Our offense was bad

[utvols74]

The vols would not be in the championship with any playoff schedule this year it is cold hard facts, Im having a hard time seeing UT get into round 2 anywhere, and I'm ready for the replies as truth is hated here. We are about equal to Indiana, likely worse. Boise may have been our W, I don't think Tenn beats SMU first though.
Without Sampson, our offense is absolutely trash, like garbage bad, JG days bad, we run 5 plays over and over because the coaches know it is a steaming turd. We had about 2 more plays than JG&Pruitts schemes thanks to Sampson. Without him, we would never be allowed a pass due to adjusted coverage, even then when they did 8Boxes, we didn't.
We had to even run him plays that didnt reveal his full potential, having to use basic OL blocking plays vs complex movement. Thankfully Spraggins and Cooper helped with Sampson. Without Sampson UT would have lost 4 games, because if they didnt have to plan for Dylan, any team would just blitz us all day long or cover screens sans the JG days. WR and QB are bottom feeders of the SEC level-- Oline being average.
The defense has a good line, that won't win a CFP game. Beyond the DL we had a star player walkon on defense. We didn't even get remotely any pressure on OSU, so we had nothing to show. This could potentially lead to a close game vs Indiana or Boise but no one else.
Its easy to live in a life of lies in an echo chamber but this team was not top 5 at all.

When we went 3 games - in a row - without scoring in the first half (with Sampson), I knew we were "fool's gold". It just got worse from there...
Bru - hurt
Sampson - hurt
Pilie - hurt
Squirrel - hurt
on
and
on...

I'm surprised OSU didn't score 60+

I sincerely wish we'd ended up about 15th and playing number 20 or so and ended on a higher note (with perhaps a "W"). Yes, it may offer consolation that we lost in the first round of the CFP to the eventual national champion on their home field with temps in the 20s, but at the end of the day - UT was man-handled and b-slapped.

 

[ptgrbn]

Yep. After the OSU game I was pretty dejected but watching them dominate Oregon, and now beat up on Texas shows that they are a very special team this year who decided to start playing to their potential. Most of those guys will be gone next year.

20 million dollars buys a lot of TDs

 

[Rocky Top T]

So was Oregon's
So was Texas's

I say that tongue in cheek for perspective. Ohio State had multiple NFL dudes who decided to come back for this year. They came alive during the playoff.

Had we played Penn state's schedule, we would have been in the national championship.

We would have not beat Norte Dame

 

[BLUTickbusdriver]

The loss of Keenan Pili hurt us more than you’d think. He was a head hunter and the leader on D. There are some cogent points on O in this thread and I would suggest that going forward we open up the play book, or throw the 5-play playbook away and find a new coordinator and book that helps our struggling O out. We have to be able to score consistently in every quarter and on every possession. If not, then we will need the second coming of the “Steel Curtain” on D to win big games going forward.

 

[LegionnaireOfTheMiserable]

So was Oregon's
So was Texas's

I say that tongue in cheek for perspective. Ohio State had multiple NFL dudes who decided to come back for this year. They came alive during the playoff.

Had we played Penn state's schedule, we would have been in the national championship.

Lol no we wouldn’t have. We had an easy schedule. Penn State played several Arkansas-caliber teams. We just weren’t very good. We have had schedules before that this team would have gone 7-5 against

 

[BigOrangeMojo]

Next to Oregon, no one else score than we did against Ohio State

In other words, we scored a garbage time TD late and Texas choked away a chance to tie the game late....

 

[jasonvol18]

So was Oregon's
So was Texas's

I say that tongue in cheek for perspective. Ohio State had multiple NFL dudes who decided to come back for this year. They came alive during the playoff.

Had we played Penn state's schedule, we would have been in the national championship.

Nope. We would have lost to ND. Penn St has a better Offense and Defense than we did. They just have a doucher HC

 

[unfrozencvmanvol]

So was Oregon's
So was Texas's

I say that tongue in cheek for perspective. Ohio State had multiple NFL dudes who decided to come back for this year. They came alive during the playoff.

Had we played Penn state's schedule, we would have been in the national championship.

I agree we would have beaten SMU and Boise State, but I have no reason to think we'd certainly beat Notre Dame. They beat Georgia, whom we have not beaten since the Obama presidency.

 

[mpfvol]

Teams really didn't know how to game plan for the Ohio offense with Chip Kelly being the OC for the playoffs and he is getting way more from his players than who ever was doing it before him .

 

[Budalicious]

When CPF was fired, the job was a desirable one. Even after Dooley, we had some decent choices

Are you kidding me. The media exposed how unrealistic some programs and fans are. After the record Phil had? Almost every season with a few exceptions we always had. 10,11,9 win seasons. His record against Bama was 11 wins and 5 losses. Bama had to forfeit one win. Against Georgia he had 11 wins. Only 3 wins 8 Losses vs Spurrier and Florida This was probably his downfall Tell me who was passed over we could have gotten. I only remember being rejected multiple times time because of his record and firing. I’m not a CPF advocate .It is what it is. Let let Heuple have the keys and see where we go

 

[VOLINVONORE]

Yep. After the OSU game I was pretty dejected but watching them dominate Oregon, and now beat up on Texas shows that they are a very special team this year who decided to start playing to their potential. Most of those guys will be gone next year.

Texas beat themselves. A lot of unusual play calling on both offense and defense, plus play Ewer, who throws a soft and often short passes, instead of Manning.

 

[ChrisOnRockyTop]

Looking forward to us being the team that has loads of talent and "clicks" at just the right time.

We're getting closer.

Go Vols!

p.s. The trolls and nega-Vols will still be moaning about how we're no good if we have an off day like Ohio State did vs Michigan. Heh. At least they're predictable and easy to disregard.

And how do you think we are getting closer?

We just lost a ton of players to the NFL and transfer portal.

I wouldn't be surprised if even Nico transfers after next season. Look what Carson Beck did.

NIL has ruined college football as we know it. We need contracts.

 

[loservol]

Not true about UGa my friend is a significant contributor and actually flys with the team on some basketball trips. He told me UGa s nil was out of money. They simply can’t afford to keep doing this every year. They spent 14 million last year alone and are begging for more money already this year.

The Northern teams and Texas are gonna feast, while the southern schools are going to suffer. The SEC got played.

 

[CommandingVol]

A salary cap will lead right back to the old fashioned under the table cash exchanges.
I prefer NIL because it is so much more transparent. If we know we are $10 mil behind the richest NILs, then we know how much we need to close the gap.

Is it true that nil is transparent or are we guessing? From what I have read, the $20 million figure everyone quotes as fact for OSU is actually an estimate because Day said they needed $13 million to retain their roster and the other $7 million is an estimate based on rumors of what they thought it would cost to get four transfers - Downs, Howard, Judkins, and McGlaughlin. Maybe I’m wrong and this info is published somewhere, but I think it’s a guesstimate. Regardless, I like their strategy to focus on recruiting, development, and retention. Then filling holes with the best you can get from the portal. Seems better than trying to buy a half a team every year like some schools.

 

[NEO]

Our offense was bad. It was bad all year. We win games because our defense held opponents to 20. OSU was just another game that our offense was bad in. These are facts. Not opinion.

 

[NEO]

20 million dollars buys a lot of TDs

Our QB alone is getting 8 million.

In return for all those millions we got a ton of “he’s just a true freshman” post. It’s not about the money. It’s about the piss pour offensive play calling and a QB who over threw multiple open WRS and play calling that only looked at half the field. Once DCs figured it out we had WRs running wide open on the non play all side and our offense guru coach couldn’t seem to adjust.