Does Kirby simply have Heupel figured out?

[SCRocket]

No. He has had one of the top recruiting classes for years. It’s that simple.

 

[rjd970]

TN had no chance with David Smith as head referee. simple

He’s the former Alabama QB, right? I’m not sure we have won a single game he officiated in since 2020. And even if we have, the amount of losses we have with this guy is way more.

 

[adam.vol]

Oh Jesus, no the refs got those calls right. Beck had all damn day to throw and Banks made zero adjustments.

Are you an AI bot? I’m convinced several of you aren’t real people. There’s no way you paid attention to the game with human eyes and drew that conclusion with a healthy mind.

 

[posivol]

he seems to get most all of the calls go his way.much like saban the refs have bias.most games equal out in bad calls except when playing al/ga.

 

[fullmetalvol]

Game was won lost at the line of scrimmage, like most SEC games are. Their defensive line just mauled our O line, especially in the 2nd half. They dared us to run against a lite box and we couldn't. Yea we gained yards but not consistent enough to keep us from constantly being behind the chains. I think their constant pass cover changes keep Nico from getting in any rhythm. Their blitz packages were also effective. Our def line did ok against their ground game but could not pass rush effectively. Compare Ole Miss pass rush against GA and ours, ours was nonexistent. Should our coaches have adjusted the game plan more? If you can't execute the blocks on offense, it doesn't matter. Banks did try and blitz some, but Beck mostly saw it and threw to the space. Did the refs miss calls? Yep. But that ain't why we lost.

 

[Justin1989]

TN has the biggest collection of vaginas in all of SEC sports. I wish I could comprehend the mindset that talks about everything that went wrong while ignoring anything that went right. Some of you boys would cower to a wet paper sack. I’d be surprised if there was one man sized testicle between the lot of you.

We went into the hedges, went up by 10, and forced turnovers that inexplicably got reversed by SEC officials. Our Vols had Kirby’s bulldogs so nervous that it took the worst officiating of the season to get them the win. If we had to play them over again, it would take another biased officiating crew to give Georgia the win.

We are not disadvantaged to Georgia in any way. The conference just wants to get 5 teams into the playoffs.

@adam.vol pretty lazy take, after going uo 10-0 UT was out scored 31-7. Blaming refs is pretty soft.

 

[adam.vol]

@adam.vol pretty lazy take, after going uo 10-0 UT was out scored 31-7. Blaming refs is pretty soft.

I’m supporting our team, because when the coaches can’t say it out loud, the best people to do it is the fans. Heupel’s message was clear when he shoved the microphones to the media after the game.

You guys have done a thorough job of blaming the players and coaches, so I don’t feel any need to pile it on. That’s only part of the story. The officiating was atrocious and I’m trying to be rational because it’s not productive to blame the players for something out of their control.

If you all want to see the calls go our way, the saying goes “the squeaky wheel gets the grease”. Kirby blamed refs after Texas. Heupel doesn’t think he has the leeway to get away with it.

 

[VolunteerCeltic]

Kirby will own Heupel till he leaves GA, much like Spurrier and Meyer owned Fulmer. It is what it is

 

[DeepSpringsVol]

I put Kirby as top 3 in my lifetime at making halftime adjustments. So there is that while Josh tends to just keep doing the same things. You have to be able to win adapt and change after halftime.

 

[LAVol1]

We were never going to beat Georgia by stringing together 4-5 15-play drives ending in touchdowns - they're too good on defense. We had to have a few big plays in the passing game, either for touchdowns or setting up touchdowns. I don't recall us having many of those against Georgia in the four years Heupel's been here. Georgia shut that completely down in 2022 when our offense was gashing everyone else. I'm guessing we've had less than 10 and probably less than five pass completions of over 35-40 yards against Georgia in that time. Kirby appears to know exactly what to do against Heupel's offenses.

I peg the loss on the defense. In UGA's losses and close games, the opposition put pressure on Beck and he made a lot of mistakes. We didn't get pressure on Beck the whole game and he had by far his best game of the year. Why didn't we blitz and stunt more knowing the key to beating UGA was putting pressure on Beck?

 

[Go47]

I don’t think the argument is totally about about Kirby and his staff outcoaching CJH and his staff. While UT has closed the talent gap . . . UGA is still more talented. It’s not a huge gap . . . But it’s still a gap. Add to that UGA’s loss to Ole Miss / home game for UGA . . . There was little chance for UT to win UNLESS they were the more talented team - and they were not.

Having said that, I do think there is good evidence that Kirby is good at crafting game plans to slow what CJH wants to do on offense.

Next year - if it appears once again that Kirby outcoaches CJH . . . And UT loses at home - It will maybe be more fair to say . . . Smart has his number.

The concerning trend I see is CJH seems to be unable to get his teams to play with discipline in road games. The undisciplined play, presnap penalties, dumb penalties, and the inability to sustain momentum (last year on the road against Bama UT fell apart after half / this year against UGA / the USC debacle in 2022 / poor play this year against a weak Arkansas team) is an undeniable trend in my opinion.

 

[87&91ALUM]

Kirby owns the referees