Tennessee Postgame Discussion

[upperdeck]

it went from 3rd and 14 type play to lets make it 3rd and 8-9 to can we tackle him before he scores.

 

[syrBossHogg]

I'll tell you one thing. We need to stop getting trounced in the first quarter. Opponents have beaten Syracuse by a combined 97-30 since UNLV and we were underwhelming again today.

I don't know if these results are signal or noise, but our offense doesn't look as suited to playing from behind this year. It's a weird stat. Despite the poor first quarters, we went 6-3 in these games with a dynamic offense that could score from anywhere quickly.

Since UNLV:

Cuse 3 NC State 0
Cuse 0 Pitt 17
Cuse 0 VPI 14
Cuse 0 BC 7
Cuse 6 Cal 0
Cuse 7 UConn 7
Cuse 0 Miami 14
Cuse 14 Wash St 21
Cuse 0 Tenny 17

*We're excellent in the third quarter. Whatever the staffs says at halftime seems to work. That's where we make it back.

Interesting and I had the same thought on Saturday after the game

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Same. We had a flicker of momentum and gone in a flash.

Similar to the fumble recovery.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

The one play from Saturday that I can't stop thinking about is that long run towards the end of the first half. It was 24-14 with 1:30 left, and we had them 2nd and 10. I was feeling good going into the half. I thought maybe we could even get the ball back for one last possession.

We have their RB in the backfield for a loss, he breaks the tackle (first pic), then we have him completely surrounded and just take miserable tackling angles (second pic), and he breaks free for a 50 yard run. I completely lost my mind after this play.

View attachment 254610
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Did Tank let up thinking it was play action or something?

 

[Eric15]

Did Tank let up thinking it was play action or something?

I have no idea what he was thinking.

 

[wiseman3]

This is encouraging...we really didn't get beat too badly over the course of the game, down to down. Clean up the turnovers and untimely defensive lapses, and we're in business

 

[CbusCuse]

This was a big game! He led our offense to over 400 yards (minus sacks) and 24 first downs! 271 passing yards. against a top notch defense.

Angeli wasn’t perfect but I feel great about him leading the offense going forward.

This was not Devito vs Notre Dame. Angeli and the offense played good enough to win.

From what I’ve seen today against elite defenses, our offense looks better than Texas, Alabama and LSU

And Clemson only scored 10 pts against LSU with probably the pre-season #1 rated QB.

 

[Yeti]

This is encouraging...we really didn't get beat too badly over the course of the game, down to down. Clean up the turnovers and untimely defensive lapses, and we're in business

That Boise State-USF bar is hilarious.

 

[sufandu]

I am super annoyed that SU never pressured their punter. He had all the time he wanted waiting there with the ball for UT's coverage to get down field before he punted it! It got really ridiculous when it was apparent about the only way SU could get back into the game would be a punt block to set SU up for a much needed short field to a TD.

There was no reason to not sell out and go for punt blocks since our returner was just fair catching everything anyway.

I wonder if Malachi James could be good here. You'd think that speed could be killer off the edge. Maybe he could be Tyree like.

 

[Cusefan69]

White is just chasing the money!

And is creating generational wealth for his family. No issues with that.

 

[hoopsupstate]

And is creating generational wealth for his family. No issues with that.

It’s hard to be credible with your players if you’re not committed to them for any length of time.

 

[JKinUtah]

It’s hard to be credible with your players if you’re not committed to them for any length of time.

He’s no more or less committed than most of the players he coaches.

 

[CbusCuse]

That Boise State-USF bar is hilarious.

I honestly don't understand this graphic. USF didn't perform that badly. How is their bar so far negative. USF's completion percentage was much higher with double their yards per pass attempt and they rushed for a better average. I think those teams must be switched around.

South Florida 34-7 Boise State (Aug 28, 2025) Box Score - ESPN

The OSU / Texas bar is what is really interesting. You have OSU with a huge negative bar and they are the No.1 team in the country after week 1. Their offense couldn't run or pass (200 yds total) yet they are No.1 for winning against Texas who couldn't run or pass either (320 yds total) but was slightly more productive but had an INT.

Ohio State 14-7 Texas (Aug 30, 2025) Box Score - ESPN

 

[wiseman3]

I honestly don't understand this graphic. USF didn't perform that badly. How is their bar so far negative. USF's completion percentage was much higher with double their yards per pass attempt and they rushed for a better average. I think those teams must be switched around.

South Florida 34-7 Boise State (Aug 28, 2025) Box Score - ESPN

The OSU / Texas bar is what is really interesting. You have OSU with a huge negative bar and they are the No.1 team in the country after week 1. Their offense couldn't run or pass (200 yds total) yet they are No.1 for winning against Texas who couldn't run or pass either (320 yds total) but was slightly more productive but had an INT.

Ohio State 14-7 Texas (Aug 30, 2025) Box Score - ESPN

It does make some sense when you hear some of the other stats from that game. USF had 7 plays go for more than 20 yards. The other 46 plays they had, they only averaged 2.2 yards per play. So essentially this graph is saying that down to down USF wasn't moving the ball very well. They just had some lucky/random plays ( if you want to believe it was luck, up to interpretation).
On the Boise side, they had 8 drives go into USF territory but only one resulted in points. They were moving the ball better on a down by down basis, but the turnovers killed them. Obviously turnovers are a part of the game and this stat removes them, so its just another data point to look at. Good reminder that you need to play a complete game to be successful

 

[wfschrec]

‘He’s kind of pissed off…he wants to run the score up’ – Former Vols standout says Josh Heupel has a different mentality in 2025

Are the Tennessee Vols getting a "pissed off" Josh Heupel in 2025?

atozsports.com

 

[kcsu]

I can promise you that the team put a major emphasis on tackling preseason. One thing that I loved about White is that he pushed for lots of hats around the ball. Everyone ran to the ball. I didn't see as much of that this spring and fall.

 

[Cuse On 3]

I can promise you that the team put a major emphasis on tackling preseason. One thing that I loved about White is that he pushed for lots of hats around the ball. Everyone ran to the ball. I didn't see as much of that this spring and fall.

You said we put a major emphasis this year on tackling but you didn’t see that emphasis in spring or fall? That’s kind of scary… Maybe i misread your message

 

[Melancer46]

I feel like I had seen it before, but does anyone have a link to the video they showed at the start of the 4th quarter for us? That was pretty sweet.

 

[kcsu]

You said we put a major emphasis this year on tackling but you didn’t see that emphasis in spring or fall? That’s kind of scary… Maybe i misread your message

sorry I didn't do a good job of explaining. The emphasis was on tackling drills. Vs White who would also emphasis gang tackling. He had a thing that about swarming to the ball. My point was about swarming to the ball as a team. I would like to see E emphasis lots of hats around the ball.

 

[Cuse On 3]

sorry I didn't do a good job of explaining. The emphasis was on tackling drills. Vs White who would also emphasis gang tackling. He had a thing that about swarming to the ball. My point was about swarming to the ball as a team. I would like to see E emphasis lots of hats around the ball.

I see, thanks. Ugh, yea it’s sad not seeing that emphasis, because our defense under Tony White was awesome. We swarmed the ball during games. I’ll give props to Dino on that

 

[Cusefan69]

It’s hard to be credible with your players if you’re not committed to them for any length of time.

Coaching is transitory and players understand if the coach is moving in upward trajectory. Because the players do it themselves often.

 

[FrancoPizza]

sorry I didn't do a good job of explaining. The emphasis was on tackling drills. Vs White who would also emphasis gang tackling. He had a thing that about swarming to the ball. My point was about swarming to the ball as a team. I would like to see E emphasis lots of hats around the ball.

Gang tackling might be a bit much for big E. I would take a defensive end doing 1 spin move as a major accomplishment here.

 

[shu 49]

Sounds like you are the dumbest person alive

Last year LQA could do it all.

Run
Catch
Pass block.

It now takes 2 RB's to do what he used to do.

willis can catch the ball easily and we dont keep our back in alot gor protection. Willis is built for pretection, just gotta get the technique down.

 

[shu 49]

Biggest takeaway is the effort was certainly there. The kids battled throughout.

Fire Robinson is very premature. But he certainly needs to improve.. a lot. Was hoping his scheme would be better this year. My question is - what is our scheme on D? What are we trying to take away from the offense? I've been asking this same question since last season.

Offense and Angeli looked solid against an elite defense and will improve as the season progresses. Good foundation to work with there. Willis looks like a stud, should be getting higher percentage of the carries going forward. He's our bell cow.

We arent TAKING anything away. We are being very conservative on Defense to try and stop bleeding. We need to Hunt like ERob said we would and we arent. Blitzes are High school basic and pash rush is try and move your man inyour lane backwords. No dline stunts or O Aaron donald shouler throws or Freeney spins. How do we have a guy like Freeney for helping pass rush butnot use it. I HATE passive defense. What Defense that has won championship or been in playoffs that isnt extremely aggressive. Georgia, tenn, Notre Dame, Alabama, and Ohio St. are all in your face aggressive. lb need to come downhill and smack the s outta rb. kills me watching passive lb getting run over. Playing 10 yds off a receiver tells me and the other team what u think of your CB. Mix it up a bit. Safety blitz or anything exotic that would get one guy free to make sack or pressure. That qb with any pressure will not make good throws. cmon Erob. HUNT.