Johnnyreb#VFL
Work like heck
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The Vols now have an impressive coaching staff, let's hope it translates to improved play on the field...:good!:
But can they beat Vanderbilt?
Beating Vandy used to be a joke, but it's no longer a joke for Butch Jones Vols
Reading the same complaints in everyour thread makes VN a worst site for everybody. Nobody enjoys the fact that last year was lackluster due to 2 losses to bad teams. Doesn't it get old to keep dwelling on the same thing half a year? Not every conversation has to be about it.
Because losing to Vandy (and SCar) defined the 2016 season and left us short of our goal of playing in the SECCG. Losing those two awful games negated the great wins vs Georgia and Florida and left us on the outside looking in.
Also, we were very close to having a full team when playing Vandy. We were only missing one game 1 starter (Hurd) on offense and three game 1 starters (OBrien, JRM, TKJr) on defense. So, 19 of 22 (86%) starters were on the field vs Vandy.....that's beyond "very close to having a full team". The "complaint" is legit.
I mean, theyre still teaching us the same thing, he said. Its still the same scheme, the same positions, all that. Were just learning his trust now, so when we get better with that trust, well be a better team.
They teach the same things, but they just teach it differently. Its a little bit different, but overall its pretty much the same thing.
Either Beard and Z have the same philosophy at coaching WR, or Butch is still micromanaging his offense. I love the defensive changes we have made, and I think Shoop has full control over his staff and play style. However, offensively, I worry the same issues we continue because Butch is running the show with Scott at OC. As good as we were at running the ball last year, we managed to score 17 points total against Vandy and USCjr in the second half (14 at USCjr and 3 at Vandy). When high hopes were on the line, Butch failed to make adjustments in those games and we lost.
In the end, our season this year is going to come down to Butch not getting out coached in the second half by loser coaches like Muschamp, and our OL improving so that we can win the line of scrimmage late in games consistently. Staying healthy would help too, but hopefully our S&C this summer helps.
Even if what you said is true, which I don't believe it is, should it have matters vs a 5-6 Vandy team?
We had Dobbs, Kelly, Kamara, Malone, JJ, Byrd, Wolf, Croom, Thomas, Wiseman, Robertson, Kendrick, Richmond, among others, available on offense.
We had Barnett, Vereen, Kongbo, Lewis, Mixon, Phillips, Vickers, DKJr, McDowell, Jumper, Sutton, Moseley, Abernathy, Griffin, Warrior, among others, available on defense.
And again, I ask, should it even have mattered that we weren't quite a 100% strength vs a bad Vandy team? Of course it shouldn't have.
Also, what team in the SEC was at 100% the 13th week of the season last year or really any year? How many players was a severely outmatched Vandy team missing when they played us?
The offense isn't changing because they hired beard after Z left. He's obviously gonna be teaching the same things that Z would be teaching if he was here
Look how many games last season the National Champions won games by the skin of their teeth. Those games should have never even been close.....they eked them out unlike us but still...they had just played for a NC and were odds on favorites to be in it at the end of the year/play offs.
BTW...defense is all about being 100% healthy. It is also about playing smart...trusting your mate to do his role...and play as a complete unit. That was evident early on in the Va. Tech game and Florida game....the injuries started and there goes the mental toughness...and yes that 110% matters just as much if not more....it ain't all about athleticism which is why 5*'s don't always pan out.
I'm just saying.
Defense is all about "being 100% healthy"? No it's not, because no one is ever 100% healthy late in the season. It's about the other things you said in the next 2 sentences plus playing fundamental, assignment football.....if you do those things when you're the much more talented football team, which we were, you win. If you don't, you give up 45 points and 416 yards passing to a team averaging 22 and 173.
And that is in just 4-years.
The football program CBJ inherited was in worst shape that the one Neyland did. Vandy, since CBJ wqs hired is playing much better than it has since the SEC intergrated Sports. They beat tams thay had not beaten in years when Franklin was coaching there. Thers is no reason why Vandy can not win championships in the future. I don't want to see that but they have things in place which allows them to do things that private schools can do but the rest of the SEC can't. They are in the top tier for baseball, basketball, and some other sports. They now have all that SEC money lke the other 13 SEC schools do. They will compete depending on their Administration and AD. If you don't realize that can happen, yo/we had better look a bit into the future.