I was admittedly flabbergasted at the apparent performance that our Vols were putting on national display. But after some reflection, I've come away with a pretty positive take on the game last night. I thought Preston Williams and Malone looked good with the WR question mark at the beginning of the season. Medley made all of his FGs. Barnett was coming off the edge and really timing their snap count well. Yes, the OL struggled against that App St D line...but I have a hard time believing that it was mostly to do with a lack of talent. I truly believe this team got a little caught up in the hype and hoop-la of the talking heads and the SEC Network and didn't take this App St team as seriously as they should have. Not a knock on App St...they came to play and we did not. They are talented at what they do and I don't think you will find many Vols fans today saying that App St is not a good/well-coached team. Combine getting caught up in the hype with some early misfortunes and a well-executed App St gameplan and we all saw the result. Last year, the "theme" was that we played well for 3/4's of the game and came up short in the end. This year, we played poorly for 3/4's of the game and made enough plays to pull out a victory. I am not taking any wins for granted and I don't believe this team will either. I believe that our coaches will get things right and I think you will see a newly re-energized Vols team in 8 days at the BoB. Anyone who thought this season was gonna be all sunshines and rainbows was only kidding themselves. Every team we play this year has it out to get us. They are tired of hearing how good we are and want to bring us back to where we've been. Here's to hoping that we get focused and correct our problems. GBO! 1-0.
