Thoughts after game 1?

[CDB]

We got 7 QB pressures to be exact.
3 TFL.
We forced 3 turovers that resulted in 17 points.

Ball State averaged 2.7 yards per carry.
Their QB threw 43 times and only had 1 TD

ANYONE can tell you about me and my criticism of Heupel, DLine from my time on the recruiting forum. When I see something wrong I will definitely call it out. Offense or defense.
This is a unit that will get better and better and they're already better than last years defense.

Those people that are overreacting can't even equate the game plan of the defense in week 1. Very vanilla and the task was to get our guys to motor without blitzing from LBs DBs.

Not worried at as of right now. Burrell is a concern, but we can perhaps replace him now.

We're a better team from last year. I can already see that.

That’s basically what I was saying. Our defensive line didn’t play as bad as people are saying.

However, there are also concerns. It’s not just because it’s the first game and of course there are concerns. I am not concerned with the offense. We might be a better team than last year but I haven’t seen enough from our D to say that it is going to be better.

I think we have improved our depth and I believe in this coaching staff to develop them and make corrections. Especially with another year under their belt. That wasn’t the case with the last staff.

 

[keenobserver]

Bru McCoy has a chance to be a difference maker this season. I really like his ability to physically control small CBs on the perimeter.

I was really impressed by Keyton last night. He looks rangy and a step quicker and more versatile than I remember him being in years past.

It's possible Dylan Sampson could be our best RB later on in the season. He has more burst and explosiveness than any of the others. I'm sure he's far behind in pass pro.

I wasn't overwhelmed with excitement over our ability to dominate upfront on both sides. However, I know the opponent made it difficult to tell.

 

[JO VOL]

Game wasn’t terrible. Need D-line to improve and the secondary as well. There’s a reason Tim Banks was a co-D coordinator. In addition to all the posters who’s only response to criticism from the fans base is to call them stupid. Might want to look in the mirror.

 

[VolArmy74]

Agree. D has gotta get better. Pitt will score at will.....our offense can too though.

Pitt scored 31 tonight against an average to below average West Virginia defense who had to replace 3 of 4 secondary starters, had to rebuild the linebacker corp, their leading tackler transferred to Colorado and they lost their best defensive lineman who transferred to Miami. They only returned 3 starters on defense. One of Pitt's tds came off a short field after a fumble recovery. Pitt scored 10 in the first half against that group.

I don't see any reason they'll score "at will" against Tennessee. They struggled to protect their QB vs West Virginia and couldn't run the ball.

 

[OLEVOLFAN]

Game wasn’t terrible. Need D-line to improve and the secondary as well. There’s a reason Tim Banks was a co-D coordinator. In addition to all the posters who’s only response to criticism from the fans base is to call them stupid. Might want to look in the mirror.

Well is it kinda "Stupid" to criticize a team after a 59-10 Win knowing good and well that the game plan was very Vanilla! So yeah our fan base has a lot of Stupidity!

 

[ABINGDON VOL FAN]

Emotional hyperbole. You’re in good company around here.

So are you. Not happy with a 49 point win.

 

[BoroVol93]

D looked terrible. Don’t know what Banks & Garner are doing but does not look like coaching. Pi$$ poor at best. Bama, GA, LSU, FL & KY going to hang 50 on us. How have we recruited so poorly on D?

They looked terrible and only gave up 10 points? Idk what some of y’all were watching and just relax please it’s week 1 we got 3 TOs and won by 50 and I saw a healthy game… it’s much easier to coach off game film…

 

[ABINGDON VOL FAN]

Situationally, he certainly will.

No. We averaged 39 points a game last year without one most of the year. This offense doesn’t need one to be competitive with every team on our schedule except Georgia and Alabama. This team doesn’t have a power back this year so get used to it and stop whining.

 

[jarnol32]

Joe Milton is easily the most talented quarterback on this roster. His potential is so high. His arm strength was on full display last night, and he had a great run in which he finished by running over their cb instead of stepping out of bounds. If he gets a chance to be qb1 again I think he will really shine.

 

[Woodrow Call]

I've mellowed over the years and don't try to over analyze things too much. I just want to enjoy victories. If there are shortcomings, the coaches know what they are and can address them. We gave up 74 yards on the ground and likely didn't show much on defense with respect to blitz packages. I have no complaints.

 

[901 Orange]

Overall report:

I believe the offense held their own and did a great job. As long as you have hooker leading this offense, I'm not concerned with that unit. Scale 1-10, I would give the offense an 8.

Defensive was kind of embarrassing tonight. If Ball state actually had a good QB and a decent head coach, this game would have been closer. Like years past, Tennessee continues to struggle Defending outside slants as well stopping third down convertions. That Defensive line tonight, very piss poor. Defensively, this side of the ball gets a 3. 0 sacks and Paddock had all day to throw, we were very fortunate that he was an inexperienced QB

Tennessee has a good team but not a great team. When you see Georgia or Alabama play against cupcakes, you can see the sheer talent emerge from multiple players, in Tennessee's case, I haven't seen that in a UT player besides Hooker.

Tennessee will compete against most of the SEC this season, still a year or two away from getting on Alabama's level

Go Vols! Beat Pitt!

Ball St was 5-14 on 3rd down & 0-2 on 4th down. That's 5-16 on the money downs. What's embarrassing about that??

 

[aaronvol]

We could have gotten to the QB if we wanted to...look at the first play. We had dudes all over the place back there. Our DE's were mostly locking off and holding the edge all night. If you think Barron and Young were neutralized by Ball State's OT's then you weren't watching the film.

 

[ABINGDON VOL FAN]

We really need more edge speed guys on the defensive line like a Derek Barnett type

Right now we don’t have enough of them. Generating pressure this year will be done by the defensive scheme including situational blitzing if we are to be successful.

 

[Dale Carter Fan]

From what I saw we did fine. 2nd year coach with players adopting a new system. Defensive coordinator has 1.5 years there so same goes on defense.

 

[VolArmy74]

Clearly our OL needs to mesh and we’ve got to find the right formula in the secondary. Got to have better perimeter play. Gave up too many big chunks of yardage.

Shaky start in places but our coaches have enough film now to lock it down before Pitt.

We only gave up 3 plays over 20 yards all night.

We gave up one sack and one other tackle for loss all night. We had 236 yards rushing and 5 rushing tds. Hooker had all day to throw, and Milton had time as well.

So I'm not seeing the many "big chunks" of yards we gave up. Their offense was dink and dunk, get it out in a hurry with simple short throws.

And frankly, the offensive line was pretty dominant, especially considering we played the depth chart tonight on offense and still managed to not have and negative OL plays that stood out besides one personal foul and a snap that I couldn't tell if it was bad or the 5th string QB just did something wrong.

 

[TNinSC]

our defense leaves a lot of gaps and spaces for good qb's and wr's to exploit. but i guess that's natural when you have 2 of the 11 playing hybrid positions.

 

[Vol_in_NC_1999]

I can't believe the negative comments I'm reading. I just don't see it. TN looked pretty good to me. Our coaching and play style has improved 100% since the Pruitt/Jones eras. Pretty solid opening game if you ask me. Do I need to bring up Georgia Tech, or worse, Georgia State?

I'm looking forward to Pittsburgh! They needed a pick-6 to escape WVA. I think it's them who should be worried.

 

[Doberman]

So are you. Not happy with a 49 point win.

You have no idea what you’re talking about.

 

[CoachClick]

We will be lucky to split the Pitt and Florida games. From what I saw tonight we aren’t beating both of them and it wouldn’t shock me if we lost to them both.

Pretty much this. It's a repeat of last year with the D imo.

 

[Doberman]

No. We averaged 39 points a game last year without one most of the year. This offense doesn’t need one to be competitive with every team on our schedule except Georgia and Alabama. This team doesn’t have a power back this year so get used to it and stop whining.

Last play of 2021 says hello.

 

[mindemon]

It looked bad to me. The passing game looked stiff and predictable. The running game was almost obsolete. I mean, Tennessee had trouble running on Ball State. The front got almost no pressure on the quarterback most of the night. There were a few times they got some pressure, but most of the night, the quarterback could have stood back there and eaten a sandwich. Some people have mentioned that Tennessee didn't struggle in the game at all. I mean, no kidding. It was Ball State. A decent High School team could have beaten them, so that is nothing to brag about. All in all, unless Tennessee improves a lot, they aren't beating Pitt. And I expect them to lose several SEC games.

 

[SpaceCoastVol]

The worst part of the game was trotting out the one-and-done.

 

[white65]

Banks doesn't have the personnel in the front 7 to be fairly judged. I feel like he's done as good as possible with what he has.

People forget we top 10 on the nation in TFL last year too.

 

[IluvdoubleD's]

38-0 at Halftime

What more should they have done?

it's ALWAYS 38-0 at the half. That's routine. You didn't even hit 60 points. Hows a gambler supposed to make money?

How much am I paying you again?

 

[K87vol]

First game. No major injuries that im aware of. We didn't show much on either side of the ball. Played a lot of guys that needed to get the experience and the feel of being on that field. Sets us up for a good practice week and a big game next week. Half full here.