Heupel proved to me tonight that he’s legit

#1
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Hopeful Vol

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#1
Tonight Heupel proved to me that he is a good coach and def not another Butch Jones. The big win over Florida, LSU and Bama were fantastic and the 8-0 start to the season. But the way he rallied the team together to dominate a upstart Vandy team after the disappointing loss to South Carolina to a 56-0 win without a hangover was a big step in his young coaching career. Butch might have lost this game somehow and lost the locker room like he did in 2016 but Heupel kept them focus and hungry even with them pretty much being out of the playoff race and losing Hooker for the season. That impressed me yes we should never lose to Vandy but there was some people picking us including Herbie to lay down and lose tonight. Yes I think we are going to be just fine long term with Heupel as our coach. The team could’ve imploded and quit trying the rest of the season but they didn’t. Heupel deserves a nice raise.
 
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#2
#2
Hopeful Vol said:
Tonight Heupel proved to me that he is a good coach and def not another Butch Jones. The big win over Florida, LSU and Bama were fantastic and the 8-0 start to the season. But the way he rallied the team together to dominate a upstart Vandy team after the disappointing loss to South Carolina to a 56-0 win without a hangover was a big step in his young coaching career. Butch might have lost this game somehow and lost the locker room like he did in 2016 but Heupel kept them focus and hungry even with them pretty much being out of the playoff race and losing Hooker for the season. That impressed me yes we should never lose to Vandy but there was some people picking us including Herbie to lay down and lose tonight. Yes I think we are going to be just fine long term with Heupel as our coach. The team could’ve imploded and quit trying the rest of the season but they didn’t. Heupel deserves a nice raise.
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And we had a LOT of the DBacks missing tonite ...
 
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#3
#3
I honestly don't feel like tonight's rebound was any more credit to Heupel than last week's loss was his inability to coach/prepare them. The team walked into that beating head first with crappy attitudes and selfishness and were humiliated, so this week they played with some pride. It certainly helped to have Banks back bringing some leadership they lost when he was missing . Whatever the root cause was, the team wins when they play as a team and loses hard when they don't . We don't have enough superstar athletes to overcome selfishness by key players. Heupel is clearly everything the program needs to be successful, but the rig runs by the hard work and focus of the players. Tonight was a product of a much needed humbling turned into positive energy.
 
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#5
#5
Tonight the D was pizzed as they should have been.

This was never going to be a game if the D showed up.

Heupel is an O guy…….if you didn’t know by now I’m not sure anyone will know.

Also if someone was waiting to see how he handled “struggle” like a supposed locker room issue………look no further than last year………he walked into an utter mess and swept it up fast. Had Tennessee competing quickly……..with what he had to work with.
 
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#8
#8
Who knows what the future holds, but he's checking alot of the right boxes.

That type of debacle last week happens, and it happens to good teams. That doesn't take away the sting, but what does take some of the sting away is good teams shake it off and move on like it seems we've done, and that's something we've struggled with for a long while.

How long did we take 1 step forward and 2-3 or more steps backwards? It's a fact we're moving forward.
 
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#11
#11
This was the only game this season thar I didn't come on here and say "We'll be fine.". I was that shook up. But, you're right, OP.

And, if you saw the after game interviews, as CJH was walking off field, at the end, he leaned goofily into the camera and yelled "Go Big Orange!". Translation - He aint going anywhere!
 
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#12
#12
56-0 against Vanderbilt always is satisfying. Suffering is not enough for those in black and gold.

The only question I have for the future right now is, can this offense beat the pressman on teams with above-average corners? Georgia and USC both leveraged their defense strengths at the corner and flat-out won all night. Can the offense design overcome it coaching or is it a matter, of athletes having to win on the outside only? Seems like a solid rushing game is an answer, but unless Wright and Sampson really break out, we don't have an RB that carry the game right now.
 
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#14
#14
fossilfiction said:
56-0 against Vanderbilt always is satisfying. Suffering is not enough for those in black and gold.

The only question I have for the future right now is, can this offense beat the pressman on teams with above-average corners? Georgia and USC both leveraged their defense strengths at the corner and flat-out won all night. Can the offense design overcome it coaching or is it a matter, of athletes having to win on the outside only? Seems like a solid rushing game is an answer, but unless Wright and Sampson really break out, we don't have an RB that carry the game right now.
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Check out commit Khalifa Keith. You might get some hope.
 
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#18
#18
Behr said:
Who knows what the future holds, but he's checking alot of the right boxes.

That type of debacle last week happens, and it happens to good teams. That doesn't take away the sting, but what does take some of the sting away is good teams shake it off and move on like it seems we've done, and that's something we've struggled with for a long while.

How long did we take 1 step forward and 2-3 or more steps backwards? It's a fact we're moving forward.
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As you very aptly point out, it is almost impossible to bring your A-game and play well every week. Our defense brought an F- at SC. Offense was a B to B+.

When you look at the Composite Talent Rankings, Vols and SC have almost even rosters. Vols 19. SC 20.

SC was the perfect storm. We didn’t play well (we can speculate why, but it really doesn’t matter) and they came loaded for bear. We don’t yet have the talent to beat programs like that when we play poorly. Georgia and Alabama have that luxury. We don’t.

We also didn’t play well at Pitt, but they are down around 50 in those rankings and lost their starting QB. So, we were able to squeak that one out.

Time will tell if we can continue to upgrade our talent level to a higher level. It will take time to do it.

As an aside, UT played four teams above it in those roster rankings (Al 1, Ga 2, LSU 8 and Fl 12) and went 3-1. That is very solid.
 
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#20
#20
Hopeful Vol said:
Tonight Heupel proved to me that he is a good coach and def not another Butch Jones. The big win over Florida, LSU and Bama were fantastic and the 8-0 start to the season. But the way he rallied the team together to dominate a upstart Vandy team after the disappointing loss to South Carolina to a 56-0 win without a hangover was a big step in his young coaching career. Butch might have lost this game somehow and lost the locker room like he did in 2016 but Heupel kept them focus and hungry even with them pretty much being out of the playoff race and losing Hooker for the season. That impressed me yes we should never lose to Vandy but there was some people picking us including Herbie to lay down and lose tonight. Yes I think we are going to be just fine long term with Heupel as our coach. The team could’ve imploded and quit trying the rest of the season but they didn’t. Heupel deserves a nice raise.
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While I agree with your comments, I still await one more thing before I'd go as far as you did. I want to see him assemble a roster and develop it. Can he recognize, sign and develop talent? Hooker was already here but Heupel still went out and got Milton to start. He's had has hands on Milton for 2 years and he still isn't looking like the answer for next year. Can Heupel win his share in the portal? He's off to a roaring start in year 2, but now Hooker and Tillman are gone along with a lot of others. I'm not expecting another season like this next year. I think we'll take a step or 2 back, but let's see how he does in filling holes and developing depth. And THE question...who's the starting QB and what does he look like?
 
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#21
#21
CAVPUT said:
While I agree with your comments, I still await one more thing before I'd go as far as you did. I want to see him assemble a roster and develop it. Can he recognize, sign and develop talent? Hooker was already here but Heupel still went out and got Milton to start. He's had has hands on Milton for 2 years and he still isn't looking like the answer for next year. Can Heupel win his share in the portal? He's off to a roaring start in year 2, but now Hooker and Tillman are gone along with a lot of others. I'm not expecting another season like this next year. I think we'll take a step or 2 back, but let's see how he does in filling holes and developing depth. And THE question...who's the starting QB and what does he look like?
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Fair enough. I think that only 1/3 of the team are Heupel recruits. Can't wait until he fills the cabinets with his own ingredients.
 
#22
#22
Hopeful Vol said:
Tonight Heupel proved to me that he is a good coach and def not another Butch Jones. The big win over Florida, LSU and Bama were fantastic and the 8-0 start to the season. But the way he rallied the team together to dominate an upstart Vandy team after the disappointing loss to South Carolina to a 56-0 win without a hangover was a big step in his young coaching career. Butch might have lost this game somehow and lost the locker room like he did in 2016 but Heupel kept them focus and hungry even with them pretty much being out of the playoff race and losing Hooker for the season. That impressed me yes we should never lose to Vandy but there was some people picking us including Herbie to lay down and lose tonight. Yes I think we are going to be just fine long term with Heupel as our coach. The team could’ve imploded and quit trying the rest of the season but they didn’t. Heupel deserves a nice raise.
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It’s crazy it took you this long to see it but ok. Welcome aboard.
 
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#23
#23
CAVPUT said:
While I agree with your comments, I still await one more thing before I'd go as far as you did. I want to see him assemble a roster and develop it. Can he recognize, sign and develop talent? Hooker was already here but Heupel still went out and got Milton to start. He's had has hands on Milton for 2 years and he still isn't looking like the answer for next year. Can Heupel win his share in the portal? He's off to a roaring start in year 2, but now Hooker and Tillman are gone along with a lot of others. I'm not expecting another season like this next year. I think we'll take a step or 2 back, but let's see how he does in filling holes and developing depth. And THE question...who's the starting QB and what does he look like?
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All good and intriguing questions. Next season will tell alot about our coach in year 3 more of the roster will be his recruits. Is this success sustainable? I think it is although I expect us to take a small step back next season like to 8-4 but I think we will be fine going forward this coaching staff can coach up and develop talent.
 
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#24
#24
It was a nice win, but the only thing you can prove against Vanderbilt is that you are a loser. Heupel definitely avoided that.
 
#25
#25
Last night proved that we are better than Vandy on their field in the rain after 6:30 pm. Taking cheap shots @ ole Butch won't win the Eastern Division. GoVols.
 
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