Time to upgrade

[BowlBrother85]

Just an ungrateful, short-sighted, and foolish OP. Wow. Have you really forgotten where we were in Pruitt’s last year? Take a breath and just remember 5 years ago.

You mean you don't long for the days that we had to cheat to go 3-7?

 

[Bigvalley84]

I know we lost even got embarrassed but from what I seen Ohio St is the most talented team we’ve played all season and the talent on their team is light years ahead of us , I doubt we have more than a couple of players that could see significant playing on that team , bottom line is we’ve got to get better

 

[CAVPUT]

Look, I’m not disrespecting heupel at all for the job he’s done in the position we were in. But we are too prestigious a program to not be looking to improve when we can. We are in a position now where we can convince a proven head coach to take the job. Heupel has been paid well and been given every resource. And we just got embarrassed so badly that we should be questioning our coach. If I’m Danny White, I start putting out some feelers now. It’s been 2 years since our offense has been worth a ****. Flame away, I just think we could convince a good HC to take this job.

Prestigious? Outside of our fan base, who thinks of our program as prestigious?

 

[Go47]

On offense:

The oline has been mediocre to downright bad for two years in a row. The talent is not there . . . And maybe the coaching subpar.

Our WRs are very average and I am also unsure of the coaching at that position. But mostly, it looks like a lack of talent. We don’t have one WR who would crack OSU’s 2 deep.

Scheme wise . . . I think there is some truth to coaches figuring out how to slow this offense down . . . But the biggest issue is tempo. If CJH does not have the line or the QB smarts to go fast and read defenses . . . This offense looks like a high school offense. The magic is in the hurry up. No going fast makes it MUCH easier to defend.

If our QB can’t operate at the warp speed level . . . This offense will look the same next year as this year. Great against bad teams. Poor against the better teams.

On defense, our dline was solid. However, against UGA and OSU . . . They looked very pedestrian. We lose a lot of those guys. Telander is slow. Carter shows flashes . . . But hasn’t dominated as predicted. Overall, our LB play has been average - we did recruit well in this area this year. Time will tell.

DBs - Martinez . . . Enough said.

Talent wise we are mid level SEC team that really over performed by going 10-2.

Coaching wise . . . CJH has turned the program around . . . But our offensive coordinator is no Chip Kelly. And our DC is overrated based on this year’s performance against mid level to weaker teams. Against UGA and OSU his defense looked lost and unprepared.

My biggest concern is the clear trend of being unprepared to play in road games.

 

[BP4Prez]

We must start playing better on the road ..... the loss to Arkansas had a lingering impact. Had we won that game, more than likely, we would have been playing at home yesterday. Perhaps, even against Indiana, who we would have easily beaten.

Aside from the Arkansas game, I consider this season a success. The other two teams who beat us, were simply much better.

Agreed. No way you watch that game last night and seriously believe we could beat them. Not one position on the field we are better at

 

[FlVols]

Vols sorry for flopping despite massive fan turnout

Volunteers players said it was disheartening not to be able to reward the thousands of fans who filled Ohio Stadium only to see their team lose 42-17 to the Buckeyes.

www.espn.com

Good article. We need to take the steps, whatever they may be, to get our Vols on track for where we should be. Totally disappointing for Vol nation.

 

[volfever007]

And we made it with a red shirt freshman. Every one of those are seniors, and several are 5th year guys. The Oregon guy was with Heupel at UCF

I understand that, I'm just saying that you don't have to spend millions on a high school player, there are guys thats proven in the portal.

 

[wmcovol]

And we made it with a red shirt freshman. Every one of those are seniors, and several are 5th year guys. The Oregon guy was with Heupel at UCF

None of those teams, except maybe Indiana, is the QB the #1 strength of the team. Rarely will an outstanding QB be available in the portal.

 

[BowlBrother85]

Agreed. No way you watch that game last night and seriously believe we could beat them. Not one position on the field we are better at

I feel like we could have been more competitive than we were, and it would have been nice to see what Sampson could do with more than just 2 carries .... but there was no way in hell we were going to win that game. They outclass us all over the field. They have actual playmakers. We have station-to-station guys. We're not bad. We're just not elite. The offense does not resemble the explosiveness of 2022.

 

[Raiford62]

You can slice and dice this as much as you want, but TN just got embarrassed on the field. Ohio State could have scored more than 42 points. TN was a step or two slower in every position. They had the better players and it wasn't even close. No coaching adjustments either. I actually think Alabama, South Carolina or Ole Miss would have put up a better fight than what I witnessed. Sure left a bad taste in my mouth.

 

[FortSanders]

Redshirt Freshman. And I hate to say it, but if we have bad receivers who is to blame. Same with OL. Its been pretty obvious we've had weaknesses for a couple of years now and no changes have been made.

Nico is to blame. He has to deliver the ball.

 

[Bigorangefaninga]

On a night like tonight it is easy to forget how far Heupel has taken us. We were at absolute rock bottom coming off of the disaster that was Jeremy Pruitt when Danny White hired Josh. Four years later we are in the playoffs. We got bounced tonight by a better team with better players and better coaches, but that doesn’t mean Heupel needs to go. He needs to learn from this and move on. Tonight was the first playoff appearance in the history of Tennessee football, but it won’t be the last

I agree with this, Josh really has brought us out of the pits of hell! The issue is, does he have the balls to make some tough decisions on his coaching staff? Some of his coaching staff deserves to be coaching at UTC not UT and we will see if he has the guts to make the tough decision to upgrade at those positions. That is what the best coaches do, if you aren’t getting the job done they cut you and move on and upgrade, Saban did it every single year, he lost a lot to coaches moving on, but he also cut those who didn’t get the job done and upgraded his staff. We shall see if Josh does the same or if he turns into a Fulmer who doesn’t do change and who turns to on staff to replace anyone that leaves. That’s what worries me. Does he do a Butch Jones and think his systems are infallible or does he see issues and upgrades those?

 

[airvols]

Here we go!

 

[Delmar]

It's not. Sadly. Not even close.

And that’s why I didn’t even bother looking at the game thread and I’m not looking at any other thread either. Always gonna have some folks who overreact to one game and post absolutely ignorant stuff. Not worth the trouble.

My one post and it’s on to basketball. It was a horrible performance that went wrong from the first series with the face mask penalty. Offense, defense, punting and especially coaching were horrendous. Injuries were a problem but we can’t blame that performance on that.

Ohio State was exceptional and deserves all the credit. They were obviously on a mission, focused and ready. UT was not and that’s an understatement. Not sure what the game plan was for us on defense but it looked like the Georgia game. Base 4-2 defense with no imagination whatsoever and no adjustments. You let a pedestrian QB stand back there having lunch while he carved you up and you just can’t allow that especially with their talent at WR. And strangely it looked like the whole team was running in mud while the Buckeyes were playing hair on fire.

Certainly pleased to have made the playoff and that is a step forward. Again, it’s one game but it’s alarming enough that Josh is going to have to evaluate his coaching staff and approach to big games. Something just looked terribly off last night and I’m not sure why.

Like I said, on to basketball. Got a shot at a special season.

 

[VOLINVONORE]

Sure. Fire a coach who resurrects the program, goes 10-3 and makes the CFP.

What insane person would want the job after you fired that level of success?

Agree, but No one can dispute the we have serious holes to fill in other roster. We were emasculated at the linebacker position against night. Our Oline was a huge sieve again last night. Our safes were much slower than their receives. Our defense side ends are built for pass rushing, but we did not get to the passer and were not able to prevent sweeps to either side. Our WRs look as if they were glued to the defenders. Nico had precious little time to look for open receivers and the few times he could look, usually, no one was open. We had a good recruiting class this year, but we will still have holes to fill from the portal. In addition, how many more of our players will opt for the portal? I truly believe we will be a better team in 2025 than we were this year, but ill we be able to compete for the Playoffs next year? Only time will tell. We will have a backup QB if needed, even though there will be little experience at that position other than Nico. Where will be get wide receivers who can get open and then catch the ball when not is delivered? The off 2025 off season will be one the most important that Heupel has experienced. lets get this train back on track and get the train rolling. See you in January. Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year.

 

[OrangeTsar]

The guy is a good coach and I appreciate what he has done but if your goal is to compete for titles, then you have to have HUGE questions about whether Heupel is the guy. We arent on schedule for anything. We will regress next year, recruiting isnt tops in the SEC, his offense is bad boring, he wont make necessary staff changes to get better and his teams consistently play undisciplined football.

Some of you have set your expectations too low after 3 bad hires. While Heupel is much better than those 3 bozos, dont go falling in love with him as he hasnt proven he can get this program to the top of the SEC much less all of CFB.

The guy is a good coach and I appreciate what he has done but if your goal is to compete for titles, then you have to have HUGE questions about whether Heupel is the guy. We arent on schedule for anything. We will regress next year, recruiting isnt tops in the SEC, his offense is bad boring, he wont make necessary staff changes to get better and his teams consistently play undisciplined football.

Some of you have set your expectations too low after 3 bad hires. While Heupel is much better than those 3 bozos, dont go falling in love with him as he hasnt proven he can get this program to the top of the SEC much less all of CFB.

And some fans think that there are just Saban level coaches just sitting around out there looking for a new gig and all we have to do is hire them. Any setback or loss whatsoever? Well if we would only hire Coach x, we would win the national championship next season
Never mind the indisputable fact that there I think 134 bowl division CFB teams and only one of them wins the final big game.
We have a coach that is keeping us consistently at or near the top 10 of those teams and who is trying to assemble the right talent to someday (soon hopefully) ascend to the very top.
I swear but some Vol Fans could be married to a supermodel but divorce her because she burned the pot roast.

 

[volgr]

And some fans think that there are just Saban level coaches just sitting around out there looking for a new gig and all we have to do is hire them. Any setback or loss whatsoever? Well if we would only hire Coach x, we would win the national championship next season
Never mind the indisputable fact that there I think 134 bowl division CFB teams and only one of them wins the final big game.
We have a coach that is keeping us consistently at or near the top 10 of those teams and who is trying to assemble the right talent to someday (soon hopefully) ascend to the very top.
I swear but some Vol Fans could be married to a supermodel but divorce her because she burned the pot roast.

If winning 8 to 10 games is what you want, Heupel is your guy. Congrats.

If you want to compete for titles, SEC (Heupel has yet to even make an appearance in the SEC Title game) or National, then Heupel looks like he may not be the guy.

 

[loservol]

All I hear is Saban talking on College Gameday about ignoring the guy on the internet posting from his mother's basement...

Do you really think Saban has UT's best interest in mind?

 

[sami]

Take a deep look at our 10 wins. We were extremely fortunate this season. OU was bad, NC state was bad, Florida wasn’t rolling when we played. We beat a good Bama team and got out scored 31-7 in the second half against UGA. I understand we are in a much better position than we have been in a long time. But tonight was simply embarrassing. Ohio state may have more talent, but not that much more.

You're wrong. They do have that much more, and last night made that as clear as it could possibly be. They have kids who will be playing on Sundays all over the field, on both sides of the ball. Their third WR would be WR1 on 95% of the programs in the country. the two RB's are among the top 5-6 in the next draft. The speed of that defense is next level, something that aside from UGa just doesn't exist in CFB.

All you guys who take this stuff personally or lost money betting on the game need to step back and see the big picture instead of making it about yourselves and worrying about being trolled on social media or at work on Monday. We got our asses kicked by a better program that has recruited on an elite level for the last decade plus and accumulated pro-level talent like you'll never see aside from 2-3 places in the country.

Everyone got lulled into a false sense of security because of the Michigan game and all the talk about Day, but what I feared most about a slow start is exactly what happened, and it became a snowball effect with Sampson not being available killing the offense and letting them pin their ears back. They heard the talk and saw all the UT fans in the seats - motivating that group couldn't have been much easier.

If the face mask hadn't happened and Sampson was healthy, would it have been different? Possibly closer, but there is just too much talent there and they became a buzzsaw after the opening score and knowing Sampson wasn't going to play. Embarrassing? Much more for the team than for the fans.

I'm proud as hell of this group and understand that we got the worst possible draw against what is the best team in this playoff at night in an incredibly tough environment. If you take it personally, that's on you and I suggest getting a different hobby.

 

[volgr]

I'm proud as hell of this group and understand that we got the worst possible draw against what is the best team in this playoff at night in an incredibly tough environment. If you take it personally, that's on you and I suggest getting a different hobby.

Worst draw? Against a team that was held under 10 pts by a 5 loss Michigan team just a few weeks ago and lost to them??

Guys, come on. Quit making dumb excuses to cover for this coaching staff.

 

[Bigorangefaninga]

None of those teams, except maybe Indiana, is the QB the #1 strength of the team. Rarely will an outstanding QB be available in the portal.

Umm, you do know that ND, Oregon, Texas, OSU and ASU all have portal QB’s leading them? Only ones in the final 8 that aren’t portal QB’s are UGA, Ped State and Boise.

You're wrong. They do have that much more, and last night made that as clear as it could possibly be. They have kids who will be playing on Sundays all over the field, on both sides of the ball. Their third WR would be WR1 on 95% of the programs in the country. the two RB's are among the top 5-6 in the next draft. The speed of that defense is next level, something that aside from UGa just doesn't exist in CFB.

All you guys who take this stuff personally or lost money betting on the game need to step back and see the big picture instead of making it about yourselves and worrying about being trolled on social media or at work on Monday. We got our asses kicked by a better program that has recruited on an elite level for the last decade plus and accumulated pro-level talent like you'll never see aside from 2-3 places in the country.

Everyone got lulled into a false sense of security because of the Michigan game and all the talk about Day, but what I feared most about a slow start is exactly what happened, and it became a snowball effect with Sampson not being available killing the offense and letting them pin their ears back. They heard the talk and saw all the UT fans in the seats - motivating that group couldn't have been much easier.

If the face mask hadn't happened and Sampson was healthy, would it have been different? Possibly closer, but there is just too much talent there and they became a buzzsaw after the opening score and knowing Sampson wasn't going to play. Embarrassing? Much more for the team than for the fans.

I'm proud as hell of this group and understand that we got the worst possible draw against what is the best team in this playoff at night in an incredibly tough environment. If you take it personally, that's on you and I suggest getting a different hobby.

either way it boils down to coaching, everything that you said! Have we spent as much OSU did on our roster? No, but we have spent as much as about anyone else out there on this roster(I have heard around 16 million). So they spent 22 and yet every single player on their roster is better than ours per you and everyone else I have heard. So we have had bad player evaluations it seems to be paying that much but yet be that far behind! Seems the ROI isn’t doing very well.

 

[OrangeTsar]

If winning 8 to 10 games is what you want, Heupel is your guy. Congrats.

If you want to compete for titles, SEC (Heupel has yet to even make an appearance in the SEC Title game) or National, then Heupel looks like he may not be the guy.

I will take 10 as a floor with better than that some seasons.
You do realize that if he had his 2022 offense and his 2024 defense; he probably has a Natty right now.
The loss of Pili hampered us more than more people realize the last third of the year. So many of those big plays by OSU last night get broken up if he is playing in that spot.
The only thing Heupel needs to take the next step is talent in depth in both sides of the ball.
So if you could pick up the phone and checkbook and get us a new coach tomorrow, who is your first call?

 

[Rocky Top T]

Please give Heupel a raise and an extension. He made the playoffs with many deficiencies, especially at WR, a Freshman QB and tons of youth at LB and Secondary.

The future is bright!!!

He made about 10 million this year, how much more does he need. After that crap show last night, might want to deduct some!

 

[OrangeTsar]

Worst draw? Against a team that was held under 10 pts by a 5 loss Michigan team just a few weeks ago and lost to them??

Guys, come on. Quit making dumb excuses to cover for this coaching staff.

So who you want to hire? Be specific please

 

[loservol]

He made about 10 million this year, how much more does he need. After that crap show last night, might want to deduct some!

Might need to start using some of that salary to buy some players.