Nico's 'solid' performance?

[GAVol]

Iowa had zero passes defended. Meaning that they never got close to one of his passes. I am pretty sure we went into this game knowing that Iowas offense was not going to win the game, and the only way we lose is if we turn the ball over. Nico was told to protect the ball, and that is exactly what he did.

That is a crazy stat but I can’t remember a single ball thrown into coverage. The only ball I can think of in a tight window was the one where he scrambled and threw an absolute dime down the sideline.

 

[woodpusher]

First of all, great win and an overall good performance by everyone other than the OL and RBs in protection. Now that the dust has settled a bit, I wanted to question the seemingly overblown praise of Nico. While I did feel like it was a good performance overall, it's hard to call 150 passing yards "showing out" in any way, shape, or form - despite what the media and online posters have contended. And while some of the runs, and obviously the TD ones, were nifty, I felt like he didn't do a great job evading rushers or passing with any accuracy while on the run.

On the plus side, and it's a huge plus, he took what the defense gave him and didn't make any costly mistakes. Still, I would have liked to see some connections on deep balls and at least one or two 'wow' plays that would have really showed us what's coming.

Am I being nitpicky? Again, love the win and I'm excited for the Nico era, but I just don't think this game was that much of an indicator of what we'll see. At least I hope not.

I'm thinking Milton is kicking himself for not playing.

 

[TheVolsFrog]

Keyton is concerning.

Not any more. He's gone. Good luck to him. He may can play in the USF and move up to the NFL. I think he sunk his NFL stock.
I expected way more out of him with his performance last season.

This season he dropped and slowed down on plenty of Joe's passes that would've been a TD or positive yards gain and then turned around and did the same to Nico Saturday.
Seems like for every one of his OMG what a catch balls, he had 3 OMG WTF how'd he drop/not catch that ball

 

[Budalicious]

First of all, great win and an overall good performance by everyone other than the OL and RBs in protection. Now that the dust has settled a bit, I wanted to question the seemingly overblown praise of Nico. While I did feel like it was a good performance overall, it's hard to call 150 passing yards "showing out" in any way, shape, or form - despite what the media and online posters have contended. And while some of the runs, and obviously the TD ones, were nifty, I felt like he didn't do a great job evading rushers or passing with any accuracy while on the run.

On the plus side, and it's a huge plus, he took what the defense gave him and didn't make any costly mistakes. Still, I would have liked to see some connections on deep balls and at least one or two 'wow' plays that would have really showed us what's coming.

Am I being nitpicky? Again, love the win and I'm excited for the Nico era, but I just don't think this game was that much of an indicator of what we'll see. At least I hope not.

You are being nitpicky! Come on man.

 

[allstar34bd]

First of all, great win and an overall good performance by everyone other than the OL and RBs in protection. Now that the dust has settled a bit, I wanted to question the seemingly overblown praise of Nico. While I did feel like it was a good performance overall, it's hard to call 150 passing yards "showing out" in any way, shape, or form - despite what the media and online posters have contended. And while some of the runs, and obviously the TD ones, were nifty, I felt like he didn't do a great job evading rushers or passing with any accuracy while on the run.

On the plus side, and it's a huge plus, he took what the defense gave him and didn't make any costly mistakes. Still, I would have liked to see some connections on deep balls and at least one or two 'wow' plays that would have really showed us what's coming.

Am I being nitpicky? Again, love the win and I'm excited for the Nico era, but I just don't think this game was that much of an indicator of what we'll see. At least I hope not.

GTFOH, it's like 1 of 4 or 5 exciting things all season. He did amazing against a stingy D

 

[McDad]

Keyton is concerning.

Makes the impossible catches and drops the "easy".
Concentration issue.

 

[volsforever27]

I'll say it again. He was consistent and accurate, which is refreshing to see. He didn't throw it 35 times so his yards weren't going to be that high.

He had a good game. We've learned from putting too much stock in a bowl game, but there's reason to be optimistic.

He looks like the real deal.

 

[Sarms58]

Didn't see those WTF passes you mentioned, but I did see some WTF drops and stops from some WRs. Add those to Nico's stats and his line looks exponentially better IMO.

Didn't see those WTF passes you mentioned, but I did see some WTF drops and stops from some WRs. Add those to Nico's stats and his line looks exponentially better IMO.

I didn’t mention WTF passes…and didn’t see any either

 

[LAVol1]

Am I being nitpicky? Again, love the win and I'm excited for the Nico era, but I just don't think this game was that much of an indicator of what we'll see. At least I hope not.

Yes, you are being nitpicky.

Just watched the game again. How good was Nico throwing the ball?

Pass #1 - short pass to Warren - perfect
Pass #2 - pass across field to Nimrod - perfect
Pass #3 - shovel pass dropped by Sampson - perfect
Pass #4 - pass to Keaton across field at sideline - perfect, "working his progression across the field"
Pass #5 - pass over the middle, almost hit Keaton in the head, but not perfect. Keaton may not have seen it. Definitely catchable--good.
Pass #6 - Screen pass but Sampson didn't chip LB and Nico had no chance to complete the pass
Pass #7 - Slant to Keaton perfectly thrown, dropped. "a great throw"
Pass #8 - 6 yd. pass to Keaton on sideline - perfect
Pass #9 - Perfect throw to Webb on sideline.
Pass #10 - Throw to Webb on sideline, a little low but should have been caught. Good.
Pass #11 - swing pass to Squirrel - perfect
Pass #12 - on the run, sprinting toward sideline, threw it 36 yds. perfectly to Keaton "unbelievable throw and catch where only his guy could make the play."
Pass #13 - incomplete, flushed out of pocket and under extreme pressure--no chance for completion
Pass #14 - perfect throw across field to Squirrel for 10 yd. gain
Pass #15 - incomplete. Perfect bomb to Keaton who stopped. "Pass was right where it needed to be."
Pass #16 - good pass caught by Nimrod. Maybe a little low but could have been where Nico wanted it--no chance for DB to break it up.
Pass #17 - perfect 7 yd. pass to Squirrel on sideline
Pass #18 - perfect to Webb on comeback across the field - 7 yds.
Pass #19 - perfect to Castles for TD

Summary: 19 passes
14 perfectly thrown
3 good - all 3 very catchable
2 no chance due to pressure
0 passes touched by a defender!

The kid is going to be great, maybe the best ever to play QB at UT.

*Commentator comments in quotes

 

[dalton_vol]

i liked that he stood in the pocket, probably could have thrown some away but he didn't panic.

 

[LAVol1]

Nico took what the defense gave him,

...and the opportunities his WRs and RBs gave him as well.
Could not have passed the ball better IMO. Every pass that was not under extreme pressure (the 2 he threw away) should have been a completion, with the possible exception of the completion to Keaton that was a fantastic throw and catch. Wouldn't have faulted Keaton for not making that play.

 

[Lars]

Plus his deep pass to Keyton looked like one of Hooker's famous perfect deep passes, but Keyton quit on the route.

It wasn't the first time. Why does Keyton do that?

 

[Sheik Yerbouti]

If you really care about the box score, I guess you can be disappointed. But watching him play, it was evident that he is and will be very good.

 

[cherokeeeVOL]

It was a very good performance given the WR’s struggles and some blocking issues. Not sure what people expect? He can’t throw to himself so he had to take off and thankfully he has elite running ability and pocket instincts you can’t teach. Hopefully Brazelle can be the threat downfield we desperately need and maybe Matthews is a quick study as a freshman. Fingers crossed.

 

[CragrockVol]

With the #21 Vols dominance of #17 Iowa, what do you think the final ranking will be for Tennessee?

 

[CAVPUT]

I didn’t mention WTF passes…and didn’t see any either

My bad. Should have quoted FBTime. Apologies.

 

[EZE]

Iowa was not top 10

Okay, Top-20. Completely changes everything…

 

[Sarms58]

My bad. Should have quoted FBTime. Apologies.

I thought Nico was almost perfect...I have nothing but positive thoughts going forward. We have plenty of talented WRs coming in, a couple of really good RBs, an experienced TE coming in to pair with a talented redshirt freshman, and our OL should be no worse than this year. Our offense next year should rival the 2022 team.

 

[NEO]

I never saw Nico get rattled or seem to lose his cool all game. Made a lot of throws like the one to Keyton that should have been caught. I’m very excited to see what he does. He reminds me of a more mobile Iceman and that is a HUGE compliment.

 

[Remy]

First of all, great win and an overall good performance by everyone other than the OL and RBs in protection. Now that the dust has settled a bit, I wanted to question the seemingly overblown praise of Nico. While I did feel like it was a good performance overall, it's hard to call 150 passing yards "showing out" in any way, shape, or form - despite what the media and online posters have contended. And while some of the runs, and obviously the TD ones, were nifty, I felt like he didn't do a great job evading rushers or passing with any accuracy while on the run.

On the plus side, and it's a huge plus, he took what the defense gave him and didn't make any costly mistakes. Still, I would have liked to see some connections on deep balls and at least one or two 'wow' plays that would have really showed us what's coming.

Am I being nitpicky? Again, love the win and I'm excited for the Nico era, but I just don't think this game was that much of an indicator of what we'll see. At least I hope not.

Nico's 150 yards through the air is not overblown if you compare it to one of the two teams playing for the NC this coming week, Michigan that just beat Bama, had a total of 213 total offensive yards against this same Iowa bunch the week before last in the Big10 championship game. I'd say that was outstanding!

 

[Sara Clark]

With the #21 Vols dominance of #17 Iowa, what do you think the final ranking will be for Tennessee?

I would assume it would depend on how everyone else faired in their bowl games. Other than our game, I watched GA, AL, and the Texas game. Didn't keep track of everyone else. Hopefully we move up around 17? Would be nice to get in the top 15 though.

 

[butchna]

I think Nico played great for his first start and being a freshman but I am not in the group who think this was a preview of his 2024 Heisman campaign. Hopefully he learns and grows from the game yesterday and he becomes one of the Vols greatest QB in the history of the program.

It does bother me that the posters who were beating up on Joe failed to acknowledge the poor play of our receivers all season but seemed to recognize it yesterday.

Because I didn’t see a BAD THROW all game long. Catchable throws and great placement removes plausible deniability imo.

 

[CaliVol2009]

Michigan threw for 147 against Iowa. You're being nitpicky.

We just ran a true freshman out there against a good defense and he threw a TD pass, ran for 3 more and we had 25 1st downs and didn't turn it over. That's what we call . . . a good day.

But our true freshman qb didn’t throw for 400 yards and 10 td’s against a top 5 defense in his very first college start. So everything you just listed makes no sense to us legion of miserables. Sorry facts are facts @GAVol

 

[Vols1891]

Time to fahr Heupel and kick Nico off the team.

 

[08Vol]

Iowa played 13 games before our game, including against Penn State and Michigan. Iowa gave up 4 total rushing TDs in those 13 games. Nico had 3 rushing TDs yesterday, almost doubling the # of rushing TDs given up.