Still say 8-4. We absolutely left 28 points on that field with 2 dropped and 2 overthrown TDS...all of which would have been from more than 40 yards. With Burrell at corner (,noticeably picked on...again ) and the secondary playing this way, we will need to hit 3/4 of those deep balls to score our 40 points a game and beat decent SEC teams.
In fairness to Hooker, he played like an above average SEC starter yesterday. I have personally watched Peyton talking Xs and Os and seen him say " love to hit those deep post routes, but reality is that is a 1 in 3 chance. You dont make a living throwing those all the time." We got used to Hooker seemingly hitting 2 out of 3 of those or better last year...he was amazing and thats why he had 31 TDs against 3 picks. Best season im history for a UT passer in many metrics including completion % and TD/INTs . I think thats why its so frustrating when he misses a couple or WR do not catch them...we have seen him perform at inhuman video game levels. His WR dropped a LOT of balls yesterday...Hell, our 1st team pre season All SEC WR dropped a 5 yard pass on 4th and 3 that hit him between the numbers, and a 45 yard TD pass that hit both of his hands and loitered around on his facemask for a second before being dribbled down the front of his jersey and eventually dropped with both hands in chase....
We simply did not execute yesterday...something we are not used to seeing from our UT offense in the Heupel era. We were sloppy on offense, and amazingly after scoring only 3 points in the 2nd half....our defense had to win the game.
We went on the road to a top 20 team with zero quit in them....spotted them a 10 to 0 lead in the first 5 minutes....and still managed to BEAT them despite a blocked punt, a muffed punt, and a fumble on our first 3 posessions of the 2nd half. We won ugly over a good ranked team for the 2nd time in Heupels first 15 games. (Kentucky last yr) When was the last time we could do THAT? Have a bad game and still beat a ranked team on the road? Fulmer was coach, right? We still have serious issues against the pass...Burrell is apparently a defensive JG that plays well in practice and is horrible in games. That will likely cost us a game or 2 in SEC play. We are still a good team though. I still think we go 8-4...maybe even 9-3 since the gators have issues also...we should end the season ranked top 25 and go to a good bowl game. Heupel is a good coach making good progress in year 2 (!!!)
Just my 2.5 cents. Go VOLS
