What I saw today

[EastTNVol6240]

You are the one who got “cute”. Of course they were better today. When did I say they weren’t? Its obviou your opinion is skewed by recruiting rankings. Sad. Watch the game again young man

Once again you can’t change facts just bc you don’t like them. Yes, recruits matter. I’m not really sure what’s more important than personnel in college football……. Of course exceptions happen. But for the most part…. Yeah recruiting is pretty vital.

 

[Vol Main]

If we hit on those throws it is 27-27

But we did not hit on those throws. I think the pressure on Hooker was so intense that it affected his play.

 

[DaddyChad]

Our WRs could not get separation from their defensive backs. Hooker didn't have enough time to throw as his drop back isn't very deep either. Overall a good Team effort in a very hostile environment yet a disappointing outcome.

They did though. Hyatt gets hit first half it’s a touchdown. Bru wide open running free was a TD. The wide receiver is wide open streaking to the end zone on a play where Hooker throws to the opposite side of the field. Touchdowns we normally hit we didn’t today.

Part of it we didn’t keep a good clean pocket. Georgia did a good job of collapsing the pocket consistently and sending pressure from multiple spots. Also had some terrible penalties to get us off script when we were down to short yardage.

 

[bpalmer28]

Well it is hard to not judge games based on recruiting rankings when typically the team with higher recruiting rankings are winning.

Sure there are exceptions like Texas A&M but for the most part, the teams with the athletes compete the best.

Im not trying to be argumentative here but think about who the best talent evaluators are. They are coaches making tens of thousands of dollars more that recruiting experts. If the Ruvals and 247 guys were good they’d be at Bama or UGA.

The recruiting services follow recruiting efforts of coaches from proven programs. The jury is out on our coaches talent evaluations so it’s irrelevant

 

[volbound1700]

Im not trying to be argumentative here but think about who the best talent evaluators are. They are coaches making tens of thousands of dollars more that recruiting experts. If the Ruvals and 247 guys were good they’d be at Bama or UGA.

The recruiting services follow recruiting efforts of coaches from proven programs. The jury is out on our coaches talent evaluations so it’s irrelevant

In my view, they just look at physical attributes and how they play in high school. The difference between a 4 star and 3 star maybe around 20-30 lbs and a few inches in height.

However, sometimes that still matters when you line it up and see the teams perform on the field.

The loss today totally gave major ammo to the argument that recruiting ratings matter and we are not on the level of Georgia because we don't have 4-5 years of top recruiting classes. People are saying this every where.

If we don't want to hear that argument, than we don't need to be dominated like we were today. However, based on the way today went, I would say the people that make the argument about recruiting classes have won the argument. I have no counter. It showed on the field today.

 

[bpalmer28]

Once again you can’t change facts just bc you don’t like them. Yes, recruits matter. I’m not really sure what’s more important than personnel in college football……. Of course exceptions happen. But for the most part…. Yeah recruiting is pretty vital.

Talent is extremely important and recruiting is huge but you are assuming that higher recruiting RANKINGS equate to better personnel. Who dictates the rankings? Nerds like me trying to figure out who the best coaches think are the best players.

That is wise but it isn’t infallible. If UGA recruits a guy he’s probably good. If Bama recruits a guy he‘s probably good. If OSU recruits a guy he’s probably good. They don’t know how much weight to give our guys yet but I guarantee you its increasing.

edit: I don’t know what you’re talking about with the “changing facts“ comment maybe because I’ve absolutely had too much to drink so I’m ignoring that

 

[TN1111]

In my view, they just look at physical attributes and how they play in high school. The difference between a 4 star and 3 star maybe around 20-30 lbs and a few inches in height.

However, sometimes that still matters when you line it up and see the teams perform on the field.

The loss today totally gave major ammo to the argument that recruiting ratings matter and we are not on the level of Georgia because we don't have 4-5 years of top recruiting classes. People are saying this every where.

If we don't want to hear that argument, than we don't need to be dominated like we were today. However, based on the way today went, I would say the people that make the argument about recruiting classes have won the argument. I have no counter. It showed on the field today.

Yep… Tennessee has to close the gap in talent and years like this one under Heupel will help start doing that.

We closed the gap in talent in the 90’s against Florida and many times were probably the more talented team. However, Florida still had the edge at coach.

I believe we have the edge at coach now. Time to improve the roster.

 

[KeyVol14]

But we did not hit on those throws. I think the pressure on Hooker was so intense that it affected his play.

Absolutely agree. Been saying that all night. We got whipped upfront

 

[EastTNVol6240]

Talent is extremely important and recruiting is huge but you are assuming that higher recruiting RANKINGS equate to better personnel. Who dictates the rankings? Nerds like me trying to figure out who the best coaches think are the best players.

That is wise but it isn’t infallible. If UGA recruits a guy he’s probably good. If Bama recruits a guy he‘s probably good. If OSU recruits a guy he’s probably good. They don’t know how much weight to give our guys yet but I guarantee you its increasing.

I’m sure they miss the mark sometimes. But I doubt we’re anywhere close on a personnel level. Average stars or however you wanted to average it out. I’d bet Ga starters average 4.5-5 stars while we average 3-3.5. Coaching, scheming, etc all matters no doubt. But they also no doubt have better athletes than us in many positions. It just is what it is.

 

[TheGoodStuff]

Once it started raining Kirby went ultra conservative on offense and decided to be sure he didn't give us anything cheap, gambling that we couldn't score 21 points on their defense in the time allotted. I have little confidence we could stop them consistently if they left the playbook open.

We were shutdown in the 3rd quarter because of rain. GA loaded the box and knew we would struggle pushing the ball down field through the air.
In the 4th quarter the rain stopped and things started clicking again for TN. Yes we got our tails kicked but on a neutral field without the the busted 3rd quarter TN would have competed to the end.

 

[DaddyChad]

Kirby sent pressure from multiple positions, basically was fine with some pass interference calls as long as his corners were physical every time. When pressure didn’t get to Hooker the pocket was still restricted to the point where Hooker couldn’t step into some throws. We were pretty terrible at recognizing the blitzes and where they were coming from.

Oline was terrible as a unit today, Hooker was terrible because the line was terrible. Now all of that said they won’t see a team with the talent of Georgia again unless they make the playoffs. Oline has been solid all year up till today.

 

[unfrozencvmanvol]

We were shutdown in the 3rd quarter because of rain. GA loaded the box and knew we would struggle pushing the ball down field through the air.
In the 4th quarter the rain stopped and things started clicking again for TN. Yes we got our tails kicked but on a neutral field without the the busted 3rd quarter TN would have competed to the end.

I'm saying they shut it down when it started raining, knowing we couldn't make up the ground. Stetson threw I think 1 pass after it started raining. While I agree, if it hadn't started raining we probably would have scored more but they'd have probably scored more too. We just got beat by a better team. If we played our best game on a neutral field, it could be more competitive than it was, but they had alot to do with our poor play, they beat us on the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball most of the day. Hell of a season so far though, like Boogie said on Talkin' Vawls, we are staring 11-1 in the face. Any of us would have been beside ourselves with joy if we knew that was where we'd end the regular season in August.

 

[bpalmer28]

In my view, they just look at physical attributes and how they play in high school. The difference between a 4 star and 3 star maybe around 20-30 lbs and a few inches in height.

However, sometimes that still matters when you line it up and see the teams perform on the field.

The loss today totally gave major ammo to the argument that recruiting ratings matter and we are not on the level of Georgia because we don't have 4-5 years of top recruiting classes. People are saying this every where.

If we don't want to hear that argument, than we don't need to be dominated like we were today. However, based on the way today went, I would say the people that make the argument about recruiting classes have won the argument. I have no counter. It showed on the field today.

I’m NOT saying recruiting ratings don’t matter. They absolutely do. I’m just challenging you to think about WHY they matter. I used to think it’s because the recruiting services are good at evaluating talent but after almost two decades of following this stuff, I don’t believe that. If they were talent evaluators they’d be on a collegiate or NFL staff. The people who make these ratings are just trying to figure out who the most desirable players are. They do that by following offers and paying attention to how heavily recruited guys are.

Our coaches don’t have their respect yet so if we are recruiting a guy who UGA/Bama isn’t recruiting he’s going to be a 3-star at best. But as you know there are a lot of players in the NFL who didn’t get recruited by UGA/Bama

 

[bpalmer28]

I’m sure they miss the mark sometimes. But I doubt we’re anywhere close on a personnel level. Average stars or however you wanted to average it out. I’d bet Ga starters average 4.5-5 stars while we average 3-3.5. Coaching, scheming, etc all matters no doubt. But they also no doubt have better athletes than us in many positions. It just is what it is.

Oh there’s no doubt about that. In my opinion we have maybe 3 players on defense who will be in the NFL and UGA may have 11. It’ll take a couple more years to see if Heupel can identify and sign NFL talent

 

[Vol Main]

Absolutely agree. Been saying that all night. We got whipped upfront

The pocket collapsed around Hooker time and again. There were too many times he had to get rid of the ball or go down, but he could not even throw it away. Our receivers were also covered close by aggressive DBs, so Hooker had to lead the receiver, and he inclined to lead a bit too much. We can say that it was not our best game, but there were reasons for it. The pressure was intense and unrelenting.

 

[KeyVol14]

The pocket collapsed around Hooker time and again. There were too many times he had to get rid of the ball or go down, but he could not even throw it away. Our receivers were also covered close by aggressive DBs, so Hooker had to lead the receiver, and he inclined to lead a bit too much. We can say that it was not our best game, but there were reasons for it. The pressure was intense and unrelenting.

Every team has a game like that during the season. This team will re-group and I’m sure will be sharp going forward

 

[malibuvol]

He had time to throw, just didnt have a good idea of “open” today. Held the ball longer than he ever has. Tempo also was a NON FACTOR tonight

We shut them down in 2nd half after settling down.

Did we shut them down or did the dawgs deflate the ball somewhat...

 

[Schasz]

I saw us play our worst game of the season from an execution standpoint and we still only lost to the defending champs by 14 at their place. I kept thinking that Georgia was going to run away with it, but the Vols were never out of striking distance for most of the game. At least it felt that way to me. Hooker was uncharacteristically bad and all of his throws were too high, too low, or had too much mustard. Yes, a big part of that was Georgia playing great defense, but go back and look at the tape and you'll see that we left a whole lot of plays out there on the field. The team and coaches are definitely going to get a lot of value out of watching the film and learning from what went wrong and correcting those mistakes. I truly believe we can beat Georgia in a rematch.

Agree with your points and that freaking lucky punt to UGA's cost us one of their TD's too. How often do you see that happen in a season. Football Gods were not with the Vols on that crazy play.

 

[Cartervol]

That was the best UGA has played all year.. They had the crowd, Olines are a step slow on silent counts.. It would be a little different on a neutral field.. Everyone wanting playoffs, well we'd likely be the last team in, which would be a rematch with them more than likely..

 

[Jeff Clark]

What i saw was an 11-1 Tennessee team

 

[GUNTERSVOL]

In my view, they just look at physical attributes and how they play in high school. The difference between a 4 star and 3 star maybe around 20-30 lbs and a few inches in height.

However, sometimes that still matters when you line it up and see the teams perform on the field.

The loss today totally gave major ammo to the argument that recruiting ratings matter and we are not on the level of Georgia because we don't have 4-5 years of top recruiting classes. People are saying this every where.

If we don't want to hear that argument, than we don't need to be dominated like we were today. However, based on the way today went, I would say the people that make the argument about recruiting classes have won the argument. I have no counter. It showed on the field today.

They outgained us by almost exactly 100 yards. They reacted well to the momentum shift in the first half and we did not. They got to turn the dogs loose and did and impacted us the rest of the game.

They took advantage of our biggest bust for a td, he threw a perfect pass under the crossbar, had a great punt went their way and set them up after change of possession. But at least our guys did not wimp out and rollover like some of our weak minded fans.

 

[BAMA-DAWG]

Once it started raining Kirby went ultra conservative on offense and decided to be sure he didn't give us anything cheap, gambling that we couldn't score 21 points on their defense in the time allotted. I have little confidence we could stop them consistently if they left the playbook open.

^^^^
A rational take on what happened yesterday.

 

[LittleVol]

Not only his hesitation to throw but to take off and run as well

Guys, some y'all didn't notice but UGA'S dline were almost able to catch him in the open field.
Those were monsters he was dealing with yesterday.

And I know y'all think he should have "thrown them open " (his WRs) but those windows were hardly ever there and throwing a wetball accurately is next to impossible.

Yesterday was not the day for a victory. Period.

 

[LittleVol]

^^^^
A rational take on what happened yesterday.

Our defense punched UGA in the mouth the whole second half.

Bennett didn't throw anymore because UGA had the lead. And it was wet!!

Credit to UGA defense for being legit.

But let's not act like UGAs offense just took their foot of the gas...they played smart giving the conditions. They fumbled too when the conditions changed...

 

[TheFlash1971]

Georgias plan was to hold receivers and not give up the quick strikes. Even though they only got called on a couple they would rather give up 10 yd holding calls than 40-60 yd touchdown throws. But we still had a couple opportunities deep just didn’t connect. It was at Ga, they held alot more than those two calls but you have to make it count with the opportunities you get.