What happened?? (Speculation encouraged)

[Gandalf]

Mob payed our defense to utterly lay down on the field. Threatened to kill their families if they tackled anyone. Thats the only way I can understand it.

 

[VolForLife83]

The secondary has been awful all year but at times has been masked by pressure from our defensive line. The line just isn’t getting there anymore. Rattler had too much time. No turnovers… 1 sack all night…

Yes, they are taking Rattler up, but hell, their WRs were wide open. Disgusting defense, too much cushion, poor awareness, poor tackling. Offense looked like it did against Ga.

 

[Megatron88]

Rodney Garner stays. His unit is the one that has kept us in most games this year.

He’s literally the only coach on the defensive staff Id retain. Everyone else should be fired

 

[JoAllan]

No pressure whatsoever

Very soft zone

No adjustments even after it failed and failed and failed……..none.

Freakin blitz, run the house it CAN’T hurt you if their scoring most every time anyway.

 

[ALLVOL 4LIFE]

Terrible defensive game plan. Also saw too many damn players running their mouths and getting chippy for no reason at all..

If I was Heupel, I'd be hard pressed not to send Hadden to the damn house..

He’d never wear orange again if I was his coach. Getting your tail handed to you and running your trap. Makes my blood boil!

 

[BeardedVol]

What happened to our defense?? Banks didnt play. Offense wasn’t good either. Hooker kept underthrowing receivers. I know we gave up 24 to Mizzou last week but we turned it around. What happened today?

Honestly, Hooker has looked off ever since Tillman came back into the rotation.

 

[midtnvol2]

the gimmick based offense is predicated on taking advantage of defensive errors. When defenses like Georgia and tonight don't make mistakes you have to know how to beat guys one on one at their best and we can't do that.

 

[Stoerner Fumbles]

Since speculation is encouraged, I suspect some locker room cancer. Also, we’re not yet mentally tough enough to win on the road.

Worse than prostate cancer, I hear.

 

[Rockytoptalker]

Spencer Rattler had the best game he’ll ever play, our defense was garbage, and the offense underperformed.

Maybe we can beat Vandy next week. As bad as this loss stings 10 wins is still a really good year.

 

[m1al]

Honestly, Hooker has looked off ever since Tillman came back into the rotation.

Hooker seems to get a little rattled in hostile environments..

 

[EZE]

Tim Banks failed to prepare the defense...again and this time the Offense wasn't able to hide the at fact by being at home.

I am in this camp. That is one of the worst defensive game plans I’ve ever seen anywhere. We appeared to stay in some kind of shell, prevent coverage all night. The problem is…every route was wide open within 15-20 yards of the line of scrimmage.

I’m usually not a knee jerk “fahr the coach” type, but Heupel needs to strongly think about Banks as a DC. That was beyond embarrassing tonight.

 

[6th Floor Mule]

Silver lining - Cedric Tillman came back and looked good

We’ve looked better when he was out. Coincidence?

 

[VolunteerCeltic]

Away games show how well a team can prepare, and this season showed that Heupel and Staff cannot prepare for big games on the road. Beating Pitt was good, but that wasn't a hostile environment by any means.....

 

[volwindy]

We got our butts kicked. What goes around comes around, maybe this is karma for that last TD against Mizzou.

I guess Clemson is next? The scored with 16 seconds left. It's part of knowing you need to score it up.

 

[m1al]

We got our butts kicked. What goes around comes around, maybe this is karma for that last TD against Mizzou.

Spare me the BS. We had the 3rd team in not the starters.. Also, Heupel didn't stare down the Missouri sideline either...

 

[EaglesVols91]

the gimmick based offense is predicated on taking advantage of defensive errors. When defenses like Georgia and tonight don't make mistakes you have to know how to beat guys one on one at their best and we can't do that.

Offense still put up enough points to win. The much bigger concern is obviously the defense

 

[EZE]

As far as the offense, you should have a chance to win anytime you score 30+ points. The offense was not the problem. Especially given the fact that almost every possession by SC was a sustained drive that limited our possessions.

This one is all on the defense.

 

[ibvolman]

We only had a true blitz about 2 times tonight. We believed it was the best strategy to play soft zone all night long, in spite of the fact we were getting torched over and over. We depend too much on offense to hide our bad defense, and that got shut down like GA did to us. We haD DB’s that were more interested in talking smack that making plays. Totally undisciplined defense. That’s what happened.

 

[AthensVol2007]

What did you expect with Banks? This is his second year as a DC. You don’t bring in guys who are on their first big coaching job in the SEC.

His hire is the most baffling to me and it’s not hindsight. There was no connection there to begin with and he wasn’t a full time DC with play-calling duties. I genuinely wonder what made Heup say that’s who I’m going after.

 

[cjohns84ut]

Heupel gone to the pros and we suck again

 

[AthensVol2007]

We only had a true blitz about 2 times tonight. We believed it was the best strategy to play soft zone all night long, in spite of the fact we were getting torched over and over. We depend too much on offense to hide our bad defense, and that got shut down like GA did to us. We haD DB’s that were more interested in talking smack that making plays. Totally undisciplined defense. That’s what happened.

.

 

[EZE]

We only had a true blitz about 2 times tonight. We believed it was the best strategy to play soft zone all night long, in spite of the fact we were getting torched over and over. We depend too much on offense to hide our bad defense, and that got shut down like GA did to us. We haD DB’s that were more interested in talking smack that making plays. Totally undisciplined defense. That’s what happened.

Agree. And why stay in it if you’re getting killed. The initial game plan was terrible, but to stay in it and not adjust is just hard to understand.

 

[KnoxRealtorVOL]

the gimmick based offense is predicated on taking advantage of defensive errors. When defenses like Georgia and tonight don't make mistakes you have to know how to beat guys one on one at their best and we can't do that.

We put up 38 points man. Offense was the opposite of the problem.

 

[BanditVol]

Rodney Garner stays. His unit is the one that has kept us in most games this year.

Is he ready to be a DC?

Does he even want to?

 

[Fullfillmer]

Terrible defensive game plan. Also saw too many damn players running their mouths and getting chippy for no reason at all..

If I was Heupel, I'd be hard pressed not to send Hadden to the damn house..

No offense, but couldn't agree more re: Hadden. He couldn't cover, couldn't tackle - was really only good at running his mouth. We really are not deep enough to lose 2 or three guys on defense. Our backups are simply not very good. Tonight was a worse case scenario - and then it got worse.