The Morning After - Sober Reflections Week 7

[UTFranklinVol]

An old stat from back in the day, anytime a Vol running back had over a 100 yards, we won. Hmmm

Certainly holding true now.

 

[TheVolsFrog]

This is exactly why I said we need Milton to hit some big home run passes to make Bama respect the pass and open up the run game. If we can't do that it will be very tough to win on running and defense alone.

Going to need WR to make those homerun catches.
I'm hoping the team that played against Clemson shows up Saturday

 

[OrangeBeachVol]

Milton’s play AND decision making are flat out Turruble. It’s such a shame because he’s a great kid with a great attitude. I hate it for him because if he can’t succeed under CJH, I don’t see many great developmental QB coaches in the NFL. Maybe he spends the spring with Jordan Palmer.

I'm afraid what we are seeing with Joe is what he is. I don't see him taking any big improvement steps at this point unfortunately. I to had a lot of confidence in him preseason but after yesterday I stand by my opinion.

 

[UTFranklinVol]

You seem to believe Ky-Mizzou-Vandy is harder than FL-USCe-A&M.

We went 2-1 vs FL-USCe-A&M. You think we won't do at least that well against Ky-Mizzou-Vandy

I have no idea why you would compare those three teams. Not sure how that makes sense.
Kentucky has already beaten Florida BADLY and I'd be willing to wager serious cash that Missouri beats Florida also.

I do 100% believe and already stated that UK on the road and Missouri on the road will be harder games than USC at home and TAMU at home in front of a raucus crowd. UK has been faltering but has been ranked most of the year and Missouri is about to be ranked again. TAMU and USC won't see the rankings the rest of the year.

If we were playing UK or Missouri at home then I think the calculus changes but those are not the reality. I think you're stuck on the old UK/Missouri/Candy games at the end of the year are automatic wins and it's clouding your judgement. USC and TAMU are terrible teams and UK and Missouri so far this year have outplayed them.

The people who are smarter than me also agree. I do not believe that just UGA and Bama make our schedule go from 88th to 11th and from 13th in the SEC to 2nd. Missouri and UK both being ranked and on the road play a big part too.

 

[VolDaddy61]

Tennessee has got to figure out the passing game in the back half of the season if we are going to be nationally competitive. It was good to see Heupel acknowledge some poor play calling and coaching decisions after the game.

I'm really thinking we've got to shakeup the status quo in the wide receiver room and get TE Warren more involved in the passing game outside of the red zone. He is a big target who could be a little easier for Milton to hit in the intermediate game. Pass protection seemed to be a big issue in this game. Partly because Joe stands tall in the pocket, partly because of the opponent, partly because receivers weren't getting open.

We've gotta make this really easy for Joe to be successful. Receivers have to run clean routes, get open and catch the catchable passes. Bru's absence was felt in the screen game, which I think contributed to our even lower yardage total. Joe is indecisive, stared down receivers and threw into coverage which was a worrying trend that emerged in the USC game and continue this week.

Joe also needs remedial lessons on situational football: when to tuck it and run, when to pass and specifically a clear decision tree of what to do on fourth down. He falls a part consistently on 4th down and kills drives by making the wrong decision. This has happened multiple times this year. A sign that this is all a mental thing for him. Similar thing with 2 pt tries. It is beyond me why he has not advanced beyond this basic stuff this year, but if we are going to be effective the staff has got to get him running the football in the right situations.

Did You play or coach ?. If it's so remedial, maybe You should give it a go.

 

[volfan102455]

An old stat from back in the day, anytime a Vol running back had over a 100 yards, we won. Hmmm

Goals! Some folks probably don't remember those days. It wasn't about how many yards the QB passed for, it was about controlling the line of scrimmage and if you are rushing for a certain number of yards, you are doing that.

Most teams that pass a lot have absolutely no run game.

 

[vegasvolfan]

My first thought: Tennessee follows up Dark Mode with Checker Neyland and the Vols win an absolute rock fight with Texas jr.

1.Tennessee has a really good running game. They continue to prove if they put up 200+ on the ground they can win. They will absolutely need this going into a pivitol game against a very vulnerable Bama team.
2. The defense is stepping up to the challenge. 2 sacks 2 ints and 5 tfls. The defense was the savior of this game and kept us from losing a very winnable game.
3. The Squirrel White catch was the headline of the USC game and the Dee Williams punt return for TD was the highlight of this week. We absolutely need highlight reel plays to keep winning especially given how the schedule will take a big turn for the worse.
4. We finished the first half of the season strong and pretty much how I thought we would. We really faced a lot of weak competition and I could easily see how we could be 6-0 and in the top 10 right now but I think given what we lost on offense last year we did as well as could be expected.

On second thought...

1. Once again we found a way to win with a sub par QB. As I said at the top this was a rock fight from beginning to end. Strong defense, a dominant running game and a punt return won this for us. Blame whoever you want but the big passing plays aren't hitting home. Yes a couple dropped passes that should have been caught but a bunch that even the announcers said were bad QB mistakes for a guy as old as Milton. Completing just half of his 22 throws for 100 yards and a TD and INT it was clear the strategy in this game was to limit Joe's ability to screw up the game and rely on the running game. Joe is residing at #12 in QBR in the SEC and #9 for the week again like last week the opposing QB was even worse which saved us.
2. The pretend/practice part of the schedule is now concluded and the real football season begins. Unlike the first half which was all cupcakes and easy home games the back half is a minefield of tough road games and trap games. Playing Bama UK and Missouri all on the road is brutal and I think all of those teams are better than Florida which we could not beat on the road. Then a brutal game against the #1 team in the nation doesn't make it look any easier. Thank goodness for Ucon and Candy. At least we know if the very worst happens in the back half we will still win 7 games and be bowl eligible.

Looking ahead to next week...

I think we take it to Bama and we nearly beat them on the road. The only way we win is if Joe somehow hits some big home run passes. I don't think our running game and good defense alone will win this one. More than ever before we need Joe to be the best QB he can be. If we beat Bama, watch out. Our confidence will be at an all time high this year and could carry over into a big second half of the season.

I think if they create more designed run plays for Joe it will keep defenses honest. Hopefully Mincey will be back. When both Mincey and Mays are playing, Joe throws better and we run better.

 

[chuck0303]

Think it will be hard to run on Bama because they will load the box and challenge Joe to beat them in the air. The receivers can help Joe by running their routes and coming back to him so he has a favorable somewhat stationary target. Yeah, you don't get the extra yards from a missed tackle probably but you get the yards gained there. If we're depending on getting the pass interference calls think you can forget that; can't depend on the officials to help us. Gotta have good pass blocking too. Fortunate to win the A&M game; should have won this going away. Glad the coach owning up to some bad play calling too. Enough blame to go around but the D saved us this week.

 

[901 Orange]

My first thought: Tennessee follows up Dark Mode with Checker Neyland and the Vols win an absolute rock fight with Texas jr.

1.Tennessee has a really good running game. They continue to prove if they put up 200+ on the ground they can win. They will absolutely need this going into a pivitol game against a very vulnerable Bama team.
2. The defense is stepping up to the challenge. 2 sacks 2 ints and 5 tfls. The defense was the savior of this game and kept us from losing a very winnable game.
3. The Squirrel White catch was the headline of the USC game and the Dee Williams punt return for TD was the highlight of this week. We absolutely need highlight reel plays to keep winning especially given how the schedule will take a big turn for the worse.
4. We finished the first half of the season strong and pretty much how I thought we would. We really faced a lot of weak competition and I could easily see how we could be 6-0 and in the top 10 right now but I think given what we lost on offense last year we did as well as could be expected.

On second thought...

1. Once again we found a way to win with a sub par QB. As I said at the top this was a rock fight from beginning to end. Strong defense, a dominant running game and a punt return won this for us. Blame whoever you want but the big passing plays aren't hitting home. Yes a couple dropped passes that should have been caught but a bunch that even the announcers said were bad QB mistakes for a guy as old as Milton. Completing just half of his 22 throws for 100 yards and a TD and INT it was clear the strategy in this game was to limit Joe's ability to screw up the game and rely on the running game. Joe is residing at #12 in QBR in the SEC and #9 for the week again like last week the opposing QB was even worse which saved us.
2. The pretend/practice part of the schedule is now concluded and the real football season begins. Unlike the first half which was all cupcakes and easy home games the back half is a minefield of tough road games and trap games. Playing Bama UK and Missouri all on the road is brutal and I think all of those teams are better than Florida which we could not beat on the road. Then a brutal game against the #1 team in the nation doesn't make it look any easier. Thank goodness for Ucon and Candy. At least we know if the very worst happens in the back half we will still win 7 games and be bowl eligible.

Looking ahead to next week...

I think we take it to Bama and we nearly beat them on the road. The only way we win is if Joe somehow hits some big home run passes. I don't think our running game and good defense alone will win this one. More than ever before we need Joe to be the best QB he can be. If we beat Bama, watch out. Our confidence will be at an all time high this year and could carry over into a big second half of the season.

If you got an Elite run game, an Elite front 7, a Special Teams unit that can score and control field position, you're going to be in every single game and you're going to have a very high chance of winning. Run game, defense, and Special Teams travel
in football.

 

[UTFranklinVol]

If you got an Elite run game, an Elite front 7, a Special Teams unit that can score and control field position, you're going to be in every single game and you're going to have a very high chance of winning. Run game, defense, and Special Teams travel
in football.

I don't disagree however I would push back slightly and say we don't know how elite those pieces are YET. Our competition so far if we are honest with ourselves has been pretty lousy and our running game sucked against Florida. However If we keep the same pace against the next 6 teams we will prove to be a very good team with elite pieces.

 

[UTFranklinVol]

Think it will be hard to run on Bama because they will load the box and challenge Joe to beat them in the air. The receivers can help Joe by running their routes and coming back to him so he has a favorable somewhat stationary target. Yeah, you don't get the extra yards from a missed tackle probably but you get the yards gained there. If we're depending on getting the pass interference calls think you can forget that; can't depend on the officials to help us. Gotta have good pass blocking too. Fortunate to win the A&M game; should have won this going away. Glad the coach owning up to some bad play calling too. Enough blame to go around but the D saved us this week.

Joe need to drop maybe 3 precise dimes deep down field against Bama and it will be enough to open up the run game to beat Bama.

Bama BARELY beat a sh!t Arkansas team at home. Surely we can keep it close enough to have a chance to win if Milton just plays even a little better down the field.

 

[SpookyAction]

I am thankful our punter has looked good.
The first two games had me worried, but he has come along nicely.
I see why the coaches have been so high on Jackson Ross.

 

[Rocky Top T]

Without Bru, we are hurting bad at receiver. All they have to do is make sure Squirrel is covered. I don't expect to win next week. 8-9 wins likely.

 

[901 Orange]

I don't disagree however I would push back slightly and say we don't know how elite those pieces are YET. Our competition so far if we are honest with ourselves has been pretty lousy and our running game sucked against Florida. However If we keep the same pace against the next 6 teams we will prove to be a very good team with elite pieces.

Cooper May's didn't play vs Fla. He changes alot for us upfront. Mainly getting everyone on the same page. If we're looking at competition, I can only go by what I just saw. We just played a loaded front 7. They got 5 stars all across their front and we dominated. A&M was the litmus test for our run game. It's been half a season and we lead the SEC in rushing yards per game by 15 yards. It's pretty safe to say that as long as our best OL(Cooper) is on the field we're a dominant run team.

 

[UTFranklinVol]

Cooper May's didn't play vs Fla. He changes alot for us upfront. Mainly getting everyone on the same page. If we're looking at competition, I can only go by what I just saw. We just played a loaded front 7. They got 5 stars all across their front and we dominated. A&M was the litmus test for our run game. It's been half a season and we lead the SEC in rushing yards per game by 15 yards. It's pretty safe to say that as long as our best OL(Cooper) is on the field we're a dominant run team.

I hear you but I don't care how many 5 star players TAMU has they are a 3 loss team through 7 games that's terrible. They are the most overrated team in the SEC since UK last year. Tennessee won a very winnable game.

I agree we absolutely need Cooper on the OL or we are dead meat.

 

[901 Orange]

I hear you but I don't care how many 5 star players TAMU has they are a 3 loss team through 7 games that's terrible. They are the most overrated team in the SEC since UK last year. Tennessee won a very winnable game.

I agree we absolutely need Cooper on the OL or we are dead meat.

Regardless of record they were one of the very best rush defenses in the nation. We ran all over them. All of our games with the exception of UGA are winnable. There are no world beaters on the schedule. Everyone has a wtf game except UGA and everyone we play has a glaring flaw.

 

[GVol1966]

Cooper May's didn't play vs Fla. He changes a lot us upfront. Mainly getting everyone on the same page. If we're looking at competition, I can only go by what I just saw. We just played a loaded front 7. They got 5 stars all across their front and we dominated. A&M was the litmus test for our run game. It's been half a season and we lead the SEC in rushing yards per game by 15 yards. It's pretty safe to say that as long as our best OL(Cooper) is on the field we're a dominant run team.

Most of the rest didn’t either. They just put on a uniform and trotted out on the field.
But wouldn’t call what they did playing

 

[airvols]

Alabama will stack the box and dare Milton to beat us. He will throw three int’s in this one if we don’t give him short routes to hit. He better run the ball himself to keep the defense off balance. Expect a grind out game.

 

[DaddyChad]

He said "sober reflections"....

He also said “sub par QB” which is an insult to sub par qbs everywhere.

 

[UTFranklinVol]

Regardless of record they were one of the very best rush defenses in the nation. We ran all over them. All of our games with the exception of UGA are winnable. There are no world beaters on the schedule. Everyone has a wtf game except UGA and everyone we play has a glaring flaw.

Hey if they had one of the best run defenses in the country and UT ran all over them then I should expect UT to run all over Bama and Georgia as well?

 

[VAVol85]

Gonna have to stop you right there, friend. Several errors in this paragraph.

1. There is no "pretend" part to the schedule. Every bit of it is equally important, every bit of it counts.
2. Real football has been going on for almost two months now. I'm sorry you missed it.
3. The first half the season included Florida, USCe, and A&M. All three of those are peer competitors to the Vols. All three of them are better than Mizzou and Kentucky.
4. Sure, going on the road to Bama, UK, and (after a cupcake break vs UConn) Mizzou raises the degree of difficulty a bit (Vegas says about 3 points' worth), but UK and Mizzou are always -- always, forever, in perpetuity, for our lifetimes -- going to be less challenging than Florida, A&M, and USCe.

In short, you came up with a nifty premise ("the easy half is over, now we hit the rough half") and tried to twist the facts around to fit it.

They don't fit.

Bama and UGa are going to be big challenges. Wouldn't be surprised if we don't win those matches. But the rest of the back half--Kentucky, UConn, Mizzou, and Vandy--that is all absolutely winnable.

A 9-3 regular season finish seems the most reasonable prognostication at this point. 10-2 and 8-4 are probably equally likely alternate endings.

Go Vols!

Agree with all of this except the USCe v Missouri comparison. Missouri is not as good as their record suggests, but I do think they are better than USCe this year.

 

[VAVol85]

I don't disagree however I would push back slightly and say we don't know how elite those pieces are YET. Our competition so far if we are honest with ourselves has been pretty lousy and our running game sucked against Florida. However If we keep the same pace against the next 6 teams we will prove to be a very good team with elite pieces.

I would argue that ATM has a very good run defense - we just kicked their tail.

 

[BanditVol]

Gonna have to stop you right there, friend. Several errors in this paragraph.

1. There is no "pretend" part to the schedule. Every bit of it is equally important, every bit of it counts.
2. Real football has been going on for almost two months now. I'm sorry you missed it.
3. The first half the season included Florida, USCe, and A&M. All three of those are peer competitors to the Vols. All three of them are better than Mizzou and Kentucky.
4. Sure, going on the road to Bama, UK, and (after a cupcake break vs UConn) Mizzou raises the degree of difficulty a bit (Vegas says about 3 points' worth), but UK and Mizzou are always -- always, forever, in perpetuity, for our lifetimes -- going to be less challenging than Florida, A&M, and USCe.

In short, you came up with a nifty premise ("the easy half is over, now we hit the rough half") and tried to twist the facts around to fit it.

They don't fit.

Bama and UGa are going to be big challenges. Wouldn't be surprised if we don't win those matches. But the rest of the back half--Kentucky, UConn, Mizzou, and Vandy--that is all absolutely winnable.

A 9-3 regular season finish seems the most reasonable prognostication at this point. 10-2 and 8-4 are probably equally likely alternate endings.

Go Vols!

Agree that UK doesn't belong with UF and A&M, but not sure USCe does either. To me, they are about like Mizzou.

 

[VolDave53]

"We've gotta make this really easy for Joe to be successful. . . . .
Joe also needs remedial lessons on situational football: when to tuck it and run, when to pass and specifically a clear decision tree of what to do on fourth down. He falls a part consistently on 4th down and kills drives by making the wrong decision. "

Perhaps a lesson on Down and Distance markers. "Joe, there are two connected by chains. You have to make it beyond the SECOND one before going out of bounds!"

JMHO

 

[UTFranklinVol]

Perhaps a lesson on Down and Distance markers. "Joe, there are two connected by chains. You have to make it beyond the SECOND one before going out of bounds!"

JMHO

Boy so true. I about spit out my beer when he stepped out. Totally unaware or scared to get hit!