Why The Concern?

#27
#27
sami said:
We won big, and no one got hurt - right there it's a resounding success. There are a lot of new parts, and to expect it to be seamless right out of the gate is incredibly unrealistic.

Milton was clearly jumpy early, and the overthrows reflected that, but once he settled in he was making solid decisions and going through his progressions well. Without the Keyton drops, his numbers look a hell of a lot better. This is clearly his team, and we'll only go as far as he takes us.

The O-Line looks fantastic, and getting Cade back will only make it better. The RB's look terrific, and to be honest, as much as I like Small he needs to be third in the pecking order. Wright is a beast, and I think Heupel knows that he needs to get the ball in Sampson's hands as often as he can. That kid has an Alvin Kamara kind of look to him, and could be a huge difference maker.

Defensively, the front seven is nasty, and I love that Cheetah look on passing downs. we finally have some elite talent, with more coming in over the next couple of seasons. The secondary is a bit of a question mark, and it's clear that our defensive success will depend in large part on the front seven applying pressure, but I'm not sure that is unique to us in the college game now.

I hope the punting game is a work in progress that comes together soon, because those shanks aren't going to be as easy to recover from once we get to the meat of the schedule. The return game with Williams has game changing potential, and I'd rather see that fumble now where it's kind of a wake up call.

All in all, as good as anyone realistic could hope for in week one.
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Great summary. I was surprised by how much better our front 7 is.
 
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#29
#29
I must admit, The three and out series with all bad throws had me upset for a little bit but then...

I saw that Ohio State only scored 23 points.

I saw Georgia by Georgia standards was struggling with UT Martin for a while.

I saw that Florida lost against Utah, with Utah playing two backup quarterbacks.

My point being is that week one is weird. It always has been. I have no doubt that both Ohio State and Georgia will get their crap together ( I threw Florida in there for fun). Why should I feel any differently about us? We won by 36 against a power 5 team less than 5 years removed from losing to Georgia State. Not. Worried.
 
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#31
#31
Riclfren said:
I must admit, The three and out series with all bad throws had me upset for a little bit but then...

I saw that Ohio State only scored 23 points.

I saw Georgia by Georgia standards was struggling with UT Martin for a while.

I saw that Florida lost against Utah, with Utah playing two backup quarterbacks.

My point being is that week one is weird. It always has been. I have no doubt that both Ohio State and Georgia will get their crap together ( I threw Florida in there for fun). Why should I feel any differently about us? We won by 36 against a power 5 team less than 5 years removed from losing to Georgia State. Not. Worried.
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THIS.

I felt “ok” about the performance after yesterday’s game but the Ohio State game made me much better. Our offense, especially our QB, is significantly ahead of theirs at this point.
 
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#34
#34
volfan_28 said:
I think the bigger problem is people being too sensitive to criticism. Just because some of point out things that the Vols need to improve upon doesn’t mean we aren’t happy with the win.
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It’s not worded as “need to improve” rather “They have to fix!” 😩 No accounting for IMPROVING game by game. Hooker wasn’t at peak level until after the Pitt game.
 
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#37
#37

We Didn't Learn Much About Joe Milton vs. Virginia - But That's OK

Tennessee Volunteers quarterback Joe Milton III didn't do anything we hadn't seen before against Virginia, but that's no reason for concern as we march forward.
www.si.com

Tennessee Volunteers quarterback Joe Milton III didn't do anything we hadn't seen before against Virginia, but that's no reason for concern as we march forward.

We saw nothing new from Milton in the season opener against Virginia.

Head coach Josh Heupel ran many sets similar to his game plan for the Orange Bowl, and why wouldn't he? Tennessee entered action with a gaping talent disparity, and they didn't have to reinvent the wheel to come out victorious. They ran basic concepts throughout the afternoon, keeping the reads easy for Milton. The coaching staff leaned on the ground game, getting all three running backs extensive touches. They likely feature a similar gameplan next weekend against Austin Peay - the first time they dip into the bag of tricks should be at Florida in week three.
 
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#39
#39
Knoxville news sentinel said it best, beginning of 2nd quarter I thought we were vastly overrated, end of the game I think we might be better than I thought. Defense was phenomenal, we outclassed Virginia at every position except punter. I think we rely on the run game more this year and slow the game down a bit, but this team is well rounded.
 
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#40
#40
volfan_28 said:
I think the bigger problem is people being too sensitive to criticism. Just because some of point out things that the Vols need to improve upon doesn’t mean we aren’t happy with the win.
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Criticism is one thing, saying we need to bench Milton in the first quarter and/or that we played like absolute crap yesterday is entirely different.

I have no problem saying that we need to improve in areas like punting, but to declare Milton a failure for one bad drive is ridiculous
 
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#42
#42
Nerwen Aldarion said:
Criticism is one thing, saying we need to bench Milton in the first quarter and/or that we played like absolute crap yesterday is entirely different.

I have no problem saying that we need to improve in areas like punting, but to declare Milton a failure for one bad drive is ridiculous
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Agreed. I must have missed those posts
 
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#43
#43
Only thing that really stood out to me is that our punt game is subpar. We'll lead the nation in 4th down attempts this season.
 
#44
#44
Pride85 said:
I am still even confused by the massive concern some still have about the secondary. We only gave up 106 yards passing. Granted a lot that can be contributed to the great play by our front 7, but they barely broke 100 yards for the game. I really only saw one DB that still refuses to turn his head, Kamal Hadden, but even he had the presence of mind to sweep the ball out of the receivers hands to break up the catch.
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Hadden played the recievers hands, when his went up so did Kamals. He broke up one pass that may have been completed had he turned and lost 1/2 step.
 
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#45
#45
patrick said:
I agree - Vols covered - ran the ball well - and Milton although not great played a pretty good game. RK dropped touchdown pass was a real ooof.

Defense played well and looked much faster than they have exhibited in several years.

Certainly areas for improvement but what more can you ask for in an opening game? Vols did what they needed to do.
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67% completion rate, 2 passing TDs and 2 Rushing TD and you're saying he didn't play great? LOL What do you want from the man?
 
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#46
#46
Volfan2012 said:
Hearing a lot about the offensive line and yet we rushed for 5.5 yards per carry and 287 yards overall. The Viriginia front four were said the be the elite part of the team and highly regarded. Virginia had only one QB sack and it was caused more by holding the ball to long. We didn't seem to be clicking on offense in the first half yet put up 302 yards. Overall for game one I thought we looked really good.
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I told y’all all off-season that I trust coach elerbee and he is the best OL coach we’ve had in a long time… I also stated that the rumors of OL struggle was more likely due to us having a nasty DL Vs them actually not being that good… we didn’t even have Simmons and I know uva OL isn’t the best but we will dominate a lot of OL like that all year… this will be a fun season on both sides of the ball…
 
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#47
#47
Pride85 said:
We have one more scrimmage next week with the related practices. Then we have the last week of prep before a very unimpressive Florida team to start off the SEC. I 100% agree with your assessment. I mean Georgia only scored 48 against UT Martin.
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might want to not discount fl too much. their biggest problem was untimely penalties. while they didnt run the ball very good, they did throw for 333 yards. penalties are easy to clean up. we will need to be at our best to beat them at home. i have faith we will.
 
#48
#48
Nerwen Aldarion said:
Criticism is one thing, saying we need to bench Milton in the first quarter and/or that we played like absolute crap yesterday is entirely different.

I have no problem saying that we need to improve in areas like punting, but to declare Milton a failure for one bad drive is ridiculous
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I didn't catch a lot of"bench Milton" cries nor did I hear a lot of declarations of him being a failure. I didn't care much for some of his throws but overall I believe he wins a lot of games for us. There were some drops that affected his stats, bit I'm not calling to bench some of the WRs.
 
#49
#49
KeyVol14 said:
Every throw that Milton doesn't make will be scrutinized. He had one bad drive, no reason to panic. Keyton needs to get rid of the drops
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In fairness to Keyton, Milton (whom you've defended) has a much more well-documented history of poor throws amidst poor performances than Keyton does for dropped passes. In fact, he's probably been our most consistent receiver when it comes to difficult/contested/athletic catches. He made a really nice catch against UVA later in the game.
 
#50
#50
butchna said:
Yeah? Happens. Saw Rice do it a few times back in his day…a lot in his rookie season. It’s what you do NEXT. Notice the 32 yarder later on? It’s the winner mentality that Heupel brings. Doghouses are for dogs.
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I realize that. He bounced back for sure
 
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