Coach Cut

[rexvol]

False starts and alignment problems on offense were essentially nonexistent, a fact Cutcliffe referred to as a positive.

"Those were the two things I wanted to see out of an early scrimmage: Were we going to be physical, and would we put ourselves in a position to have a chance to be successful by having discipline," Cutcliffe said. "And another thing was to make plays, and we made some.''


Sounds as though Coach Cut is making a difference.

 

[hohenfelsvol]

This is exactly what he came back to do. Build the basics again and cut out the stupid mistakes. Good sign.

 

[rexvol]

I agree 100%

 

[GenNeyland9]

My favorite thing about the offense in the Spring game was that they got to the line and were ready to snap the ball with about 12 - 15 seconds still left on the play clock. It seems like the last 4- 5 years under Sanders we would struggle to get EVERY play off in time before suffering a delay of game penalty. I can't think of how many times I screamed "snap it!" at the TV.

When you get set up so quickly Ainge has more time to at least look over the defense, etc.

 

[utvolpj]

He's the savior of UT football, no doubts about it

 

[jakez4ut]

He's the savior of UT football, no doubts about it

:lolabove: seriosly, though, one of the issues our offense had that caused false starts, delay of game etc...was the calls at the line....we'd go in to the huddle with 2 or 3 plays, and the call would be made after they lined up....definitely caused some issues...i think Cut wants to eliminate that, and thus far, sounds like he's on his way....

 

[utvolpj]

:lolabove: seriosly, though, one of the issues our offense had that caused false starts, delay of game etc...was the calls at the line....we'd go in to the huddle with 2 or 3 plays, and the call would be made after they lined up....definitely caused some issues...i think Cut wants to eliminate that, and thus far, sounds like he's on his way....

No, I'm just tired of Cut's past failures not following him. How many times did he fail to put the offensive plan on the field to beat UF? Everyone knocks CPF and PM but calls Cut the savior. Did you just start watching UT football? I heard nothing but "fire Cut" when he was running conservative Johnny-ball for years and now he is good enough? I'm sorry but I don't buy it at all. It's snake oil if you ask me...

 

[GAVol]

Cut is no gunslinger, but he didn't exactly play Johnny-Ball either.

 

[jakez4ut]

No, I'm just tired of Cut's past failures not following him. How many times did he fail to put the offensive plan on the field to beat UF? Everyone knocks CPF and PM but calls Cut the savior. Did you just start watching UT football? I heard nothing but "fire Cut" when he was running conservative Johnny-ball for years and now he is good enough? I'm sorry but I don't buy it at all. It's snake oil if you ask me...

uh, no, i didn't just start watching TN football, and i do remember the rumblings of "fire Cut"....but even as bad as that got, it was never as bad as the offense has been the past 3 or 4 years, that is fact not opinion ...and it should be noted that when Cut was OC, we did win two SEC titles and an NC...things we haven't really sniffed since. Plus, even as bad as a loss the UF game was during that time, the offense always got better as the year went along...something that i can't say about the offense the past few seasons...

and furthermore, when people bring up his Ole Miss record, it should also be noted that he was one of the most successful HC's in their history....i think he's the only coach in Ole Miss since the 40s to take an Ole Miss team to a bowl 5 straight years...he's also the only coach to win any kind of conf. championship since the 60's (they were co West champs, if there is such a thing, in 03 or 04...they year they won the cotton bowl)....he also took Ole Miss to a NYD bowl for the first time in over 10 years...something that Tubberville never did while he was there.

and as to the UF games, i seem to remember a defense at the time (under the tutelage of the now exalted John Chavis) that reguarly gave up 30+ points to the gators....and did it ever enter the thought process that those UF teams were just damn good football teams? it wasn't like they would beat us and tank...they won 4 straight SEC titles during that time, and 6 total, which tells me that TN wasn't the only SEC team that wasn't beating them...

And don't get me wrong, i'm not saying everyone should just get super excited about Cut coming back, it is back to the future with him, and we should have an idea of what we are getting....but i would also like to think that in the last 8 years since he's been at UT he's grown as a coach and should be better.....the great one, Charlie Weiss thought enough of him to coach his qb's and i would reckon that the only reason he wouldn't be the OC under Weiss is because Weiss is calling the plays....but, your opinion is your opinion...but if you are going to insist the negative follow him, you must also allow the positive...cause believe it or not, there were some positive things about the guy too.... :hi:

 

[utvolpj]

Cut is no gunslinger, but he didn't exactly play Johnny-Ball either.

Show me the first play of every game from 93-98 and I bet 90% were up the middle (other 10% are long bombs). That''s pure Johnny.

 

[rockytopinalabam]

No, I'm just tired of Cut's past failures not following him. How many times did he fail to put the offensive plan on the field to beat UF? Everyone knocks CPF and PM but calls Cut the savior. Did you just start watching UT football? I heard nothing but "fire Cut" when he was running conservative Johnny-ball for years and now he is good enough? I'm sorry but I don't buy it at all. It's snake oil if you ask me...

You know our defense had not caught up to the fun and gun during those days; you can't blame Cut. Plus I rember golden boy throwing a TD pass to the wrong team his Senior year also, but of course that's all Cut's fault too.

 

[GAVol]

Johnny wasn't necessarily all runs up the gut. He typically played wide open . . . Got a lead . . . Ran dive plays over and over again . . .

 

[jakez4ut]

Johnny wasn't necessarily all runs up the gut. He typically played wide open . . . Got a lead . . . Ran dive plays over and over again . . .

i seem to remember that too...? :blink:

 

[utvolpj]

Come on Jakez, you had probably 4-6 future NFL players on that offense in 97 and still couldn't get it done? He won some games but my point is that people want to give him all the praise and none of the blame. CPF catches a lot of heat for what Cut failed to produce.

Do you really want to base your argument on a 1st year 9-3 head coach? ND did that before and ended up sending him to Washington.

I hope Cut is better, I really hope he is. However I will not take a drink of that kool-aid until after the season has concluded, hopefully deep into the night on 1/9/07. I have no problem putting my opinions and errors in print.

 

[GAVol]

Who was that I saw win the SEC in 1997? Oh yeah . . . that was us.

 

[utvolpj]

You know our defense had not caught up to the fun and gun during those days; you can't blame Cut. Plus I rember golden boy throwing a TD pass to the wrong team his Senior year also, but of course that's all Cut's fault too.

If Cut was the almighty he would have had an answer. It is much bigger now. Going from 11-1 to 12-0 is much easier that making 5-6 into a winning team again. He just does not deserve all the praise when this season turns around as CPF does not deserve all the blame for last season. If you choose an objective view you will know I'm right.

 

[utvolpj]

Who was that I saw win the SEC in 1997? Oh yeah . . . that was us.

I was there, I know. I also had a drink w/ the team at Lulu's after it. We did not win it without help.

 

[jakez4ut]

Come on Jakez, you had probably 4-6 future NFL players on that offense in 97 and still couldn't get it done? He won some games but my point is that people want to give him all the praise and none of the blame. CPF catches a lot of heat for what Cut failed to produce.

Do you really want to base your argument on a 1st year 9-3 head coach? ND did that before and ended up sending him to Washington.

I hope Cut is better, I really hope he is. However I will not take a drink of that kool-aid until after the season has concluded, hopefully deep into the night on 1/9/07. I have no problem putting my opinions and errors in print.

that's fine, and i don't necessarily disagree with you, but putting those losses solely on Cut is a bit of a stretch....and i'll go back to it...while we had great talent, i would still say our defense at the time was incapable of playing with that offense....i do seem to remember some UF receivers that are still playing in the NFL...

either way, the only point i was making is that by all rights, given our lack of offensive prowess the past few seasons, i would take any form of the offense we had in the 90's right now...and if, if, Cut can do that, then great. there's absolutely no reason to think he can't either....

should we annoint him the savior? no. but he should be recognized as a key ingredient to getting our offense back on track and these little things that were posted in this thread are signs of that...

 

[jakez4ut]

If Cut was the almighty he would have had an answer. It is much bigger now. Going from 11-1 to 12-0 is much easier that making 5-6 into a winning team again. He just does not deserve all the praise when this season turns around as CPF does not deserve all the blame for last season. If you choose an objective view you will know I'm right.

i would disagree with that....it's much easier to get from 5-6 to 8-4 or 9-3, especially when you consider how we lost 4 of those games...it's much easier to identify problem areas when the problems are that obvious...and once you have them identified, they can be resolved....trying to find the weakness in an 11-1 team and get them to 12-0 is much more difficult imo.

as to the rest, i agree CPF doesn't deserve all the blame last year, and if this year is a big turnaround i would give CPF a ton of credit for making the changes in the staff to get that turnaround, which would include the re hiring of Coach Cut, the move of CTT to WR, ADkins to OL, Roper to RB's etc.....

 

[utvolpj]

I just find it amazing that Cut can do no wrong to some UT fans at this point. You ask CPF backers if mediocre is good enough but sing the praises of Cut. I just wish people (who could remember that far) would think to how popular he was when here the first time.

If you want to make that argument, please check a UF offensive roster vs. UT defensive roster and I bet the amount of NFL players is not very far off. Grant, Ellis, Wilson and Little just to name a few. The talent was there on O too.

I'm really not knocking Cut, but I'm not buying in either. I just feel, given his past records, he has not bought my confidence yet.

 

[utvolpj]

as to the rest, i agree CPF doesn't deserve all the blame last year, and if this year is a big turnaround i would give CPF a ton of credit for making the changes in the staff to get that turnaround, which would include the re hiring of Coach Cut, the move of CTT to WR, ADkins to OL, Roper to RB's etc.....

I really hope that to be true but I doubt the rest of the UT people will feel the same. All the blame. none of the credit, such is the life of the boss.

 

[kptvol]

and it should be noted that when Cut was OC, we did win two SEC titles and an NC...things we haven't really sniffed since.

We were in the SEC Championship game twice and were co-SEC champions another time. I would say that's at least sniffing distance.

 

[jakez4ut]

I just find it amazing that Cut can do no wrong to some UT fans at this point. You ask CPF backers if mediocre is good enough but sing the praises of Cut. I just wish people (who could remember that far) would think to how popular he was when here the first time.

If you want to make that argument, please check a UF offensive roster vs. UT defensive roster and I bet the amount of NFL players is not very far off. Grant, Ellis, Wilson and Little just to name a few. The talent was there on O too.

I'm really not knocking Cut, but I'm not buying in either. I just feel, given his past records, he has not bought my confidence yet.

that's fine with me, and much more reasonable way of saying what you want to say than previously attempted....

and no one is going to argue about the talent we had....but looking back on what was accomplished by TN in the 90s, and going back and looking at footage of those offenses it's much different looking back on it now 10 years later, than going thru it at the time...i remember being just as frustrated as anyone, but those offenses, looking back now....they were good. they were much better than the offenses of the last few seasons...we as a team were just not as good as Florida. Just like Georgia wasn't as good as us nor was Bama...for all intents and purposes, we were #2 in the SEC behind Florida during that time period...and considering what Florida accomplished, that's not anything to be ashamed of. Florida put together one of the best runs in SEC history and will go down as one of the best teams over a 4-5 year span in SEC history....that doesn't happen too often and if not for that, it's likely that we could have won a couple of more SEC titles...

 

[Volstorm]

Fact is Fulmer feels better with Cut in charge of the O. So therefore he can go back to his role as UT CEO.

 

[jakez4ut]

I really hope that to be true but I doubt the rest of the UT people will feel the same. All the blame. none of the credit, such is the life of the boss.

true, there will be people that no matter what happens will blame Fulmer no matter what....but so what? if we win 9+ games this season, i can live with anyone bashing him, for whatever reason.