Wow. I've seen prison rapes more gentle than this. Without Bray, we don't have a legit shot offensively. Stating the obvious, Matt Simms couldn't be the QB at MTSU. He was 6-20 today. He completed 4 more passes to our guys than he did their guys. He just doesn't have 'it'. Teague is Teddy Gaines redux. He gets picked on constantly. He is not a DB. It speaks volumes about how devoid of quality talent we must be in the defensive backfield that he is still out there. Once again, we come out and lay an egg in the 3rd quarter. We had 3 possessions in the whole 2nd half. Guys, we are a long way off from being SEC relevant. At least we are 1/2 way to getting through the October gauntlet. Sorry for the downer post, but I'm sure you all are as frustrated and sick of not mattering as I am. Go Vols.
Expected result. We were undermanned, underaged and undertalented today. LSU just lined up and used our weaknesses against us. I'm not particularly bothered because I saw things I liked and our problems can be fixed by getting older, into the weight room and keep having solid recruiting classes. I actually liked today better than last week, if you can believe that. I'm also thinking positive about the Carolina game, IF we aren't mentally toast from the non-vaselined prison rape we will get in Tuscaloosa.
it may have appeared to "get away" from us in the 2nd half, but this game was never close. We're void of talent almost everywhere, we have no confidence, very little pride and most importantly, we just don't want it. I think the only one of those traits that you can consider blaming on the coaching staff at this point is the wanting it part, but I don't know if you could let General Neyland, Bear and Lombardi come in to coach these boys up. They just suck. This team is missing its best Defensive Linemen, Linebacker, Defensive Back, Wide Receiver and Quarterback. Not many teams are going to be all that good minus those key components. Factor in that this team was already average with them, well this is what happens. There was nothing about this game to get excited about, but if you really expected to find something then you haven't been paying close enough attention this season.
I like that guy. I guess I felt better tonight because I finally accepted reality. We are still too young and too thin.
Defensive speed -- or lack thereof -- on our team is atrocious. That has to be corrected through recruiting because otherwise I don't know how you fix it. Once LSU figured out to rush to the edge, it was ballgame.
We haven't had decent containment on the edges all year. Speed helps, but playing assignments can work too. This has been a gripe of mine all year. I was glad to see a blitz or two out of our D coordinator today.
I honestly remember very little about this game, but I know I watched Ben Martin chase a guy to the edge 3-4 times and realize around the hash mark that he wasn't going to get there so he immediately starting changing his angle and still never got to the guy.
i saw where LSU had the ball for over 38 minutes, compared to UT's having it for over 21. when your O can't keep the ball to give the D a rest you aren't going to have a chance
As awful as we are, if we played florida right now I think we could win. Be interesting to see what happens to sc on how lattimore turns out of
Speaking of, has anyone else noticed that our DBs can't get off a block and help force on the edge to save their lives?
Looks like their dancing with receivers. If you read run, you gotta help on the edge and not 10-15 yds downfield. At least I thought so.
I agree. Last week was shit. This is the first game where Hunter and JJ would have made very little impact on the outcome.
Good point. Maybe I'm asking too much to be semi-competent fundamentally. I can handle being out athleted. I can't handle a lack of fundamentals.