My Take

[sutomcat]

Going into the game, I did not expect us to keep it close. Maybe if the game was later in the season but with all the turnover, it was just not realistic to expect us to be competitive here.

And yet, despite many issues and problems, the team found itself down 12 with the ball halfway through the fourth quarter or so.

So I guess I am pleased in some ways. But it felt like we blew an opportunity to pull an upset here. Kind of.

Heupel is a terrific offensive coach. He has a great scheme and he has high level athletes everywhere on the roster, except maybe QB, to execute his plans. Thought Aguilar did well overall, even though he isn’t very good throwing the ball. Lots of bad passes. But they gave him easy plays to execute and he got the job done.

Looked like they identified a major mismatch with young Samuel, and attacked him whenever they could. The kid really struggled and hopefully learned some things today. He has to improve a lot or this is going to be a long season. It did look like he got better as the game progressed.

On the positive side, it looked like Peal had a good game. Thought Bryant looked good, along with Chestnut. Pretty sure McDonald is playing with an injury so I am reluctant to criticize him a lot. But he struggled.

Thought Omopariola looked good, and Reese was okay too. Liked what Grant did. Made some nice tackles. Our DTs got dominated pretty badly. And a bunch of them got hurt. Rooks, Wilson and Thomas. They all returned to the game but it is not an encouraging thing to see so many hurt so early.

Disappointing we still can’t stop the run. Simple power runs seemingly can’t be stopped. We have a bunch of other schools on the schedule that will exploit this weakness if it continues. Also disappointing was our lack of ability to put pressure on the QB. Did we blitz at all? UT did a lot and it was a big factor in aiding them stopping some of our drives.

On offense, thought we ran it okay. Willis looks legit. Runs hard, tough guy. Nixon looked good too. We all know he is terrific as a receiver out of the backfield. Thought Angeli was good. His best play was when a blitzer came in untouched (that happened way too much), and he sidestepped him, stepped up, and just before getting sacked threw it to Bennett for a completion (pretty sure it extended a drive). Seemed to me as though he made almost all the passes he needed to make. Made the right reads for the most part and hung in there with guys in his grill.

We have to, pass block better. Our RBs have to be better picking up blitzes. Angeli needs to read blitzes and get rid of the ball faster. Thought our WRs did okay against the UT coverage, though Hood won almost every time they targeted him. He also committed PI almost every time they targeted him.

Cook appears to be a legit #1 receiver. He was open a lot and did damage when he got the ball. JRS was good. Russell made a few plays and impressed me. Gill didn’t get a lot of good chances but was there when he did. Villari was very good as a receiver and looked okay as a blocker but I think he was called for a couple procedure penalties where he presumably lined up off the LOS. Veterans can’t do that.

Stonehouse was excellent punting. Oh was good kicking off. Tripp was good kicking PATs. Kerr has to know where the ball is on coverage. Coverage units looked good. Special teams were solid. We looked like we were coached by a special teams coach who had done this job before.

I liked our game plan on offense and thought Nixon did a solid job other than the regular issues he apparently had getting plays to the offense. Plays always seemed to be coming in late and this led to rushed plays and wasted time outs. We need to do better here.

UConn enjoyed a cupcake today while we got banged up against a huge tough team. That is going to make the game more competitive. Hope we come to play and take the game seriously.

 

[HRE Otto IV]

I wasn't expecting the game to go well but I thought we could have kept it closer before they pulled way vs getting down big early and then never really getting back into it.

I thought Tennessee was a bit overrated last year and isn't as good this year. They are still a Top 20 team, but not a team that should completely outclass us start to finish. While I think they are only the 3rd best team on our schedule, they might be better than any team we played last year.

I was pleased with the O overall. They did enough to be content with that output.

I thought there was a lot to like about Angeli, but also some things to be concerned about. It was his first real start and he was going up against stiff competition. So I think we should focus on the good, while giving a pass for some poor decisions and plays. Hopefully those plays do not persist.

Gotta love what you saw out of Willis. Cook looked good. Villari looked like a real TE. Russell made some nice plays too.

Angeli seemed to look for JRS a bunch but they couldn't really get sync'd up. Not sure what was going on there. Also Gill was invisible. I expected more from him.

STs were not involved much to tell if we still have a problem. Almost a disaster on that one PR though. The PR didn't seem to communicate much to the blocker. Also is a CB really our best PR with all those RBs and WRs we have?

We are 14 games in and I still have no clue what ERob is trying to do on D. We are passive as can be. Even with good talent (which I admit we are definitely lacking on D), it won't work. Usually when there are 3 Ss, two play like traditional Ss and the other is used to attack the O. Yet we play all 3 like traditional Ss. It makes no sense.

Pretty sure everyone knew Tennessee was going to run the ball, yet we played them like a Mike Leach O. That isn't on the kids. Even without the focus on the run game, they threw the ball with ease. Had their QB been a bit better they would have put even more points on the board.

The DL doesn't take up space and doesn't make tackles. Not just today but over the last 14 games. We don't have much talent there but even a blind squirrel. What are they being taught to be so insignificant?

LBs I was worried about preseason and still am.

Samuel was picked on early and often. Not a surprise that they went after a 17 yo Frosh. It was more of a surprise that he won the job. He didn't seem ready. The good thing is he doesn't have to really be till Duke. So if he has the talent, he can get his lumps now.


We need to take care of business the next two. I expect the Clemson game to go similar to this one. Then it is game on vs Duke. We really won't know who we are until that game IMO. After that we can tell if we have a shot at a Bowl, or if we will have the opposite regular season record as last season.

 

[tbonezone]

Going into the game, I did not expect us to keep it close.

never felt close . imo. and the refs have to start flagging faux cramps . hold the player out one series .
we don't need jeezus laying hands on the child in the tent and suddenly they're good as gold next snap.
if you're hurt so bad you can't limp off the field and you stop the clock you should sit a series.

 

[richmondcuse03]

We played a bend don’t break defense and still gave up a ton of points. Think scheme has to be considered.

 

[hoopsupstate]

I wasn't expecting the game to go well but I thought we could have kept it closer before they pulled way vs getting down big early and then never really getting back into it.

I thought Tennessee was a bit overrated last year and isn't as good this year. They are still a Top 20 team, but not a team that should completely outclass us start to finish. While I think they are only the 3rd best team on our schedule, they might be better than any team we played last year.

I was pleased with the O overall. They did enough to be content with that output.

I thought there was a lot to like about Angeli, but also some things to be concerned about. It was his first real start and he was going up against stiff competition. So I think we should focus on the good, while giving a pass for some poor decisions and plays. Hopefully those plays do not persist.

Gotta love what you saw out of Willis. Cook looked good. Villari looked like a real TE. Russell made some nice plays too.

Angeli seemed to look for JRS a bunch but they couldn't really get sync'd up. Not sure what was going on there. Also Gill was invisible. I expected more from him.

STs were not involved much to tell if we still have a problem. Almost a disaster on that one PR though. The PR didn't seem to communicate much to the blocker. Also is a CB really our best PR with all those RBs and WRs we have?

We are 14 games in and I still have no clue what ERob is trying to do on D. We are passive as can be. Even with good talent (which I admit we are definitely lacking on D), it won't work. Usually when there are 3 Ss, two play like traditional Ss and the other is used to attack the O. Yet we play all 3 like traditional Ss. It makes no sense.

Pretty sure everyone knew Tennessee was going to run the ball, yet we played them like a Mike Leach O. That isn't on the kids. Even without the focus on the run game, they threw the ball with ease. Had their QB been a bit better they would have put even more points on the board.

The DL doesn't take up space and doesn't make tackles. Not just today but over the last 14 games. We don't have much talent there but even a blind squirrel. What are they being taught to be so insignificant?

LBs I was worried about preseason and still am.

Samuel was picked on early and often. Not a surprise that they went after a 17 yo Frosh. It was more of a surprise that he won the job. He didn't seem ready. The good thing is he doesn't have to really be till Duke. So if he has the talent, he can get his lumps now.


We need to take care of business the next two. I expect the Clemson game to go similar to this one. Then it is game on vs Duke. We really won't know who we are until that game IMO. After that we can tell if we have a shot at a Bowl, or if we will have the opposite regular season record as last season.

Duke can score, so they will be a problem.

 

[JKinUtah]

Duke can score, so they will be a problem.

They played Elon - let's pump the brakes until they play a real team

 

[OttoinGrotto]

We played a bend don’t break defense and still gave up a ton of points. Think scheme has to be considered.

It, uh, seems to break plenty.

 

[orangenauburn]

My take, is Jim Mora is going to run circles around ERob

We are going to need to score 40

 

[sufandu]

Did we blitz at all? UT did a lot and it was a big factor in aiding them stopping some of our drives.

We blitzed a few times but got burned every time we did. I think we have a bunch of solid guys on defense, but we don't have a difference maker on the dine. I thought we looked more physical than we were last year. A Dwight Freeney or Kevin Mitchell like disruptor would make all the difference.

 

[JKinUtah]

we injured like 50 Tenn players we must have been quite physical.

Yes, that's sarcasm

 

[tbonezone]

we need an interior disruptor . like the klingons.

 

[RedtheGOB]

We played a bend don’t break defense and still gave up a ton of points. Think scheme has to be considered.

I felt this way too during the game but then in my head I relook at the math and if Angeli doesn’t get sloppy and give up that scoop and score or throw a deflected ball that’s an easy pick on our side of the field + that 75 yard bomb. Then this defense is looking at closer to 24-31 points instead of 45. Against the talent and experience gap I think we would take that all day.

The offense just can’t put the D in bad spots like that game 1 on the road with turnovers. One of them that was right after they gifted us the ball on a fumbled handoff btw.

I’m not happy with the D either especially the dumb crap, tackling and that over the top 75 yarder but I’m also not so sure all the blame is there for them.

They def looked better part way into the 3rd quarter when everyone settled in and they were not on the field as much. Got some good stops.

 

[PAcuse]

My take, is Jim Mora is going to run circles around ERob

We are going to need to score 40

Take out the 71 yard run against us last year (I believe duece took a terrible angle)
They only head 50ish on us
You can't base the next opponent on one game

 

[RedtheGOB]

Duke can score, so they will be a problem.

Duke was tied up against Elon at home 10-10 at the half. They can pay all they want for a QB doesn’t mean they’ve shown anything yet.

 

[HRE Otto IV]

I felt this way too during the game but then in my head I relook at the math and if Angeli doesn’t get sloppy and give up that scoop and score or throw a deflected ball that’s an easy pick on our side of the field + that 75 yard bomb. Then this defense is looking at closer to 24-31 points instead of 45. Against the talent and experience gap I think we would take that all day.

The offense just can’t put the D in bad spots like that game 1 on the road with turnovers. One of them that was right after they gifted us the ball on a fumbled handoff btw.

I’m not happy with the D either especially the dumb crap, tackling and that over the top 75 yarder but I’m also not so sure all the blame is there for them.

They def looked better part way into the 3rd quarter when everyone settled in and they were not on the field as much. Got some good stops.

To be fair they were going in for a score before an unforced fumble before the scoop and score. What ifs work both ways.

Another what if they had a slant that should have been a long score that went incomplete.

 

[RedtheGOB]

To be fair they were going in for a score before an unforced fumble before the scoop and score. What ifs work both ways.

Another what if they had a slant that should have been a long score that went incomplete.

I’ll take a fumble over a scoop and score or an open slant over a 75 yard over the top TD any day

 

[phil77]

I felt this way too during the game but then in my head I relook at the math and if Angeli doesn’t get sloppy and give up that scoop and score or throw a deflected ball that’s an easy pick on our side of the field + that 75 yard bomb. Then this defense is looking at closer to 24-31 points instead of 45. Against the talent and experience gap I think we would take that all day.

The offense just can’t put the D in bad spots like that game 1 on the road with turnovers. One of them that was right after they gifted us the ball on a fumbled handoff btw.

I’m not happy with the D either especially the dumb crap, tackling and that over the top 75 yarder but I’m also not so sure all the blame is there for them.

They def looked better part way into the 3rd quarter when everyone settled in and they were not on the field as much. Got some good stops.

I think that scoop and score just cancels out with Tennesse unforced fumble the play before. They were marching down the field to score easy until they just dropped the ball with no contact. So luck goes both way when talking in general turns

 

[FrancoPizza]

I will say our punt protection wasn’t really tested today. Tennessee wasn’t going for the block.

 

[Bill Orange]

Tuba count:

Tenn 20
SU 6

 

[sufandu]

I think we have some talent at WR but I don't think we have a Meeks with that mean streak that will out fight every DB for the ball.

Willis looks legit. I hope we can give him a little space so he can punish some safeties.

I think the oline will look better against a bunch of the other teams we play, but it's still not a strength.

ERob strikes me as someone who knows defense but isn't a guru that can scheme success beyond the talent level he has to work with. His recruiting better start getting us some difference makers in the front four or we'll always be relying on the offense to carry us.

Angeli looked ok to me. He'll have better games but I don't think he can carry us like a McCord or Dungey.

 

[HRE Otto IV]

I think we have some talent at WR but I don't think we have a Meeks with that mean streak that will out fight every DB for the ball.

Willis looks legit. I hope we can give him a little space so he can punish some safeties.

I think the oline will look better against a bunch of the other teams we play, but it's still not a strength.

ERob strikes me as someone who knows defense but isn't a guru that can scheme success beyond the talent level he has to work with. His recruiting better start getting us some difference makers in the front four or we'll always be relying on the offense to carry us.

Angeli looked ok to me. He'll have better games but I don't think he can carry us like a McCord or Dungey.

The way Angeli played reminded me a bit of the McCord Stanford game.

 

[sufandu]

The way Angeli played reminded me a bit of the McCord Stanford game.

I'm hoping today was more about TN being good on defense and not Angeli being average. He missed some things that I thought he should have got. He made a few plays too. I think he'll be fine. He just won't be the hero we would have liked.

 

[JKinUtah]

I'm hoping today was more about TN being good on defense and not Angeli being average. He missed some things that I thought he should have got. He made a few plays too. I think he'll be fine. He just won't be the hero we would have liked.

If he was better he’d be starting at ND. Not sure what people expected.

 

[AZOrange]

We are going to smash Yukon. The RBs were not the main problem against the blitz. It was as if the OL could not zone block.

 

[AZOrange]

We played a bend don’t break defense and still gave up a ton of points. Think scheme has to be considered.

If you can even tell me what the base D is I’d love to hear it. It was a 4-25 mixed with a 3-3-5 into a 4-3. Never really seen anything like that. You have to go 8 in the box against a UT. They had more OL on the field than we had in 2 levels at times