The Official #8 Tennessee vs. Florida Game Thread, 7:00 PM ET, ESPN

[vol_smoothie]

Florida is terrible, with a back-up QB- 330 yds of offense in the 3rd qtr. This is not an elite defense. If you think they are, you're the dumb one, not me.

Do you know what ELITE means?

You are correct. We have been gashed the last 2 games by unranked teams. We have given up late TD drives the past two games, one that cost us and the other that could have, both drives by freshmen QB's.

 

[Volprofch05]

 

[vol_smoothie]

I call bull- I will take an ugly win over a pretty loss any day of the week. Guess what Huepel has more wins over Florida than any other Tennessee coach in the past 20

In the past 15, Fulmer had multiple wins. '09 was the start of coaches failing vs florida.

 

[Vol737]

That’s the most frustrating part, the unbeatables are suddenly beatable. If we’d could just improve offensively it’s right there for the taking

Indeed

 

[TennMan101]

I’m sorry but this team doesn’t look like it belongs anywhere near the playoff a. Wish it weren’t the case, but this team just doesn’t have it. Reminds me of a Botch squad.

I tend to agree, but ppl saying Bama will skull drag us haven't seen them play the last couple weeks.

 

[VOLtaism]

From the Iowa game to now... totally different player, he's definitely regressed

He was running the football against Iowa. That extra dimension slowed the pass rush and opened the running game. He is a duel threat QB. Huepel is playing him with 1 tied hand behind his back. He ran once or twice each time we had the football against Iowa.

 

[UTK]

College football is so weird.

It is but UGAs defense is a fraud. They’re average at best this year

 

[volfan102455]

Just got back home - not going to read through all this - I can imagine how the conversation has gone.

We won! That is all that should matter. That means we are still in the hunt for the SEC championship and a playoff berth.

There doesn't appear to be any team in the SEC that is going to cake walk over the other teams. There is also parity in the league - no team is unbeatable by any other SEC team.

 

[UTK]

Just got back home - not going to read through all this - I can imagine how the conversation has gone.

We won! That is all that should matter. That means we are still in the hunt for the SEC championship and a playoff berth.

There doesn't appear to be any team in the SEC that is going to cake walk over the other teams. There is also parity in the league - no team is unbeatable by any other SEC team.

Texas is the only team I can say is “really good” atm. That’s all.

 

[UTK]

Dylan Sampson through 6 games


699 yards, 15 tuddies over 6 yards a carry. Gonna break the season record (18) with ease at this point and may even break the career record (believe he’s 9 away form meeting it). Gonna go out as an all time great vol RB

 

[Chickenfarmer]

Texas looks to be in the drivers seat. The OSU just got burned in Oregon. Man it’s early. Just finished feeding roosters and haven’t slept since the game ended. We are not very good on offense we the same four plays are called over and over again. The first two holding calls on us were suspect at best. Florida O Line was holding all night and didn’t get flagged. We simply cannot recover from negative plays. I can read what we’re going to do about every play. My wife thinks I am a genius defensive coordinator. Since Nimrod can’t catch a cold, we need to run a two tight end set next week. Keep one to run and pass block while other mixes it up to not telegraph what we are going to do.

Sampson is a beast and Bishop still is not good in pass protection. He just blocks the wrong guy every time. With all the talent we are supposed to have there is no depth on the offensive side of the ball. Y’all need to never say another word about Tim Banks. Our D is the best in the country considering what our O gives them to work with.

I’m going to bed. Church begins soon enough. My Pastor is an Alabama fan. We both need to repent this morning. I don’t imagine he ever cussed during the Bama/ SC game but he probably wrote a few words down on his notepad that would make a nun blush!

 

[nomads-11]

The problem is that Nico isn’t improving. Partly because his oline is porous and partly because of his own issues.

Yep, so far not much sign of growth. He's just "off", regardless of the play.

 

[nomads-11]

Heard against FLA


Heard last week against ARK


He seems to be both slow and lazy

A freshman can be better than that...

 

[EastTN]

I turned the TV off early in the 3rd quarter and I have no regrets. That is where I am at with this weak team. I’ve been here with the VOLS for many many seasons and watch them suck again and again……I’m tired boss lol

 

[nomads-11]

That’s the most frustrating part, the unbeatables are suddenly beatable. If we’d could just improve offensively it’s right there for the taking

It is. Nico can improve, he's got a lot of room to grow. The OL? Waste so far. Worst in CJH's tenure. Unacceptable.

 

[nomads-11]

It’s really comical that our offensive tackles are so bad. Who in the hell ever thought they were SEC material ??

Exactly.....and paid handsomely as a professional, so they should know the difference.

 

[MeanOrange]

Yep, so far not much sign of growth. He's just "off", regardless of the play.

I half watched other SEC games yesterday: Bama/USC, Miss. ST./GA & Texas/OU. All the QBs ran the ball, design or not and ran hard and took the hit to get yardage.
Nico was the only QB I saw slide before he was going to get hit. This kid (maybe it's JH orders) does not want to take the hit for the extra yards.

 

[MeanOrange]

So far in SEC play we have scored 25, 14 & 20. I haven't looked at the other SEC teams but I'm guessing we are one of the
lowest scoring teams in the league. Time of possession probably sucks also.

 

[utVolFanInVA]

In 3 SEC games, Nico is 46/76 for 521 yards with 1 TD/1 INT. Plus he has 5 fumbles. Those are very pedestrian numbers. Nico is not a game changer and is barely a game manager at this point. He may improve but it is safe to say he is not the revolutionary talent he was hyped up to be.

 

[Brave Volunteer]

Dylan Sampson through 6 games


699 yards, 15 tuddies over 6 yards a carry. Gonna break the season record (18) with ease at this point and may even break the career record (believe he’s 9 away form meeting it). Gonna go out as an all time great vol RB

He and Bishop are literally the only ones worth watching on offense. Sampson's a damn warrior and it has been an absolute pleasure watching him run this year!

 

[Stoerner Fumbles]

Sounds like the same comment that used to be on here with JG at QB. He was stats champion and could not run the offense or score points.

Sounds like it’s hard for you to understand that we are a top ten team that just beat Florida. Nico isn’t perfect, but he’s the guy we’re playing. I’m much more concerned about our OL.

 

[MeanOrange]

I tend to agree, but ppl saying Bama will skull drag us haven't seen them play the last couple weeks

In 3 SEC games, Nico is 46/76 for 521 yards with 1 TD/1 INT. Plus he has 5 fumbles. Those are very pedestrian numbers. Nico is not a game changer and is barely a game manager at this point. He may improve but it is safe to say he is not the revolutionary talent he was hyped up to be.

I See posts about Bama's D being not good but their O scores a LOT of points. Our D is pretty good but Nico and company will need to score about 30 to win this game
and so far, from what I have seen, that is not going to happen.

 

[jmacvols1]

A freshman can be better than that...

a few rants, observations & opinions...

---NIL is ruining college football. I am seeing players on different teams at different positions who are getting very little to no NIL money but are playing as good or better than those that are getting a ton of NIL money. And yea, players that accept all this big NIL money deserve all the criticism that comes with it.

--TN needs to rethink its NIL strategy going forward and NEVER pay out millions to another recruit ever again. I have not donated any money to Spire and from what I am seeing I will not donate money to Spire.

--if players in college football could be traded, would you trade Nico and Heard to Vandy (Vandy has to take over Nico & Heard's NIL agreements) for their QB and an offensive tackle? Do you think Vandy would even make this trade?

--TN offensive play calling has gotten too plain vanilla and conservative for some reason. No points in the first two halves of the last two games against mediocre teams. TN has a good defense and should have beat FLA by 3 touchdowns if TN had an effective offense. The game last not should have never have been as close as it was.

 

[nomads-11]

a few rants, observations & opinions...

---NIL is ruining college football. I am seeing players on different teams at different positions who are getting very little to no NIL money but are playing as good or better than those that are getting a ton of NIL money. And yea, players that accept all this big NIL money deserve all the criticism that comes with it.

--TN needs to rethink its NIL strategy going forward and NEVER pay out millions to another recruit ever again. I have not donated any money to Spire and from what I am seeing I will not donate money to Spire.

--if players in college football could be traded, would you trade Nico and Heard to Vandy for their QB and an offensive tackle? Do you think Vandy would even make this trade?

--TN offensive play calling has gotten too plain vanilla and conservative for some reason. No points in the first two halves of the last two games against mediocre teams. TN has a good defense and should have beat FLA by 3 touchdowns if TN had an effective offense. The game last not should have never have been as close as it was.

Not a fan of NIL as it stands. The rich only get richer. Not against it....just don't like it as it is.

I can not give any excuses to CJH and Elarbee for the OL. They've been around this game most of their lives, make a living at it and put out this as your OL in year 4? Guarantee you can find a walk on to do better at tackle - and one of them is supposed to be synonymous with being an offensive "guru"?

Saw some play calling today I hadn't seen all year. Not much, a few wrinkles, positive ones. OL didn't do their job and/or Nico missed on just about all of them. Regardless, these are plays you have as standard IMO (slants, runs, screens, swing passes, safety valves) - yet didn't see much of them until today. And not that much either. Again, coaches make a living at this, are at practice every day and you DON'T know your OL is bad, have a young QB, AND still don't include such plays to help out? Makes no sense to me. That's on CJH.

No Vandy isn't making any trades.

 

[cwbytruckers]

I’ve noticed most of our receivers are double teamed because we run so many routes near the sidelines. So ultimately you have a second defender because of spacing. I wish coach would go away from the wide splits and put this group of wideouts all over the field. These plays where one side takes the play off is bizarre in my book. Put four guys out there with speed and let them run wild on the secondary. Then the run game will open up more.