My thoughts:
The one thing that has been keeping me going as a TN fan all these years is hope. Hope is all that we have had. After firing Fulmer, we hoped that Kiffin was the guy. Then, we hoped against hope that Dooley was the guy. Then I bought into the fake hope that Jones provided and hoped, and for a time thought, that he was the guy.
Before yesterday, I felt that I knew that what I had hoped for had arrived. Pruitt was going to be the guy. How could he not be? Best defensive coach in college football who went out and hired the best staff in college football. He brought in Jim Chaney to control the one area where we needed the most help: the offense. On top of that, he brought in some superstar talent for the OL and the defense. Surely this would be a big jump for us this year.
All offseason I have thought that we would see the kind of jump in year 2 that Kirby had at GA in year 2. No, we weren't going to win 12 games and go to the playoff, but I thought the culture would be in place. I thought that guys would be flying around, making plays and playing with the kind of intensity that you need to win in the SEC. But yesterday what I saw was completely the opposite. I saw the same thing yesterday that I saw in the Vandy game last year. I saw a team full of quitters who didn't care whether we won or lost. Their post game comments, especially JG's, tell that story. That guy cannot see that he played poorly. He either can't see it, can't admit it, or he doesn't care. I fear that its the latter. There is no fire or fight in this team. Maybe that's not the case with the younger players, I'm not sure. But if the younger players play with passion and a desire to win, then bench all of the older that don't and play all of your guys. That starts with JG. I don't care if we win 3 games. I'd rather win 3 games with Maurer giving his best than with JG who just doesn't care.
The same problems that have plagued us were there yesterday. Our OL is still bad. Our DL got pushed around by an OL that wouldn't be recruited by any team outside the sunbelt. We played soft and weak. This wasn't supposed to happen in year 2 under Fitz and under Pruitt. But it has. Here we are again. JG, even with Chaney, was still awful. Our guys still quit when the going got tough. And it seemed that they didn't even care.
But you can't just blame the team. So much of this falls on coach Pruitt. That team that played yesterday was unprepared. They believed they would walk out there and win just because their jersey has Tennessee written on it. They were not prepared. They were misaligned so many times on defense; on DEFENSE! That's supposed to be Pruitt's specialty. something is missing here. Is it Pruitt? Is it Ansley? Whoever it is, it needs to be fixed now. There is no excuse for that in year 2, game 1. But Pruitt was also making other strange mistakes. He was subbing on the DL every play! He was moving the OL around all game long, even when we were losing! And he was playing young guys with no experience like Banks at Linebacker and Grey as a blocker in key moments of the 4th quarter. Why?
It is clear after yesterday that Pruitt is in over his head. Now, there are a couple of options. They could fire him. And if he has the type of season I fear he's about to have, they probably will. But then where are we? Starting over with a new staff that won't be as good as this one and probably a recruiting class ranked in the 30's putting us even more behind. Maybe there's a better option. Maybe Fulmer needs to take Pruitt and sit-down with him, Tee, Chaney, Ansley, and Rumph, and point out the ways he's messing up and what he needs to do to fix them. There have been coaches in over their heads before, and they trusted their coaching staff, and the team got better. Maybe this is what Pruitt needs to do. Maybe he won't do it, maybe he will. But something is broken over there and it has to be fixed.
If it isn't fixed, then I'm afraid that, for the first time, I will have to acknowledge that Tennessee football is dead. Maybe forever. If this coaching staff can't fix this problem with Fulmer as AD, who can? Gruden isn't coming; Gundy isn't coming; Peterson isn't coming. Where do we turn now? Who knows, maybe on Saturday we see a different team. But I doubt it.
I have no more hope left.
State.
