Is it just me or?

[hUTch2002]

Got some positions that really need transfer portal help. We can't develop tallent.

Ha! Good one.

 

[Brave Volunteer]

3 makeable FGs, should have been 37-18. People's expectations are met, and btw we pull the line.

Kickers....:::::smdh::::

The score should have been 58-18. 3 dropped passes, 2 in the endzone and one with nobody in front of the guy. Either our WR's aren't being developed or they are very overrated. Nico played his ass off in this game and our receiving Corp did him dirty.

 

[Jimmyandjoes]

Maybe I just got unlucky and saw the wrong posts on X. It felt like I was in an alternate timeline. People saying the only good thing on this team is our defensive line. A bunch of nonsense.

The first problem was being on X. Nothing but a cesspool of negativity. Can't say most of the game thread on here is much different

 

[Jimmyandjoes]

Got some positions that really need transfer portal help. We can't develop tallent.

Which ones?

 

[UT97Vol]

The question posed by the OP is one I have gone back and forth on.

But here’s the thing. We haven’t allowed 20 points in a game yet. That’s happened four other times in this century. All of the four previous won the national championship. So, I believe from a defensive perspective, we are at least a playoff team. The difference between those other four and this Tennessee team is that none of those other teams had a freshman QB and of the four teams (03 LSU, 11 Bama, 12 Bama, and 21 UGA) only AJ McCarron at Alabama was a first year starter.

So playoff caliber? There’s a lot of first year QBs who have led their teams to the playoff (when it was only four teams) and Defense says yes this is a playoff caliber team. Winning a national title with a freshman QB? That’s only been done once by a freshman (Trevor Lawrence ‘18) in the past 30 years).

 

[SteensVol]

We remind me of my golf game...something is going to be off each week (round)

- Driving (Nico)
- Irons (OL)
- Short game (WRs)

Man what fun it is when all three are working! Let's hope we get a few of those down the stretch and especially against UGA!

Good analogy! The margin is small between the great golfers - that is why they don’t win them all. Possesions are critical like putts! Miss the 15’ footer oh no par. Sink the 20’ birdie. We are close to sinking lots of putts.
Can you imagine giving handicap or mulligans? Turnovers are critical, frequently lead to scores. Coaches coach to limit mulligans. When defense is salty they take less risks to offer mulligans to opponents. Its hard to win if you give one mulligan in pga, if you give 2 or 3 they are likely 2 or 3 birdies or stroke at the end. Imagine giving 3 extra posessions to other team at the end of the game. That coaching knowing our D is fairly reliable limits our offense more than folks realize. But it increase chance to win more games. If one game matters, ie 1 loss vs 2 loss! Its better to layup than go for it all the time. Its a long season they are actually playing for the full 5 day toutnament!
Go Vols! Keep winning! Then UGA better be ready!

 

[MemphisVolFan1978]

Our offense not hard to fix it’s not even that bad… for multiple reasons we have yet to put it all together… everybody has part of the blame… rb fumbles in scoring position kicker hadn’t missed from inside 50 misses 3… 3 tds dropped Nico was on point as I knew he would be… I think we take a step vs msu and hopefully we can put enough together to go into Athens and win.

Nico looked good in this game. It seems like we are inching closer and closer to everything clicking. Passes weren’t sailing over the receivers’ heads, Nico picking up some first downs with his feet, made more short passes to pick up yards, utilized the tight ends more. Like you said, hopefully we take another step forward against Mississippi State and we head into Athens hitting on all cylinders. There is no doubt that this team has the potential to beat Georgia and make a run in the playoffs.

 

[KoachKrab127]

We don't pass the eye test and the offense isn't improving as the season goes on.

The offense yesterday was much better than it was against Arkansas, Florida, and the first half against Bama. It wasn’t great, but there was definite improvement.

 

[The Original Fade]

We are very undisciplined with all the penalties and mistakes and several players that are not having the type of year many expected. QB8 is serviceable, and that’s about it. Defense and Sampson are responsible for our record

 

[Sea Ray]

Can't think of one.

Oregon has looked quite solid. Can’t find much fault in their season. They deserve to be #1

As for our Vols, Nico has looked quite good. His receivers cost him 3 TDs yesterday and the team 21 points. If he can also play well on the road, we’re in pretty good shape.

 

[Teeman]

Are people extremely deluded into thinking we are a “bad” football team.. We’ve only lost 1 game. College football this year is rivaling the 2007 chaos year and we have ONE loss. Are there improvements to be made? Absolutely. The last 2 games we left 21-28 points off the board because of execution. I’m seeing fans just trash every player and coach already and it’s pretty damn frustrating. I hate to say it, but it’s just plain ungrateful considering where we were just 3 years ago.

I don’t know, maybe I’m just gullible. I see potential for this team to get clicking and we see some real greatness.

The fact you felt compelled to start this thread should tell you something. I think people are more frustrated than upset with this team. UT started off fast this season and gave us glimpses of greatness. Once they started SEC play, not so much. UT defense has been stellar, but the offense hasn't hit 30 points in SEC play. UT has scored 7 points in the last four first halves. The inconsistency is maddening, because the talent is there. That was a bad KY team UT beat last night. Everything was in our favor, and yet, KY was only down 3 with 13 minutes to go in the game and had the ball.

 

[Brave Volunteer]

The offense yesterday was much better than it was against Arkansas, Florida, and the first half against Bama. It wasn’t great, but there was definite improvement.

Except on the scoreboard where it matters. We might sneak into the playoffs at 10-2 but we are not a championship team. We lack offensive production, and we lack mental toughness at times. We get so many penalties and many of them are so stupid and unnecessary. We were damn lucky that a personal foul penalty wasn't called on ONL for that stupid two-handed sideline block/shove on Kentucky's QB.

 

[beamerman]

Not bad, terribly inconsistent. That's almost as bad as being bad. We have to fix our offense, and quick

Receivers need to catch perfect td passes right in their hands first.

 

[KnoxToTheBoro93]

Except on the scoreboard where it matters. We might sneak into the playoffs at 10-2 but we are not a championship team. We lack offensive production, and we lack mental toughness at times. We get so many penalties and many of them are so stupid and unnecessary. We were damn lucky that a personal foul penalty wasn't called on ONL for that stupid two-handed sideline block/shove on Kentucky's QB.

Like I told somebody it’s silly to say we are not a championship team because of lack of offensive production in October… championships not played until December and January… we gotta keep getting better 8 is looking better and better gotta believe we will start holding on to the ball… we definitely have a championship defense and enough talent on offense to win a ship and a championship caliber of coach… we can do it. Will we?? That remains to be seen but we definitely have the roster and coach to do it.

 

[KoachKrab127]

Except on the scoreboard where it matters. We might sneak into the playoffs at 10-2 but we are not a championship team. We lack offensive production, and we lack mental toughness at times. We get so many penalties and many of them are so stupid and unnecessary. We were damn lucky that a personal foul penalty wasn't called on ONL for that stupid two-handed sideline block/shove on Kentucky's QB.

I didn’t say we were a championship team, and I’d take “sneaking into the playoffs.” Anything can happen from there, especially if we continue to improve.

I disagree with your statement that “we lack mental toughness.” This team gets the job done when they haven’t played their best. Under different coaching staffs in the past, the teams fell apart after one mistake. We made some excellent, tough 3rd & 4th down plays in the 2nd half. First half execution still has to get better, no doubt, but hey. We scored a TD in the first half this week. It wasn’t great, but it is improvement.

 

[sami]

Indiana. They are coasting through all of their games. Can’t wait to see them against the big boys.

If Indiana, Illinois, SMU, Pitt, Clemson, Miami, Iowa State, Penn State, Notre Dame, BYU, and even Ohio State and Oregon played a meat grinder SEC schedule, their records would be different, and quite different in some cases. The reason I hate the playoff format is the stark difference in conference depth and calling a 'Power 4 win' a 'Power 4 win', as if they are all equal.

The Big 10 goes two deep with what I would consider really good (not great!) teams, the ACC might have one in Miami, but we need to see them actually play someone. It's a stretch to even call the Big 12 a Power 4 conference at this point, and yet here we have BYU and Iowa State as top 10 teams until Iowa State was finally exposed.

I try to just watch the games and enjoy the season we are having, but have to admit it would be incredibly frustrating if we happened to lose at Georgia and win out for 10-2 and be on the outside looking in while pretenders like Indiana and Penn State got in as 1-loss teams with those schedules.

 

[Col_Cathcart]

Our O-Line is not terrible, they are actually pretty solid at times. We have struggled at times especially in first half. We have stopped ourselves with crucial penalties at times I admit that. But we also seem to wear on teams and run the ball well as the game goes on. We have did that the last 3 games. We have protected Nico fairly well overall this year. We just have to start getting the passing game going, we have to throw it good and catch it. Eliminate turnovers and silly unnecessary penalties. GBO

Nico refusing to ever throw it away inflates the sack numbers too.

 

[sami]

Except on the scoreboard where it matters. We might sneak into the playoffs at 10-2 but we are not a championship team. We lack offensive production, and we lack mental toughness at times. We get so many penalties and many of them are so stupid and unnecessary.

And yet I guarantee that we would be the nightmare matchup in a playoff situation that not a single team out there would want any part of.

Some of you guys seem to watch UT with blinders on to anything else going on in CFB and look at our games in a vacuum, expecting some sort of perfection that just doesn't exist. I honestly wonder why many on here torture themselves weekly, and only hope that it's a minority of the fan base.

 

[DukeDaisySam]

Are people extremely deluded into thinking we are a “bad” football team.. We’ve only lost 1 game. College football this year is rivaling the 2007 chaos year and we have ONE loss. Are there improvements to be made? Absolutely. The last 2 games we left 21-28 points off the board because of execution. I’m seeing fans just trash every player and coach already and it’s pretty damn frustrating. I hate to say it, but it’s just plain ungrateful considering where we were just 3 years ago.

I don’t know, maybe I’m just gullible. I see potential for this team to get clicking and we see some real greatness.

Elite front four has carried this team to this point. They mask deficiencies in the back end and cover for what has turned out to be an average offense. Last night was a prime example. Can they continue to carry this team as the competition gets better (assuming the playoffs)? We shall see.

 

[VolCalls]

The Vols are a very good team with the potential to be great. Great has not happened yet. A lot of fans know the team can be great. They are just frustrated that it has not yet come together.

This. I keep hearing CJH say “our best is in front of us.” I’ve been hearing that for six weeks and am wondering when we actually get there?

 

[Brave Volunteer]

I didn’t say we were a championship team, and I’d take “sneaking into the playoffs.” Anything can happen from there, especially if we continue to improve.

I disagree with your statement that “we lack mental toughness.” This team gets the job done when they haven’t played their best. Under different coaching staffs in the past, the teams fell apart after one mistake. We made some excellent, tough 3rd & 4th down plays in the 2nd half. First half execution still has to get better, no doubt, but hey. We scored a TD in the first half this week. It wasn’t great, but it is improvement.

What I mean by lack of mental toughness is all the penalties we commit. Thats mental! I don't have the stats in front of me but I would be shocked if we didn't lead the league in penalties and yards lost on penalties. Those 3 missed FG's, that's mental as well! It's one thing to do that in game one, but in game eight??? That's ridiculous!

 

[VolCalls]

The fact you felt compelled to start this thread should tell you something. I think people are more frustrated than upset with this team. UT started off fast this season and gave us glimpses of greatness. Once they started SEC play, not so much. UT defense has been stellar, but the offense hasn't hit 30 points in SEC play. UT has scored 7 points in the last four first halves. The inconsistency is maddening, because the talent is there. That was a bad KY team UT beat last night. Everything was in our favor, and yet, KY was only down 3 with 13 minutes to go in the game and had the ball.

Ding, Ding, Ding. We have a winner.

 

[overseasorange2]

Our only loss so far was by a mere 5 points.

Basically, from a dumb roughing the kicker play

 

[KoachKrab127]

What I mean by lack of mental toughness is all the penalties we commit. Thats mental! I don't have the stats in front of me but I would be shocked if we didn't lead the league in penalties and yards lost on penalties. Those 3 missed FG's, that's mental as well! It's one thing to do that in game one, but in game eight??? That's ridiculous!

The penalties are mental execution errors. I agree with that. I wouldn’t call that lack of mental toughness. I’d call it lack of discipline. Tennessee is 14th in the SEC in penalties per game and 12th in penalty yards per game. That’s bad, and it is extremely frustrating when a false start or illegal formation ruins the momentum of a lengthy drive.

Yes, the players lack discipline, but they are really REALLY tough.

 

[overseasorange2]

The score should have been 58-18. 3 dropped passes, 2 in the endzone and one with nobody in front of the guy. Either our WR's aren't being developed or they are very overrated. Nico played his ass off in this game and our receiving Corp did him dirty.

Nevermind!