Honestly this reminds me in a lot of ways of the South Carolina game last year. It’s a good matchup that we should win, but we’re coming off a huge win and I’m not sure where our heads will be. But it’s also at home and we’re coming out in black and let’s score 28 in the first quarter
We're coming off of UT Martin. It will have been 2 weeks. The players have bigger goals. I'd be more worried about looking ahead than back, but I am not very worried about that either since Kentucky is ranked and they no doubt heard about how great UK is going into this season even after upsetting UK last year. UK started the season ranked, Tennessee didn't.
If Tennessee is already overlooking ranked opponents at home in night games, the team is too mentally fragile to expect more than 9 wins.
It’s Kentucky, though. And, after the last month, we are feeling as good about ourselves as we have in who knows how long. I don’t think it’s crazy to fear we might look past UK a bit to the upcoming Georgia game, which everyone already agrees will decide who represents the East in the SEC Title game.
I don’t believe we will look past them as a team. Some fans have and will. We have been ridiculous on 3rd downs, ky is a team that can chew the clock. They get a few 3rd down stops and a turnover or 2 and we are in the thick of it. Looking ahead and could be some rain
Rodriguez does concern me a bit and they have a couple of WRs who have some explosiveness, like Brown. Last year, we had a ton of interior DL attrition and I did see Simmons hurt yesterday. However, we should be in a better spot than last year. I'm a little more nervous about this game than the Florida game because we have something to lose. This is also college football. Teams have shit days all the time.
Also, I feel like Heupel is one of those dudes that finds something about a team to be insulted by and then transfers that to the team. Then goes out with the plan to embarrass you in front of your kids and momma.
I saw 11 on Twitter, which was roughly what I expected. I’d be surprised by 14, but I also might be behind the curve on how quickly our perception has changed this month.
I think he is a steady machine. I don't think he does the "insulted" or "chip on the shoulder" thing. He isn't thinking about the opponents' emotional states either. He just wants to go fast.
We need some of those DBs back. Not that any are great but we know that’s a weakness. I don’t expect the Vols to lack preparation at all. But I expect Stoops will try to slow the game down. We need to get off the field quick a few times. We need to execute cleanly early on put pressure on their offense. If we do I think we can turn Levis over. But we need to be efficient early on. I haven’t seen any sign of our team not being ready for any game. Logic says you have a flat game or 2. But this team kind of defies logic. The home environment should be great too. I could see a real ugly game if we miss 2-3 throws early that cause a couple punts. Or we could run them out of Neyland. Just based on what I have seen, I expect 45-24 though Either KY or USCJR is likely to give us a closer than expected game. But I have bad takes and this team has surprised me.
Rodriguez is a grinder that consistently gets 3 yards before wearing you down. Tennessee does what they do on offense, they can't afford to give him his carries
Simmons is overrated. He's the 3rd NT to enter the game. He has huge upside but generally only plays maybe 15 or so snaps to spell Omari Thomas.
Kentucky blitzes only about 10% of the time. They prefer to sit back and play soft zone. That may limit some of the big chunk plays, but I think Tennessee will be more than fine if Kentucky only rushes four for most of the game.
