A month ago all the pundits said Tennessee would have a tough year replacing departed talent.
Why? This is Jones' year 5. When he arrived, people like you excused his loss to Vandy by saying he needed to install his system... excused his loss to a 4-8 UF team by saying he needed his own players... excused the chokes in '15 by saying his players needed experience... excused his losses to Vandy and USCe who were less talented even after accounting for UT's injuries. And now... UT lost too much talent?
If that's true then there is one guy and one guy alone who is responsible... the "caretaker". Why hasn't he developed the players now stepping in? Where are the upperclassmen in the WR corps? Why is LB a weakness in year 5... was it a secret that UT would need LB's 3 years ago?
The VOL fans say we get no respect and talk about winning the east etc.
Before the season starts good we loose several starters for the season. We have growing pains in several key position groups and don't look so good.
I have patience with the players. I do not have patience with Jones because it is his failure to build the roster in 5 years that requires us to now have patience with so many inexperienced players. If Jones starts QD last year vs USCe... two things would have likely resulted. UT probably would have won the game... and QD would have come out with a boost of confidence.
If QD had been given the "invaluable reps" that JG is now getting... where might he be?
At this point, every excuse you can imagine leads directly back to Jones and his decisions or actions.
Did you expect we would blow out GT or FL?
The better question is "In retrospect, could UT have blown GT and UF out?" I think the answer is yes.
If QD walks onto that field with the confidence of having played in competitive games before... maybe he trusts his reads instead of looking for JJ and Wolf on every play. Maybe UT doesn't start so slow enabling GT to quickly adjust to UT's D.
UT showed what it was capable of once the O started rolling. That was an O that could have EASILY blown GT out.... but it took them too long to get going and by then GT had figured UT's D out. A couple of long 1st half drives or at least scoring drives would have delayed GT's adjustments and maybe prevented them.
Take away the inexperienced mistakes of the WR's... and UT probably beats UF by a couple of scores with very little drama. UF's O for the day consisted of about 3 plays. Otherwise I think they totaled well under 200 yds of offense. That's a good day for the D. UT had too many drives stopped with no points due to mistakes... or missed kicks. But again... where are Vic Wharton and Preston Williams when you need them? Jones did not recruit the WR position effectively and that is why UT lost the UF game.
So yeah... I saw the talent there to win those games comfortably. Why didn't you?
Did you think UT was immune to a freak last second play. Look around it happens.
With better coaching... it wouldn't have been an issue... and I'm not talking primarily about the coaching that occurred since the new staff was hired.
Do you think it is unusual to have a let down with UMass sandwiched between Fl and GA. It has happened to the best teams.
No. I think it is stupid beyond all belief to risk the game by pulling a QB that is starting to get hot and replace him with a QB who netted 10 yards on 3 drives and 11 plays.
If Jones had stuck with QD, stopped being stubborn about running into an 8 man box, and had put the game away... JG still would have had a couple of drives at the end of the game.
We will have a slim margin in every game this year and we will be inconsistent.
Again... if Jones has been doing the job he was supposed to be doing for the past 5 years... WHY? In year 5, we shouldn't expect only 2 upperclass WR's including JJ. We shouldn't expect "inconsistency" or at least not at the level we've seen so far. We definitely shouldn't see these headscratching decisions from the HC.