being. Pruitt said it himself. He needs to go get 25 guys. And then he needs to get 25 more. He does that, which, it's a big IF but a reasonable IF considering Tennessee's program, but if he does that, I think some of these stories can play out a lot differently. They should anyway. Even the Dark Lord of College Football, He Who Spares the Mothers and Fathers Embarrassment, had to suffer 6 wins and a 10th ranked recruiting class in his first year before setting his program on course. So too must Pruitt. At least, that's what I have to tell myself. Here's hoping.
I say this because I'm not happy Tennessee lost, but at the same time I don't put a lot of stock in the fact we lost. Tennessee can do better, and we should expect that and even demand that as fans, yeah, but this year's team is the poster child for talent (Jennings, Chandler, Tuttle, Phillips, Callaway, etc.) without depth right now. The announcers for the game even said "Hey Tennessee has some great skill players." And they're right. We do. Jauan Jennings could start on any team -- THAT'S RIGHT GARY DANIELSON, ANY TEAM -- but we are not a complete roster and we look it. I used to be able to name the first 8-9 linemen for Tennessee on both sides of the ball, but these days I peek a few spots down the roster and I don't even recognize all the names. And while depth isn't an excuse for poor coaching or losing games, it is a buffer for those problems. Depth lets a coach hide deficiencies and conceal their mistakes. And when you do make a mistake, depth lets you recover from it more easily. Les Miles knew a bit about this I suspect, what with being able to open his screen door and fall over five star players down in the bayou. Just drive around in an airboat and coax 'em onboard with a scholarship and some etouffee. Bah.
Anyway. Point being. Pruitt said it himself. He needs to go get 25 guys. And then he needs to get 25 more. He does that, which, it's a big IF but a reasonable IF considering Tennessee's program, but if he does that, I think some of these stories can play out a lot differently. They should anyway. Even the Dark Lord of College Football, He Who Spares the Mothers and Fathers Embarrassment, had to suffer 6 wins and a 10th ranked recruiting class in his first year before setting his program on course. So too must Pruitt. At least, that's what I have to tell myself. Here's hoping.
