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... and just like that, hundreds of thousands of fans transitioned from the land of blind hope and entered into the land of surpassed expectations. The journey was long an arduous, and we lost many along the way, but crossing that line was a simple step, one foot in front of the other, as the millions before it, but there was a defining moment in which you were no longer "there", but somewhere altogether different. Looking back, Florida, LSU, Bama, Clemson, all lay in our blistering wake, as if an orange cyclone of 25 pent up years of rage were released upon the earth. But have we arrived? Have we reached the land of "back"? "Back" is a land that you cannot visit. You must reside. Texas likes to visit "back" every few years. They do not reside. The residents of "back" are an angry exclusive sort, and they will promptly throw you out on your ear if you don't come ready for the fight. No... these Vols are not "back". They are in the land of surpassed expectations. Now, they must abide in the land of sustained expectations while knocking back those nipping at their heels and trading blows with those above before taking that next step. This is the year that they can prove that they belong... sustain what they have built, and ready themselves for the next step. Are you ready?
In an alternate universe, Tony Elliot is bringing his Vols to Nashville to play Virginia this weekend. In this reality, Tony decided to take the job, and was thus presented an official "offer" to coach Tennessee. I presume, he declined, and no offer was made, but you can make up your own mind about that. In this universe, however, Tennessee appears to be well equipped to take on whatever the Cavaliers can throw at them and Tony Elliot will be a man struggling to find solutions and trying to not wonder "what if."
Keys to Victory:
1. Clean Hand-offs: Not the hand-off between QB and RB ,but rather the hand-offs between Hooker and Milton and Golesh and Halzle. Hendon Hooker was a master at driving the Tennessee offense for the past two years. In year one, Joe had a dozen memes about overthrows, all for good reason. Last season he was much better in mop-up duty and filling in when Hooker was injured. Unfortunately, fans will be triggered with any overthrows since that is the narrative he has to play from. Ultimately, you want to see Joe do what he does best, and do some of what Hendon did best. Hendon ran the speed of the offense to near perfection, and I think that Joe will be a step behind that. His arm is unparalleled and he should be able to do enough with his legs to pick up needed yards. The biggest question marks for me are his decision making and resiliency. Can he consistently make the right decisions to keep turnovers down and drives moving forward? How does he do when there are 3 3-and-outs in a row? Can he get out of it? All good questions which will be answered. As for the hand-off from Golesh to Halzle, I'm not too concerned. We know who the chef is in that kitchen.
2. Upgraded Defense: The Tennessee defense has an opportunity to shine in year three of the Tim Banks system. They are facing a Caviler offensive line that was poor all year long and on top of that, their QB transferred out and they brought in a QB from someplace called Monmouth, which sounds like a special kind of deadly snake only found in the deepest of the Cajun bayou. If Virginia struggles to get anything going on offense, this will get very bad, very quickly. This is going to get very bad, very quickly.
3. Gel: There are a lot of key positions that Tennessee needs to settle, and this is a great game to start off with to do that. The OL needs to establish themselves with three key pieces missing from last year's team (Cooper in injured). You hope to see some old veterans like Ollie Lane see their hard work pay off and some younger hopefuls take that step forward like Addison Nichols. There is opportunity, and we need to see players step up and step in.
4. Reload Receiver: With the departure of Jalin Hyatt and Cedric Tillman to the NFL, the stage is set for any of the talented Vol WR's to take the torch... to the checkerboards. D'onte Thornton is the hot name around town and I could see him having a bit of a Justin Hunter type of game. Bru McCoy is set for a big year as a senior and of course, Squirrel and Ramel Keyton will get plenty of time as well. This doesn't even account for the stacks of quality receivers who are below them, but have yet to show out in a game yet.
Prediction:
First game thread of the year, and I hate to disappoint, but I can't really invent a lot of reasons why Tennessee should have any problem at all in this game. In the land of blind hope, I had to tear apart every statistic to find a meaningful chance that we could win some games. For now, Tennessee is simply better, and I just don't have much to add to that. Welcome to 2023.
TN 52
VA 17
