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I see a lot of people piling on Dooley in this, his 3rd season, after 4 games, in which we are 3-1 with a win over a pretty good NC state team and a loss to a FL team that looks a lot better than people thought they would in pre-season. Just FTR, I am behind Dooley right now because I have seen a lot of positives which make me optimistic for the future, and I think we have become more competitive. I also understand what he means when he says that rebuilding this team is a process. I don’t think everyone realizes the task he took on. He basically inherited a team that looked like we had been on probation for a few years.

Positives:

1 – Upgraded talent in the trenches. You look at the DL and OL, we have certainly recruited well there and continue to do so in this class. This is critical in the SEC
2 – Has not hesitated, for the most part, to jettison coaches who are not getting it done. See Chuck Smith, Heistand. I think he should get rid of Chaney as well, and may do so if he continues to abandon the run in critical times.
3 – Has improved special teams (placekicking has been a problem, but it looks like we may finally have a consistent kicker). However, we have done well at returns and covering them.
4 – Recruited well overall, considering what he has to sell vs other programs in the SEC the last 3 years. Even more impressive is that he’s kept, for the most part, the classes he has recruited. Key when you are rebuilding. We have, in his third year, a roster that is FAR more talented and deep than when he got here.
5- As far as we know, he does things the right way

Negatives:
1 – He’s done a few things that indicate he is “learning on the job”.
2 – Hasn’t beaten anyone yet that he is not supposed to. He needs to get over that hump to gain further respect in the SEC. He needs to do that this season. He’ll get his opportunities.

Most people who are ready to see him gone are premature, IMO. They have decided he isn’t a good coach already, and that’s my issue with them – they just haven’t been patient enough. They point to stats like 0-11 against ranked teams. Well of course he will have a poor record, he is rebuilding.  If we get rid of him now, we lose recruiting momentum, and we once again have a new staff, and start over. Nick Saban is not walking through that door. So, my point is that he has basically coached 2 ¼ seasons. Need to see how the season plays out, and what type of class he brings in. IMO we’re headed in the right direction.

I will stop piling on when he gives the first indication that he is a winning coach. The positive is that he doesn't cheat. The negative is that he doesn't win.

The stuff about Florida being better than we thought blah blah blah is loser rationalization. UT was in control of that game, poised to go up two scores, and let it get away from them schematically and from an effort perspective.

People who are in his corner would be better served to wait until he wins something of consequence to lecture those who aren't. One side has tangible, provable evidence. The other is wishing upon a star.

Actually neither side has much. One side is talking about evidence like 0-11 against ranked teams, when they know we haven't had the talent to compete. It's like blaming Vandy's coach for not having winning seasons in the SEC. The other side doesn't have evidence Dooley is going to be a winning coach, but believes he CAN be, given time, because he has recruited the right guys and increased the quality depth. In fact, even in the Fl loss, I saw signs that we have improved. if he can go about 8-4 this year he has my full support.

This is a good post, even if I disagree.

I don't care about signs of improvement. I care about wins. They had the game in hand against Florida and inexplicably collapsed. I don't think that collapse was about talent.

That collapse was 100% due to a lack of leadership...100% 

I think the collapse was about Chaney, honestly. I don't think it was "inexplicable". He is the coach that abandoned the run game when we were running it effectively. We had a lead into the 3rd qtr because we were balanced. We didn't have great numbers running, but enough that FL was respecting it. Both TDs in the first half happened because FL looked for the run and we passed. Once FL realized we abandoned the run, Tyler's numbers plummetted. We don't have enough defensive depth to do a hurry up offense and go three and out in 4th qtrs repeatedly.

Tell me again... who does Chaney work for? I didn't use inexplicable in the sense that you can't explain the reasoning why it happened... I mean inexplicable in the sense of I can't explain why they would let it happen. Let's not get into semantics. Basically you just agreed with my entire premise in an attempt to disagree with me... by explaining to me that coaching led to the collapse.

Of course it did - and I realize Chaney works for Dooley, and Dooley is the "CEO", if you will. Which is why I think he needs to get rid of him. Chaney is the OC though, he makes the offensive calls in a game and Dooley should have an OC he doesn't need to micromanage. If Chaney continues to do what he did vs FL, I fully expect CDD will get rid of him.

terms with just how bad the talent level had gotten under Fulmer. Also, many want to say "he's had 3 years" but IMO the first year doesn't count, he was hired last minute and the recruiting class and staff he ended up with were mostly just bodies to fill openings. IMO he's had 2 years and needs at least 2 more to get the talent and depth to a truly competitive level. Your points about what happens if we begin firing/hiring coaches all over again are very valid IMO.

I will give him some support if we make 8 wins..................................i expect we will be 3-5 after this 4 games stretch though

 :powert:

I think he needs to win 1 of this stretch of 4. Many will expect him to go at least 2-2. Not realistic for this team when you consider 3 are on the road, and the only home game is against Bama.

That is exactly what I saw at the game. IDK what happened but they were >< this close to putting uf away twice in that game and did not do it. When uf took advantage of that, they folded. 

We still have talent deficiencies but we had that game until........... :dunno: 

If you're talking about me, I never once excused our performance against Florida.  We had the game there for the taking and blew it, pure and simple.  I don't care if they win the MNC this year (which they won't), we should have won that game.

Another thought on Florida...if they are really good this year, two things about that are good for our team.

One, we will look better at the end of the season.  Minor plus.

Two, and far more important, if they ARE that good, and we had them where we had them, then how good can WE be if we just get our shizzle together?

So is that a loser attitude?  I don't know.  Enlighten me.

Was it true that Fl kept their staring D line on the bench until the 4th quarter?

No, but they did rest them quite a bit earlier in the game

No, they rotated them out a lot of the second qtr and kept them fresh. They have a lot of depth on the DL, which is a key to doing well in the SEC

I'm still in the wait and see camp even if we lose Saturday. That having been said 8-4 would really need some style wins and a very nice bowl showing to get me to sign up for another year.

The substitution problems against UF were not mistakes good coaches should make, but I do agree with 'Nut that Dooley has done a lot of good things. At worst he's made this a much more attractive job.

I agree with you that we must win at least 1 or maybe 2 of them or the team will completely fold up again..............................................I think I was too optimistic about our team and chances for this year, and am folding up early   :dunno:

 :powert:

If Dooley's teams had near the mental toughness of Kiffin's one team at UT,  I would feel a lot better about Dooley.  I am not sad that Kiffin left as I thought it was a good riddance.  But, that was the one thing that really stood out to me about the 2009 VOLS.  They played hard the whole game.

well, unless you count Ole Miss or the bowl game, but both occurred after the Pilot fiasco.

When you think about it, that incident pretty much symbolized the whole kiffin era.  Over-hyped a player at the expense of pissing off pretty much the rest of the league, and that player did something really stupid and the team mailed it in a couple days later.

We had some good wins - uga and usc - but the season ended badly.  I would not say the bowl game made me think our players were mentally tough at all.

Our team under Kiffin was a much better coached team......................with better coaches that we have now PERIOD DOT.
Kiffin was also a much better play caller and offensive mind than Chaney or Dooley.

Georgia and South Carolina were much better teams than us with much better TALENT and we just WHIPPED THEIR CANDY ASSES and would have beaten BAMMER IF WE COULD HAVE BLOCKED THAT BLOB OF MOUNT CODY.

This is where Dooley and his staff have failed miserably.

We got beat by a Damn good Virginia Tech team in the Chic-Fil-A bowl.............................he took a losing team and finished with a winning record in year 1.........................................................
I was not sad to see Kiffin go, but we only upgraded on character of our coach.

 :powert:

   1st    2nd    3rd    4th       1st    2nd       
Tennessee    Qtr    Qtr    Qtr    Qtr       Half    Half       Total
Time of possession    07:08    08:02    08:18    03:19       15:10    11:37       26:47
3rd Down Conversions    0/3    3/5    3/4    0/4       3/8    3/8       6/16
Average field position    T32    T22    T30    T26       T28    T28       T28
4th Down Conversions    0/0    1/1    0/0    0/0       1/1    0/0       1/1
   
Note that POS was even till the 4th quarter when we go 3 and out on every possession, playing from behind.
UT    3rd    F47    05:00    Downs    F45    03:27       Punt    3-2    1:33    
UT    3rd    T25    03:15    Kickoff    T44    01:49       Interception    5-19    1:26    
UT    3rd    T25    00:30    Kickoff    T49    14:05       Punt    5-24    1:25    
UT    4th    T28    11:53    Punt    T28    11:27       Punt    3-0    0:26    
UT    4th    T25    09:55    Kickoff    T25    08:55       Punt    3-0    1:00    
UT    4th    T25    06:44    Kickoff    T17    05:46       Punt    3--8    0:58   

Drive to last TD, note the score and runs:
Ut    1-10   at Ut19   TENNESSEE drive start at 12:16.
Ut    1-10   at Ut19   Neal, R. rush for 4 yards to the UT23 (Bostic,J.).
Ut    2-6   at Ut23   Bray, T. pass complete to Rogers, Z. for 27 yards to the 50 yardline, 1ST DOWN UT (Elam,M).
Ut    1-10   at Ut50   Neal, R. rush for 5 yards to the UF45 (Hunter,O.).
Ut    2-5   at Uf45   Bray, T. pass complete to Hunter, J. for 9 yards to the UF36, 1ST DOWN UT.
Ut    1-10   at Uf36   Neal, R. rush for loss of 1 yard to the UF37 (Morrison,A.).
Ut    2-11   at Uf37   Bray, T. pass complete to Patterson, C. for 9 yards to the UF28 (Morrison,A.).
Ut    3-2   at Uf28   Johnson, A.J. rush for 4 yards to the UF24, 1ST DOWN UT (Taylor,M.;Elam,M).

Ut    1-10   at Uf24   Bray, T. pass complete to Patterson, C. for 15 yards to the UF9, 1ST DOWN UT (Purifoy,L.).
Ut    1-G   at Uf09   Neal, R. rush for 3 yards to the UF6 (Easley,D.;Hunter,O.).
Ut    2-G   at Uf06   Bray, T. pass incomplete to Hunter, J., PENALTY UF roughing passer (Easley,D.) 3 yards to the UF3, 1ST DOWN UT, NO PLAY.
Ut    1-G   at Uf03   Neal, R. rush for 2 yards to the UF1 (Mccray,L.;Saunders,D.).
Ut    2-G   at Uf01   Bray, T. rush for no gain to the UF1 (Morrison,A.).
Ut    3-G   at Uf01   Johnson, A.J. rush for 1 yard to the UF0, TOUCHDOWN, clock 07:33.

         Brodus, D. kick attempt failed.
         Tennessee 20, Florida 13

Drive after the fake punt.  Cheney, as he usually does, went for the throat after a turnover but Bray gets the Intentional Grounding call that blows up the drive on the first play.  Probably the turning point.
Drive: 5 plays, 19 yards, TOP 02:25
Ut    1-10   at Uf47   TENNESSEE drive start at 05:00.
Ut    1-10   at Uf47   Bray, T. sacked for loss of 10 yards to the UT43 (Elam,M), PENALTY UT intentional grounding (Bray, T.) 0 yards to the UT43.
Ut    2-20   at Ut43   2nd and 20.
Ut    2-20   at Ut43   Bray, T. pass complete to Hunter, J. for 4 yards to the UT47 (Bostic,J.;Morrison,A.).
Ut    3-16   at Ut47   Bray, T. pass complete to Neal, R. for 8 yards to the UF45 (Bostic,J.).
Ut    4-8   at Uf45   Darr, M. punt 45 yards to the UF0, touchback

Pick resulted in UF lead – start looking for the real trend:
Ut    1-10   at Ut25   TENNESSEE drive start at 03:15, 1st and 10.
Ut    1-10   at Ut25   Bray, T. pass incomplete to Hunter, J..
Ut    2-10   at Ut25   Bray, T. pass incomplete to Hunter, J., QB hurry by Morrison,A..
Ut    3-10   at Ut25   Bray, T. pass complete to Hunter, J. for 16 yards to the UT41, 1ST DOWN UT.
Ut    1-10   at Ut41   Neal, R. rush for 3 yards to the UT44 (Okine,E.).
Ut    2-7   at Ut44   Bray, T. pass intercepted by Elam,M at the UF30, Elam,M return 0 yards to the UF30 (Hunter, J.), QB hurry by Mccray,L..
         Drive: 5 plays, 19 yards, TOP 01:26

The rest of the drives, except for one had at least one run play, even though we were playing from behind

Summary:  IMO we did not give up on the run untill we were behind. 
The turning point was after the fake punt and subsequent IG penalty and then followed by the short punt, when the defense, to that point, had been playng well (243 yards).  It was out of characture for Dooley. 
Even after we fell behind on all but one series we ran one play, with essentially zero net yards.  Meanwhile, UF put up 308 yards after this turning point including 80, 70, 78 and 42 yard scoring drives (1st 3 for a total of 7 plays)

Someone asked me if it was just about one quarter.  IMO it was.  We were in the game, had a penalty, went conservative in a play call and everything then fell apart, in the 4h quarter.

The chart below shows two things:
1) we rushed for 93 net yards (ninus two sacks= the 83 net)
2) We did not rotate RBs enough
RUSHING    No.    Gain    Loss    Net    TD    Lg    Avg.
Rajion Neal    23    95    8    87    0    20    3.8
A.J. Johnson    2    5    0    5    1    4    2.5
Marlin Lane    1    1    0    1    0    1    1.0
Tyler Bray    2    0    10    -10    0    0    -5.0
Totals...    28    101    18    83    1    20    3.0

Also interesting that we ran on first down more than we passed:
Florida                                Tennessee

Down               RUN PASS  Total     Down               RUN PASS  Total

OVERALL..........   43   20     63     OVERALL..........   27   45     72
1ST DOWN.........   24    6     30     1ST DOWN.........   18   14     32
2ND DOWN-SHORT...    2    0      2     2ND DOWN-SHORT...    2    3      5
2ND DOWN-MIDDLE..    2    2      4     2ND DOWN-MIDDLE..    0    3      3
2ND DOWN-LONG....    8    4     12     2ND DOWN-LONG....    5   10     15
3RD DOWN-SHORT...    1    1      2     3RD DOWN-SHORT...    2    0      2
3RD DOWN-MIDDLE..    0    1      1     3RD DOWN-MIDDLE..    0    1      1
3RD DOWN-LONG....    4    6     10     3RD DOWN-LONG....    0   13     13

I don't accept that we should have lost to VaTech the way we did, anymore than you accept any of Dooley's losses.  They weren't THAT good. 

But how do you explain the 42-17 shellacking by Ole Miss?  That was freaking embarassing.  It's one thing to lose that way to bama or florida, another completely to lose that way to Ole Miss.

While I'm at it, we should have beaten UCLA.  Kiffin's playcalling at the end of that game was horrible.  He ran Hardesty for one play, then Bryce Brown ran in while Hardesty ran out and tried Bryce, then  Hardesty came back in for two plays.  Hardesty gained 7 yards on two plays and Bryce got stopped cold, then we went for it on 4th and goal from the one and got stuffed.  Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid.  Hardesty was a far better between the tackles runner than Bryce.  If he had carried all three, it would have been an easy TD IMO.  Hell, he wore them both out having to run back and forth to the sideline!  The fizzleing MORON!

Then we lost to Auburn 26-22.  Auburn had the worst run D in the league, if not the country that year.  We ran 45 yards to their 9 yard line and Kiffin, that amazing dumass, had CROMPTON pass the ball three times in a row, and then we missed the FG.   :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:  I know Crompton played well later in the season, but WTF was Kiffin thinking?  That was the difference in the game right there!

And speaking of that bammer game, recall that Kiffin chose to run out the clock after our kicker had ALREADY MISSED two field goals from that same distance.   :frown: :frown: :frown:  WTF was he thinking?  That kicker had been inconsistent from beyond 40 yards all season and we had it first and 10 with over a minute left, and he runs out the clock?   Ridiculous!  Cody didn't cost us that game, KIFFIN did.  Cody didn't have to block it, that kid would have missed anyway.   :banghead:

Also recall that we let a terrible Kentucky team take us into OT.  Was that mentally tough?

I will grant you that Kiffin had his moments, but he was far from perfect as a coach and his attitude, disdain for recruiting rules and general douchebaggery greatly outweighed that.

Fulmer could have done as well or better than Kiffin IMO. 

And look...Lane already lost to Stanford...again, with a really talented USC team.  The effects of probation are going to eviscerate that team next year, and I think they drop 1-2 more games this year.  I am really going to enjoy that.   :nod:

Monte had no clue on how to stop the spread offense that Ole Miss ran.  I think Kiffin new he was gone by the time the bowl game came around.

I shouldn't have brought Kiffin up........................this discussion has nothing to do with him........................................Dooley just needs to prove himself, which he has yet to do.  It's time for Dooley to put up.  This is year 3.................................NO MORE EXCUSES..........YOU PROVE YOURSELF WITH A GAMEPLAN THAT FOR STARTERS GEORGIA HAS TROUBLE WITH AND IS NOT READY FOR.............................AND LEADS TO A WIN PERIOD DOT
I am like ReVolver and LYN and honestly can't believe that anyone would make excuses or try to reason for our SUCKING IN FOOTBALL(NOT THAT YOU HAVE).........................WE STILL ARE TENNESSEE!  WE SHOULD DEMAND BETTER THAN WHAT WE ARE GETTING THE LAST 2 YEARS.
The loss to Florida does not bother me as bad as the way the team just collapsed, hung their heads, and got blown off the field at the end.

 :powert:

No one is making any excuses for anything.  Part of the reason we are in this mess, IMO, is a lack of patience in the first place.  2007 looks pretty good in retrospect, but there were a lot of unhappy campers that year.  Most of the unhappiness had to do with the blowouts we suffered at Florida and bammer.  But I wonder, if anyone complaining about those two games that year had known that between them, those two teams would win 3 of the last four MNCs, would the complaining have been as loud?   Granted, neither of them won it in 2007, but they were definitely building towards it.

So because some were not happy with 2007, which I admit could have been better, there was enormous pressure on 2008.  2008 was impossible to defend, but part of me wonders if the pressure made it worse.  Who knows. I only bring it up for this reason:  Clearly the change did not go well in 2008.  Hamilton apparently had no spine.  He pulled the trigger right before an easy run of games, because apparently he lacked the balls to do it after Fulmer had won a game, and that contributed, no, CAUSED US, to lose to Wyoming and finish ruining what was left of the season.  Then Fulmer's presser went really bad, with him in tears and the players openly defying the admin.  And then...we got KIFFIN   :bird:.  What a cluster fizzle!

IMO all the carping among the fans contributed to the problems.  I would hope, like BDV said earlier, that we all stay civil and focus on what's best for the program and not our own opinions.  I and some others think Dooley deserves the rest of the season to prove he can do it.  Not everyone does.  I think everyone would agree the best thing is for him to go 8-0 the rest of the way and go to the SECCG. We all know that's not going to happen. 

I think he can pull out an 8-4 season and that's good to build on for next year.  Not everyone agrees, and that's fine.  But we are about to find out one way or the other.  The next 6 weeks will tell the tale.  Let's see how it plays out.  Here's the thing...he can do bad enough to lose guys like me and he can do well enough to gain guys like you and he can split the difference and let us argue all summer.   I can't foretell the future, but I can guarantee you one of those options will play out.   :nod: :laugh:

I went back and added an insert about you not making excuses...............prob while you were typing

 :powert:

I definitely don't want to fire Dooley right now, but we have to play better that we did against Florida and Akron or we are gonna get SMACKED AROUND THE NEXT 4 GAMES.  IF we don't pick it up and play much better and have a good record  by the end of the season(BETTER THAN 7-5), i think we have to start thinking about a change and looking for a BIGTIME coach.
I think we finish no better than 7-5, possibly 6-6 this year....................shizzle, I HOPE I'M WRONG.
 :powert: