If this is the beginning of the end of Heupel at Tennessee—his executive decision to continue to play Joe Milton in 2023 is what prevented a breakout

[Volfan1000]

Tennessee makes the the College Football Playoff.

Tennessee Fans:
View attachment 709064

Unbelievable

Christmas Vacation was a terrific movie and the scene where Randy Quaid makes Brian Doyle Murray walk into the Griswold home for a heart to heart with Chevy Chase was a great scene and made that movie.

Julia Louis Dreyfus being in that movie before her Seinfeld days was great too.

 

[BreatheUT]

When you win, you take it and go to the next game.
When you lose, you wonder why things went wrong, and move on.
When you get blown out, and it’s the last game, you have more time to evaluate deeply the whole season, and look at what caused the blowout.

I think this is a dumb thread but as you say it is not the loss, it is the fact that we weren't competitive.

 

[DeadVols]

I feel like people forget how ridiculously talented Ohio State was this year. Smith, Tate, and Egbuka, are all legit NFL-dudes. Their RBs are both NFL-calibre. Howard likely isn't an NFL-dude, but he's an absolute stud at the collegiate level. Their defense wasn't at its normal level, but without half our skill-dudes, it was more than good enough.

Secondary was bad. We didn't play anybody this year with a really dynamic QB outside of Carson Beck who lit our asses up in the second half. Just be thankful we didn't play LSU or Ole Miss in conference. The SEC was just bad for QBs this year. Pavia and Milroe were the best QBs we faced. Both are not good coverage/delivery-passers.

The SECPOY got two touches because he was injured. Take Jeanty off Boise State and see how they do against Penn State... Two catches split between White and Thornton. Can we get some WRs who aren't made out of glass from Santa Claus?

 

[pimo1]

Boy they smoking some good stuff somewhere.... where do people come up with this crap? Not playing Milton last year would affect this season how? It would stop our WR's this year from getting hurt and dropping balls? It would have miraculously cured the turnstile at RT?

We won 10 freaking games guys....

You ask anyone preseason even the nuttiest nuts.. and you tell them we go 10-2 regular season (WIth wins vs Bama and Florida) and make playoffs they are sold.

 

[PowerWookie]

Calm down crybabies

 

[pimo1]

Love Josh Heupel. He’s done some great things for us. Couple of head scratching decisions. The biggest one being—not having Nico ready to roll in 2023.

Joe Milton was never a major starting QB. Michigan saw it right away. He has great tools, a great young man, and a great teammate.

But the way this season played out is precisely why he should have had Nico hitting the field as early as possible.

Nico played his ass off against Ohio state but it was obvious he wasn’t ready for game speed for much of this season.

don’t want to be a Debbie Downer but next year won’t be a playoff year. And then we have no idea what our schedule will look like the following year, but I think it’s going to get more difficult to recruit and this may be the high water mark of Heupel as our head coach.

I hope it’s not. But it’s going to be difficult to get back to where we were this year.

Fun year. Proud we made the playoffs. Should have had Nico ready for rush run after it was obvious Joe Milton wasn’t the guy. Instead we rode Milton for the entire 2023 season and missed the opportunity to really make progress in 2024.

You realize Joe Milton is on an NFL roster right?

 

[pimo1]

Guys… I’m embarrassed enough. Please stop

This times 50000

 

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

Love Josh Heupel. He’s done some great things for us. Couple of head scratching decisions. The biggest one being—not having Nico ready to roll in 2023.

Joe Milton was never a major starting QB. Michigan saw it right away. He has great tools, a great young man, and a great teammate.

But the way this season played out is precisely why he should have had Nico hitting the field as early as possible.

Nico played his ass off against Ohio state but it was obvious he wasn’t ready for game speed for much of this season.

don’t want to be a Debbie Downer but next year won’t be a playoff year. And then we have no idea what our schedule will look like the following year, but I think it’s going to get more difficult to recruit and this may be the high water mark of Heupel as our head coach.

I hope it’s not. But it’s going to be difficult to get back to where we were this year.

Fun year. Proud we made the playoffs. Should have had Nico ready for rush run after it was obvious Joe Milton wasn’t the guy. Instead we rode Milton for the entire 2023 season and missed the opportunity to really make progress in 2024.

Heupel got Joe Milton drafted who is now on the Patriots 53 man roster.

That was no small feat given how Joe was basically a washout transfer from another big time program that few people were looking to pick up.

I wish I could see the future as clearly as you because then I would invest more money in winning stocks rather than speculate on my favorite team of 18-20 something’s are going to make the playoffs.

 

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

Guys… I’m embarrassed enough. Please stop

Negavols have no shame

 

[VolCalls]

And to build on this point—recruiting is going to be tough when it starts looking like Heupel has stagnated. This was a year to capitalize on, and instead we lost opportunity by not having Nico Raady to take full advantage of this campaign.

It was obvious to anyone last year that Milton should have been ready to be sat by Florida. How Heupel Couldn’t figure that out is the point of this post. And the fact that he punted to Ohio state when our defense looked like a liability against them….some decisions he makes are just….what…

Heupel started Milton over Hendon when he got here. The only reason HH got an opportunity in the first place was because Joe went down with an injury. Hendon did so well there was no putting him back on the bench once Joe was healthy.

 

[Dirtyhairies]

Guys… I’m embarrassed enough. Please stop

They wont

 

[Dirtyhairies]

Doing the same thing over and over again…and expecting a different result—is the definition of what?

Its not the definition of anything

 

[VolCalls]

You expected a true freshman to be ready? Hypothetically which game does Nico win that we lost with Joe was QB?


In four years we go from 3-7, to beating Bama twice, Florida twice, #1 ranking and make the 12 team playoff.

I get the Florida part on paper, but let’s be honest - they’ve been a **** program ever since Heupel’s been here so we should be beating them routinely, and by more than 5-6 points at home. They had our number for so long because they were a perennial top 10 team, and even when they weren’t we were going through 15 years of ineptitude.

 

[Hairy Vols]

Realistically, we may not reach the playoffs for a bit. I hope that’s not the case, but this year was missed opportunity.

Our passing game was not developed. We have some big time assets coming—but not having Nico battle ready in favor of sticking with Joe Milton shows Heupel’s flaws in making executive decisions.

Him punting when we were down 28-10 in the 3rd quarter was also a real head scratcher that not many elite coaches would have made.

we have an incredibly great chance to make the playoffs again this upcoming season. You’re being incredibly dramatic

Heupel AT WORST is a 10 win a season coach similar to Mark Richt.. tho I think he will show he is much better than that before it’s all said and done.

Our schedule next year is a cake walk and we likely will be in position to make the playoffs again.

 

[Hairy Vols]

I get the Florida part on paper, but let’s be honest - they’ve been a **** program ever since Heupel’s been here so we should be beating them routinely, and by more than 5-6 points at home. They had our number for so long because they were a perennial top 10 team, and even when they weren’t we were going through 15 years of ineptitude.

Ask Ryan Day how rivalry games go sometimes.. the game will always be close against them. Just like we will always beat Kentucky.

 

[SockeyeVol]

Doing the same thing over and over again…and expecting a different result—is the definition of what?

Persistence?
Tenacity?
Stubbornness?

I give up. Is it something like starting another wingnut thread on how to coach the team, and expecting people to agree that you know more than the staff? Because that might mean you are a little....insane.

 

[fossilfiction]

Nico wasn't ready last year. He wasn't ready this year several times.

 

[feathersax]

Goodness…there must not be any egg nog left in VolNation.

I’m impressed at how the craziness just seems to grow and grow after a loss.

A lot of you folks might want to consider prescription meds.

No doubt about it, friend. Some fans need 'em.

 

[volinvegas]

The number one way for a coach to get fired around here is making the playoffs with a freshmen QB. Fire Hype with cause and take his buyout....I heard Gruden was available.

 

[volinvegas]

I hate that we got blown out in the playoffs. However we made it and Bama didnt ,damn it! The only thing that needs to change is not getting blown out once every 2 years. I haven't seen anything worthy of even considering firing Coach Hype. Oh, and I belive in Joe Hendry.

 

[MemphisVol77]

But the way this season played out is precisely why he should have had Nico hitting the field as early as possible.

Nico played his ass off against Ohio state but it was obvious he wasn’t ready for game speed for much of this season.

next year won’t be a playoff year. And then we have no idea what our schedule will look like the following year, but I think it’s going to get more difficult to recruit

Realistically, we may not reach the playoffs for a bit. I hope that’s not the case, but this year was missed opportunity.

looking like Heupel has stagnated. This was a year to capitalize on, and instead we lost opportunity by not having Nico Raady

Since we're not making the playoff next year and we have no idea what the following years schedule will look like........and realistically we might not make the playoffs for a bit.....we can't let Heupel risk stagnating like he did by not having Nico ready......

The only logical thing to do Is bench Nico for George MacIntyre next year. We can't make the same mistake we did with Nico again. If MacIntyre doesn't push 3K yrds & 30 TD's, then we bench MacIntyre for Faizon Brandon in 2026.

We just can't risk playing our most game ready upperclassmen QB if we aren't fairly certain we're CFP contenders. We must play talented underclassmen, whether or not they're ready, for the sake of our future potential.
There's no chance this reasoning could backfire catastrophically and cause the coaching staff to completely lose the team.

I'll add the blue on my post after OP edits it into his.

Unless you think we could have won more games with Nico than we did with Milton last year, there is no valid argument that Milton should have been benched.
Are we really blaming Heupel for not having a true freshman QB in 23(Nico) able to outperform a 6th year player that got drafted and made a 53 man NFL roster?
Tanking and building a championship culture are not compatible at the CFB level. They are mutually exclusive.
Players opt out for the draft/portal. Coaches should always demand the most out of their roster.

 

[MemphisVol77]

I cant believe "beginning of the end" is even being discussed. It's never crosses my mind until I see it on here.

This is beyond negavol, it's just plain stupidity

We'll be bumping this thread for years.

 

[Sarms58]

If only Josh was as smart as the coaches on VolNation…

 

[TnScooby]

I cant believe "beginning of the end" is even being discussed. It's never crosses my mind until I see it on here.

This is beyond negavol, it's just plain stupidity

This times a THOUSAND!!!!! OMG, the lunatics are trying to run the asylum !!!! Anyone who thinks UT is better off without CJH loves misery (and apparently company too).....

 

[MemphisVol77]

It’s amazing to me how many people have apparently believed that Nico was supposed to walk into Tennessee and put up top numbers among QB’s in his first season….

Milton's stats in 23 were slightly better than Nico's stats this year. But, somehow Nico would have been better prepared as a true freshman and been the better QB last year.

People conflate the exceptionally rare cases of true freshman becoming their teams best option with tanking. Outside of a game or two at the end of the year(after they've been eliminated from conference races), that just doesn't happen in blueblood CFB.
Clemson didn't tank with Trevor, it was about their teams best chance to win that week. Same with Johhny at aTm & Winston at FL St..........

There's so many flaws with OP's logic in this thread I can't begin to keep up.
"His mismanagement of Nico is gonna cause a logjam. We could lose QB's to the transfer portal!!"
Or maybe Heupel having Hooker & Milton drafted and make NFL rosters is the reason we could end up with 3 5star QB's on our roster in 2026. Hell of a problem to have.
"I knew it was the beginning of the end when we only played 2 of our 5 star QB's."