London Vol
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GAME CFP – OHIO STATE 22 DECEMBER 2024
Except for the National Champions, everybody finishes their season with a disappointment and with this in mind it is important to remember the season as a whole and I will touch on that at the end. However last night Tennessee well and truly had their proverbial pants taken down and had a good old fashioned bottom spanking. Ohio State were quite simply superior in just about every facet of the game. They dominated in the trenches on both sides, they threw the ball into harms way and were rewarded with chunk plays and they also out coached us as well. and quite frankly I must admit I am not looking forward to breaking down each unit today, but as in life one must try to face adversity and success in the same manor.
Here are this week’s grades
QUARTERBACKS B-
Nico Iamaleava had some good moments and some concerns going forward last night, however it must be said that the heavy defeat does not lay at his door.
Good moments - he played with a heart that his laid back demeanor belies. He often fought for extra yards (the box score does not truly reflect his efforts) that quite frankly put his own personal safety at risk. Also, after that back breaking 21-point deficit he clearly tried to put the team on his back, It should also be remembered when assessing what season he has had, that he led this team to a 10 win season.
Concerns going forward – There is no doubt he has a powerful arm and some “fast ball “ throws over the middle this season have been really impressive, but there is more to quarterbacking that just how hard you can throw the ball otherwise Joe Milton III would now be being measured up for his Hall of Fame jacket. My concern is more subtle, it seems that he doesn’t seem to see Wide Receivers open (I know people will reply that they were not open) but sometimes a QB needs to trust and throw to a spot and not wait for the WR to become open, Ohio State did this and were repaid with two touchdowns and two long completions, I am not sure Nico would have made any of those throws. If he is going to fulfill all that potential and NIL payments, then this needs to be addressed over the next eight months. He only passed for over 300 yards against Chattanooga this season which is simply not what a team with the aspirations that Tennessee have, require.
RUNNING BACKS C
On a baffling night the most baffling decision by the coaches was that Dylan Sampson had only two rushes. Now it was clear that he had some kind of injury, but the optics of him jogging and riding a bike on the sideline suggested he was available and that was supported when they sent him out in the 4th quarter when losing 42-10. Maybe having him look available was a tactic to confuse the opponents coaches or his brief participation was a sort of encore as he is about to leave for the NFL, I don’t know but it was a bad look for the coaches and the player as if he was not prepared to play “through pain” that nearly all players do at this time of year.. But even if the SEC player of the year was available all game last night he would not have changed the overall result, the differential was that big.
Peyton Lewis was again a big positive at Running Back and even before the yards he gained in garbage time he was by far the more productive RB than DeSean Bishop, which only highlighted another mystery as why was Lewis 3rd on the depth chart?
WIDE RECEIVERS E
There is a contentious debate amongst Tennessee fans about why the Wide Receivers have been such a disappointment this season. Could it be that Iamaleava does not see them open? are they actually open? have they all been banged up at one time or another? is the play calling too vanilla? or a combination of all of these? but yet again they did not deliver last night and whilst I don’t like picking out individuals for criticism it must be said that Chris Brazzell II was the biggest culprit giving an impression that he couldn’t even catch a cold. Another problem from the current crop was just look how good the ones in red looked. There needs to be a big improvement in 2025 if the team is going to progress further.
TIGHT ENDS C
After weeks of progression, it felt that the TEs were ignored last night and that was another mistake from the coaches. I hope Miles Kitselman can get one more year of eligibility due to the Pavia ruling. There is also a couple of nice projects arriving from the 2025 class.
OFFENSIVE LINE E-
When you are manhandled in the trenches its going to be a long day and this was a long day. Lance Heard and John Campbell were repeatably beaten but so were others as well. We have seen before when the protection breaks down Nico can get happy feet and this happened again in the 1st half although his scrambling in the 2nd half disguised the continuing breakdown of protection. We are going to need Heard to have a good spring and David Sanders to contribute in August (incredibly tough for a freshman on the O`Line to do this) as well as Wellen Moe contributing. One felt the O`Line has been close to collapsing a few times this season and finally it did.
DEFENSIVE LINE D
Ohio State were meant to be thin on the D`Line, well I didn’t see that, so I must say we also got beat in this trench as well. Tim Banks was clearly out foxed by wily old Chip Kelly and this was the worst game for it to happen. I was pleased to see James Pearce have a couple of big plays on the national stage as it will be draft evaluation time for him. It is also time for a number of the DL to move on and on the whole they should be praised for been very stout this past few years.
LINEBACKERS E
Whilst Arion Carter and Jeremiah Telander both charged around doing their best, the “underneath” was wide open so many times and as Keenan Pili is not walking through the door in August we are going to need a big improvement here next season, although I think Edwin Spillman should figure prominently.
DEFENSIVE BACKS C-
I know that there were a number of long completions and the finger will be pointed at the DBs but I felt that on nearly all of those there was good coverage and it was only a matter of inches from them making big plays. Jeremiah Smith in particular just made great catches, he’s that good. Don’t get down on Jermod McCoy and Rickey Gibson they will be one of our strengths next season.
OVERVIEW
I know last night was about as bad as I feared and a long way from where I hoped, so I would like to mention the big picture as I see it. We started this season projected as 7th in the SEC and we finished 3rd. I know we found out a harsh lesson how far we need to travel to reach the top of the mountain, a summit those wonderful fans clad in orange last night deserved, but we made the playoffs (extended I accept) for the first time this century and we now wait to see how our fellow SEC mates Alabama, LSU, Ole Miss and Missouri get on, hold on, what…….they were all graded above us at the start of the season and didn’t make the playoffs. You get my point !! 30 wins in 3 seasons is evidence that we have made great strides under Coach Heupel and for that I’m grateful and hope he can complete the accent.
Thank you to all of you who have posted so many kind words to me this season and the likes make it all worthwhile and god willing I look forward to writing about out big victory against Syracuse next year.
GO VOLS
