Tenn post game thread

[KryHavok]

Couldn't listen to the game today, but was able to check the halftime score...I wanna surprised at the score discrepancy considering the yardage and time of possession. Double digit losses for the season becoming a distinct possibility.

 

[Don72770]

probably nothing

Maybe kicking a field goal in the 4th quarter when already up 56-3 ?? A 53 point spread isn’t enough?? Or, am I missing something about sportsmanship, and trying not to humiliate your opponent??

 

[freescooter]

I don’t know what anyone expected. This was a game we had zero hope of winning. It was this year’s equivalent of last years Michigan.

I absolutely think we need to find a conference. Id return to the AAC if possible in a heartbeat for football. But anything will do. We need to win games and playing games like this is no good for the program ( yeah we get a payday but it is just awful from every single other angle).

The other thing is that this team is really not that much different from last year’s. Last year we won a bunch of close games. This year we lost them. Last year we didn’t blow any one out. We pretty much won the 50-50 games. If you look at it, we had a shot in NC State, BC, USF,FIU, Utah State. Not that we automatically would or should have won, but we had a shot. Lost all and usually on some crazy thing. This year every game was Ball State. Last year only Ball State was Ball State. We have very very little margin for error in our winnable games. Last year we made a play here or there. This year we did not.

But here is the reality folks. Unless we finally end up in a P4 league, we are not competing with Tennessee or Michigan or Ohio State. I’d much rather play teams we CAN compete with rather than get embarrassed. Then, who knows, you go 11-1 or10-2 in the MAC or the AAC or the Sunbelt and suddenly you are in the Top 25. Maybe the playoffs. Much more interesting and fun than what we are trying to do now. I’d much prefer a schedule of 8 games we can Compete in, a couple of mid-low tier ACC (BC OR Virginia or someone) or Big 10 games (IndiaNA, Illinois, Rutgers) and maybe UMass and Army/Navy/MWC type game. Sure once in a while a Duke or Virginia will be really good. But I think that is a very sometimes thing. Winning breeds winning but it also breeds interest and support.

 

[UCan3]

We do not have a decent QB. He is no threat to run and has no touch.
Unless Nick is specifically telling him not to run.

We've had game-critical plays and TR refuses to run even for 1 yd

We don't have luxury of having a pocket passer. We just don't - we need like many teams we faced and lost to this year to have a QB trying to do it takes to pick up yards.

 

[Bomber36]

 

[DoctorWho85]

I’m glad I couldn’t watch. I thought we would be able to keep it closer but from the highlights played on TV TN was significantly faster than anyone on our team. As soon as a receiver got open and caught the entire defense fell behind and the gap always increased. I still believe Mora is the guy to fix this, but I think he needs to reevaluate the entire coaching staff in the off season.

 

[Guru13]

No offense but kind of a stupid post. Mora said himself that we were not getting enough NIL money to get the players we need. His Staff is ok but the talent is not there. I can not see him staying without a much bigger commitment from Donors. Also he said that we are getting killed in recruiting not being in a conference but no hope for us getting into a P4 so it doesn't look promising.

We have talent, difference between this year and last year is for one you downgraded your wr/linebacker corp with fcs talent, seriously play the kids you recruited like Drawdy. Two you don’t give the qb who took you to 6 wins to start at qb, and or start with Roberson. Three you play favoritism towards your OC by letting him play his qb from Maine. That’s enough to show the kids you don’t trust them.

 

[cullaville]

We were moving the ball in the first half first quarter. Wheels fell.off the D today. Letting thier wr run free.

Speed is killing us. LB, DB speed not were we need to be.

Need money. Need better coaches and players with that money.

first half of the first qtr - so they played well for seven an a half minutes?

 

[Purple Stein]

We do not have a decent QB. He is no threat to run and has no touch.
Unless Nick is specifically telling him not to run.

A lot of high throws. I'm worried he's going to get a WR destroyed at some point.

 

[Alum86]

Maybe kicking a field goal in the 4th quarter when already up 56-3 ?? A 53 point spread isn’t enough?? Or, am I missing something about sportsmanship, and trying not to humiliate your opponent??

You are. Backup kicker getting to see the field.
Josh actually taking his foot off the pedal and our neck.
They could have gone for it and probably scored on our D.

 

[Palatine]

The zone running scheme seems to result in high numbers of yards lost behind the line of srimmage.

 

[FearThePups]

It stinks because they were competitive in the beginning of the game. Roberson and Charlton had their best start to a game so far this year. But...the defense continues to give up explosives and the game just unraveled.

Competitive? It was 7-0 after 30 seconds.

 

[hookshot]

Maybe kicking a field goal in the 4th quarter when already up 56-3 ?? A 53 point spread isn’t enough?? Or, am I missing something about sportsmanship, and trying not to humiliate your opponent??

His choices were (1) take a knee, (2) run the ball and probably score 7, or (3) give a kid who had not had a chance to kick a field goal all year, a chance. (3) seems like a reasonable choice

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

His choices were (1) take a knee, (2) run the ball and probably score 7, or (3) give a kid who had not had a chance to kick a field goal all year, a chance. (3) seems like a reasonable choice

There were 8 extra points if they wanted to get the kid reps.

I think Jim may have been made they were seemingly running out the clock with a 6 minute possession to end the game. Score or don’t but I’m sure Jim wanted to get another set of downs for ZT.

Personally I see nothing wrong with what Tennessee did or said

 

[gsmooth]

His choices were (1) take a knee, (2) run the ball and probably score 7, or (3) give a kid who had not had a chance to kick a field goal all year, a chance. (3) seems like a reasonable choice

Any slight Jim Mora took from Tennessee going for that FG is the least of his worries. There are much bigger fish to fry.

 

[Woof 101]

I watched every second. The didn't beat us up. That were just faster than us everywhere that mattered.

100% and the irony is they had a half dozen players go out injured.

Ahh yes the Most Valuable Paper ....

A lot of high throws. I'm worried he's going to get a WR destroyed at some point.

Several high throws appeared to be throwing the ball away under pressure and the intended receiver was covered. Better to be high than another pic.

 

[Kowalski]

100% and the irony is they had a half dozen players go out injured.

Ahh yes the Most Valuable Paper ....

Several high throws appeared to be throwing the ball away under pressure and the intended receiver was covered. Better to be high than another pic.

True, but when it’s 4th down and you’re going to be turning the ball over anyway, give your receivers a chance to make a play.

 

[storrsroars]

True, but when it’s 4th down and you’re going to be turning the ball over anyway, give your receivers a chance to make a play.

I'm gonna side with TR here on the 4th down throws. He's dropped some sweet passes in tight spaces. I don't doubt his arm or accuracy for the most part. But when you've thrown 2 long pick-sixes already, and nobody on your team can catch the guys on the other team, maybe discretion is the better part of valor.

And maybe there are better pass patterns to be run in the first place, given the talent disparity.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

2 things needed in the current environment:

1. Money to buy players
2. A HC who understands how to play the portal and NIL (and the money to buy them and a good supporting staff)

All other discussion is just so much blah blah blah.

He has to build an organization that has national reach
Football coaching requires a team of the best people you can afford not just a head and today unfortunately requires money to both build that team and secure players .
A 5 year plan to raise a minimum of $5,000,000 year earmarked specifically for that will get us in the game .
Football isn’t a short term money cow . It’s an investment . Trying to treat it otherwise is a recipe for our current situation.

 

[Chin Diesel]

No one died.

Check cleared.

Mission accomplished.

 

[RioDog]

No offense but kind of a stupid post. Mora said himself that we were not getting enough NIL money to get the players we need. His Staff is ok but the talent is not there. I can not see him staying without a much bigger commitment from Donors. Also he said that we are getting killed in recruiting not being in a conference but no hope for us getting into a P4 so it doesn't look promising.

No more stupid than your response- you just reiterated what I said.

 

[RioDog]

He has to build an organization that has national reach
Football coaching requires a team of the best people you can afford not just a head and today unfortunately requires money to both build that team and secure players .
A 5 year plan to raise a minimum of $5,000,000 year earmarked specifically for that will get us in the game .
Football isn’t a short term money cow . It’s an investment . Trying to treat it otherwise is a recipe for our current situation.

Don't disagree with anything you have stated. Hope Mora is the guy but he's been out of the game for some years and the landscape is changing at an alarming pace.

 

[SwingDog]

I watched the first half and listened to most of the second. I felt we started out looking competent on offense, and indeed we dominated in ball possession today but we could never cash in. Not even just a couple of times, save for a measly field goal. Clearly we were able to move the ball down the field but for whatever reasons we were just unable to get it into the end zone.

Defensively, there were some ugly lapses like the guy who was wide open by 20 yards who caught the ball and slowly jogged in to the end zone. Otherwise, Tennessee was just much too fast for us to keep up with, both with game tempo and with their run game. Too many explosive plays. We've taken pretty good care of the football this season, but certainly not today. The Volunteers capitalized on every turnover and mistake we made and operated with high efficiency as evidenced by the number of points they scored in proportion to how little they had the ball, and the pittance of points we managed.

Overall, it seemed like we put in our typical full effort (at least in the first half) but by comments I've read here it seems our guys were likely feeling beaten down and demoralized in the second half, and threw in the towel. That's sad to see, but I can only imagine playing in front of that huge crowd and just taking blow after blow and not being able to respond.

A reporter asked Heupel about the handshake with Mora and he just kind of shrugged his shoulders and said he didn't know happened if anything but clearly Mora was not happy. I don't know if he felt Heupel ran up the score or was just so disappointed with the results, or if Heupel did something during the game he didn't like, but it looked like a very brief, and very chilly exchange.

 

[F101Voodoo]

The offense showed vague competency at times. That's about the best thing I can say.

Our defense, on the other hand, is an absolute mess. JM needs to hand over the reins to a DC he can trust.

Absolutely correct. Even though I still believe that Mora is a competent coach but he is fooling himself that he can be the field general and the OC at the same time. He is hurting the team and very likely lost respect of the locker room before the season started.

 

[SwingDog]

Well, I guess this explains the handshake:

Jim Mora gives icy handshake to Josh Heupel, makes 'class' comment after Tennessee loss

 

[F101Voodoo]

We have talent, difference between this year and last year is for one you downgraded your wr/linebacker corp with fcs talent, seriously play the kids you recruited like Drawdy. Two you don’t give the qb who took you to 6 wins to start at qb, and or start with Roberson. Three you play favoritism towards your OC by letting him play his qb from Maine. That’s enough to show the kids you don’t trust them.

That is why I said Mora lost the locker room before the season started.

 

[giddyup]

Program has once again devolved to utter crap. 25 years of season tickets later Im thoroughly disgusted with how inept this program is. It takes a special effort to be consistently terrible.

 

[uconnyankee]

Even though UConn gets a big payday for going to Knoxville - you can't make up for the bad publicity of getting destroyed by a top 25 team . It just reinforces the image that UConn is exclusively a BB school
Also- how does this game build confidence with current and future players?

The payoff is that playing this talent gets you better prepared for lesser talent.
I don’t mind these games. It’s just that we’re in a rebuilding ‘year’.
Had we played them 2 seasons ago, totally different outcome.

 

[uconnyankee]

I watched the first half and listened to most of the second. I felt we started out looking competent on offense, and indeed we dominated in ball possession today but we could never cash in. Not even just a couple of times, save for a measly field goal. Clearly we were able to move the ball down the field but for whatever reasons we were just unable to get it into the end zone.

Defensively, there were some ugly lapses like the guy who was wide open by 20 yards who caught the ball and slowly jogged in to the end zone. Otherwise, Tennessee was just much too fast for us to keep up with, both with game tempo and with their run game. Too many explosive plays. We've taken pretty good care of the football this season, but certainly not today. The Volunteers capitalized on every turnover and mistake we made and operated with high efficiency as evidenced by the number of points they scored in proportion to how little they had the ball, and the pittance of points we managed.

Overall, it seemed like we put in our typical full effort (at least in the first half) but by comments I've read here it seems our guys were likely feeling beaten down and demoralized in the second half, and threw in the towel. That's sad to see, but I can only imagine playing in front of that huge crowd and just taking blow after blow and not being able to respond.

A reporter asked Heupel about the handshake with Mora and he just kind of shrugged his shoulders and said he didn't know happened if anything but clearly Mora was not happy. I don't know if he felt Heupel ran up the score or was just so disappointed with the results, or if Heupel did something during the game he didn't like, but it looked like a very brief, and very chilly exchange.

He said, ‘they’ve got a good team. They fought hard and lost a close game’. Little douchey. But, is what it is.
TN is our bee-yatch in other sports.

 

[superjohn]

He said, ‘they’ve got a good team. They fought hard and lost a close game’. Little douchey. But, is what it is.
TN is our bee-yatch in other sports.

That's not what he said and nothing he said is douchey.