My only concern this year is the carryover from last years South Carolina game.

[901 Orange]

This a thousand times. This game is not in doubt in my mind at all. If you’re a player who played in that game last year, then you are going to play for sweet, sweet payback and get everyone next to you to play that way, too. You are going to play the best game of your life. No mercy, no quarter. We owe these pretenders big time…especially our defense.

Our defense, every single player who steps on the field, needs to take it on themselves to smash these guys in the mouth from the very first snap and give them a few hours of absolute flaming hellfire. “Boys, this is what happens when you piss us off.” I want these SC players to never, ever forget this game as long as they live. I want it to be the most physical football game they’ll ever know. I want every snap to leave them exhausted and stunned by the king-hell ferocity of what they’ve just experienced. I am talking Jack Tatum, Jack Lambert, Dick Butkus, Al Wilson intensity and outright domination from the line of scrimmage all the way to the end zone…every snap.

Win the game? Oh, we’ll win alright. But that ain’t near enough. I want to put these SC boys back in their rightful place…somewhere way behind us.

Yea I foresee a couple Unsportsmanlike Penalties that game and wouldn't be surprised if someone like Slaughter lays the wood early in this one

 

[spacificislander]

Well, the Supreme Court said they would smack down any attempt to thwart NIL, so I would not hold my breath for that.

I don’t understand the hoping that there will be “NIL controls” Who will say how much money a company can pay someone to endorse them? Lebron got over a Billion from Nike. Jordan has probably got over 2 Billion. Why would it be legal to limit what a private company wants to pay someone?

 

[Hank Bukowski]

Yea I foresee a couple Unsportsmanlike Penalties that game and wouldn't be surprised if someone like Slaughter lays the wood early in this one

Exactly what I was thinking. And you know what? As long as they’re not critical penalties that really harm us, I’m not sure I would mind a couple in the first quarter or so. Think Meat in Bull Durham: “I want to announce my presence with authority.”

 

[901 Orange]

Exactly what I was thinking. And you know what? As long as they’re not critical penalties that really harm us, I’m not sure I would mind a couple in the first quarter or so. Think Meat in Bull Durham: “I want to announce my presence with authority.”

Yup I've already prepared myself for the early penalties. As long as it's within the first couple drives I'm good with it

 

[OrangeTsar]

Agree. I’m sure the atmosphere this season’s games in the swamp and Bama will be louder and more electric. My concern is how Milton handles crowd noise and the pressure during a big game.

If we want to be a championship team, we have to learn to deal with that. Gotta tune it out, or even better, be motivated to shut em up

 

[OrangeTsar]

I'm going to do something wildly unpopular, but necessary.

Rattler had the game of his life. He threw for almost 1/3 of his total yards and TDs for the entire season against UT . He took advantage of our TURRBLE secondary. The Banks thing probably had a big effect on the team, but Rattler went absolutely off for the first time, maybe ever. I just hope he comes back to earth and this is not the new norm for him.

That’s why you bring the house on him a few times and get that uniform covered in grass stains. Sure they might score on you; but hey, they scored on every drive save one anyway.

 

[OrangeTsar]

As for Banks and all that, every locker room has conflicts like that just like every family has them. They usually stay behind closed doors as this one mostly did. The exact details are still a matter of speculation and debate. But you really can't throw that many "alphas" into the same space and not have some dust ups. If there's a difference here it may be that Heupel chose to punish the level Banks went to whereas those things are generally handled "administratively".

I think Heupel saved a lot of future troubles by the way he handled things. The word is out that you don’t mess with Heup in the locker room

 

[Ned Ray McWorkher]

The Vandy game and The Orange Bowl tell me there won't be any holdover from the South Carolina game.

I can't imagine why he would go back three games into the last season to look for something to worry about with this year's team.

 

[IndianaVol]

I can't imagine why he would go back three games into the last season to look for something to worry about with this year's team.

It's called Battered Vol Syndrome (BVS). It's a product of years and years of high hopes being bashed in repeatedly by poor in-game decisions, less than stellar recruit development, and bad management by the UTAD. Major symptom is a nagging feeling that "the other shoe" is getting ready to drop at any moment when the team is on an upward trajectory. One suffering from BVS will look back as much as a decade or more for a reason why this year, or next year's squad will tank.

For me, my BVS was pretty much cured when Heupel lit that cigar in Neyland in October.

 

[1974Vol]

I thought the exact same at pregame. The fans believed they could win and the players felt it. Rattler was in "the zone" and was seeing the game faster than anyone else. I hope it was a fluke and it was just their night.

I was at the game and it was more a symbiotic thing with the USCe team and fan base. The fans were definitely there to party and most had been tailgating and drinking all afternoon in anticipation of a Big Orange butt whoopin', the alcohol would ease the pain. But when the Gamecocks came out and scored on all 5 of their first possessions that crowd got in a drunken frenzy and just carried them through the second half on a great big wave of emotion. We sat right in the middle of a bunch of their fans and they were thrilled but were wondering where "this Gamecock team" had been all year. By the 4th quarter they were all talking about "how this means we can beat Clemson too!" Which of course they did the next week. Have to say they were loud, proud, and rowdy, but respectful to us. All we could do was tip our cap to 'em and acknowledge that they kicked our ass.

 

[1974Vol]

I don’t understand the hoping that there will be “NIL controls” Who will say how much money a company can pay someone to endorse them? Lebron got over a Billion from Nike. Jordan has probably got over 2 Billion. Why would it be legal to limit what a private company wants to pay someone?

The original idea was that it was not supposed to be used as a recruiting tool. It was just supposed to pay kids for the use of their name, image, and likeness. But anybody with a brain could see that it would of course be a great recruiting tool, and the rich programs would get richer. NIL money and the portal have been great tools for the programs with the money to get good quick. Just look at us! GBO

 

[stolitonic]

All I know is that it is a teams responsibility to stop the other team from scoring and I'm all for it, but I don't want to hear any bellyaching if we hang over 70 on them.

I have a sneaky feeling Heupel is gonna throw the kitchen sink at them. Now-they may be able to stop it, but I doubt it.

As the others have said, this will most likely be a 7pm ESPN game. Neyland is going to be nuts-think Ole Miss game in 21.

That staredown of Heupel by baby Beamer after one of the last SC scores last year could be the primary reason. I haven't seen Heupel say anything about it, which is kind of the way I want things. Best believe it was seen though.

My point is this, if the stars line up correctly UT may have issues after the SC game. Those UN investigations for the war crimes the Vols may very well commit could get kind of distracting for the rest of the reason.

 

[vol94]

Again, I emphasize it wasn't as much as a rowdy fan base, as much as it was all the extra thins they could do at night time to mentally wear down the other team. The 5 minute lightshow they do mixed with darude sandstorm and waving their white towels is alot in itself. But then you have these motivational videos they play and stadium assisted chants. I don't think it is as intimidating if it was a day game.

Agree and I think you’ll see more stadiums mov e toward light shoes etc to drive fan entertainment beyond the game. The FL game is a night game and Bama will most likely be a 3:30 or night game.

 

[spacificislander]

The original idea was that it was not supposed to be used as a recruiting tool. It was just supposed to pay kids for the use of their name, image, and likeness. But anybody with a brain could see that it would of course be a great recruiting tool, and the rich programs would get richer. NIL money and the portal have been great tools for the programs with the money to get good quick. Just look at us! GBO

Hell yeah go Vols!!!

 

[BigVol88]

Well I just paid way too much for some tickets for this game. Going to do my part to make sure The stadium is deafening.

My wife agreed to go. She is an immigrant and pretty oblivious to UT football besides the fact that I have it on the TV in the Fall. She has no idea what she just signed up for. LOL

 

[BearBryant]

Did we ever come to a conclusion as to why? By the way I look at a playoff year this year.

You do know they destroyed Vanderbilt and soundly beat Clemson after that game don't you?

 

[casual-observer]

I attended that game in person and my surface level observations were:

1. We just looked slow and heavy footed on defense.

I was there that night, too and agree with your observations. There was clearly more orange in that stadium than red (or whatever color that is) at the beginning.

I still can't put my finger on it but I looked over at my son at the beginning of the game and said "something doesn't seem right with the team." You could tell - even during the warmups - something was "off." After the total smackdown by Florida the week before, the sc fans had zero expectations for what happened. The offense played mostly as expected but did miss on few key plays. The defense...it was like they weren't even there.

I dunno if that was how imporant Banks was to commanding the field or if the players chose sides (Banks vs Hooker) and decided to mail it in. Once sc looked like they had a chance, the crowd really started helping out the atmosphere. And, of course, Rattler had the game of his life.

I hope this never happens again. Honestly, the atmosphere in Columbia that night felt JUST LIKE that stupid Georgia State game (which I unfortunately witnessed live, too).

 

[BreatheUT]

As for Banks and all that, every locker room has conflicts like that just like every family has them. They usually stay behind closed doors as this one mostly did. The exact details are still a matter of speculation and debate. But you really can't throw that many "alphas" into the same space and not have some dust ups. If there's a difference here it may be that Heupel chose to punish the level Banks went to whereas those things are generally handled "administratively".

The speculation leads us to believe Banks may have been treated more unfairly. The thought also is Banks had to do something bad to get suspended when no one else did. Without facts, we make up our own. Either way the defense looked atrocious and it was missing it's most important player.

 

[RDU VOL#14]

Yea I foresee a couple Unsportsmanlike Penalties that game and wouldn't be surprised if someone like Slaughter lays the wood early in this one

Look ahead to the coin toss

 

[fossilfiction]

Tennessee's offensive weakness last year was physical corners. Georgia did the same with the D-line being great for them as well.
That might be a risk every year to Tennessee. The way the offense works, if they can line up stronger, well-trained corners against the receivers and beat-work them at the line, they will mess up the offensive flow. It was really that easy. Everyone wants to say fluke, but USC's and Georgia both did the exact same thing with the secondary. No cushion, no fear, purely physical. The running game improving to be upper-tier inside to help here. I believe if Tennessee plays USC with the same players and variables 10 times in a row last year, USC takes 5 of them because their corners were that good for them last year.

 

[FlyFishnVol]

Did we ever come to a conclusion as to why? By the way I look at a playoff year this year.

I don't predict wins, but I am 100% sure this team will be up for this game. Revenge? naw, just going out there and being UT. We come to be us; they come to beat us. Go Vols!!!!!

 

[aRmo]

Tennessee's offensive weakness last year was physical corners. Georgia did the same with the D-line being great for them as well.
That might be a risk every year to Tennessee. The way the offense works, if they can line up stronger, well-trained corners against the receivers and beat-work them at the line, they will mess up the offensive flow. It was really that easy. Everyone wants to say fluke, but USC's and Georgia both did the exact same thing with the secondary. No cushion, no fear, purely physical. The running game improving to be upper-tier inside to help here. I believe if Tennessee plays USC with the same players and variables 10 times in a row last year, USC takes 5 of them because their corners were that good for them last year.

I agree 100% with this. Only WR who didnt struggle with it was Tillman and he wasnt 100%

 

[RDU VOL#14]

My biggest concern is that our guys come out too jacked up and try to blow them out on every play instead of just focusing on what we do. There’s going to be a lot of talk that week. Pretty good chance USC jr already has a loss, possibly 2. We should be undefeated and everyone will be chirping about how we owe them. I don’t want any gimmicks, just go out and beat their ass.

 

[901 Orange]

Look ahead to the coin toss
View attachment 563843

That might be the look coming out of the tunnel

 

[SpaceCoastVol]

I want to see Rattler pounded so far into Shields-Watkins that his face gets burnt from the earth's molten core.