Thoughts on the game

[JC61]

dude at QB we played today was Keeton w/out ACL injury. The D had to respect what he could do and did try to do at times. What would have been 15+ QB runs last year were limited for the most part. I think the D line played to respect his ability in the option first...then reacted accordingly....hence a couple great sacks by guys playing behind the line instead of rushing. Although I would have liked to see less yardage and scores by ASU O I think the D played the game plan and did very well.

 

[deaconkane]

dude at QB we played today was Keeton w/out ACL injury. The D had to respect what he could do and did try to do at times. What would have been 15+ QB runs last year were limited for the most part. I think the D line played to respect his ability in the option first...then reacted accordingly....hence a couple great sacks by guys playing behind the line instead of rushing. Although I would have liked to see less yardage and scores by ASU O I think the D played the game plan and did very well.

They were tired... Defense is getting better tho...

 

[1982Alum]

We need more pressure on the QB in passing situations. We let the opposing QB sit back there and pick us apart. We can't allow that at Norman.

 

[armchair]

Any chance we might use Pig Howard similarly to how the Seahawks use Percy Harvin? That might be a wrinkle we have in store for Oklahoma.

The run play Pig scored on last week in the red zone--going in motion and taking the handoff: Seattle ran that play last night.

 

[VolAllen]

Coming from someone who is normally overly optimistic, this team has me concerned. Today's game left me wanting more. Almost like what I was watching was a warm up game to the real thing (could be because my cable provider didn't get the channel until half time).

The play calling seems to be vanilla, or either we can't execute and let a play develop.

I see a lot of plays where we throw it up to North and pray it doesn't get picked off. Against a good team, it will almost every time.

Lane seems to have graduated already.

The run play develops 5 yards behind the LOS and Hurd has to fight to get back to where we started.

The team came out flat and appeared to be unmotivated. (Noon game, lesser opponent)

After two games, I still feel like I know nothing about Team 118. This could be Butch's gameplan (my optimism). OR...we're terrible again. We will find out on Saturday against OU.

 

[GrowVol]

Hats off to Worley! He has improved! He is accurate. He has really surprised. Hope he gets more confidence to pull/ keep it more.
Our O/L is worrisome....play calling is worrisome, but we are just getting started. We are showing improvement. GBO!

 

[Ole Rocky]

6-6 with bowl game at most after watching that pitiful SEC performance against a sun belt team who just came from d2 10 years ago

 

[photovol]

Seeing a lot of posts over reacting, so I wanted to step in and give my two cents.

The offense was kind of vanilla after the last touchdown and I believe that was by design. What I noticed was a bit more consistency late in the game from the running game, again it wasn't great but we started getting 4-6 yards a carry. What threw us off on those drives were some dropped passes which really weren't anyone's fault, just some vanilla pass plays. The o-line protection in the second half was MUCH better than the first and they didn't really have any false starts or holding calls against them, so that's improvement. The O-line will improve as the year goes on and we should start seeing the fruits of reps and practice by mid-season

On the defensive side of the ball things continued to get better. ASU was a better offensive team than USU was and it showed but even while being more potent they never REALLY threatened our lead once we went up 24-12. Tackling was still very solid and second half adjustments saw the defense taking better angles in QB containment. We pressured the QB in the second half and basically lived in the backfield. Keep in mind that for two of their scores they NEEDED trick plays to get there. This defense will get much better as the season goes on.

Special teams was a pretty big eye sore today, punt returns and kick returns flipped field position and we damn near gave away the ball on an onside kick. Medley needs to get his head on straight and I'm really glad they let him take that field goal at the end of the game, he's got the leg he just needs to settle down. Having said that, we had a good return or two and I think this unit will get better but this is the one area that could really kill us in a close game.

So there you have it, we are young and lack experience, that's not going to translate to a lot of wins but by the year's end we should see some pretty good football. I wouldn't jump off the ledge at all this season, there are going to be bumps and growing pains but we should be just good enough to get to a bowl game and that is good enough for me.

Well said! The Vol's have the 2nd hardest schedule in the country with the youngest team in FBS
Go Vols

 

[NickZ4UT]

It continues to amaaaze me how many plays go through the formality of an option with a QB that doesn't run the ball. The opposing D is begging for him to run it and we continue to show option........just don't get it?? :hi:

I agree, it's inefficient, I would rather run counters or sweeps from shotgun, slow developing read options that everyone knows is going to the running back are just wasted downs.

 

[NickZ4UT]

I didn't see a lot of pass rush off the edge today. Don't take this the wrong way, but C Vereen is a lot slower than I thought. I like his toughness, but he didn't look quick off the ball today. Go look at the replay and see what you guys think

We got good penetration, That QB is just much more mobile than the one we faced last week and poor tackling angles in the first half made him look much better than he really is.

 

[JohnMarxism]

We proved that we can contain a mobile QB for the first time in years. Years.

We were hit in the mouth to start the game and our young team responded.

Our young team is disciplined and only had 2 penalties in the second half.

Worley threw absolute dimes today. In two games he has made basically only one bad pass.

Our speed and tackling are both incredibly improved over the past several years

 

[EYDJ]

My observations from the game...

- for my 1st time at Neyland it was an incredible place to visit
- I was surprised at how late fans showed up after kickoff
- the bands traditional performance bringing the team onto the field was awesome
- the '3rd down for what' chant is so cool
- parking was so weird. $30 one place & $60 right next door
- wearing my Red Wolves shirt was very eye-catching to the flood of fans in orange
- everyone was very courteous & welcoming
- the video screen cannot be seen at all from where I was sitting
- the arrogance of fans is amusing to me
- when we(ASU) scored or made a great play, how easily your fans turn on the players/team until a good play happens "& totally redeems yourself"
- your kicker needs work
- I am not a fan of having your coaches name/pic on t-shirts. I saw a lot of those at the game. To me that is praising a person & not the team. You are Vols fans no matter who the coach is

- finally I think that you(fans) were caught off guard with our level of talent. You pulled away late in the game, but it was closer than the score indicated. When time became a factor, we had to take risky moves to keep the ball & when they failed, you capitalized on it.
I think that you guys will hover around the middle in conference play, but not go bowling this year. What is great is the level of raw talent with the massive freshmen class. Butch will groom those guys & you will be contenders in a few years.
Best of luck this season & thanks for the experience from a Red Wolves fan!!!

 

[Caculator]

Gonna get punched in the mouth, knocked down, maybe even a couple of low blows. I believe we are tough enough to beat the count and return punches. We go the distance.

 

[triad280]

My observations from the game...

- finally I think that you(fans) were caught off guard with our level of talent. You pulled away late in the game, but it was closer than the score indicated. When time became a factor, we had to take risky moves to keep the ball & when they failed, you capitalized on it.

31-12 in the middle of the 3rd qtr is not pulling away late...UT was in complete control from the middle of the 2nd qtr... then they quit throwing to work on the running game and allowed you to score late to make 31-19,still a 2 TD game... UT let you scratch and claw to make it appear closer than the score...

what game did you watch? If UT had still been throwing it all over,it would have been an even wider margin...we had already lost Von and Wolf as receivers,we didnt want to lose any more..Worley didnt attempt a pass after the 10:00 mark in the 4th... you are worse then some of the sunshine pumpers on this board who fail to look at the game objectively