PLEASE ANSWER ME THIS

[farmdogvol]

ABC showed on the replay that they obviously let them score. The question is why the "elite" defense let a Freshman QB lead a game winning drive down the field? At the time of that play it was the correct decision. Nico didn't deliver. When he missed the pass to the TE on the sideline and then fumbled the snap the Vols chances went to zero. Nico didn't handle the last 30-40 seconds very well.

 

[LadyVolette]

ABC showed on the replay that they obviously let them score. The question is why the "elite" defense let a Freshman QB lead a game winning drive down the field? At the time of that play it was the correct decision. Nico didn't deliver. When he missed the pass to the TE on the sideline and then fumbled the snap the Vols chances went to zero. Nico didn't handle the last 30-40 seconds very well.

Well, he’s inexperienced.. I know nobody wants to hear it but there’s a learning curve and we are going to have to gasp! Be patient and take some lumps.. but it will pay dividends in the long run

 

[volbound1700]

ABC showed on the replay that they obviously let them score. The question is why the "elite" defense let a Freshman QB lead a game winning drive down the field? At the time of that play it was the correct decision. Nico didn't deliver. When he missed the pass to the TE on the sideline and then fumbled the snap the Vols chances went to zero. Nico didn't handle the last 30-40 seconds very well.

I haven't made a post criticizing the last drive because, in my opinion, good teams don't put themselves in that situation in the first place. Not scoring in the first half was our big issue.

 

[KTrain]

Letting them score was unfortunately the smartest coaching decision of the second half. It was the best decision in game management by Heupel and Banks. Our time management was terrible though.

I agree with this it was the only way we could control for a win, we could have let them run clock out and hope they miss basically an Xtra point.
I also thought about this and the coaches of yesteryear would have probably just let it play out and hope for a miss because of the integrity of the game, you play hard every snap. In this new wave NIL climate that started with the Lane Kiffin's of the world using every facet such as faking injuries and all, integrity has been thrown out the window and everyone has got in line. Sad but that is the world we live in.

 

[farmdogvol]

Well, he’s inexperienced.. I know nobody wants to hear it but there’s a learning curve and we are going to have to gasp! Be patient and take some lumps.. but it will pay dividends in the long run

You are right, it is just frustrating. He made a great play on the rollout pass to Thornton that got them down there, but than fumbled a snap and overthrew a fairly easy pass to Kistleman. Those 2 plays could have been a big difference. Nico was a little off all night. He had some inaccurate passes earlier in the night, looks like the low pass to White may have put him out for awhile. The o-line isn't making things any easier on him.

 

[BeardedVol]

.

 

[volbound1700]

Trying to understand your logic here.

He's a RS freshman who has actually been with the program since 12/16/2022. He basically got to sit a year and learn the system, and wasn't asked to start until the bowl game in January of this year, having been with the program a full year at that point.

This year we are supposed to just write off as a learning year and not expect much from him?

Next year becomes the year we can expect him to function in the offense at a successful level, and then he's most likely gone to the draft if so?

How exactly is this pattern sustainable?

Huh? My point is that we shouldn't have put ourselves in that final drive, stress situation in the first place. We should have put more points up on the board and not laid a goose egg in first half. That is more than just Nico, that is the entire crew (in fact, Nico doesn't deserve a lot of the blame IMO).

Also, don't give me this crap about Nico. Arkansas' QB was in a very similar spot with less talent around him and look what he did? They were both in the same stinking training camp together as alluded to. Taylen Green out played Nico. I don't blame it all on Nico and, to me, play calling and the offensive line were the real issues.

I think Nico has had it difficult with a lot of the other issues on our offense but good QBs (like Taylen Green) improvise.

 

[VolJarhead]

Exactly. If they don't score a td we never touch the ball again.

Not sure any previous staff would have made that call but it had to be done

Spurrier let us score one year to do the same thing.

 

[BeardedVol]

Well, he’s inexperienced.. I know nobody wants to hear it but there’s a learning curve and we are going to have to gasp! Be patient and take some lumps.. but it will pay dividends in the long run

Trying to understand your logic here.

He's a RS freshman who has actually been with the program since 12/16/2022. He basically got to sit a year and learn the system, and wasn't asked to start until the bowl game in January of this year, having been with the program a full year at that point.

This year we are supposed to just write off as a learning year and not expect much from him?

Next year becomes the year we can expect him to function in the offense at a successful level, and then he's most likely gone to the draft if so?

How exactly is this pattern sustainable

 

[GVol1966]

I was more mad about Heupel’s failure to call a timeout with 35 seconds left and Nico running out of bounds on the last play.

Yep. As bad as we played, the long pass set us up to win.
What happened after was worse than the rest of the game.
Wasted like 18 seconds of the 35.
Coaching malpractice

 

[ShoalCreekVol]

If we didn’t let them score, they were going to be able to run the clock all the way down and kick basically an extra point to win.

The real failure was not being able to execute a 4 minute offense and seal the win.

This is my opinion as well.

 

[ShoalCreekVol]

Secondarily, I was frustrated that we opened the game with that long pass to Donte at around midfield down the right side (I believe), that was called back on a penalty, but we didn't seem to even try going back to it.

 

[chattavol420]

If we didn’t let them score, they were going to be able to run the clock all the way down and kick basically an extra point to win.

The real failure was not being able to execute a 4 minute offense and seal the win.

But that’s not what would’ve happened. They couldn’t have run the clock out. We had 2 timeouts and they were at the 12. If we bow up and use our timeouts, they’d have almost certainly run 3 straight times. They’d have been able to run the entire play clock down after their 3rd down run. But that means we’d have gotten the ball back (down 1) with around 45 seconds left. Clock still stops on a 1st down under 2 minutes. With a decent return, we’d have only needed around 30-40 yards to be in range for a game winning field goal.
I think that strategy would’ve been a higher percentage chance of winning. And who knows, Arkansas might’ve throw the ball on 3rd down knowing we were selling out to stop the run.

 

[WillieT]

Can Nico read defenses?

 

[LadyVolette]

Trying to understand your logic here.

He's a RS freshman who has actually been with the program since 12/16/2022. He basically got to sit a year and learn the system, and wasn't asked to start until the bowl game in January of this year, having been with the program a full year at that point.

This year we are supposed to just write off as a learning year and not expect much from him?

Next year becomes the year we can expect him to function in the offense at a successful level, and then he's most likely gone to the draft if so?

How exactly is this pattern sustainable

I mean inexperienced playing time which is different than practicing lol.. I’m sticking to my opinion.. you do you

 

[WoodsmanVol]

As I was listening to the Volcast on the radio like I always do while watching it on TV, Kessling and his color commentator said when Arkansas scored the last touchdown to go ahead, he said "I'm not sure if they (Tennessee) didn't just let them score". Were they thinking we could punch one down field in a quick strike?
At that point, given the way they played, giving up 16 points with around a minute to play, I held out little hope. Granted, if all they needed was a FG, then maybe.
Thoughts

Herein lies the gist of the matter. We lost.

 

[BeardedVol]

I mean inexperienced playing time which is different than practicing lol.. I’m sticking to my opinion.. you do you

So In your opinion, getting one solid year out of a QB is acceptable?

 

[GAVol]

But that’s not what would’ve happened. They couldn’t have run the clock out. We had 2 timeouts and they were at the 12. If we bow up and use our timeouts, they’d have almost certainly run 3 straight times. They’d have been able to run the entire play clock down after their 3rd down run. But that means we’d have gotten the ball back (down 1) with around 45 seconds left. Clock still stops on a 1st down under 2 minutes. With a decent return, we’d have only needed around 30-40 yards to be in range for a game winning field goal.
I think that strategy would’ve been a higher percentage chance of winning. And who knows, Arkansas might’ve throw the ball on 3rd down knowing we were selling out to stop the run.

They scored on 1st down at 1:17. Had they not scored, We could’ve called timeout at 1:15 and then again at maybe 1:10. Then they could’ve taken a knee at 1:05 and run it down under :30 before burning a timeout and kicking it. We’d have gotten the ball at our own 25 with :20ish left and no timeouts.