London Vol
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GAME 5 – ARKANSAS 5 OCTOBER 2024
I have a rule that I always write the article after some sleep (not much with all the late starts) as it is so easy to write with emotion straight after the game. But I find myself this morning just as confused, worried, angry and frustrated about last night’s performance where only Dylan Sampson and the Front 7 saved Tennessee from getting the heavy beating they quite frankly deserved.
When the 2024 schedule was released it threw up early three consecutive games away from Knoxville, being games at Oklahoma, Arkansas and NC State (Charlotte is in North Carolina, please give me that one). Now Tennessee have been rather hit and miss away from the confines of The Neyland Stadium during Josh Heupel’s tenure, victories at Auburn in his first season and LSU in his second were mixed in with disasters at South Carolina in the same year and Missouri last season. Having negotiated the first two rather well along came last night’s shocker.
I must admit before the season started; I had last night’s game in the category with Vanderbilt only just above three cupcake games in degrees of difficulty, but this year’s Razorbacks (and Commodores) are far better than that. Before last night Arkansas were 3-2 with losses to Big 12 favorite Oklahoma State in double overtime having amassed 648 yards of offense and suffered a 4-point loss to the 5-1 Texas A&M both games they self-destructed, and I waited and waited for it to happen again well I’m still waiting.
QUARTERBACKS D-
Who really is Nico Iamaleava? Now let’s not overreact, he has all the intangibles, height, strength of arm and running ability, but does he have the intangible of “game savvy”? To explain this, I will highlight something that has concerned me for more longer than last night. I find myself so many times shouting “let it go, let it rip”, but he seems to wait and wait before he throws even when he is having poor pass support, this has resulted in many sacks and strip fumbles. Now maybe the play calling is bad? maybe the protection is bad? maybe the Wide Receivers are not getting free? but a great quarterback improvises, maybe a check down to Sampson with a swing pass, maybe a screen pass, maybe a hot 5-yard pass to a Tight End on a middle route. None of this happens and until he shows that he can adjust in game time he won’t reach the lofty levels his talents deserve. This point was absolutely highlighted with the very last play, a few years ago Joe Milton was castigated for running out of bounds on the last play against Ole Miss instead of throwing anything into the end zone, well it happened again last night. I just hope that last night was just a bad day at the office and his head was scrambled and not that he was more worried about his personal TD to INT ratio stats. I’m going to put it down to his inexperience but it is clear that he is not the finished article yet.
RUNNING BACKS A
Yet again Dylan Sampson kept the team in it with two touchdowns and 140 yards and with the lack of a passing game these were tough yards. He also was responsible for both touchdowns and is bang on track to break the all-time Tennessee records for TDs in one season. I will simply say he is the best running back I have seen at Tennessee since I discovered the Vols in 2009.
WIDE RECEIVERS D-
Were they open or was Nico too hesitant? I don’t know because my TV does not show the whole of the field, however I did see some drops and the one late in the 4th quarter by Squirrel White was a back breaker as it was for a 1st down and the clock was disappearing fast.
TIGHT ENDS C
The TEs get praise when the pass protection is good so the door should swing both ways. Miles Kitselman had another couple of solid catches which improves their grade. I do think they were under used as mentioned in the Quarterback section.
OFFENSIVE LINE E-
The block for the Sampson 53 yard run stops this from being an F. I don’t know how fit Lance Heard and John Campbell were but the O`Line was manhandled for most of the evening and then you add in numerous false start and Ineligible man downfield penalties then this group is of a big concern going forward. It was tough night overall for the OL.
DEFENSIVE LINE A+
My heart went out to this group who kept the Vols in the game time after time, stop after stop. How the heck Arkansas only scored 19 points (and 7 of them were deliberately given up at the end) especially given the field position Arkansas had, is a testament to their efforts. It was also clear the importance of Rodney Garner building such a deep depth chart as over years the starting D`Line would have run out of steam well before the end. I try to avoid blaming refs for missed calls and we had some go in our favor last night, but how the repetitive holding against James Pearce does not get called is beyond me, but this is not an attempt to deflect the reasons for last night’s loss.
LINEBACKERS A
The Linebackers again supported the D`Line manfully with Keenan Pili who is as tough as teak and Arion Carter flying around. Don’t forget Jeremiah Telander who was responsible for a great 4th down stop. That guy would start on so many teams.
DEFENSIVE BACKS D-
Not a good day for our DBs after several promising ones recently. Jermod McCoy can’t be blamed for the two passes that beat him on the outside as they were perfectly thrown and surprisingly caught but it was on the other side that surprised me, Rickey Gibson, in the 2nd half came up and then tackled thin air twice at important moments. However, a shout out to the often-forgotten Christian Charles who on more than one occasion saved this group,
Let’s hope, this was a bad night at the office, but if not then it does cast doubt about the outcome of the Kentucky, Vanderbilt and Florida games and that reminds me, we have seven days to panic as next up is our nemesis Florida. Urghh.
GO VOLS
I have a rule that I always write the article after some sleep (not much with all the late starts) as it is so easy to write with emotion straight after the game. But I find myself this morning just as confused, worried, angry and frustrated about last night’s performance where only Dylan Sampson and the Front 7 saved Tennessee from getting the heavy beating they quite frankly deserved.
When the 2024 schedule was released it threw up early three consecutive games away from Knoxville, being games at Oklahoma, Arkansas and NC State (Charlotte is in North Carolina, please give me that one). Now Tennessee have been rather hit and miss away from the confines of The Neyland Stadium during Josh Heupel’s tenure, victories at Auburn in his first season and LSU in his second were mixed in with disasters at South Carolina in the same year and Missouri last season. Having negotiated the first two rather well along came last night’s shocker.
I must admit before the season started; I had last night’s game in the category with Vanderbilt only just above three cupcake games in degrees of difficulty, but this year’s Razorbacks (and Commodores) are far better than that. Before last night Arkansas were 3-2 with losses to Big 12 favorite Oklahoma State in double overtime having amassed 648 yards of offense and suffered a 4-point loss to the 5-1 Texas A&M both games they self-destructed, and I waited and waited for it to happen again well I’m still waiting.
QUARTERBACKS D-
Who really is Nico Iamaleava? Now let’s not overreact, he has all the intangibles, height, strength of arm and running ability, but does he have the intangible of “game savvy”? To explain this, I will highlight something that has concerned me for more longer than last night. I find myself so many times shouting “let it go, let it rip”, but he seems to wait and wait before he throws even when he is having poor pass support, this has resulted in many sacks and strip fumbles. Now maybe the play calling is bad? maybe the protection is bad? maybe the Wide Receivers are not getting free? but a great quarterback improvises, maybe a check down to Sampson with a swing pass, maybe a screen pass, maybe a hot 5-yard pass to a Tight End on a middle route. None of this happens and until he shows that he can adjust in game time he won’t reach the lofty levels his talents deserve. This point was absolutely highlighted with the very last play, a few years ago Joe Milton was castigated for running out of bounds on the last play against Ole Miss instead of throwing anything into the end zone, well it happened again last night. I just hope that last night was just a bad day at the office and his head was scrambled and not that he was more worried about his personal TD to INT ratio stats. I’m going to put it down to his inexperience but it is clear that he is not the finished article yet.
RUNNING BACKS A
Yet again Dylan Sampson kept the team in it with two touchdowns and 140 yards and with the lack of a passing game these were tough yards. He also was responsible for both touchdowns and is bang on track to break the all-time Tennessee records for TDs in one season. I will simply say he is the best running back I have seen at Tennessee since I discovered the Vols in 2009.
WIDE RECEIVERS D-
Were they open or was Nico too hesitant? I don’t know because my TV does not show the whole of the field, however I did see some drops and the one late in the 4th quarter by Squirrel White was a back breaker as it was for a 1st down and the clock was disappearing fast.
TIGHT ENDS C
The TEs get praise when the pass protection is good so the door should swing both ways. Miles Kitselman had another couple of solid catches which improves their grade. I do think they were under used as mentioned in the Quarterback section.
OFFENSIVE LINE E-
The block for the Sampson 53 yard run stops this from being an F. I don’t know how fit Lance Heard and John Campbell were but the O`Line was manhandled for most of the evening and then you add in numerous false start and Ineligible man downfield penalties then this group is of a big concern going forward. It was tough night overall for the OL.
DEFENSIVE LINE A+
My heart went out to this group who kept the Vols in the game time after time, stop after stop. How the heck Arkansas only scored 19 points (and 7 of them were deliberately given up at the end) especially given the field position Arkansas had, is a testament to their efforts. It was also clear the importance of Rodney Garner building such a deep depth chart as over years the starting D`Line would have run out of steam well before the end. I try to avoid blaming refs for missed calls and we had some go in our favor last night, but how the repetitive holding against James Pearce does not get called is beyond me, but this is not an attempt to deflect the reasons for last night’s loss.
LINEBACKERS A
The Linebackers again supported the D`Line manfully with Keenan Pili who is as tough as teak and Arion Carter flying around. Don’t forget Jeremiah Telander who was responsible for a great 4th down stop. That guy would start on so many teams.
DEFENSIVE BACKS D-
Not a good day for our DBs after several promising ones recently. Jermod McCoy can’t be blamed for the two passes that beat him on the outside as they were perfectly thrown and surprisingly caught but it was on the other side that surprised me, Rickey Gibson, in the 2nd half came up and then tackled thin air twice at important moments. However, a shout out to the often-forgotten Christian Charles who on more than one occasion saved this group,
Let’s hope, this was a bad night at the office, but if not then it does cast doubt about the outcome of the Kentucky, Vanderbilt and Florida games and that reminds me, we have seven days to panic as next up is our nemesis Florida. Urghh.
GO VOLS
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