What happened?? (Speculation encouraged)

[Dergibvol]

Speculation. Heupel had prior engagements on NYE.

 

[midtnvol2]

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

Thats obviously glaring. We play zone constantly, which means our guys can't grasp more complex coverages or don't have the skills to. We play zone all game every game. Teams consistantly throw in between the layers for big completions. We despartely need better secondary players

 

[Godfatha]

Defense was going to cost us a game. It finally happened.

Yeah and Banks was standing up in front of the Knoxville QB club acting like nothing was wrong after making AR look like Dan Marino.

 

[midtnvol2]

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

Sure as hell didn't vs Georgia

 

[BoroVol20]

Defense looked REALLY REALLY BAD tonight. They need to not renew scholarships and send some kids away. We need to go out and find veterans in the portal that actually want to tackle and run to the football.

 

[EaglesVols91]

Thats obviously glaring. We play zone constantly, which means our guys can't grasp more complex coverages or don't have the skills to. We play zone all game every game. Teams consistantly throw in between the layers for big completions. We despartely need better secondary players

We’d be undefeated with a good, not even “elite” secondary. It’s infuriating. Surely we can pick up a few studs in the transfer portal….

 

[C-south]

Short story is defense is awful and unprepared

 

[illvol]

We got punched in the mouth. That’s all. It happens.

 

[rockytophigh]

Just a RUMOR....JB tried to fight Hooker over NIL and the defense supported Banks. Defense plays with 0 effort tonight. Like I said...a RUMOR.

 

[Carl Pickens]

Silver lining - Cedric Tillman came back and looked good

He didn’t put much effort in a couple of targets

 

[VOLtaism]

I don't know what the strategy was but it was clear to me after the 1st quarter than we needed to all out blitz the QB. Whatever it was they made no changes at the half.

 

[utis1]

No pressure on the qb.
I think we should have brought 5 every down and sometimes 6. He was picking the defense apart when he had time. Might as well try to pressure him and hope to get him for a loss.

 

[Boone&Crockett]

Jeremy Banks is obviously more important than we thought and Tillman is not as important as we thought, our Defensive coordinator is inept.

 

[HuntlandVolinColo]

We got exposed on the perimeter. Failed to set the edge. OL brought their D Game. Kickoffs were horrible. Punting wasn't good either. Penalties were timely, very bad timely!

Rattler was accurate.

Secondary looked really awful almost like they were coached by Martinez.

 

[1allvol]

Defense was awful, but the offense didn’t play well either. HH was off and played timid. We made no apparent adjustments. SC played aggressive, we played soft. SC seemed motivated and prepared, we looked the opposite. There is not one area that we played well in, and can’t check the box on any of the maxims. We got an old fashioned butt whooping. Out coached and out played.

 

[VolPack22]

Hadden is a mentally weak individual and I think he is a locker room cancer. He needs to transfer after all his shenanigans. He might not be the only one on that side of the ball but he is the main culprit that needs to go.

 

[Ernest T. Vol]

Mental collapse midway through the 3rd quarter when everyone's dreams died.

 

[Godfatha]

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.

If Huepel doesn’t send Banks packing after the season, we will never be upper tier with him

 

[GBO18]

No pass rush, very slow safeties and DBs who couldn’t cover anybody. Hard to stop anybody when that happens. We didn’t blitz much because we couldn’t get pressure and it left receivers wide open in the secondary. We have had games like this before against Bama and Flordia but our offense kept scoring too.

 

[BoroVol20]

I watched Hadden all night talk the WHOLE TIME! How did we see it and NO ONE ON THE COACHING STAFF?? Quit talking and play football. The guy was trying to arm tackle all night! Juwan Mitchell pushing people instead of tackling ball carriers. It was pathetic. It truly looked like Tennessee of Pruitt years or even worse a Sal Sunseri defense. JUST ABSOLUTELY PATHETIC. Spencer freaking Rattler and that D-Bag Beamer.…I canNOT believe it.

 

[Bryan1]

We needed to get more pressure on their QB.

My biggest problem, the coaches seem to refuse to blitz and pressure the QB. They wanna only rush 4 the whole friggin game and the get no pressure. Our db's can't cover and it give their Qb alll the time in the world.

 

[VolPack22]

I honestly do not know. I had you in for the fourth seed. Heupel is a good coach. I don’t know enough about your DC to say if he should be replaced. However, with Heupel’s offense, you only need a decent defense.

100% agree. 38 points should be enough to win any football game.

 

[EZE]

If Huepel doesn’t send Banks packing after the season, we will never be upper tier with him

I have my doubts, too.

 

[Fullfillmer]

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?

Don't know what happened and why he wasn't there, but Banks at MLB is crucial to the success of our defense. He runs sideline to sideline and backs don't fall forward on third and short. We were also down a db and lost another during the game.
Shame on us for getting boat raced, shame on SC for not making some of these adjustments to their offense earlier this season. SC was ready to play, had a great plan, multiple new wrinkles, we didn't have an answer. We will not look good against Vandy. Our d is not good, our offense will be out of sync.

 

[Adam Sandler]

Very disappointed in hookers resilience and focus. Interacting with fans in twitter. Frown face on the side lines. Didn’t elevate to the occasion.

Defensive backfield is as embarrassing as JG at qb here. They lost us the game getting beat one on one and not executing the adjustments (which they weren’t coached to until second half - thanks martinez and banks).

Thoroughly disappointed.