“Canary in the coal mine” game

[TheMRIguy]

This game showed all the signs that this is not a sustainable system and Heupel is not the coach to take TN to the next level. This is his 4th year. Now he has his full roster of players and 4 years of player/team development under his leadership. At this point you should be able to see the general direction of the program and whether his philosophy and leadership is working. It’s not working. The first few games this season have showed weaknesses, but we in our orange colored glasses have refused to see them. Teams are figuring out how to beat this system. We were outplayed and outcoached in nearly every phase of the game last night. We weren’t prepared. This offense seems to need a top tier quarterback to even have a chance of working, and there aren’t a whole lot of those players out there. I like Heupel and what he stands for, but under his leadership and system, 8-4 type seasons are about all that we can expect.

 

[WoodsmanVol]

This game showed all the signs that this is not a sustainable system and Heupel is not the coach to take TN to the next level. This is his 4th year. Now he has his full roster of players and 4 years of player/team development under his leadership. At this point you should be able to see the general direction of the program and whether his philosophy and leadership is working. It’s not working. The first few games this season have showed weaknesses, but we in our orange colored glasses have refused to see them. Teams are figuring out how to beat this system. We were outplayed and outcoached in nearly every phase of the game last night. We weren’t prepared. This offense seems to need a top tier quarterback to even have a chance of working, and there aren’t a whole lot of those players out there. I like Heupel and what he stands for, but under his leadership and system, 8-4 type seasons are about all that we can expect.

Sounds like you might have Bama syndrome.

 

[DaddyChad]

Dislike button

The weakness is the Oline. Boggles my mind that some fans don’t see that.

 

[J C Higgins]

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The weakness is the Oline. Boggles my mind that some fans don’t see that.

It's a lot more than the O line.

 

[Emperor VOLpatine]

Good. Lord. or we have a QB in his 6th start (only 2 at home) who missed a wide open TD and wasted 2 of the last 3 plays. But screw it fahr everybody right? We're a 4-1 SEC team with our best Defense in 20 years but might as well quit. They couldn't possibly grow from their mistakes

 

[McDad]

This game showed all the signs that this is not a sustainable system and Heupel is not the coach to take TN to the next level. This is his 4th year. Now he has his full roster of players and 4 years of player/team development under his leadership. At this point you should be able to see the general direction of the program and whether his philosophy and leadership is working. It’s not working. The first few games this season have showed weaknesses, but we in our orange colored glasses have refused to see them. Teams are figuring out how to beat this system. We were outplayed and outcoached in nearly every phase of the game last night. We weren’t prepared. This offense seems to need a top tier quarterback to even have a chance of working, and there aren’t a whole lot of those players out there. I like Heupel and what he stands for, but under his leadership and system, 8-4 type seasons are about all that we can expect.

I can expect more. Right?

 

[Emperor VOLpatine]

I thought winning our 1st top 15 road game in 18 years was showing we're headed in the right direction but apparently it's made a conference road loss a fireable offense in 2 short weeks

 

[VolInDayton]

I had to stop after the first sentence

 

[Mccage]

This game showed all the signs that this is not a sustainable system and Heupel is not the coach to take TN to the next level. This is his 4th year. Now he has his full roster of players and 4 years of player/team development under his leadership. At this point you should be able to see the general direction of the program and whether his philosophy and leadership is working. It’s not working. The first few games this season have showed weaknesses, but we in our orange colored glasses have refused to see them. Teams are figuring out how to beat this system. We were outplayed and outcoached in nearly every phase of the game last night. We weren’t prepared. This offense seems to need a top tier quarterback to even have a chance of working, and there aren’t a whole lot of those players out there. I like Heupel and what he stands for, but under his leadership and system, 8-4 type seasons are about all that we can expect.

Seen right off you ain’t ever dug coal!

 

[BigALWiLson]

Good. Lord. or we have a QB in his 6th start (only 2 at home) who missed a wide open TD and wasted 2 of the last 3 plays. But screw it fahr everybody right? We're a 4-1 SEC team with our best Defense in 20 years but might as well quit. They couldn't possibly grow from their mistakes

We should have never had to have Nico in this situation. Running into the kicker ? White being a multi year guy letting a punt bounce and kill field position ? How about the first play we had possession and go backwards because Karic doesn't know where he is ? Lot of blame a Nico deserves some but lots of bad play from numerous players

 

[Emperor VOLpatine]

We should have never had to have Nico in this situation. Running into the kicker ? White being a multi year guy letting a punt bounce and kill field position ? How about the first play we had possession and go backwards because Karic doesn't know where he is ? Lot of blame a Nico deserves some but lots of bad play from numerous players

Absolutely roughing the kicker is why we were down 5 instead of 2. Then Nico's incredbile play would have set up game winning FG. Not down on Nico at all he just made some freshman plays as I was saying should be expected

 

[DaddyChad]

It's a lot more than the O line.

It starts up front.

 

[J C Higgins]

We should have never had to have Nico in this situation. Running into the kicker ? White being a multi year guy letting a punt bounce and kill field position ? How about the first play we had possession and go backwards because Karic doesn't know where he is ? Lot of blame a Nico deserves some but lots of bad play from numerous players

Re: White being a multi year guy letting a punt bounce and kill field position ?

This and the running out of bounds by Nico were critical mental errors.

 

[MemphisVolFan1978]

What is indisputable is that we keep having these games every year. It’s not that we are losing them, but how bad we look losing them. We come out playing flat and the coach doesn’t seem to have the ability to motivate the players or make adjustments to the game plan to change what isn’t working. Look at other high level teams. They may look bad in the first half, but come out in the second half motivated and get back in the game. Look at Alabama against us last year or Georgia against Clemson and Alabama this year. That has not been the case for this team the last 3 seasons. The coaching is obviously better than the previous few coaches, but I think it is fair to question whether or not this is going to continue to be the norm and we have already reached the ceiling under this regime.

 

[BigALWiLson]

Re: White being a multi year guy letting a punt bounce and kill field position ?

This and the running out of bounds by Nico were critical mental errors.

Nico said the ball slipped when he was going to throw and I'm guessing by that time he was about to cross the line. I agree the ball has to go up but again Heupel should had more time. About 20 seconds were wasted prior to that

 

[General Jack]

Re: White being a multi year guy letting a punt bounce and kill field position ?

This and the running out of bounds by Nico were critical mental errors.

And roughing the punter. That was a killer.

 

[J C Higgins]

It starts up front.

The O line needs major improvement but they weren't playing defense. Or throwing the ball or catching the ball or letting a punt roll 20 yards to cause critical field position change.

 

[DooleyOrangePants]

Nico said the ball slipped when he was going to throw and I'm guessing by that time he was about to cross the line. I agree the ball has to go up but again Heupel should had more time. About 20 seconds were wasted prior to that

Yeah, looking back, the entire team (with the exception of the defense for the most part) was sleepwalking. O looked disinterested and completely out of rhythm, coaching looked to be asleep. The clock management was abysmal, not to mention anything about the actual play calling.

A lot of us saw this unfolding in the OK game, but I never imagined that we would completely crap the bed against a well coached, but bottom dwelling SEC team.

 

[orchidvol]

To me, the most alarming things are that the team came out of a bye week flat and Heupel's system was neutralized by some second-rate SEC players and a coach that doesn't seem very good. The offense came out vanilla and just had zero creativity. I don't get it. Beat Florida and everything feels better.

 

[TennEddie]

On the last touchdown run by their backup quarterback,
# 90 is wandering around not even looking at the ball carrier.

 

[Volontario]

Dislike button

The weakness is the Oline. Boggles my mind that some fans don’t see that.

So serious questions. Is it so weak that CJH doesn’t know how/ too stubborn to play call around it? Why do they still have a weak OL? Is it coaching or lack of talent? Both?

 

[DaddyChad]

So serious questions. Is it so weak that CJH doesn’t know how/ too stubborn to play call around it? Why do they still have a weak OL? Is it coaching or lack of talent? Both?

I think we have Campbell that’s never going to be completely healthy, Mays also has had so many issues in his time here I’m fairly sure he was hurt the way he was acting last night. Heard appeared to be completely exhausted on a few plays; ideally maybe we would’ve worked him back in slower but I don’t think we have any options at LT that are great. So that’s more than half your line that’s not 100%. It would be very hard to play call around that. He could’ve went with 12 personnel; as banged up as our wideouts were and as much as they were struggling I’m surprised he didn’t and ride Sampson for the rest of the game.

Oline was terrible, WRs were poor then injured, qb was rattled and off. Just a hard situation to play call around. Some play calls were there but we just didn’t execute. The throw to the TE towards end of the game was there. A couple of WRs were hit in the hands in tight windows and dropped the ball. I thought one player had a good game last night and that was Sampson; Pearce had a decent game as well but left some plays on the field as well.

Lack of talent or coaching? I think it was both. That’s not saying I think Heupel is a bad coach but this was a poor game by everyone not named James Pearce or Dylan Sampson.

 

[OldVolMan]

Yeah, looking back, the entire team (with the exception of the defense for the most part) was sleepwalking. O looked disinterested and completely out of rhythm, coaching looked to be asleep. The clock management was abysmal, not to mention anything about the actual play calling.

A lot of us saw this unfolding in the OK game, but I never imagined that we would completely crap the bed against a well coached, but bottom dwelling SEC team.

I think you just hit the nail on the head! They do look drowsy and slow.
When we travel the opposing team slips in and puts sleeping pills in their game day breakfast.
That explains everything…..lol

 

[Carl Pickens]

This game showed all the signs that this is not a sustainable system and Heupel is not the coach to take TN to the next level. This is his 4th year. Now he has his full roster of players and 4 years of player/team development under his leadership. At this point you should be able to see the general direction of the program and whether his philosophy and leadership is working. It’s not working. The first few games this season have showed weaknesses, but we in our orange colored glasses have refused to see them. Teams are figuring out how to beat this system. We were outplayed and outcoached in nearly every phase of the game last night. We weren’t prepared. This offense seems to need a top tier quarterback to even have a chance of working, and there aren’t a whole lot of those players out there. I like Heupel and what he stands for, but under his leadership and system, 8-4 type seasons are about all that we can expect.