Upon the re-watch of Tennessee’s ugly 34-7 loss and I mean it was ugly. Here’s ten thoughts about the game and about things moving forward.
There’s plenty to get to so here we go….
1. Tennessee’s lack of patience on offense was a huge key in the game. Kentucky was not going to get beat deep. They were going to play zone and force the offense to drive the length of the field and the Vol offense wasn’t patient enough to do that. The Wildcats routinely lined up with 7 guys more than 5 yards off the ball and they dropped in coverage as they only rushed four. On the second pick six, Eric Gray is wide open on the check down as Jeremy Pruitt mentioned in his post game and Guarantano was going to go to Jalin Hyatt from his pre-snap. He stared Hyatt down and the linebacker just read his eyes. On JT Shrout’s interception on 2nd and 21, it’s again a greedy play. Now that’s not all Shrout’s fault because he hadn’t played in over a year. He had no feel. They should have played him late versus Missouri or late in the Georgia game to have him more prepared. Again Kentucky wasn’t going to get beat down the field. Shrout had Jacob Warren on a 10 yard out wide open or Ty Chandler out of the backfield was open. Get 10-15 yards and play 3rd down. Just forcing the ball into coverage. Again, I don’t fault Shrout because he was put in a bad spot having not played in nearly a year.
On the first pick six, I get Pruitt’s frustration with the play call. Again, Guarantano appears to have decided where he’s going pre-snap. They ran that same play to Josh Palmer vs. South Carolina and Palmer made a contested catch that was close to a pick. That’s a tough throw all the way across the field but not one we haven’t seen before. I don’t like the play call and I don’t like the personnel there either. Cedric Tillman doesn’t scare any cornerback vertically and so that DB is squatting on the route, reads the quarterback and jumps it because he has no fear of getting beat. Tillman runs a flat out route and never tried to drive the DB down he field. The two receivers on that side were Jacob Warren and Tillman which meant the defense on that side of the field was not worried about anything down the field. JG never looked anywhere else. He was going right the entire time.
Just two poor decisions, a questionable play call and a lack of patience cost Tennessee 17 points.
2. The quarterback play on Saturday puts the coaching staff in an interesting spot on what to do. With the running backs Tennessee has and the receivers apparent inability to stretch the field, there’s a part of me that thinks Brian Maurer and his legs might be a good option. I know that he missed a lot of fall camp and he has made to many pre-snap mental errors but so did the quarterbacks who played on Saturday.
I know everyone is going to say Harrison Bailey and I don’t think Bailey did anything that says he’s not good enough but I don’t know how ready he is to play either. Do you want to put him in a bad spot early in his career? The previous staff did that with Nathan Peterman and he didn’t recover from it in an orange uniform. Pruitt has said JG gives his team the best chance to win. He didn’t on Saturday and how does he moving forward? Really interesting decisions ahead particularly after Pruitt indicated nothing is off the table.
My guess is that multiple quarterbacks will play.
3. On the offensive line, I think Cade Mays needs to be Tennessee’s right tackle and play Javontez Spraggins at guard. Spraggins was on the field for Tennessee’s lone touchdown drive and plays physical in the run game. I’m sure he’s still learning pass protection, but Tennessee has given up 7 sacks the last 6 quarters so not sure there’s a huge drop off there. I think Cade has played his best at right tackle and if Jerome Carvin isn’t healthy play Spraggins. I don’t understand the notion that you cram it down Kentucky’s throat with one OL group and you don’t go back with that group. Just a head scratcher to me.
4. I’m about done talking about playing the youth at receiver. I get it, they don’t know the entire offense, but apparently you gotta wait till the game is out of reach to run a take off route. Malichi Wideman doesn’t know the offense which I understand. They don’t win the game if they play Wideman earlier but why not play him and other youth at receiver in certain situations. Velus Jones’ role in the offense needs to be more than an obvious jet sweep.
I’m not saying bench older guys. Brandon Johnson is playing well, but at least in certain down and distance and situations play those young guys.
5. Defensively, I don’t know why they can’t cover the slant. I don’t know why they give up inside leverage repeatedly and have since the opening possession of the season. Give up an out pattern, but take away the inside stuff. Tennessee didn’t force Terry Wilson to make many skilled throws yesterday and now they get ready to play the best quarterback in the SEC right now. I don’t know what the answer is but apparently it’s not an easy one since everyone they play can throw it with ease in the middle of the field. Wilson was 9 of 10 for 90 yards between the hash marks. Just too easy.
6. The second half has been a disaster the last two weeks. I’m not sure what is being said in the locker room at the half, but offensively it’s not working. Maybe it’s a lack of adjustments. I don’t know. But Tennessee the last two weeks has racked up a whopping 38 yards of offense the third quarter. They have 2 first downs in 8 third quarter possessions the last two weeks and they have two turnovers. Tennessee’s third quarter offense has been simply put — a train wreck. Saturday, Tennessee’s 3 and out to start the second half (three runs because they had no belief at quarterback) essentially ended the game.
7. Eric Gray is the offense’s best weapon. Tennessee must continue to use him in a variety of ways. Gray has to do a better job of breaking tackles at the second and third level. Gray has 11 catches the last two weeks. As a freshman, Gray had 13 receptions. He has 13 in four games this year. Tennessee must continue to find ways to get Gray the ball offensively he’s far and away the most consistent option.
8. I wonder how this team is going to respond. I thought a post-Georgia hangover was crazy talk, maybe it wasn’t for the offense. I didn’t think Tennessee’s body language was good on Saturday. I didn’t think it was great after the first pick six. It wasn’t good after the second pick six and it was not good at all after Tennessee’s 3 and out to start the second half. I think Pruitt, this staff and the team leaders have a challenge on their hands to get things back in the right direction. No one expects Tennessee to be competitive this Saturday then it’s an off-week before heading to Arkansas. A year ago after an uncompetitive loss to Florida, Pruitt and the Vols had a team meeting that cleared the air and got everyone to buy in. The result was a team that got better the rest of the year. What buttons does Pruitt push this year?
9. Tennessee’s tackling must improve. In the second half against Georgia, I thought Tennessee’s defense missed some tackles and on Saturday the Wildcats did a good job with yards after contact in the second half. In the run game they had 105 yards after contact. Tennessee has to tackle better and they will be tested big time on Saturday. Maybe the defense is getting tired but their second half tackling hasn’t been great.
10. Finally, I think it’s time to quit talking about how many people missed practice time in the pre-season due to COVID issues. I realize it was a lot and it didn’t help the development of this team. However, Tennessee and the rest of the SEC is four weeks into the season so it’s time to move on past that talk.
There’s plenty to get to so here we go….
1. Tennessee’s lack of patience on offense was a huge key in the game. Kentucky was not going to get beat deep. They were going to play zone and force the offense to drive the length of the field and the Vol offense wasn’t patient enough to do that. The Wildcats routinely lined up with 7 guys more than 5 yards off the ball and they dropped in coverage as they only rushed four. On the second pick six, Eric Gray is wide open on the check down as Jeremy Pruitt mentioned in his post game and Guarantano was going to go to Jalin Hyatt from his pre-snap. He stared Hyatt down and the linebacker just read his eyes. On JT Shrout’s interception on 2nd and 21, it’s again a greedy play. Now that’s not all Shrout’s fault because he hadn’t played in over a year. He had no feel. They should have played him late versus Missouri or late in the Georgia game to have him more prepared. Again Kentucky wasn’t going to get beat down the field. Shrout had Jacob Warren on a 10 yard out wide open or Ty Chandler out of the backfield was open. Get 10-15 yards and play 3rd down. Just forcing the ball into coverage. Again, I don’t fault Shrout because he was put in a bad spot having not played in nearly a year.
On the first pick six, I get Pruitt’s frustration with the play call. Again, Guarantano appears to have decided where he’s going pre-snap. They ran that same play to Josh Palmer vs. South Carolina and Palmer made a contested catch that was close to a pick. That’s a tough throw all the way across the field but not one we haven’t seen before. I don’t like the play call and I don’t like the personnel there either. Cedric Tillman doesn’t scare any cornerback vertically and so that DB is squatting on the route, reads the quarterback and jumps it because he has no fear of getting beat. Tillman runs a flat out route and never tried to drive the DB down he field. The two receivers on that side were Jacob Warren and Tillman which meant the defense on that side of the field was not worried about anything down the field. JG never looked anywhere else. He was going right the entire time.
Just two poor decisions, a questionable play call and a lack of patience cost Tennessee 17 points.
2. The quarterback play on Saturday puts the coaching staff in an interesting spot on what to do. With the running backs Tennessee has and the receivers apparent inability to stretch the field, there’s a part of me that thinks Brian Maurer and his legs might be a good option. I know that he missed a lot of fall camp and he has made to many pre-snap mental errors but so did the quarterbacks who played on Saturday.
I know everyone is going to say Harrison Bailey and I don’t think Bailey did anything that says he’s not good enough but I don’t know how ready he is to play either. Do you want to put him in a bad spot early in his career? The previous staff did that with Nathan Peterman and he didn’t recover from it in an orange uniform. Pruitt has said JG gives his team the best chance to win. He didn’t on Saturday and how does he moving forward? Really interesting decisions ahead particularly after Pruitt indicated nothing is off the table.
My guess is that multiple quarterbacks will play.
3. On the offensive line, I think Cade Mays needs to be Tennessee’s right tackle and play Javontez Spraggins at guard. Spraggins was on the field for Tennessee’s lone touchdown drive and plays physical in the run game. I’m sure he’s still learning pass protection, but Tennessee has given up 7 sacks the last 6 quarters so not sure there’s a huge drop off there. I think Cade has played his best at right tackle and if Jerome Carvin isn’t healthy play Spraggins. I don’t understand the notion that you cram it down Kentucky’s throat with one OL group and you don’t go back with that group. Just a head scratcher to me.
4. I’m about done talking about playing the youth at receiver. I get it, they don’t know the entire offense, but apparently you gotta wait till the game is out of reach to run a take off route. Malichi Wideman doesn’t know the offense which I understand. They don’t win the game if they play Wideman earlier but why not play him and other youth at receiver in certain situations. Velus Jones’ role in the offense needs to be more than an obvious jet sweep.
I’m not saying bench older guys. Brandon Johnson is playing well, but at least in certain down and distance and situations play those young guys.
5. Defensively, I don’t know why they can’t cover the slant. I don’t know why they give up inside leverage repeatedly and have since the opening possession of the season. Give up an out pattern, but take away the inside stuff. Tennessee didn’t force Terry Wilson to make many skilled throws yesterday and now they get ready to play the best quarterback in the SEC right now. I don’t know what the answer is but apparently it’s not an easy one since everyone they play can throw it with ease in the middle of the field. Wilson was 9 of 10 for 90 yards between the hash marks. Just too easy.
6. The second half has been a disaster the last two weeks. I’m not sure what is being said in the locker room at the half, but offensively it’s not working. Maybe it’s a lack of adjustments. I don’t know. But Tennessee the last two weeks has racked up a whopping 38 yards of offense the third quarter. They have 2 first downs in 8 third quarter possessions the last two weeks and they have two turnovers. Tennessee’s third quarter offense has been simply put — a train wreck. Saturday, Tennessee’s 3 and out to start the second half (three runs because they had no belief at quarterback) essentially ended the game.
7. Eric Gray is the offense’s best weapon. Tennessee must continue to use him in a variety of ways. Gray has to do a better job of breaking tackles at the second and third level. Gray has 11 catches the last two weeks. As a freshman, Gray had 13 receptions. He has 13 in four games this year. Tennessee must continue to find ways to get Gray the ball offensively he’s far and away the most consistent option.
8. I wonder how this team is going to respond. I thought a post-Georgia hangover was crazy talk, maybe it wasn’t for the offense. I didn’t think Tennessee’s body language was good on Saturday. I didn’t think it was great after the first pick six. It wasn’t good after the second pick six and it was not good at all after Tennessee’s 3 and out to start the second half. I think Pruitt, this staff and the team leaders have a challenge on their hands to get things back in the right direction. No one expects Tennessee to be competitive this Saturday then it’s an off-week before heading to Arkansas. A year ago after an uncompetitive loss to Florida, Pruitt and the Vols had a team meeting that cleared the air and got everyone to buy in. The result was a team that got better the rest of the year. What buttons does Pruitt push this year?
9. Tennessee’s tackling must improve. In the second half against Georgia, I thought Tennessee’s defense missed some tackles and on Saturday the Wildcats did a good job with yards after contact in the second half. In the run game they had 105 yards after contact. Tennessee has to tackle better and they will be tested big time on Saturday. Maybe the defense is getting tired but their second half tackling hasn’t been great.
10. Finally, I think it’s time to quit talking about how many people missed practice time in the pre-season due to COVID issues. I realize it was a lot and it didn’t help the development of this team. However, Tennessee and the rest of the SEC is four weeks into the season so it’s time to move on past that talk.
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