The Rearview 9/2

A modification of a fairly famous quote applies this morning: “They are NOT who we thought they were”.

It seems, though, they might be for those that predicted a 3^rd place or worse finish in the SEC East, who they thought they were.

As I watched the game last night, nothing felt right. Early in the game, I thought it may just be a case of jitters sure to be gone by the 2^nd or 3^rd series. But as the game wore on in to the 2^nd quarter, nothing felt or looked like I, and I’m sure many of you, expected.

I’ve gone on record this off season with a few predictions. It’s now, after 1 game, to have some accountability. First, I’ve said on many occasions that if this Tennessee team lost to this UCLA team, I would be completely wrong on my outlook for this version of the Vols. Well, I am wrong. It would be one thing if we were playing a UCLA team that was half way capable of doing anything of significance this season, but it will be very likely that last night’s game may be the marquee win for their season. At this point, 6-6 is realistic for them. Which makes last night’s loss all the tougher to take today. We laid an egg folks. This team looked ill prepared and they played like for 4 quarters. Here are a few things that simply leave me deflated and disappointed this morning:

• The fumbled snap was just a foreshadowing of mistakes to come. Again, I attributed it at first to jitters, but as we all saw, that was not the case.
• Penalties. False starts on back to back plays from one of the most veteran O lines in the conference. 9 penalties total to UCLA’s 2.
• At least 2 times where WR’s were lined up in the wrong spot and had to be told where to go.
• How does Arian Foster run into Jon Crompton on the wrong side of the play? Again, this is a senior leader of this team.
• Speaking of Arian, the fumble in the red zone was inexcusable. And it’s not the first time this has been an issue. That’s all I’ll say about this.
• Crompton was inaccurate all over the board. Short, long, low, high….I’ve said more than once Crompton simply can’t be awful and this offense will be fine. He was not very good last night.
• Our defensive depth got exposed in the 4^th quarter last night. Early on I was impressed with the D line and front 7 in general. UCLA tested our depth last night and we failed.
• Very disappointed in the secondary. Understanding it wasn’t all on them, but the soft coverage bothered me all night and we gave up over 200 yards passing in the 2^nd half alone. This after a 4 int 1^st half. Can you say Jekyll and Hyde?
• I still do not understand the 3 FG attempts outside 50 yards. As poorly as their offense had been playing at the time, putting the ball back in their hands deep in their territory was our best offensive play.
• I thought our 1^st down offense was actually pretty good. But we squandered it far too often. We were not a good 2^nd or 3^rd offense. Play calling was erratic and didn’t seem to do anything to establish an identity.
• 41 pass plays to 25 run plays. That’s not balance. And there was no reason for such a disparity. Hardesty was effective.
• The O line did not get the push I expected. Extremely frustrating for a group that is supposed to be the strength of this offense. Early return shows that another year of experience has not proved to make them more effective.
• That said, was there ever a point where we were going to try to do anything about the blitz up the middle?
• We out rushed UCLA 179-29 anyway and still lost.
• Their special teams were better than ours. Averaged 13 yards more per punt, had a punt block ret for a TD. One bright spot for us was the return game looked improved. But we left 12 points on the field off the toe of Daniel Lincoln.
• Coaching. Neuheisel and Chow made some outstanding adjustments for the 2^nd half. We did not. But that’s not what did it. We got out coached weeks ago.

That’s about it, or at least, it’s enough. I never got angry watching this game, and I’m still not. But I’m definitely disappointed. I really thought this team was capable of more. The most positive of us will say this matters not to the conference goals for the season. Obviously, you’re correct. The most negative of us is in his/her truck on the way to Maryville with a moving sign in the back. The painful reality after game one though is, this team hasn’t changed all that much from last year’s team. The O line still can’t get push, the defense can’t close when it has to, we will still make mistakes to keep teams in the game and our coaches still have a penchant for making games come down to one or two plays.

We saw it last year on our run to the SEC East title………..but this time we missed the FG, not SC or Vandy or Kentucky. I could drone on for hours about the deflation of my spirits about this team, but I’ve simply decided to take the approach UCLA did about last night’s game. Tennessee, you’re going to have to show me before I’ll believe again.

Never thought a bye week in week 2 was a good thing until this year.

One note though about UCLA’s qb Craft; I did think he played a gutsy 2^nd half and my hat’s off to him for coming back like he did and credit his coaches for putting him in better spots in the 2^nd half to succeed. Lament the errors that we made throughout the game that gave them the opportunity to do so.

1 down, 11 to go. Go Vols.

A quick recap of the rest of the weekend……..

I thought Bama looked very good against an overrated Clemson team. Tommy Bowden and Phil Fulmer should join the same support group. But, Bama’s Defense was impressive and JPW looked solid.

Georgia is slowly going by the wayside. In this war of attrition, they are slowly losing. Another DT gone for the year in a game that really could matter less. Unfortunate.

Good road wins for Vandy and Kentucky.

Auburn, LSU and Florida all took care of business…..whoopie.

Ole Miss not only got win, they won that game decisively. Good morale boost to kick off the season.

Wake Forest is the class of the ACC. Today. The rest of that league sucks out loud. I’m sorry.

Ohio State…….you can start breathing again. It appears Beanie will be back after the Ohio Game.

Skip Holtz ‘out Beamered’ Beamer ball in a great game in the Queen City.

The most impressive team of the weekend for me……….it’s a tie. Bama and Missouri.

The “would take a do over and not think twice about it” team of the weekend……also a tie……..Michigan and Tennessee. Both teams lost consecutive season openers…..I don’t know that these two schools have ever done that in the same years ever.