Do you think a healthy Ainge & Coker defeats LSU & Arkansas?

#51
#51
kptvol said:
All those guys were great players, but you have to expect at least some injuries. You can't blame late season losses on injuries. That's what late season games are all about. That being said, I still don't think we could have beaten Arkansas, even with those guys. I don't think Arkansas even unleashed their full arsenal against us.
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You can't make excuses for injuries. However, they do make a difference.

Lets play LSU again without Russell, Dorsey, and Landry, and then with a hobbled Doucet.
 
#52
#52
Liper said:
You can't make excuses for injuries. However, they do make a difference.

Lets play LSU again without Russell, Dorsey, and Landry, and then with a hobbled Doucet.
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Without Russell, I think they would have beaten us worse. Matt Flynn makes fewer mistakes.
 
#53
#53
Considering the Vols only made 1 trip into the redzone in those 2 games.... I would think having healthy Ainge and Coker would have made a huge difference. Would the Vols have won both? We'll never know, but I think they come out of those 2 games still in the top 10 if Ainge and Coker had played.
 
#54
#54
Probably and no.

Against Lsu I say probably because I dont think there is any way with Ainge that Lsu has the ball for 42 minutes. Ainge looks to all his targets and isnt afraid to throw the ball...two skills Crompton has yet to develop. He threw two deep balls, but the second was a prayer that Meach made a great play on, so lets not say he had a good game. And does anyone remember that one big run Foster had when there was a huge hole? Coker would have exploded through that hole. And I think with Ainge actually able to keep the Lsu offense off the field, our defense would have been more rested and able to make some stops...I think its clear our defense got worn out by being on the field the whole game, being that most of Lsu's points came in the second half.

Arkansas, no. Our receivers got outplayed, our oline got beat up. I think 31-24 absolute best case. But again it would have been better...Crompton held onto the ball much longer then Ainge does, and make some passes that were bouncing well in front of our receivers. Before Ainge got hurt I thought we would win that game because it would be a shootout. We would be scoring a lot and forcing Arkansas to pass. But the way Wade got taken to school by Monk, that wouldnt have mattered all that much.


And as a nitpick, we did use Coker in the florida game. Remember the trick play?
 
#55
#55
TravisHenryCBlockedMe said:
Arkansas, no. Our receivers got outplayed, our oline got beat up. I think 31-24 absolute best case. But again it would have been better...Crompton held onto the ball much longer then Ainge does, and make some passes that were bouncing well in front of our receivers. Before Ainge got hurt I thought we would win that game because it would be a shootout. We would be scoring a lot and forcing Arkansas to pass. But the way Wade got taken to school by Monk, that wouldnt have mattered all that much.
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At least make it 28-24.... Arkansas scored there only 2nd half pts via a Crompton interception. They started at the UT 16 and ended up with just a field goal.
 
#56
#56
Well guys, We got out of Starkville with a win, it wasn't easy, and i knew it wouldn't be. Our biggest victory margin there until today was 7 points. We are going to have to reach down deep to make a showing Friday in Little Rock to play with LSU. We again had some big injurys Saturday. Yeah I know, injkurys are part of the game and everyone has them. But we are a young bunch that aren't too deep but our starters are very good players.
So after turkey day look for the LSU/ARK game to go down to the wire. We are going to have a good day out of our special teams. Rutgers falls today, maybe wi go up one spot in the BCS. I see the top 5 BCS tomorrow to look like this...

1 Ohio State
2 USC
3 Michigan
4 Florida
5 Notre Dame

6 Arkansas
 
#58
#58
I really think it's tough to say.

First, I don't think that our defense just utterly collapses like it did in the Arkansas game. When you start swapping scores, confidence and intensity go up on both sides of the ball. The defense was getting pounded with little rest, but perhaps more than the rest was the realization that the offense just wasn't going to do ANYTHING.

Second, Ainge is one of the better quarterbacks in the country, in my estimation. He makes an occasional bonehead play, but for the most part, he's very efficient at finding the open receiver and making the smart pass. The rest of the team believed in him. Anytime you lose a player like that, it's going to hurt and hurt bad.

I hope Tennessee plays a highly ranked team in a bowl, as I like our odds. Give Ainge, Coker, and Swain time to heal, and we're suddenly looking a heck of a lot better.

And yes, having Swain at 100% will be huge. He really helped keep teams honest with Meacham.
 
#60
#60
Obviously we will never know. But EA and Coker are playmakers and difference makers. We would score more points, but more important they may keep the opposition from scoring by keeping our offence on the field a little longer.
 
#61
#61
Ainge would not have had to avoid as much pressure as Crompton because he would have gotten rid of the ball quicker. It was Crompton's first game and he did not know where to go with the ball most plays. Crompton barely completed 50% of his passes and threw 1 good deep ball and we were in position to beat LSU. Obviously there is no way to tell for sure, but my opinion is that UT would have certainly won if Ainge and Coker were completely healthy against LSU. I do not think Ainge would have been able to win the Arkansas game because we lost that game on defense, not offense. We would have scored more points against Arkansas with Ainge at QB, but not enough to overcome a horrible defensive effort.

Ainge has thrown some nice deep passes this year. And, Vanderbilt is horrible hat? I am not going to argue that they are a great team, but ask Michigan and Arkansas if they are horrible? We manhandled them when both those teams struggled with them. Vanderbilts offense had been putting up huge numbers and Earl Bennett is a great WR. UT's defense gets no credit for what they did to Nickson and Bennett?
 
#62
#62
You can add UF to the list of teams that struggled with Vandy.

I don't like to play the "if" game since you play with what you have. That said, I like our chances against LSU with a healthy Ainge and Coker, especially after seeing Ole Miss take them to OT. Doubtful it would have changed the outcome at Arky.

Either way, Ainge is playing lights out this year.
 
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