vegasvolfan
Do what you have to until you can do what you want
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- Sep 28, 2010
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I wake up this morning with a more considerate and realistic perspective of our program. A loss to Georgia State at home where they hung 38 on us will do that.
I won’t lie to you, I am with the many who just have other things to do than to clear a day to watch a game like that. I have other passions in life, such as hiking, that I have had to work around UT football throughout my past, and this year gives me reason to be a little selfish. I need to do that anyways, so that I can meet new people and experience life after a dumpster fire of the past three years. Thank you to our young vols for making this easier on me.
Thank you to the coaches as well. I have read the posts about your lack of emotion, etc. I cannot help but recall critics saying that Butch was too emotional. I have to agree with the latter. When I say thank you, I mean for taking ownership. Pruitt did that multiple times up front in his PC and I am relieved by that.
I have been telling people this year that I would be happy with six wins. You just saw why. We have been dellusional as fans for far too long. This includes me, because I never would have imagined that we would lose to Georgia State. Let alone on a night where JG throws 26 of 40 passes for 311 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. I also would not have expected to see Georgia State put up FOUR sacks against us. EVER. Let alone on a night where JG throws 26 of 40 passes for 311 yards, two touchdowns and one interception.
To those who blame JG, he is not the problem. To those of you who blame Pruitt. He is not the problem. The problem is three-fold. Youth on D, poor DL play and poor OL play.
Lets start with our youth. I was alarmed when people were pointing at two sophomores as a strength to our D along with a freshman LB, because that said a lot about the rest of our defense. Then our most experienced DL goes down, the QB of our D and one of those sophomores went down before the game. What we had on the field was a hodgepodge of inexperienced players and Freshman playing yesterday including the play caller on D. As Pruitt said, they got out coached. They threw plays at us that were not on films and our young LB and inexperienced D did not know what to expect.
Then there is the DL. We are missing now 4 DL from the worst run defense in the SEC last year. You would hope that the guys we replaced those players with would have stepped up to the plate, but they instead fell on it. This is just how bad our D was allowed to be under Butch and we still haven’t recovered. We may not have the right guy at DL coach to get us there. 228 yards rushing by Georgia State is unbelievable. I raised my eyebrow a bit at Georgia State’s coach saying they manhandled our players. Fitz??? What’s going on here? I thought our boys are bigger and stronger. Are they fatter and out of shape? What happens when we play SEC guys? Is Rocker the wrong guy? Is this a matter of inexperience and our guys not knowing football? Is our never-before-has-he-been-a-DC DC to blame? Regardless, whatever the reason is, our DL needs to be fixed. They only threw for 128 yards. Clearly we have a problem at DL Houston.
Let’s shift to our OL. When I heard how much Chaney was having to step in on OL, I was initially excited but it said so much. An OC should never have to spend that much time with an OL. Friend just doesn’t seem like the guy. FOUR sacks by Georgia State is an F-. If we had rushed for more yards, I would have pointed at JG for holding onto the ball too long, but we ran for 98 yards and he threw for over 300. This is simply terrible OL play and it saddens me to say it just doesn’t look as though Friend can get it done.
All that said, I knew this would be a developmental season. That is what I am chalking it up to be. I am not throwing in the towel first game of the season. If there are other fun things going on, that is what I will do. If we continue to lose and show no progress, it may be at that point where I have lost interest in our program altogether. Something needs to change though in those trenches or our University could suffer tremendously as the stadium will be empty if that is not already the case.
I won’t lie to you, I am with the many who just have other things to do than to clear a day to watch a game like that. I have other passions in life, such as hiking, that I have had to work around UT football throughout my past, and this year gives me reason to be a little selfish. I need to do that anyways, so that I can meet new people and experience life after a dumpster fire of the past three years. Thank you to our young vols for making this easier on me.
Thank you to the coaches as well. I have read the posts about your lack of emotion, etc. I cannot help but recall critics saying that Butch was too emotional. I have to agree with the latter. When I say thank you, I mean for taking ownership. Pruitt did that multiple times up front in his PC and I am relieved by that.
I have been telling people this year that I would be happy with six wins. You just saw why. We have been dellusional as fans for far too long. This includes me, because I never would have imagined that we would lose to Georgia State. Let alone on a night where JG throws 26 of 40 passes for 311 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. I also would not have expected to see Georgia State put up FOUR sacks against us. EVER. Let alone on a night where JG throws 26 of 40 passes for 311 yards, two touchdowns and one interception.
To those who blame JG, he is not the problem. To those of you who blame Pruitt. He is not the problem. The problem is three-fold. Youth on D, poor DL play and poor OL play.
Lets start with our youth. I was alarmed when people were pointing at two sophomores as a strength to our D along with a freshman LB, because that said a lot about the rest of our defense. Then our most experienced DL goes down, the QB of our D and one of those sophomores went down before the game. What we had on the field was a hodgepodge of inexperienced players and Freshman playing yesterday including the play caller on D. As Pruitt said, they got out coached. They threw plays at us that were not on films and our young LB and inexperienced D did not know what to expect.
Then there is the DL. We are missing now 4 DL from the worst run defense in the SEC last year. You would hope that the guys we replaced those players with would have stepped up to the plate, but they instead fell on it. This is just how bad our D was allowed to be under Butch and we still haven’t recovered. We may not have the right guy at DL coach to get us there. 228 yards rushing by Georgia State is unbelievable. I raised my eyebrow a bit at Georgia State’s coach saying they manhandled our players. Fitz??? What’s going on here? I thought our boys are bigger and stronger. Are they fatter and out of shape? What happens when we play SEC guys? Is Rocker the wrong guy? Is this a matter of inexperience and our guys not knowing football? Is our never-before-has-he-been-a-DC DC to blame? Regardless, whatever the reason is, our DL needs to be fixed. They only threw for 128 yards. Clearly we have a problem at DL Houston.
Let’s shift to our OL. When I heard how much Chaney was having to step in on OL, I was initially excited but it said so much. An OC should never have to spend that much time with an OL. Friend just doesn’t seem like the guy. FOUR sacks by Georgia State is an F-. If we had rushed for more yards, I would have pointed at JG for holding onto the ball too long, but we ran for 98 yards and he threw for over 300. This is simply terrible OL play and it saddens me to say it just doesn’t look as though Friend can get it done.
All that said, I knew this would be a developmental season. That is what I am chalking it up to be. I am not throwing in the towel first game of the season. If there are other fun things going on, that is what I will do. If we continue to lose and show no progress, it may be at that point where I have lost interest in our program altogether. Something needs to change though in those trenches or our University could suffer tremendously as the stadium will be empty if that is not already the case.
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