My first thought: Music City Bowl, here we come! I really hate to say it, but I told you so. After week 6 I posted here explaining how the first half of the schedule was a cake walk full of weak opponents and home games and how the second half of the season would be much harder because of tougher opponents and ROAD GAMES. I remember the names of the posters who thought it was “asinine” to think that UT was going to lose to Mizzou and they were easier that Florida or Texas A&M. Well all of that garbage was FALSE. This is a completely different team on the road.
On second thought:
- Joe Milton, not the leader we wanted, but the leader we have. His yardage and completions were decent and our one TD came on another circus catch by a WR that made Milton’s stats look that much better. However, the “other Joe” also made appearances in this game. An interception, a fumble deep in Mizzou territory, both of which lead directly to Mizzou TDs that pretty much ended any hope of a UT comeback.
- It’s now apparent we are a one-dimensional team. If we cannot run for 200+ yards we are not capable of winning on Milton’s passing game or running skills. Our running game had its worst performance of the year SO FAR. Unfortunately, we still have to play Georgia and if Mizzou was able to do this to our running game, we may have negative rushing yards against UGA.
- WTF happened to our defense? I thought we were “the best rushing defense”? Somebody forgot to tell Cody Schrader I guess because he SHREDDED us. We couldn’t stop him or anyone especially on 3rd and long, MY GAWD.
- Heupel has a road game PROBLEM. Going back a little over 1 year with 2 different caliber teams Heupel has lost 5 of 7 SEC road games and he only seems to be able to beat Vandy and UK (barely)
2022 UGA L
2022 USC L
2022 Vandy W
2023 UF L
2023 Bama L
2023 UK W
2023 Mizz L
Looking ahead:
I hate to even look ahead. Prior to yesterday I was VERY optimistic that this team could go get UGA and beat them at home. But after what I just saw and how easy it is to beat UT if you just focus on stopping the run, I can’t make the math work out in favor of UT. So, unfortunately back to my original point at the top, the second half of the season is shaping up to be exactly what I thought it would be. UT is on the verge of losing HALF its games in the second half of the season. We aren’t going to beat any of the tough opponents on the schedule, no signature wins in year 3. Utterly f
orgettable season.
