- The reality of it — The truth is Tennessee did some good things really throughout the game, but to have a chance to pull an upset against the #1 team in the country the Vols had to play really, really well. They couldn’t turn it over. They could miss deep throws and they couldn’t give up big plays. Josh Heupel and his staff knew it was an uphill climb. Georgia is obviously better all over the field right now. The Vols competed and had some success but you didn’t have to spend much time in the rewatch to see what we knew coming into the game which is that Tennessee is chasing Georgia from a talent standpoint. But what you did learn upon rewatch is that Tennessee left some plays out there…
2. Tennessee’s first quarter prep/production impressive — Josh Heupel and Alex Golesh don’t script plays. They have some scripted concepts. They have some “explosives” they want to get to early and maybe having some of that narrowed down helps them go even faster, but the first quarter is some beautiful football to watch if you are a Vol fan.
Heupel’s offense has scored 148 first quarter points. Tennessee has scored a touchdown on their opening possession in 6 games this season. Saturday’s score against Georgia was their most impressive in my opinion. One because of who it was against, but also because it didn’t go perfectly. Tennessee had a touchdown to Velus Jones on the second play from scrimmage but Hendon Hooker overthrew him. It didn’t phase Hooker and the offense. Hooker ran for 14 yards on third down and then he completed is next three passes on a 10 play 77 yard drive.
Really nice scheme on the 3rd down touchdown play. Tennessee hadn’t shown that tight bunch formation and it created a linebacker on Velus Jones match up for the score. Really nice scheme.
Tempo obviously affects defenses early as they have to adjust to the speed of it because it’s different than what they practice. And this offense enters games with tons of confidence. There’s no feeling out what the defense is doing. It’s hammer down attack mode from the first offensive snap and it’s been good most of the year for Heupel.
It definitely is fun to watch.
3. The Vol defense must get faster and must stop hurting themselves — The third down numbers have been maddening all year and there’s been a variety of reasons why Tennessee has struggled on possession downs. Some of it is lack of foot speed to close down an opening. I thought that showed up in Stetson Bennett’s 9 yard touchdown run where Tennessee’s linebacker couldn’t close the gap to make the tackle.
The other issue for this defense has been playing smarter. Rodney Garner mentioned on VolCalls how much he likes his group’s effort, but they must play smarter. To me there’s no better example of that then Georgia’s first third down of the game. Leading 7-0, Tennessee got the Bulldogs into a 3rd and 7. Get off the field there and Neyland is unhinged.
Tim Banks brought Warren Burrell on a corner blitz. The problem is that Burrell went inside behind Byron Young and the result was no outside containment and Bennett ran for 13 yards and a first down.
I don’t know if Burrell was supposed to stay outside or if Young had outside contain but someone is supposed to have it. There’s no way Tennessee is supposed to give up a soft corner by design.
The resulted ended in a first down and a tie game 2 plays later instead of a Georgia punt.
Those are the things Tennessee has to be smarter with that coaches continue to talk about.
4. Cedric Tillman is good — We have highlighted the numbers plenty but upon rewatch Tillman’s play is even more impressive. He is seemingly open every play. Tillman beats press man. He finds spots in zones. He makes contested catches. He drops nothing.
It’s just really good play. Tillman is not the most explosive player which will work against him in terms of the NFL draft but teams are going to like him because he does a little of everything. He’s not a one trick pony. He’s has tons of versatility because he can run any route you want him to run.
5. I think Hooker at times needed to be a more patient — I love everything about Hendon Hooker and what he’s done for this program in year one with Josh Heupel. He’s accelerated the growth process and he certainly had some bright moments on Saturday, but he was a little off after the interception. Hooker was just 1 of 7 on throws of 20+ yards and the Vols had guys open. His interception was a head scratcher and there were times where the pocket was better than Hooker gave it credit for being.
Tennessee was down 34-10 and the game was over but on the 20 yard sack where Hooker fumbled in the fourth quarter, Hendon bailed out almost immediately and actually scrambled into pressure that led to the sack as Georgia just rushed 3 and the offensive line actually had pretty good protection. After getting sacked as much as Hooker has this season, I get why he might roll out of the pocket early but there were times Saturday and even some at Alabama where Hooker had more time to throw then he gave himself credit for.
On the Vols field goal drive in the first quarter, the throw into the end zone for Fant wasn’t a bad read, but it was a hard throw. A look to his left and Hooker had Hyatt on a crossing route coming wide open in what would have been an easier throw.
Not trying to be overly critical of Hooker because he’s been so good all season and he moved the ball better than any quarterback has against Georgia, but there were a few things he appeared to miss.
6. Two plays in the second quarter killed the first half — I’m not sure what happened on the interception but that play totally disrupted the offense. They had made a first down after Georgia tied the game at 10. The offense was in a nice rhythm with the short throws and that was just a bad throw or bad read. Just a mistake for sure. It also appeared Fant was running open down the middle of the field, but I don’t know what the play call was.
Then there was the ball off the fingertips of Ramel Keyton and I don’t put that one on Hooker as much as I do the injury to Javonta Payton and Keaton. If Payton is healthy then I think that’s a completion because Hooker obviously has better timing with Payton than he does with Keaton. I also felt like Keaton lost ground by looking back for the ball so long. He looked too early for he throw which again goes back to timing between him and Hooker as Keaton hasn’t played that many snaps.
7. The first drive of the third quarter — Tennessee got the start they wanted in the second half. Defense forced a punt, Velus Jones got a good punt return and the offense moved inside the Georgia 20 but Tennessee couldn’t finish the drive. Which was the story of the game, Tennessee just couldn’t finish enough. After a nice 3rd down conversion on a slant and catching Georgia with too many men on the field, the offense failed on 4th and 4 and a play that just didn’t work. Georgia had everyone covered on 4th and 4. The inability to finish that drive with points was a killer. Cut it to seven points there and it’s game on. Instead Georgia took the turnover on downs stretching the lead to 17 on a field goal following an unfortunate horse collar tackle penalty which turned a 3rd down stop into a first down.
Tennessee almost got the perfect start of the second half.
8. Offense needs to finish better in the redzone —Tennessee was inside the Georgia redzone 5 times which is more than any team this season. The problem is Tennessee only got 2 touchdowns out of those trips. For the year Tennessee has 27 touchdowns on 41 redzone trips, which isn’t terrible, but the offense couldn’t make it a two possession lead at Kentucky because they couldn’t finish in the redzone then Saturday they didn’t finish inside the Georgia 20. The windows get tighter as the field shrinks and the lack of big play ability over the top means defensive backs can sit on the shorter stuff making it harder to throw the ball. The inability to run the ball against good defenses really shows up inside the redzone as well. Of Tennessee’s 20 snaps inside the Georgia 20, 13 were for 2 yards or less.
9. Hyatt and Keyton opportunity is now — With Javonta Payton dealing with a shoulder injury the opportunity is there for a young receiver to step up. Jalin Hyatt has been getting more snaps the last few weeks and Saturday Hyatt showed more of a pulse with 5 catches for 24 yards. Keyton had 5 catches on 33 yards. Jalin Hyatt should be a big play weapon for this offense. He hasn’t been physical enough and he’s had a lack of field awareness stepping out of bounds the last two weeks. There will be more opportunities for Hyatt now and for Keyton but for me it’s Hyatt. The South Carolina native should love this offense and should be thriving in it. Does he take advantage of his opportunities the next couple of weeks.
I will say I liked the slant stuff that Tennessee showed on Saturday. You wonder if that will become more of a part of he offense moving forward.
10. Banks should play more people the next two weeks — Tennessee will be heavy favorites to win the next two weeks. The Vols aren’t play offenses that can keep pace with them and they aren’t playing a defense that can throttle them. With that being the case it’s a great opportunity for Tim Banks to play more people and he should take full advantage of it. Let’s see some more Tyler Baron, some Brandon Turnage, a fourth linebacker. I didn’t think Tennessee took enough advantage against teams like Tennessee Tech and Missouri to play more people defensively to build some depth. Banks should take full opportunity of those chances to see where the development is of some of his guys and to evaluate things moving forward.
Tennessee played 14 guys in the front seven on Saturday. Defense needs a lot more depth.
