Heup Haters

[landscapingvol]

They have been awful, but did man up a bit in the second half. The Dylan TD runs were a thing of beauty.

Agreed, Heard was blocking downfield in overtime for a change

 

[njvols]

#1 His teams consistently come into games unprepared #2 His lack of ability to change to in-game conditions #3 Key players don't seem to get better as the season progresses ( milton last year, nico this year) #4 Predictable play calling game after game.

lack of creativity in run game. UF showed more creativity. I really don't understand the first down (you know it's coming hand off up the middle on first down. Second down run the ball up the middle for 2 yards...put Nico in danger of sack for low percentage behind the sticks...or throw it 50 yards down the field. I think SEC coaches have figured out JH...

 

[MurphyVol]

I think too many people got spoiled with the quick success of 2022. Remember the dumpster fire this football team was and the handicaps when CH arrived had to rebuild? Now we have beaten Florida 2 out of 3 in the last years and In a position to do the same to Alabama. We are 5-1 but some act like we are 1-5.

I think there's more to it than that. Some are comparing this win to 1998...that Gator team was 10-2. While I'm always excited for a rare UF win, I don't see Billy's boys winning more that 6 games.

I actually put Oklahoma in the same category...I could see them potentially squeaking out 7 wins maybe.

I don't think any sane fan wants to fire JH, but there are legitimate concerns with the offense, especially to be in year 4. I think if you asked Josh himself to evaluate the offense and the play calling year to date he'd probably sound like a "negavol." I think if you asked him if he felt good about his two weeks of prep for Arkansas, he'd probably say a lot of the same things we're saying.

Again, it's awesome to beat UF, but we're at mid-season and haven't played a good team yet and we've struggled against 3 mid or lower-tier conference opponents.

As some point a good coach will "scheme up" our defense with a really good game plan and we'll need to rely on the offense for a win. With a line that struggles in pass protection, struggles in run blocking, an inaccurate(and quite honestly an easily rattled ) qb and what appears to be a limited playbook....I don't have a high level of confidence we can pull that off.

We're a long, low percentage completion to Thornton from being 3 straight games without a TD pass.

Yesterday Bru and Thornton combined for 11 yards. If you take out Chatt and Kent St, Nico has 3 passing TDs on the season. The offense goes very long stretches without even being a threat to score and giving the D zero rest. I know we're deep up front, but how long can we keep these guys in the field before they break or before a team hits a couple of lucky long passes.

Again, no sane fan wants to fire Josh, but does anyone think he's done a great job coaching around his teams deficiencies?

 

[FlyFishnVol]

Not saying he's the best but if Nico makes the throws that was there against arky and fla he'd be the best vols coach ever.

True, I want to know what is wrong with the offense? Is it the OL? QB? WRs? It is not the RBs.

 

[nomads-11]

I was disappointed in their run blocking before that really. They hadn’t been bad at it til this game. Pass blocking is probably a loss cause at this point, don’t think it’s something you can “fix” mid season

Yep, you're not fixing their pass pro, not without benching a couple of them. Sad to be synonymous as an offensive team with that OL. You wind up with a great defense - and field your worst OL in year 4 no less. That's inexcusable IMO.

 

[FBtime]

Positives...our OL played much better in the second half. No sacks allowed. Better run blocking also. There were open WRs on MULTIPLE occasions. TWO for TDs in the first half and one, which likely gets us in FG range to win the game on a simple in route that was WIDE open. I still believe in Nico and think he will start making these throws. He HAS made these throws in the past and made a couple tonight on deep crossings that had a very small window and that very few QBs playing college football could make.

As an aside I was reading in game thread some idiots calling for Gaston Moore. Just wonder what do you think Faizon Brandon, who was in attendance, would think about Heupel benching his Freshman QB in only his 7th game? Nico WILL get better, we have to be patient and remember that while yes he IS getting paid a lot of money and is not above criticism, he is still a young college QB.

 

[Remy]

Not a hater, but cautious about our future. The last two games have been ugly, and for that matter the second half of OU.

Venables the second half of our OU game showed the coaching fraternity how to shut down CJH’s offense. As Nico matures he’ll become more dangerous and better at selecting secondary receivers.

 

[Jimmyandjoes]

I was disappointed in their run blocking before that really. They hadn’t been bad at it til this game. Pass blocking is probably a loss cause at this point, don’t think it’s something you can “fix” mid season

You can't unless you can replace some pieces. You can scheme around it. They must figure this out.

 

[volfeeva]

We aren’t playing our best, but in the minds of the players, I wouldn’t call either of the last two weeks “big” games for them. 19-20 year old kids see unranked teams on paper where we are double-digit favorites and often play up or down to what they perceive. I want to see how we come out vs Alabama next weekend before I say these kids aren’t prepared.

These losses were not big compared to #1 vs #2, but they were SEC games you have to win to stay in the hunt. We look flat in both of those games and there really is no excuse for it.

 

[Nico ee-ah-MAH-LAY-ah-va]

Not to be a contrarian in here but the 1998 season on paper looked like dog **** too for most of the season if you're going go be turning our wins into moral "losses" the games are almost identical especially 1998 uf and tonight

Not saying this year is our year but you are correct, we had to pull several miracles out of our asses to stay alive. I hope we can pull another one next week.

 

[temptn]

Consistently in the top ten, I'll take it.

 

[adam.vol]

Not to be a contrarian in here but the 1998 season on paper looked like dog **** too for most of the season if you're going go be turning our wins into moral "losses" the games are almost identical especially 1998 uf and tonight

I can only remember in 2022 where one could count on the Vols to put score more than 30 points. I guess we lost some high scoring games with Dobbs at QB, but we also had some offensive struggles in 2015 and 2016.

 

[AdoptedVOL]

It's pretty damning to come off of a bye and lose to an unranked team as the #4 team in the country regardless of the location. By the time we play Bama it will have been a month since we scored in the first half.

Players are responsible for their individual performances, but it is up to the coaches to put the right guys into situations to succeed. Leaning on your defense can only get you so far.

For those of you that played and coached at high levels, do players and coaches have meetings after games where they review film and hold themselves accountable for their mistakes and take responsibility to fix going forward?

 

[Volinnooga]

11-2, 9-4 and 5-1
25-7 in the last 32 games

And he did that after inheriting a dumpster fire.

 

[JRich]

Not a hater, in fact love the guy.

However it is clear that this year’s offense has limitations. His stubbornness to run his offense regardless of field position, time, talent, or score is a glaring fault leading to predictability and poor performance.

If your OL sucks, run shorter routes and get your QB to stop holding the ball so long. Not every play has to be a home run, get first downs and eat clock especially with the lead.

 

[Ernie McCracken]

No hater here but like stated earlier "Concerned" . Worried we could lose some highly rated QB and OL commits due to a glaring lack of development.

GBO

 

[DaddyChad]

i t

Agreed, Heard was blocking downfield in overtime for a change

Heard will get better as he gets more into shape. Plagued by injuries this year that has kept him from performing up to standard. And yeah it pisses me off how he’s played at times frustrating but he should only get better from here on out.

 

[Vol8188]

Nearly everyone in the top 10 played a 1 possession game this week. (Bama by 2 over the worst team in the SEC, Penn St OT, Ole MS OT loss, use obviously, Oh St and Oregon).

I think what our fans are failing to realize is just how competitive things have become

 

[CoachClick]

Not saying he's the best but if Nico makes the throws that was there against arky and fla he'd be the best vols coach ever.

Nope

 

[DaddyChad]

No hater here but like stated earlier "Concerned" . Worried we could lose some highly rated QB and OL commits due to a glaring lack of development.

GBO

Lack of development?

Heupel has put the last two QBs here in the nfl and had Nico in Heisman discussion for a bit. Nico of course has struggled and regressed but he’s a RS freshman.

 

[Dansky]

Venables the second half of our OU game showed the coaching fraternity how to shut down CJH’s offense. As Nico matures he’ll become more dangerous and better at selecting secondary receivers.

Let’s hope

 

[volfeeva]

Not a hater, in fact love the guy.

However it is clear that this year’s offense has limitations. His stubbornness to run his offense regardless of field position, time, talent, or score is a glaring fault leading to predictability and poor performance.

If your OL sucks, run shorter routes and get your QB to stop holding the ball so long. Not every play has to be a home run, get first downs and eat clock especially with the lead.

Well said. I don't hate JH and I think he's turned the program around but we just need to expect 2 to 3 losses each year and playing in a bowl game at best. And yes, there are ways to compensate for a bad OL, put him back in the shotgun, run some sweep plays out right or left, hit some short passes across the middle , etc. My biggest beef with JH is continuing to do the same failed plays week after week, game after game...almost like he wants to lose the game

 

[cardvolfan]

It’s waaay more than that.
It’s the play calling in general.

It was better tonight with more usage of the TE and rolling the pocket, but we still went to OT with a terrible Florida team.

That’s far from a terrib

It’s waaay more than that.
It’s the play calling in general.

It was better tonight with more usage of the TE and rolling the pocket, but we still went to OT with a terrible Florida team.

if you can look at last night and still call Florida a terrible team, Josh Heupel wants to have a word with you.

 

[theFallGuy]

Positives...our OL played much better in the second half. No sacks allowed. Better run blocking also. There were open WRs on MULTIPLE occasions. TWO for TDs in the first half and one, which likely gets us in FG range to win the game on a simple in route that was WIDE open. I still believe in Nico and think he will start making these throws. He HAS made these throws in the past and made a couple tonight on deep crossings that had a very small window and that very few QBs playing college football could make.

As an aside I was reading in game thread some idiots calling for Gaston Moore. Just wonder what do you think Faizon Brandon, who was in attendance, would think about Heupel benching his Freshman QB in only his 7th game? Nico WILL get better, we have to be patient and remember that while yes he IS getting paid a lot of money and is not above criticism, he is still a young college QB.

Gaston Moore? Lol wtf

 

[pasadenavol]

Play calling sucks, just run it up the middle 85% of the time. Heupel should chew himself out for his play calling. No quick slants across the middle, no bubble screens, no receiver routes to ensure one gets sprung open. I understand you have a young QB, but you've got to have more in your playbook than what we've seen so far.

P.S. not a hater, just disappointed in our offensive schemes.