NighthawkVol
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Didn't get home until 2 am. My voice is still not completely back. Neyland Stadium kept trying to come to life in the 1st half, but our offense kept killing it. But the General came alive in the 2nd half, especially in the 4th quarter, once the team gave us a reason. Thoughts:
-Yes, it was ugly. Yes, that's 2 games in a row in which Tennessee didn't play well. This might just be who Tennessee is. But there's also a chance this offense will improve and this elite defense keeps playing elite. I saw some sparks at the end last night. Rolling the pocket for Nico worked (as an aside...I was calling for that in the 1st Q. Not sure why it took so long. We have a struggling Oline and a QB who is struggling to go through progressions. Rolling the pocket a) helps the Oline, and b) cuts the field in half for the QB. This is how Kiffin got Crompton on track in 2009. Then, once defenses have to worry about the rollout....and let's face it Nico's legs give defenses far mnore to worry about than Cormpton's legs...that slows down their pass rush when we do drop straight back. Anyway, glad we started rolling the pocket). Maybe Heard comes along (he has ability). Maybe Nico grows in his reads. I've seen it happen. Crompton in 2009. Milroe last year. Jayden Daniels in 2022....QBs who looked kinda average by midseason can (and have) grow into good QBs in the later parts of the season. Especially 1st year starters.
-But we got a win over Florida. By my count, that's the 9th win over Florida since Spurrier arrived in 1990. So I don't care what the rest of y'all do...I'm going to enjoy it. It's rare.
-Interestingly, I never felt the weight of "the curse" during that game. I know that sounds like a weird thing to say, given how much we struggled to beat a 14.5 point underdog, but in past years, it felt like, "oh man, here we go against Florida again." This year, Florida didn't play out of their minds. It felt like the focus was on our own team and own struggles and the opponent wasn't really a consideration. Maybe others didn't feel that way. But in the stands, it never felt like "the weight of the Florida game" was on us. We just needed to get it together on offense and eventually did. We didn't let psyche stop us from doing what we had to do to win a close game. Instead, it was Tennessee who snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. In past years, it was Florida. We were mentally tough, even if we lacked in execution for much of the game.
-Ricky Gibson and Jermod McCoy are the best CB pair we've had since Fair/Goodrich. McCoy has been talked about all year, but Rickey Gibson was an absolute stud last night. The Martinez criticism needs to stop. He finally got some dudes with SEC ability and he's developed them. Just as he developed Hadden, Theo Jackson, and Alontae Taylor.
-Back to Nico. In the stands, you could really see that he's not seeing open guys. At one point, Bru was wide open for a deep TD. The entire stadium started yelling to throw it to him. He ended up hitting Nimrod on an intermediate route for about 20. There were other instances when he didn't see guys, including Brazzell on the INT (which he stared down). He also missed 2 or 3 deep throws that were open with inaccurate throws. The long throw to Brazzell that was out of bounds would have iced the game. Brazzell made a great catch, but the throw needed to be more in bounds for him to land in bounds. These are the things he needs to clean up. I believe he will. But the good thing is, our WRs are getting open. It's not them or the play-calling (much as fans want to criticize play-calling because they don't know what else to criticize).
-Dylan Sampson is a warrior. I don't know how else to say it. He has 15 TDs on the year. I think the SEC record in 20. He could shatter that. With a good OL, he's a Heisman frontrunner.
-The Pili injury sucks. I'm pretty sure he's done for the year. But as injury prone as he's been his whole career, I thought this might happen. The good news is, Telander is good. He played well. And since he'll start at MLB next year regardless, he's going to get more development for next year. Arion Carter looks like an NFL LB. Best UT LB since Mayo, IMO. He's gone after next year. Perry and Jalen Smith have acquitted themselves well for depth...I wish Spillman would get healthy, but I don't know what his injury is.
-James Pearce is coming around. He was wrecking some plays in there. Norman-Lott was a beast.
-I love having a kicker who feels automatic. It's been awhile since we've had one like Gilbert.
-Did Florida have a live ball penalty called against them last night? There was an obvious clip right in front of the ref on their punt return that led to their final TD. That was about a 30 yard swing. Meanwhile, we're getting called for some absurd holds and phantom illegal man downfield penalties (not last night). I saw a few holds they could have called on Florida and didn't. I know there was one live ball penalty called on Arkansas and Oklahoma COMBINED. This is ridiculous. The SEC office needs to be put on blast.
-I'm not predicting Tennessee to beat Alabama. But I'm not saying we can't beat them, either. Every game is different. I'm excited to see how this team grows the rest of the season...it's certainly not a finished product. In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy a rare victory over the team I hate more than any other.
-Yes, it was ugly. Yes, that's 2 games in a row in which Tennessee didn't play well. This might just be who Tennessee is. But there's also a chance this offense will improve and this elite defense keeps playing elite. I saw some sparks at the end last night. Rolling the pocket for Nico worked (as an aside...I was calling for that in the 1st Q. Not sure why it took so long. We have a struggling Oline and a QB who is struggling to go through progressions. Rolling the pocket a) helps the Oline, and b) cuts the field in half for the QB. This is how Kiffin got Crompton on track in 2009. Then, once defenses have to worry about the rollout....and let's face it Nico's legs give defenses far mnore to worry about than Cormpton's legs...that slows down their pass rush when we do drop straight back. Anyway, glad we started rolling the pocket). Maybe Heard comes along (he has ability). Maybe Nico grows in his reads. I've seen it happen. Crompton in 2009. Milroe last year. Jayden Daniels in 2022....QBs who looked kinda average by midseason can (and have) grow into good QBs in the later parts of the season. Especially 1st year starters.
-But we got a win over Florida. By my count, that's the 9th win over Florida since Spurrier arrived in 1990. So I don't care what the rest of y'all do...I'm going to enjoy it. It's rare.
-Interestingly, I never felt the weight of "the curse" during that game. I know that sounds like a weird thing to say, given how much we struggled to beat a 14.5 point underdog, but in past years, it felt like, "oh man, here we go against Florida again." This year, Florida didn't play out of their minds. It felt like the focus was on our own team and own struggles and the opponent wasn't really a consideration. Maybe others didn't feel that way. But in the stands, it never felt like "the weight of the Florida game" was on us. We just needed to get it together on offense and eventually did. We didn't let psyche stop us from doing what we had to do to win a close game. Instead, it was Tennessee who snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. In past years, it was Florida. We were mentally tough, even if we lacked in execution for much of the game.
-Ricky Gibson and Jermod McCoy are the best CB pair we've had since Fair/Goodrich. McCoy has been talked about all year, but Rickey Gibson was an absolute stud last night. The Martinez criticism needs to stop. He finally got some dudes with SEC ability and he's developed them. Just as he developed Hadden, Theo Jackson, and Alontae Taylor.
-Back to Nico. In the stands, you could really see that he's not seeing open guys. At one point, Bru was wide open for a deep TD. The entire stadium started yelling to throw it to him. He ended up hitting Nimrod on an intermediate route for about 20. There were other instances when he didn't see guys, including Brazzell on the INT (which he stared down). He also missed 2 or 3 deep throws that were open with inaccurate throws. The long throw to Brazzell that was out of bounds would have iced the game. Brazzell made a great catch, but the throw needed to be more in bounds for him to land in bounds. These are the things he needs to clean up. I believe he will. But the good thing is, our WRs are getting open. It's not them or the play-calling (much as fans want to criticize play-calling because they don't know what else to criticize).
-Dylan Sampson is a warrior. I don't know how else to say it. He has 15 TDs on the year. I think the SEC record in 20. He could shatter that. With a good OL, he's a Heisman frontrunner.
-The Pili injury sucks. I'm pretty sure he's done for the year. But as injury prone as he's been his whole career, I thought this might happen. The good news is, Telander is good. He played well. And since he'll start at MLB next year regardless, he's going to get more development for next year. Arion Carter looks like an NFL LB. Best UT LB since Mayo, IMO. He's gone after next year. Perry and Jalen Smith have acquitted themselves well for depth...I wish Spillman would get healthy, but I don't know what his injury is.
-James Pearce is coming around. He was wrecking some plays in there. Norman-Lott was a beast.
-I love having a kicker who feels automatic. It's been awhile since we've had one like Gilbert.
-Did Florida have a live ball penalty called against them last night? There was an obvious clip right in front of the ref on their punt return that led to their final TD. That was about a 30 yard swing. Meanwhile, we're getting called for some absurd holds and phantom illegal man downfield penalties (not last night). I saw a few holds they could have called on Florida and didn't. I know there was one live ball penalty called on Arkansas and Oklahoma COMBINED. This is ridiculous. The SEC office needs to be put on blast.
-I'm not predicting Tennessee to beat Alabama. But I'm not saying we can't beat them, either. Every game is different. I'm excited to see how this team grows the rest of the season...it's certainly not a finished product. In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy a rare victory over the team I hate more than any other.
