ADVERTISEMENT

I think the greatness that is UTenn football...

Not a spin job, the better team just find a way to win. The gameplay would be entirely different if App St had more points on the board.

Again, happens every Saturday... It's like you have never watched football before.
App St had more points on the board nearly the entire game. At what point was the entirely different UTenn gameplay going to show up? If App St hits that FG, there's what...0:30 left on the clock? And that would've been time for UTenn to break out their Superman offense and show App St who's boss?
 
  • Like
Reactions: RockyTopRowdy58
App St had more points on the board nearly the entire game. At what point was the entirely different UTenn gameplay going to show up? If App St hits that FG, there's what...0:30 left on the clock? And that would've been time for UTenn to break out their Superman offense and show App St who's boss?

Seriously, what is the highest level of football you have been directly involved in?
 
It's irrelevant, but high school.

I've never flown a plane before, either, but I can damn sure tell you when it crashes. Even if the "expert" pilot invented air travel and has the most excuses lined up about it in recorded history...a crash is still a crash.

And you don't have to take my uneducated word for it...every website in America is covered with articles talking about how bad UTenn looked last week. I'll even do you a solid and post some links for you, since you can't seem to figure it out for yourself.
 
  • Like
Reactions: RockyTopRowdy58
I don't get it? I didn't write any of those articles. Not a single one of them. I laughed my ass off when reading them, but I didn't write any of them.

What you're saying here is that none of these people nationwide who cover football for a living on any of the websites that cover football for a living gets it. You even quoted their articles above to illustrate your point. I understand...you know WAY more than the rest of the nation does about football, and the hundreds of articles written about how badly UTenn is overrated within the last week were all written by uneducated, clueless hacks who all collectively wouldn't know what a football was if it hit them in the mouth.

You know, not everyone can be a Hall Of Fame ex-NFL player like yourself to gain that the required expertise to fully understand the game, so maybe you could cut these writers some slack? You ARE a Hall Of Famer ex-NFL player, right? Otherwise, by your own logic, you're not qualified to question anyone else's fantasy expertise based solely on playing experience.
 
Last edited:
One other thing, while we're on the subject. I've been on various football message boards for over 20 years now (and on this one for 15). What I learned very early on in message board life is that the moment some self-proclaimed "expert" starts asking other posters if they've ever played football, they've exceeded their mental capacity for productively continuing in the discussion.

Luckily, I don't think this will affect us. One more day and you'll be gone from this board for good.
 
My intellectual effort stopped when you repeated your argument for the 15th time with zero recognition that other possible factors, outside of the items you have laid forth, could potentially be at play.

Football isn't played in a vacuum.
 
One other thing, while we're on the subject. I've been on various football message boards for over 20 years now (and on this one for 15). What I learned very early on in message board life is that the moment some self-proclaimed "expert" starts asking other posters if they've ever played football, they've exceeded their mental capacity for productively continuing in the discussion.

Luckily, I don't think this will affect us. One more day and you'll be gone from this board for good.

Still think my "animosity" towards the Vols is just based on my "UK perspective"? LOL...your apology is accepted.
 
Yep, you're right. I feel like I owe you dinner or something now.
Have you predicted any kind of score? I know you have had a busy week with your UT buddy but curious to get your prediction on this one.....I work with a couple of UT grads that tell me that they are a good team when they have a good mix of run and pass and they don't play well from behind. They were both at the Appy game and really believe no one is giving App enough credit for being a good team with a poor kicker. They both believe this will be a close game.
 
CrhD0SeWAAQcZBP.jpg


See this is UT fan mentality. Even after a embarrassing performance against Appalachian State on Thursday night in which they almost lost, these goofballs buy a section at the Bama/USC game on Saturday in some half ass attempt to intimidate. These fans really believe they are on the level of Bama. Even If they get by us in Bristol there is no way in hell they are beating Bama and I seriously doubt they get to play them a second time this year. Nothing wrong with arrogance. Nothing wrong with entitlement. But at least earn it. UT hasnt earned a damn thing in a decade. But just you try to tell them that...
 
Have you predicted any kind of score?
I did...in this thread...
https://virginiatech.forums.rivals....w-days-away-thoughts-on-the-game-score.11856/

I don't think UTenn is half as good as the rest of the world wishes they were...but I also don't think VT has it together quite enough yet in week 2 to win. Prediction was UTenn 21 VT 17. Later in the year, I think VT is going to get a LOT better as we work out the bugs, but this is still week 2, so it is what it is.
 
  • Like
Reactions: RockyTopRowdy58
We see greater opponents not play well vs lesser opponents all the time. It was a Frank Beamer specialty, in fact. But those teams we see usually aren't vastly overrated by the media as top 10 teams or self-proclaimed to be great because they play in the God's gift to football conference.

And what exactly was UTenn going to do to win if the App St kicker made that XP? Or the FG? Or both? This spin job should be epic, can't wait.

I do agree with you about hit count to an extent, but what you're really saying is that your coaches actively decided that they would rather lose to App St outright than to let Dobbs take a few extra hits. Or did your genius coaches know ahead of time that App St would miss an XP to lose the game? Either way...doesn't seem like sound coaching to me. I'm pretty sure Nick Saban didn't ditch 75% of his playbook last week because the QB might take a few extra hits.

Not trolling here, legitimately asking, do you now see what I mean when I say that Dobbs carrying the ball makes the entire offense work better and outs points on the board?

Tennessee certainly still has issues to iron out on the OL, we need to get Kamara (#6) the ball more, passing game needs to be more efficient, etc.... But even with all those issues Dobbs has 5 TDs,Hurd had 99 rushing with a 4.5 ypc avg, and the team had 236 on the ground collectively... Not a banner night by any means, but like I said... Dobbs legs makes this offense go.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Volasaurus
Rockytop do you think the stats would have been near that had we not given you an extra 5 possessions? Plus we didn't just shoot ourselves in the foot with penalties we dropped a bomb on it. Good win for you guys, but not very impressive.
 
Rockytop do you think the stats would have been near that had we not given you an extra 5 possessions? Plus we didn't just shoot ourselves in the foot with penalties we dropped a bomb on it. Good win for you guys, but not very impressive.

The team that makes the fewest mistakes will win. That's one of Neyland's maxims and it was on display last night.

I wouldn't say "handed us the ball" either..
1. The fumbled jet sweep - We out hustled VT to recover it
2. The high snap - Our 311lb DT beat your QB to the ball
3. 34's fumble - Our free safety popped him and he lost the rock
4. Phillip's fumble - Our DT ripped it from him
5. Muffed punt - Terrible decision by your return man

After the 14-0 start, Tennessee went on a 45-3 run. We didn't play particularly well and I am concerned about how we will do vs our SEC opponents, but definitely plenty to be encouraged by for the Vol Nation.

If VT can protect the ball and cut the penalties down, they're a solid football team. If I were a Hokie fan I would be encouraged by that. You guys moved the ball against a good defense.
 
Not trolling here, legitimately asking, do you now see what I mean when I say that Dobbs carrying the ball makes the entire offense work better and outs points on the board?

Tennessee certainly still has issues to iron out on the OL, we need to get Kamara (#6) the ball more, passing game needs to be more efficient, etc.... But even with all those issues Dobbs has 5 TDs,Hurd had 99 rushing with a 4.5 ypc avg, and the team had 236 on the ground collectively... Not a banner night by any means, but like I said... Dobbs legs makes this offense go.
Solid win, RockyTop. I saw some things I really liked out of UTenn last night. It's not an explosive offense, and I still think Dobbs is very limited in certain areas that you would not expect a QB that's been a starter for several years to still be limited in, but as a complete puzzle, both sides of the ball are kind of intertwined and work together. I think I see what Butch sees when he sits back and looks at his team. I said all along in every thread on the topic that I thought UTenn's defense is very good. When you have a good defense, the decision becomes what kind of offense do you run? Coaches like Frank Beamer and Butch Jones decide to run offenses that minimize any damage they could cause to the defense so that the defense can do their thing and carry the team. Other coaches treat the units independently. Both ways have worked in the past and both ways have failed in the past, so I don't guess there's any particular right answer. It's working right now for UTenn, so run with it.

The TV broadcast talked about Butch preaching patience last night, and that game ended up being the poster child for it. VT started out playing pretty tight (you can tell from the in-game posts that we aren't used to that sort of thing, LOL), but the inexperience and personnel questions gradually spiralled down into full self-destruct mode. UTenn patiently waited around for that to happen, and then calmly stuck the dagger every time it did. That's the mark of an experienced and well-coached football team, and VT used to be like that once upon a time. Hopefully we'll get there again one day.

I didn't post any during the game because I was too busy trying to figure out what I was watching, but I remember thinking late in the 1st, "Wow, our offense looks great! OK, what's wrong with this picture?" A few minutes later, I had my answer, LOL. But even with the turnover meltdown, I'm still pleased with the offensive production. It's been a LONG time since a VT team with a new QB could walk into a game against a ranked foe and put up 400 yds of offense (since 2005, to be exact). Especially against a ranked foe with a good defense. The turnovers hopefully will die down over time, so we won't always be squandering that newfound yardage on the scoreboard.

Special teams, however, are MUCH worse than I was expecting. Much worse. Defense is right on track, as it almost always has been for the last 20 years. I think this team can go to a bowl this year, but the amount of turnovers has to stop. Stupid penalties, bad snaps, dropped passes, horrible special teams...there's still a lot of challenges for us to overcome this year to become a decent team and make a bowl, but I think we have enough to work with that we can hopefully get there. All-in-all, I'll take the progress so far for week 2.

Good luck to UTenn the rest of the year.
 
Last edited:
Solid win, RockyTop. I saw some things I really liked out of UTenn last night. It's not an explosive offense, and I still think Dobbs is very limited in certain areas that you would not expect a QB that's been a starter for several years to still be limited in, but as a complete puzzle, both sides of the ball are kind of intertwined and work together. I think I see what Butch sees when he sits back and looks at his team. I said all along in every thread on the topic that I thought UTenn's defense is very good. When you have a good defense, the decision becomes what kind of offense do you run? Coaches like Frank Beamer and Butch Jones decide to run offenses that minimize any damage they could cause to the defense so that the defense can do their thing and carry the team. Other coaches treat the units independently. Both ways have worked in the past and both ways have failed in the past, so I don't guess there's any particular right answer. It's working right now for UTenn, so run with it.

The TV broadcast talked about Butch preaching patience last night, and that game ended up being the poster child for it. VT started out playing pretty tight (you can tell from the in-game posts that we aren't used to that sort of thing, LOL), but the inexperience and personnel questions gradually spiralled down into full self-destruct mode. UTenn patiently waited around for that to happen, and then calmly stuck the dagger every time it did. That's the mark of an experienced and well-coached football team, and VT used to be like that once upon a time. Hopefully we'll get there again one day.

I didn't post any during the game because I was too busy trying to figure out what I was watching, but I remember thinking late in the 1st, "Wow, our offense looks great! OK, what's wrong with this picture?" A few minutes later, I had my answer, LOL. But even with the turnover meltdown, I'm still pleased with the offensive production. It's been a LONG time since a VT team with a new QB could walk into a game against a ranked foe and put up 400 yds of offense (since 2005, to be exact). Especially against a ranked foe with a good defense. The turnovers hopefully will die down over time, so we won't always be squandering that newfound yardage on the scoreboard.

Special teams, however, are MUCH worse than I was expecting. Much worse. Defense is right on track, as it almost always has been for the last 20 years. I think this team can go to a bowl this year, but the amount of turnovers has to stop. Stupid penalties, bad snaps, dropped passes, horrible special teams...there's still a lot of challenges for us to overcome this year to become a decent team and make a bowl, but I think we have enough to work with that we can hopefully get there. All-in-all, I'll take the progress so far for week 2.

Good luck to UTenn the rest of the year.

Solid assessment. I think if the OL can play a little better, not special - just better, and we can continue to make a few plays at WR the offense will be fine. We haven't had a WR go up and get a ball the way Malone and Jennings did last night in a long time.

We have given up yards against App St and VT, but the scoreboard has been good to us on the defensive side. VT's last drive was against our 2's and 3's (sans a player or two).

Happy to see our DL be distruptive. We played 13 defensive lineman last night and they will need to be a force if we are going to make it through the SEC slate.

Our most significant issue, behind the OL play, is MLB. Darrin Kirkland going down is huge. Depth at Mike isn't great, we will need to move some guys around to get our best 11 on the field.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Volasaurus
VT's last drive was against our 2's and 3's (sans a player or two).
I want to see it again, but I think we might've had our 2's and 3's in there along the oline on that drive. At least I thought that was the case while it was happening. If so, add that to list of things that make you go "hmmmm...."

Actually, even though our starting oline is still plenty bad, this is the first time in a long time that it's not our #1 problem. I have no idea yet if that means progress or regression for us.
 
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest posts

ADVERTISEMENT