At the end of the season...

[Orangeslice13]

Yes, and a week after everyone declared Alabama the best team in the land, they basically got dominated by Vanderbilt, and barely squeaked one out against South Carolina this week. This is the nuttiest college football season that I can ever remember. Expect the unexpected this year.

I love the parity that’s happening.
It’s way more exciting this way

 

[BernardKingGOAT]

No, because Milton was also a veteran QB and struggled in this system. Also, Nico isnt a freshman has been in this system for almost 2 years now. He was also dubbed the perfect QB for this system.

You are trying to excuse the problem and they arent good excuses to be honest.

No excuses being made. Just pointing out the stupidity of your post.

 

[Orangeslice13]

It isnt a "figure it out in the middle of the season" type problem. It is much bigger than that and going to take time he doesnt have during a season to diagnose and then time to implement those changes in how he teaches/coaches his QBs.

I’m glad our coaches don’t have such a defeatist attitude.
This thing is not as broken as some of yall seem to think

 

[volgr]

No excuses being made. Just pointing out the stupidity of your post.

Milton immediately disproved your theory. Try again.

 

[loosecannon]

It isn't the SEC, it is regression. Florida's defense looked like garbage against Miami and the last time I checked, Miami is not in the SEC. Tennessee's offense has regressed. I get that NC State isn't great but their defense isn't that much worse than Arkansas or Florida. SEC defenses lost to Georgia State, Cal, USC, etc.

The biggest difference is everyone use to think that a 3-3-5 was the answer against the Heupel offense. NC State tried it and got dominated. It did not allow enough alley support and let us on the seems way to often. KSU and Chatt were so outmatched that it did not matter what they ran. Oklahoma adjusted and went 3-2-6 as did Arkansas and Florida for a lot of the game. Our only way to get teams out of this is to run 2TE and get them into a different personnel package. However, we cannot be in what we want to be in either. So, the logical attack plan is to attack the soft box, but we can't move the middle well. Teams are just setting in the middle and making us funnel everything wide or bounce it. When we have to bounce, the two extra safeties just fly downhill as quickly as possible. So, if we aren't on the edge in a heartbeat, we are getting beat to the point. It is an evolution of the 4-2-5 where the 5th DB is really an insert who takes away short stuff most of the time and then can get you off schedule to force longer throws on long downs. That is why a lot of our deep shots are on early downs. The safeties are more prone to come downhill on those downs. By 3rd, they are sitting back and playing a two-shell and we are 3 or 4 against 6 in pass plays. And, we are notorious for having one side of the ball take plays off, so it is rally 2 on 6 at times. That is bad math for any offense.
The defenses are basically daring us to move people in the middle. Against SEC defenses, we aren't good enough to move the nose and tackles back. It has not consistently happened. If we could, everything changes drastically. The slants are gone because of the alley safeties and our wide spacing. It takes too long to get the ball there unless we throw short side. Crossers take too long because of our spacing. We can't wait three or four seconds to throw the ball. If we cannot win it in the middle, we cannot win period.

 

[volgr]

I’m glad our coaches don’t have such a defeatist attitude.
This thing is not as broken as some of yall seem to think

I'm glad our coaches dont live in denial like you do. The thing is broken, even Hellen Keller can see it.

 

[BernardKingGOAT]

Milton immediately disproved your theory. Try again.

Milton is gone. I don't have a theory. Just stating facts. It's obvious you have no interest in nuance. Get a clue

 

[McDad]

Nah, it’s just fan forum talk. Which is what a fan forum is for.

So much fun, too.

 

[Orangeslice13]

I'm glad our coaches dont live in denial like you do. The thing is broken, even Hellen Keller can see it.

Yes and you think they should sit around with their thumbs in their butts till the end of the season to figure it out.
That’s not what elite competitors do.

This kid played great against slower lesser opponents. I think he’s capable of adjusting to the speed of play. How long that takes, only time will tell, but I believe it’s coming. This thing isn’t as broken as the football ignorance would like you to believe

 

[KeyVol14]

No, because Milton was also a veteran QB and struggled in this system. Also, Nico isnt a freshman has been in this system for almost 2 years now. He was also dubbed the perfect QB for this system.

You are trying to excuse the problem and they arent good excuses to be honest.

Ok...this is Nico's first test against SEC defenses. Iowa is slow and always has been.

 

[Majors]

Has our OC staff not heard of short passes to TE or WR slants? Even Arkansas and Florida have been more creative at play calling than us the last 2 games. Sure, we got some issues but they don't adjust at all.

TE has to block because LT is a liability

 

[volgr]

Ok...this is Nico's first test against SEC defenses. Iowa is slow and always has been.

I get that and I am not saying bench the kid or fire Heupel, but this is now 2 QBs in a row who dont look comfortable in Hype's system. Last year, we could blame Milton because Hendo was awesome the year before...but now we are seeing the same issues this season that we saw last season and it may be even worse this season which could be due to Nico being young (as you pointed out).

However, I think there is something to the fact that 2 out of 3 qbs have struggled in this system and it may need to be tweaked to be more QB friendly.

Or we can throw the baby out with the bath water and just say Heupel's system doesnt work in the SEC...but we know it does, we saw it shred good D's in 2022.

 

[volgr]

Milton is gone. I don't have a theory. Just stating facts. It's obvious you have no interest in nuance. Get a clue

Your theory is that Hendo was an experienced QB and Nico is young. However, Milton was an experienced QB and had been in Hype's system and the offense had issues. Yes, the problem with the offense is nuanced but your theory as to the issue is disproven by Milton.

Milton and Nico are night and day different yet both struggled to run Hype's system. Find the common denominator.

 

[volbound1700]

Ok...this is Nico's first test against SEC defenses. Iowa is slow and always has been.

SEC defenses have several losses to OOC teams like Oklahoma State or Cal. Don't give me the SEC is always superior. Offense is just regressing. I do think it wouldn't take much to turn it on.

 

[RockyTop140]

For the knuckleheads that always want the backup because the starter is terrible, check this out.
Nico Iamaleave is a redshirt FRESHMAN, starting his SEVENTH game. Here are his stats.
He is 6-1, NOT 1-6
1533 yards at a 65% completion rate
He has 9 tds and 3 ints.

Here the stats from another UT QB during their freshman year.

8-4
1141 yards at a 62% completion rate
11 tds and 6 ints.
You would cry " BENCH HIM, HE IS CLUELESS"!
Peyton might disagree.

I never called for him to be benched anywhere. Just said he has been frustrating to watch. Overreacting, as I have found to be pretty common from you.

Nico's stats are good on paper, but they are inflated from 3-4 high school teams. I know youve seen him struggle when the competition gets stepped up. And that was expected. However, I didnt expect him to make so many errant throws.

 

[MEDVOL]

Probably will take the AD telling CJH to make a change. Not sure if he’d do that, though.

 

[CAVPUT]

Something drastic needs to be done with this offense and the staff. The play calling isn't going to get us to the next level. Talent and development is there. Heupel needs to bring in an OC that can get our offense back in shape.

If UT had a reasonable SEC OL, we're likely not having this discussion. Nico looks better. WR's look better. Even the running game would look better if that OL could pass protect. Heupel hitched his wagon to Elarbee. Hope it works out.

 

[OHvol40]

Where in that statement did i lie? Nico is basically joe milton but worse right now. Not seeing open receivers down field, Missing throws on the ones he does see and turns the ball over Multiple times a game.

Huepel would be stupid not to bring in a portal qb this offseason to push all of the guys in the QB room to improve. If Nico is a bust and he doesn't have any better options available his seat will start getting hot with fans.

You would have benched Peyton Manning, is basically what you’re saying.

 

[BernardKingGOAT]

I'm glad our coaches dont live in denial like you do. The thing is broken, even Hellen Keller can see it.

Your theory is that Hendo was an experienced QB and Nico is young. However, Milton was an experienced QB and had been in Hype's system and the offense had issues. Yes, the problem with the offense is nuanced but your theory as to the issue is disproven by Milton.

Milton and Nico are night and day different yet both struggled to run Hype's system. Find the common denominator.

See, I don't necessarily think it's Heupel's system. Nico seems to understand it fine. He has moments of greatness and then completely struggles with wide open looks

 

[Pride85]

I never called for him to be benched anywhere. Just said he has been frustrating to watch. Overreacting, as I have found to be pretty common from you.

Nico's stats are good on paper, but they are inflated from 3-4 high school teams. I know youve seen him struggle when the competition gets stepped up. And that was expected. However, I didnt expect him to make so many errant throws.

For you to rate yourself as an unnamed knuckleheads is interesting. Continue to work so hard to criticize a player on the team. FYI, It isn't a flattering look.

I never called for him to be benched anywhere. Just said he has been frustrating to watch. Overreacting, as I have found to be pretty common from you.

Nico's stats are good on paper, but they are inflated from 3-4 high school teams. I know youve seen him struggle when the competition gets stepped up. And that was expected. However, I didnt expect him to make so many errant throws.

Interesting that you put yourself into the unnamed knuckleheads category. But please, continue to work extra hard to criticize a player on the team you support. FYI, it isn't a flattering look.

 

[Dro]

You would have benched Peyton Manning, is basically what you’re saying.

Part of what a coach is supposed to focus on is evaluating players and if they can't improve, then yes, start the search in the portal for a QB. Other teams are playing with transfers and winning ( see Vandy ). From my perspective I understand Nico is a freshman, but I don't see week to week improvement that we should be seeing. How many times in the last 20 years has Alabama, Georgia, Florida beat the Vols while they played a freshman qb? Their freshmen qb wins off the bat, ours freshman always needs a couple years before we can expect to see improvement ?

Exactly, I said nothing about benching Nico yet, I simply said we need a portal QB to push him and the others to improve. The current qb play isnt gonna get it done this year or next.

 

[mackievol]

Everyone does remember we still have the scholarship reductions right?

 

[Eastknox865]

I'm starting to believe we have the worst fans in the world. Nothing is ever good enough. Year one and two you want the DC fired. Year three you want the Db coach fired. Year three you want Nico in for Milton. Year four Nico isn't good. After the last twenty seasons you guys just can't appreciate what we have.

 

[TheVolsFrog]

No. Why? Milton had 3 years and couldn't do it why should Nico with 6 games? I'm not making excuses for him but he's also a FRESHMAN -very few freshman go ball out at the QB position in the SEC unless they are surrounded by draft picks at several positions.
Do you expect a rookie QB in the NFL to go run everything in their playbook like a well oiled machine? Look at Levis- 2nd year and still struggling to get it

Levis wasn't that great at KY, why would anyone think he'd be any better in the NFL...

The Nico situation is this:
5* QB, Top 5 recruit in the country. Supposedly $8m NIL
Heupel hand picked QB
Year 2 in the system.

Yeah people are going to expect result

 

[theFallGuy]

Where in that statement did i lie? Nico is basically joe milton but worse right now. Not seeing open receivers down field, Missing throws on the ones he does see and turns the ball over Multiple times a game.

Huepel would be stupid not to bring in a portal qb this offseason to push all of the guys in the QB room to improve. If Nico is a bust and he doesn't have any better options available his seat will start getting hot with fans.

"Go in the portal and get a QB" . Be mad all you want at how we performed but that's just ignorant. You have multiple talented QBs committed after Nico. But you want to bench Nico after 6 games. Brilliant idea.