If I can offer one thing to consider...

[Stephen Gray]

You would have sworn SC had no playmakers before Saturday. Ratturd had 8 TD's all year before Saturday. Had 6 in one game against us. You can't take anyone for granted if you're going to lay back there and see if they can complete the pass or not. It's as if we thought he couldn't make the throws.

I agree. Yeah SC did their part but we should win that game and even if we lose it shouldn’t be the walloping that occurred. Vanderbilt is another team we should beat, and we should beat them easily, but it would not be crazy if the game were closer than we want.

I do expect us to win, and I absolutely think we should, but even if we lose, it matters how we played in my opinion. A close loss after a hard fought game where some circumstances worked against us will feel a lot different than losing how we did against SC.

Vandy is plenty good enough to beat us if they play their best, but our team does not take them seriously and show up with the right attitude and having prepared for the opponent. They have been impressive in some areas, despite overall performing poorly, but one of those areas is turnovers.

They will be motivated. They are playing for bowl eligibility, this is their last chance to achieve it, beating Tennessee makes any season a great one for them, and they are on a two game win streak against Kentucky and Florida, after having not beaten an SEC team in a long time. We will likely get their best. It probably won’t matter if our team does likewise, but if they do not…

 

[Cartervol]

I agree. Yeah SC did their part but we should win that game and even if we lose it shouldn’t be the walloping that occurred. Vanderbilt is another team we should beat, and we should beat them easily, but it would not be crazy if the game were closer than we want.

I do expect us to win, and I absolutely think we should, but even if we lose, it matters how we played in my opinion. A close loss after a hard fought game where some circumstances worked against us will feel a lot different than losing how we did against SC.

Vandy is plenty good enough to beat us if they play their best, but our team does not take them seriously and show up with the right attitude and having prepared for the opponent. They have been impressive in some areas, despite overall performing poorly, but one of those areas is turnovers.

They will be motivated. They are playing for bowl eligibility, this is their last chance to achieve it, beatiYeah.ng Tennessee makes any season a great one for them, and they are on a two game win streak against Kentucky and Florida, after having not beaten an SEC team in a long time. We will likely get their best. It probably won’t matter if our team does likewise, but if they do not…

Yeah.. Defense actually gets off the bus and we don't give them 2 or 3 turnovers we probably win i agree. Then there is the if the other stuff happens side of it. Then it's a 4 quarter ballgame and then who knows. Could be Butch 2016 all over again. I've seen flaws in this team all year that the offense has masked. It's why i'm surprised we're actually 9-2 now. The talent on this roster is not 9-2 talent.

 

[Brave Volunteer]

Urban Meyer was out of a job at the end of the next year and essentially "on suspension" the first 3 games of his last year at Ohio State.

Urban was losing control of his team and coaches by 2017. Your point?

I dont know, that youre a horse's ass?

 

[Stephen Gray]

They have always had playmakers. They just haven’t played good this year. Our defense isn’t nearly as bad as it looked against SC.

They are good in some areas but definitely deficient in others. Even so, when playing at their best they do much better than what we saw that game. The secondary obviously gets heat most games but they have played better against stronger competition, so I don’t think we saw them playing their best.

Even if you want to say “well, the secondary overachieved at times but had to have a game like this eventually”, which I don’t agree with, it doesn’t account for everything. The defensive line probably had their worst game by a good margin. I mean we played a lot better against top tier offenses.

 

[VOLINVONORE]

Stop it.

No. Stop the QB.

 

[SayUWantAreVOLution]

I dont know, that youre a horse's ass?

For pointing out the facts? Sure.

 

[KeyVol14]

We can beat Vandy with a vanilla game plan don’t fool yourselves. I just hope Heupel has addressed whatever happen the past week and has moved on. That defensive performance was solely a result of a split team.

 

[Stephen Gray]

We can beat Vandy with a vanilla game plan don’t fool yourselves. I just hope Heupel has addressed whatever happen the past week and has moved on. That defensive performance was solely a result of a split team.

Sure we can. But the players have to execute that vanilla game plan.

 

[Orangepantsforever]

I have very real concerns about this Vandy game on Saturday given the fact that Hooker is out. I have absolutely no confidence in this defense, so the offense likely will feel the pressure to score a considerable amount of points. I hope Milton is up to the task , but I am far from sure of it.

Gotta care…..and they didn’t give a rip the other night. I’m one of the idiots that bought overpriced tickets to Nashville, so I’m still hoping for a miracle. But I doubt it. I sense vindictive selfishness amongst the team. That doesn’t disappear in a week. But here’s to hope……springing eternal since 2005.

 

[Sara Clark]

Gotta care…..and they didn’t give a rip the other night. I’m one of the idiots that bought overpriced tickets to Nashville, so I’m still hoping for a miracle. But I doubt it. I sense vindictive selfishness amongst the team. That doesn’t disappear in a week. But here’s to hope……springing eternal since 2005.

I looked at my husband at halftime and told him there was a problem in the locker room, he thought I was crazy. Unlike you, I was able to snag 3 low level tickets at a good price ( for the SC game), the hotel is what got me at $550...so yeah, I'm a little salty to have saw half the team play with little to NO effort. Problems in the locker room WILL NOT be fixed in a week....assuming that's the problem.

 

[Orangepantsforever]

I looked at my husband at halftime and told him there was a problem in the locker room, he thought I was crazy. Unlike you, I was able to snag 3 low level tickets at a good price, the hotel is what got me at $550...so yeah, I'm a little salty to have saw half the team play with little to NO effort. Problems in the locker room WILL NOT be fixed in a week....assuming that's the problem.

Yeah, $400 for me on the hotel . I just live two hours away, but got it because of the game time.
But no, they won’t be fixed that quickly….and yes, I’d say that’s the problem. You don’t suddenly suck THAT bad.

 

[Vol865]

Vs LSU the defense looked like world beaters. UK too. What was the difference then compared to the chit show on Sat??

On Sat the D looked uninterested period. There’s a reason for that and I wish we all knew.

UK offense was overrated and LSU had a QB still figuring it out

 

[KeyVol14]

UK offense was overrated and LSU had a QB still figuring it out

South Carolina has been horrendous all year on offense. There’s no way we’re just that bad all of a sudden.

 

[Clad in Big Orange]

You would have sworn SC had no playmakers before Saturday. Ratturd had 8 TD's all year before Saturday. Had 6 in one game against us. You can't take anyone for granted if you're going to lay back there and see if they can complete the pass or not. It's as if we thought he couldn't make the throws.

Exactly. Here we go again with "they can't do this and they don't have that and we're gonna do this to them." Have we not learned one thing from Saturday night?

 

[Cartervol]

Exactly. Here we go again with "they can't do this and they don't have that and we're gonna do this to them." Have we not learned one thing from Saturday night?

They don't understand that we don't have good enough talent to just show up like Bama and UGA. We saw that first hand Saturday. All these people calling for a azzwhopping of Vandy have more confidence than i do.. The way things are right now don't point to that. Struggle our way right out of the year is more than likely to me.

 

[Stephen Gray]

They don't understand that we don't have good enough talent to just show up like Bama and UGA. We saw that first hand Saturday. All these people calling for a azzwhopping of Vandy have more confidence than i do.. The way things are right now don't point to that. Struggle our way right out of the year is more than likely to me.

Totally agree about our talent. We have talent for sure, but not several levels deep like the teams you mention. Our options at certain positions when you need to put someone else in are not as good. Sometimes they can do it and they get surprised by what a guy does on the field versus what you have seen in practice, but more often players perform in line with what one would expect. I hope you are wrong about us struggling, but would not be surprised either way. Hopefully we win, struggle or not..

 

[Cartervol]

Totally agree about our talent. We have talent for sure, but not several levels deep like the teams you mention. Our options at certain positions when you need to put someone else in are not as good. Sometimes they can do it and they get surprised by what a guy does on the field versus what you have seen in practice, but more often players perform in line with what one would expect. I hope you are wrong about us struggling, but would not be surprised either way. Hopefully we win, struggle or not..

Yeah me too.. I'd like to see it end on a positive note. It's been a good ride up til Saturday and the WTF moment no one saw coming.

 

[Stephen Gray]

Losing to South Carolina is awful, and the way we did it hurts even more, but losing to Kentucky or Vanderbilt is a very different level of pain. Everyone who thinks we won’t lose to Vandy… well we shouldn’t, but it is very possible. They almost never win, but when they do they still shouldn’t have, but it happened.

 

[unfrozencvmanvol]

In 2017, an unranked Iowa team defeated a highly talented Urban Meyer coached #5 Ohio State team 55-24, handing Urban Meyer his worse loss in his career.

Now, obviously this doesnt solve anything for us this year but I wanted to point that game out as a way to discourage anybody from thinking the loss to South Carolina is an automatic red flag against Huepel. Bad losses happen to good coaches. We will see how Huepel responds. Despite what happened Saturday Im still very excited for the future of the program.

I'm not down on Heupel, but in regards to your comparison Meyer also had those 3 national championships in his back pocket to shore up his credibility.

 

[Gandalf]

In 2017, an unranked Iowa team defeated a highly talented Urban Meyer coached #5 Ohio State team 55-24, handing Urban Meyer his worse loss in his career.

Now, obviously this doesnt solve anything for us this year but I wanted to point that game out as a way to discourage anybody from thinking the loss to South Carolina is an automatic red flag against Huepel. Bad losses happen to good coaches. We will see how Huepel responds. Despite what happened Saturday Im still very excited for the future of the program.

Urban Meyer HIMSELF could play against our secondary and completely torch it. I am equally convinced that he could come in and play IN our secondary and we would be more likely to stop a team from scoring on every possession.

It doesnt matter though. I highly suspect that there was an altercation, coaches tried to teach a lesson by sitting Banks in what they thought was an inconsequential game. The Defense gets pissed and takes his side and viola! we are 10x more dogs**t than usual. I watched people just give up and no one can tell me that something didnt happen that WASNT game related.

Perhaps now that they have given away the chance to compete at CFP and probably cost some guys serious money (not the least of which Hooker), they can get their heads out of their asses and go play football and suck a bit less against a Vandy who thinks its something all of a sudden.

 

[JoeMiltonsAgent]

In 2017, an unranked Iowa team defeated a highly talented Urban Meyer coached #5 Ohio State team 55-24, handing Urban Meyer his worse loss in his career.

Now, obviously this doesnt solve anything for us this year but I wanted to point that game out as a way to discourage anybody from thinking the loss to South Carolina is an automatic red flag against Huepel. Bad losses happen to good coaches. We will see how Huepel responds. Despite what happened Saturday Im still very excited for the future of the program.

I would throw that WVU-Clemson Orange Bowl game in 2012 as another example.

70-33 final score.

Not saying Heupel goes on a run like Dabo has done but, I agree, these games can happen.

 

[volfeeva]

I have very real concerns about this Vandy game on Saturday given the fact that Hooker is out. I have absolutely no confidence in this defense, so the offense likely will feel the pressure to score a considerable amount of points. I hope Milton is up to the task , but I am far from sure of it.

The more I read and hear about the pre-game issues last Saturday, I'm feeling bad that this team...at least the secondary laid down on the team, the other players, and the coaches for whatever reason ( spite?, anger?, punishment ?). And it may have involved certain coaches not even trying to change it or stop it. I hope I'm wrong, but what we saw last Saturday seems like deliberate intent to lose a game because SC scored at will and every time they touched the ball.

 

[Louisianavol78]

For the players on D who choose to be childish on a man’s platform in the SEC you don’t represent The University of Tennessee though you may wear the colors and uniforms you are not worthy of its honor or it’s grand history. Not only did you let down the fans but in my opinion you betrayed the one man HENDON HOOKER who restored honor and a man who stocked the fire in Volnation once again. HH put the power back into the Power T again for me. I’m 44 years old I’ve seen a lot Tennessee football but honestly I’ve never had a year where I am beyond excited , happy and proud. What we all witnessed this year will go down in history. HENDON you are a man all players should strive to be. Thanks for an amazing year full of success and a few failures but hey that’s the SEC BABY.

 

[LadyVolette]

I have very real concerns about this Vandy game on Saturday given the fact that Hooker is out. I have absolutely no confidence in this defense, so the offense likely will feel the pressure to score a considerable amount of points. I hope Milton is up to the task , but I am far from sure of it.

Well he is QB1 next year while the young’uns learn, I have faith in him, let’s ride

 

[LadyVolette]

I looked at my husband at halftime and told him there was a problem in the locker room, he thought I was crazy. Unlike you, I was able to snag 3 low level tickets at a good price ( for the SC game), the hotel is what got me at $550...so yeah, I'm a little salty to have saw half the team play with little to NO effort. Problems in the locker room WILL NOT be fixed in a week....assuming that's the problem.

Unless they have a serious come to Jesus meeting and put it all out there.. things aren’t resolved until someone is crying lol