Postgame Thoughts: Oklahoma Edition

[TNHopeful505]

Well, here's what I got to say:

1. Oklahoma is dang good. This wasn't a matter of us beating ourselves, they were good. That defense is no doubt the best one we will see all year. And that's no disrespect to Bama, UGA, or SC. No shame in losing to that team, they deserve their ranking, and assuming they play every team on their schedule how they played us, they'll be in the playoffs, no doubt.

2. We showed some signs of running the ball better, but it took a while. Hurd got 97 yards I think, and had two REALLY promising runs. 111 yards rushing for the night.

3. Our O-Line...sucks. They just got manhandled tonight. Butch needs to take about 7-8 in this class. Worst thing is there's just no way to speed up the process of developing a O-Line.

4. I'm taking up a collection to try to put together money to pay Drew Richmond more than Ole Miss to come here. Anybody wanna pitch in?

5. Our Defense truly did play well tonight. I'm proud of them. Didn't give up too many big plays. Our defense is definitely the star of this team. A.J. Johnson is just an incredible football player. Cam Sutton is going to be an All-American before it's all said and done with.

6. Good to see Medley hit his kicks tonight, as well as the blocked field goal by our guys. Special teams deserves emphasis, and it's good to see us doing good things on ST.

7. Really missed Von Pearson tonight. I think he could have turned some big plays. Hopefully he's back soon.

8. Jason Croom needs to be sat. Sorry, MZTerry, love you and all, but he just dropped the ball tonight, metaphorically and literally. All that height, and yet, blew it. That interception was completely on him. Should have been a TD.

9. That fumble that the refs did not call ruined our momentum. It was clear that the ball was out, and it was clear that his knee was not down. We got screwed, and that was a gamechanger, and Butch knew it, and so did everyone else.

10. Mike Bajakian...I wanna like him, but I just don't think he's going to make it as a OC in the SEC. Too predictable, and too many plays that take too long to develop. Wouldn't be surprised if he is out after the season. Plus, he's not the greatest recruiter. Bring in someone else. We've got some big time QB's coming, we don't need to be running fly sweeps for a loss.

Player of the game: Justin Worley. Kid got drilled time after time, his offensive line didn't help him at all, but he kept getting up, and kept going. Made some smart plays, good decisions. Had only 1-2 bad decisions that I saw. The interceptions were not his fault at all, IMO. Kid played tough, and he has improved miles from where he was. Went into a tough environment and still brought consistency and poise to the position.

Summary:
Good first road test for the newcomers. Won't get much worse than that. Definitely humbled us a bit after two good wins, but we definitely saw what we expected: a more experienced team won in the trenches. But this was NOT the team who got drubbed by Oregon last year. This was a much improved team, and it was a few plays and calls away from a much closer game. Truthfully, Tennessee could have won this game. But, too many missed opportunities. Left a lot of points on the field. When we start running the ball more consistently, making teams respect it, then this offense will start clicking more.

With UF squeaking past Kentucky (yes, Kentucky), and Vanderbilt sucking, Mizzou being mediocre, and USC and UGA splitting wins, the SEC East is wide open.

Now, let's use the bye week, heal up, look at how we can improve, make adjustments, and go into Athens and do what we should have done last year!

Proud of the fight of these boys! Carry the fight to the opponent for 60 minutes, and they did!

GBO!

 

[treedogvol]

you don't know FB .. :lolabove::lolabove: Here is Oklahoma' schedule Louisiana tech , Tulsa , Tenn , West Virginia , TCU , Texas , #19 Kansas ST. , Iowa St., #8 Baylor Texas Tech , Kansas , Oklahoma St. only two ranked teams . And only an Idiot would think their defense is as good as Alabama or LSU .. South Carolina or Georgia can beat Oklahume ....

 

[TNHopeful505]

you don't know FB .. :lolabove::lolabove: Here is Oklahoma' schedule Louisiana tech , Tulsa , Tenn , West Virginia , TCU , Texas , #19 Kansas ST. , Iowa St., #8 Baylor Texas Tech , Kansas , Oklahoma St. only two ranked teams . And only an Idiot would think their defense is as good as Alabama or LSU .. South Carolina or Georgia can beat Oklahume ....

I may not know football. But I do know how to form a complete sentence. I also know how to spell.

And I would say that since Oklahoma beat Alabama last year, their defense might be close to the same level.

I know a good defense when I see one. And their defense was a good one.

 

[ScottyG210]

you don't know FB .. :lolabove::lolabove: Here is Oklahoma' schedule Louisiana tech , Tulsa , Tenn , West Virginia , TCU , Texas , #19 Kansas ST. , Iowa St., #8 Baylor Texas Tech , Kansas , Oklahoma St. only two ranked teams . And only an Idiot would think their defense is as good as Alabama or LSU .. South Carolina or Georgia can beat Oklahume ....

Wanna bet AL was better last year and lost to this team.

 

[TNsnyper20]

you don't know FB .. :lolabove::lolabove: Here is Oklahoma' schedule Louisiana tech , Tulsa , Tenn , West Virginia , TCU , Texas , #19 Kansas ST. , Iowa St., #8 Baylor Texas Tech , Kansas , Oklahoma St. only two ranked teams . And only an Idiot would think their defense is as good as Alabama or LSU .. South Carolina or Georgia can beat Oklahume ....

Oklahoma front seven on defense starts for any sec school. Only an idiot would think they wouldn't.

 

[TNHopeful505]

Oklahoma front seven on defense starts for any sec school. Only an idiot would think they wouldn't.

Agreed. I mean, our OLine is bad, but they're not so bad that any team could just walk right in and do what Oklahoma did.

Give OU some credit, they've got a nasty defense.

Can only hope that with players like Andrew Butcher, McKenzie, hopefully Shy Tuttle, and Derek Barnett, we'll be doing the same in a few years.

 

[VonoreVol]

you don't know FB .. :lolabove::lolabove: Here is Oklahoma' schedule Louisiana tech , Tulsa , Tenn , West Virginia , TCU , Texas , #19 Kansas ST. , Iowa St., #8 Baylor Texas Tech , Kansas , Oklahoma St. only two ranked teams . And only an Idiot would think their defense is as good as Alabama or LSU .. South Carolina or Georgia can beat Oklahume ....

Just curious... can you please explain exactly where Oklahoma has a weakness on defense. I saw a very solid defense in every area of the game. I'm no expert by no means, but I've been watching football for 25+ years, and thought OU had a very good defense all around.

 

[Catbone]

Well, here's what I got to say:

1. Oklahoma is dang good. This wasn't a matter of us beating ourselves, they were good. That defense is no doubt the best one we will see all year. And that's no disrespect to Bama, UGA, or SC. No shame in losing to that team, they deserve their ranking, and assuming they play every team on their schedule how they played us, they'll be in the playoffs, no doubt.

2. We showed some signs of running the ball better, but it took a while. Hurd got 97 yards I think, and had two REALLY promising runs. 111 yards rushing for the night.

3. Our O-Line...sucks. They just got manhandled tonight. Butch needs to take about 7-8 in this class. Worst thing is there's just no way to speed up the process of developing a O-Line.

4. I'm taking up a collection to try to put together money to pay Drew Richmond more than Ole Miss to come here. Anybody wanna pitch in?

5. Our Defense truly did play well tonight. I'm proud of them. Didn't give up too many big plays. Our defense is definitely the star of this team. A.J. Johnson is just an incredible football player. Cam Sutton is going to be an All-American before it's all said and done with.

6. Good to see Medley hit his kicks tonight, as well as the blocked field goal by our guys. Special teams deserves emphasis, and it's good to see us doing good things on ST.

7. Really missed Von Pearson tonight. I think he could have turned some big plays. Hopefully he's back soon.

8. Jason Croom needs to be sat. Sorry, MZTerry, love you and all, but he just dropped the ball tonight, metaphorically and literally. All that height, and yet, blew it. That interception was completely on him. Should have been a TD.

9. That fumble that the refs did not call ruined our momentum. It was clear that the ball was out, and it was clear that his knee was not down. We got screwed, and that was a gamechanger, and Butch knew it, and so did everyone else.

10. Mike Bajakian...I wanna like him, but I just don't think he's going to make it as a OC in the SEC. Too predictable, and too many plays that take too long to develop. Wouldn't be surprised if he is out after the season. Plus, he's not the greatest recruiter. Bring in someone else. We've got some big time QB's coming, we don't need to be running fly sweeps for a loss.

Player of the game: Justin Worley. Kid got drilled time after time, his offensive line didn't help him at all, but he kept getting up, and kept going. Made some smart plays, good decisions. Had only 1-2 bad decisions that I saw. The interceptions were not his fault at all, IMO. Kid played tough, and he has improved miles from where he was. Went into a tough environment and still brought consistency and poise to the position.

Summary:
Good first road test for the newcomers. Won't get much worse than that. Definitely humbled us a bit after two good wins, but we definitely saw what we expected: a more experienced team won in the trenches. But this was NOT the team who got drubbed by Oregon last year. This was a much improved team, and it was a few plays and calls away from a much closer game. Truthfully, Tennessee could have won this game. But, too many missed opportunities. Left a lot of points on the field. When we start running the ball more consistently, making teams respect it, then this offense will start clicking more.

With UF squeaking past Kentucky (yes, Kentucky), and Vanderbilt sucking, Mizzou being mediocre, and USC and UGA splitting wins, the SEC East is wide open.

Now, let's use the bye week, heal up, look at how we can improve, make adjustments, and go into Athens and do what we should have done last year!

Proud of the fight of these boys! Carry the fight to the opponent for 60 minutes, and they did!

GBO!

Nice

 

[TNHopeful505]

Just curious... can you please explain exactly where Oklahoma has a weakness on defense. I saw a very solid defense in every area of the game. I'm no expert by no means, but I've been watching football for 25+ years, and thought OU had a very good defense all around.

When you have a pass rush like they have, it doesn't matter if you have a weakness.

I thought their secondary was their weak spot, but our receivers couldn't catch worth a flip, and Worley hardly had time if he wasn't running for his life.

That front 7 was just sick.

 

[Thin Blue Vol]

you don't know FB .. :lolabove::lolabove: Here is Oklahoma' schedule Louisiana tech , Tulsa , Tenn , West Virginia , TCU , Texas , #19 Kansas ST. , Iowa St., #8 Baylor Texas Tech , Kansas , Oklahoma St. only two ranked teams . And only an Idiot would think their defense is as good as Alabama or LSU .. South Carolina or Georgia can beat Oklahume ....

ou's defense deserves respect! They tapped alabbubba's arse last year in similar fashion. no fluke after tonight in my opinion regardless of how much I hate to say it!!

 

[TNsnyper20]

Agreed. I mean, our OLine is bad, but they're not so bad that any team could just walk right in and do what Oklahoma did.

Give OU some credit, they've got a nasty defense.

Can only hope that with players like Andrew Butcher, McKenzie, hopefully Shy Tuttle, and Derek Barnett, we'll be doing the same in a few years.

Coaching stability will get us there again. There were some negatives in this game add you pointed out. But the team played..... and never quit. Been a while since I've been able to say that.

 

[Jarred Matheney]

Played a drinking game during the game, how many times someone said true freshman for Tennessee. Was hammered before the game started. I'm joking I didn't do that, but even Herb said it during the game he probably said it over 100 times. It just shows you how young we are. I'm very proud of TN tonight we fought hard we are just very very young

 

[Dr H Lecter]

Great write up and I agree with you. Butch was a class act at half time when the reporter tried to goad him into inappropriate remarks.

 

[Volnut]

Striker and that nose tackle start on any team in FBS including Bammer.

 

[vtvol98]

This game will be looked upon as a good learning experience for our team. For the Vols to gain such valuable experience against such a worthy OOC adversary is tremendous. This game doesn't hurt the Vols in the SEC race yet it has enabled Butch and his players a measuring stick against SEC type speed and talent. Best of all, this team, unlike previous versions, did not quit and played hard until the final whistle. Things are looking up on the hill.

 

[TNHopeful505]

I think this was scheduled perfectly.

Schedule OU at OU, and then give yourself a week off before taking on Georgia, in a game that could make or break your chances at the East.

1/3 of the team experienced their first collegiate loss tonight.
1/3 of the team experienced their first road game tonight.
1/3 of the team experienced their first ranked opponent (Top 5 at that)
1/3 of the team experienced a top notch defense for the first time.
1/3 of the team experienced adversity for the first time in their college career.

That being said, 100% of the team fought hard for 60 minutes.

No, not all of the calls went our way.
No, we did not capitalize on every chance we had.
Yes, we did leave some points on the field.
Yes, we did shoot ourselves in the foot.
Yes, we missed some critical tackles.
Yes, we had some drops.
Yes, our OL got manhandled.
Yes, our QB got drilled.

When people look at the score, they may think we got blown out, or manhandled all night. But anyone who actually watched the game knows it was not that way at all. Tennessee's defense bent, but rarely broke. Oklahoma was in great field position all night, and the fact that their offense only put up 27 points against us, 6 of those being short FGs, is pretty dang good for a defense that last year gave up 50+ to Oregon, and played multiple true freshmen and sophomores.

We were just a few plays and breaks from being in an entirely different ballgame. I guarantee you when Butch speaks about this game, he will say that very same thing. He will talk about there's a few plays that change a football game, and we didn't get the breaks we wanted, but we didn't take advantage of the opportunities we had. He'll say that we had a few more big splash plays from Hurd, and Josh Smith, but we still didn't run the ball the way we wanted to. He'll say that he thought Justin Worley managed the game well, despite having a lot of pressure. He'll say that there were too many dropped balls and inconsistency at the receiver position. He'll point out Jaylen Reeves-Maybin.

There were a LOT of good things about this game. The main thing? Experience. This will be something these young guys will pull from.

I'm very optimistic after tonight's game. It's going to take a few hard knocks for them to realize that they have to make every opportunity count, but they'll get it. When this team starts getting that, and they start eliminating those little mistakes, watch out.

 

[Volfan76]

Well, here's what I got to say:

1. Oklahoma is dang good. This wasn't a matter of us beating ourselves, they were good. That defense is no doubt the best one we will see all year. And that's no disrespect to Bama, UGA, or SC. No shame in losing to that team, they deserve their ranking, and assuming they play every team on their schedule how they played us, they'll be in the playoffs, no doubt.

2. We showed some signs of running the ball better, but it took a while. Hurd got 97 yards I think, and had two REALLY promising runs. 111 yards rushing for the night.

3. Our O-Line...sucks. They just got manhandled tonight. Butch needs to take about 7-8 in this class. Worst thing is there's just no way to speed up the process of developing a O-Line.

4. I'm taking up a collection to try to put together money to pay Drew Richmond more than Ole Miss to come here. Anybody wanna pitch in?

5. Our Defense truly did play well tonight. I'm proud of them. Didn't give up too many big plays. Our defense is definitely the star of this team. A.J. Johnson is just an incredible football player. Cam Sutton is going to be an All-American before it's all said and done with.

6. Good to see Medley hit his kicks tonight, as well as the blocked field goal by our guys. Special teams deserves emphasis, and it's good to see us doing good things on ST.

7. Really missed Von Pearson tonight. I think he could have turned some big plays. Hopefully he's back soon.

8. Jason Croom needs to be sat. Sorry, MZTerry, love you and all, but he just dropped the ball tonight, metaphorically and literally. All that height, and yet, blew it. That interception was completely on him. Should have been a TD.

9. That fumble that the refs did not call ruined our momentum. It was clear that the ball was out, and it was clear that his knee was not down. We got screwed, and that was a gamechanger, and Butch knew it, and so did everyone else.

10. Mike Bajakian...I wanna like him, but I just don't think he's going to make it as a OC in the SEC. Too predictable, and too many plays that take too long to develop. Wouldn't be surprised if he is out after the season. Plus, he's not the greatest recruiter. Bring in someone else. We've got some big time QB's coming, we don't need to be running fly sweeps for a loss.

Player of the game: Justin Worley. Kid got drilled time after time, his offensive line didn't help him at all, but he kept getting up, and kept going. Made some smart plays, good decisions. Had only 1-2 bad decisions that I saw. The interceptions were not his fault at all, IMO. Kid played tough, and he has improved miles from where he was. Went into a tough environment and still brought consistency and poise to the position.

Summary:
Good first road test for the newcomers. Won't get much worse than that. Definitely humbled us a bit after two good wins, but we definitely saw what we expected: a more experienced team won in the trenches. But this was NOT the team who got drubbed by Oregon last year. This was a much improved team, and it was a few plays and calls away from a much closer game. Truthfully, Tennessee could have won this game. But, too many missed opportunities. Left a lot of points on the field. When we start running the ball more consistently, making teams respect it, then this offense will start clicking more.

With UF squeaking past Kentucky (yes, Kentucky), and Vanderbilt sucking, Mizzou being mediocre, and USC and UGA splitting wins, the SEC East is wide open.

Now, let's use the bye week, heal up, look at how we can improve, make adjustments, and go into Athens and do what we should have done last year!

Proud of the fight of these boys! Carry the fight to the opponent for 60 minutes, and they did!

GBO!

Wow...don't think I've ever read a post before that I agreed 100% with everything. Well said.

 

[perico]

you don't know FB .. :lolabove::lolabove: Here is Oklahoma' schedule Louisiana tech , Tulsa , Tenn , West Virginia , TCU , Texas , #19 Kansas ST. , Iowa St., #8 Baylor Texas Tech , Kansas , Oklahoma St. only two ranked teams . And only an Idiot would think their defense is as good as Alabama or LSU .. South Carolina or Georgia can beat Oklahume ....

Dude, Oklahoma clown stomped Alabubba in the bowl and returned their entire starting front 7 on defense. They have an argument to be ranked #2 at this point. I wouldn't be criticizing anyone about "knowing football," until you take the SEC blinders off. OK is legit.