I'll counter. They had 16 drives, 6 were 3-and-outs, 1 fumble on first play and another (their first) was held at 5 plays for less than 30 yards. 3 TDs (141 total yards of their 387 on the night) were on single-play drives that immediately followed: Safety - led to a - 65 yard TD pass Fumbled return to start the 2nd half - led to a - Scarlett 19 yard TD run Failed onside kick - led to a - Pierce 47 yard TD run I'm not making excuses. But it's understandable how the coaches were fighting an uphill battle in mud getting a mentally broken team to get into the game immediately following gutpunch after gutpunch after gutpunch. It lines up with quotes from the defensive coaches just talking about the defensive players being beaten dogs. Two things need to happen to fix this, as it's not a physical problem on D. Our CBs aren't slow like they were around 10 years ago. Our DL is big and at least in the weightroom they're strong. They've just been horribly coached. They don't believe in themselves and they don't believe in each other. They don't believe in the coaches. They're broken. They have no confidence. That's just what I saw with body language before any of those big plays broke.
I mean, total yards was 387 Florida to 364 Tennessee. UT had more first downs. Florida's scoring drives were 21 yard, 7 yards, 1 65-yard play, 66 yards, 19 yards, 75 yards, 47 yards. I have to believe the defense holds up better if they are shafted 6 times by the offense. Florida started drives at: TN 21 TN 7 FL 38 TN 49 FL 35 FL 20 TN 19 FL 13 FL 2 FL 17 FL 18 FL 20 FL 29 TN 47
Did something recently change your mind, Tenny? I know we were all losing our shit during the game, but it seemed like you were out on this staff. Edit: And I don't mean this in a "gotcha" way, just curious.
Yep. Past experience indicates October Auburn is a lot better than September Auburn but the issues they have aren’t easy fixes.
I called for a Tennessee win there this summer...it still looks like the most likely of the three "big" games to win. Auburn's defensive line is winning them games right now, but Stidham looks uncomfortable running that offense
Florida was up 3 scores for like 45 minutes of game time. I doubt gaining yards was a big priority for them.
If you throw out all our bad plays, it really wasn’t that bad. Too bad that adds up to deleting about 3.5 quarters of football from the game.
Frank's was 8 of 18 for 3 TDs. I'll give him the one back shoulder throw, but other than that he sux, and we handed him an easy game.
There’s something off with him. They can’t “fix” the OL on the sense that they will be able to bully people like they have in prior years, but I wouldn’t rule out them improving enough for the offense to come back to life. I think it might be close on the scoreboard but I just don’t see how Tennessee would be able to move the ball on them.
Auburn will win by three scores if only because I work with the smuggest Auburn fan on the planet and I’ll have to listen to his smug, condescending b.s. until next time we play them. It’ll be even worse when we go to Columbia. Another guy there is an insufferable [ock cay] graduate. Life sucks right now as a Vol fan, that’s for sure...
I don't believe that we are as bad as we looked on Saturday. I think that Saturday's catastrophic lapses overshadowed a great deal of improvement, and which bodes well for us, going forward. I think this staff is realizing that you need the older guys to have any chance of winning now, and are taking action on that front. I think that teams are going to see the WV and UF scores and assume that TN is still that team, and they are going to be surprised when we aren't. I think some teams are going to completely overlook us, and find themselves looking up midway through the 3rd and realizing its a ballgame. Better, Tennessee is going to do the same, too, and take out a lot of frustration on that / those poor teams. I think that eventually, statistically speaking, that the good and bad luck evens out - and that Tennessee emptied the barrel on their bad luck Saturday. I think that this staff is smart and hungry enough to find a win. I think that some team who have no business losing to us are going to find a way to do so, and that we'll find a way to let them.
Okay. We can get our ass whooped just as well with 4 turnovers as 6. Losing by 2 touchdowns to UGA vs by 30 doesn't do much to me. The record matters most.