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After the S.C. game, some UT fans were praising Derek Barnett's mean streak. Last night that mean streak caught up with him. Barnett has been close to a roughing the passer penalty several times this season. The fact that he is still taking those chances and last night actually got called for it tells me that the penalty last night is on the coaches for not correcting his over-aggressiveness. Sure, the call was a little ticky-tack, but it was also the right call. Without it, the game is still 13-13 when we have the INT inside the 20 early in the 4th quarter. Who knows how that single play might have changed the outcome of the rest of the game?

The interesting thing is the one he got called on IMO wasn't roughing (MM's arm was still following through from releasing the ball) but the play before, that he did not get called, was. :dunno:

Probably a makeup call.

Agreed...that was one of the weakest RTP calls ever.  The entire defense had many opportunities to get off the field many times. I think it is complete bullshizzle to blame the kid for being aggressive. They are supposed to coach NON OVER AGGRESSIVE FOOTBALL?? Football is a violent sport...it is better to be over aggressive...I can live with the occasional flag than him being less aggressive + I didn't see his teammates or coaches being that upset and blaming him.


 :powert:

We just got beat by a team that their WR's simply went up and made plays...AND OURS DROPPED THEM.  We just missed out on too many chances to keep the sticks moving.

 :powert:

They are supposed to coach their players to follow the rules.

Barnett should have been flagged for a personal foul against South Carolina...which would have cost us that win without a doubt. We wouldn't even be talking about the possibility of bowl eligibility right now if that were the case. Would you be happy about that? Or would you be lashing out at Butch Jones for failing to get to six wins this season?

If Barnett continues to be overly aggressive, he'll continue to get flagged. If he continues to get flagged, it's only a matter of time before it DOES cost us a win.

BUT SMART football....the last thing a team such as ours (i.e. points and opponent stops are at a premium) needs to do is to negate first downs and/or scores or prolong drives for the opponent.    :patriot:

Agree.  And this is something Butch should be on top of, because we are 4th in the country in penalties per game...meaning 4th fewest.  That is definitely a sign of good coaching and let's hope Barnett can learn from his mistake in the Mizzou game and the close call vs. USC jr.

I will sure as hell not blame a true freshman DT for playing like a beast and making a few mistakes while learning to play against the best OL in the country...that much I can tell you. There is plenty of blame to go around!
I won't even respond to the IDIOTIC comments in the top of your post. You are the one who is and would be blaming losing on a kid who is a true FR playing hard for his team.

And I will take an overly aggressive player vs a non aggressive player all day and never complain. I will live with the occasional penalty.


 :powert:

In an effort to come across as LESS IDIOTIC, I will from now type in all bold and sign my posts with a Power T emoji.

 :powert: :powert: :powert:

 :bowrofl:

I think you and I disagree at the margins in your original post.  I like and support his aggressiveness.  I think both instances Saturday night were borderline at worse and find them acceptable in my view.  The last play of regulation at SCe I found unacceptable for both Barnett with the drag and O'Brien with the subsequent shove.  Both IMO should have drawn flags.  I do know that Barnett was talked to on the sidelines after the play, whether it was about that play or something else I cannot say.

We were very luck on that play. Still can't believe we didn't get called on that.

My view is similar to yours...let him be aggressive but know where the boundaries are.  Its a fine line I know, but with experience he will learn it.

If any staff can keep him out of penalty trouble, it's this one.

If Saturday's play were the only one, I wouldn't have a bit of a problem with it. Like I said, it was ticky-tack, and players are going to occasionally get wrapped up in the emotion of the game and be penalized for something. But when you add the pattern of over-aggressiveness, it just seems to me that it should've been addressed by the coaches. Hopefully it has been.

I disagree with you.  If  it continues to happen and keeps  costing us, then o.k. I get your point but to come out and call a player out I think is a little over the line.  Against USC, it didn't cost us and the coaches said in interviews that they told him he  couldn't do what he did.  Against Missouri it did cost us, but I can't recall him being flagged continuously this year for the same thing.  In sports, you have to figure out what the refs are going to call and what they aren't and play within that.  It is like in basketball, you figure out in the first 10 mins of the game how close the refs are going to call it and then you adjust.  Some refs will call everything and some will let you bang and bang and bang. 

Also, if you want to point fingers at players about making mistakes, you have to be fair and call everyone out that  made mistakes.  How about the one Malone let him hit him in the chest and bounce up for the int?  At worst, we kick a FG to tie it there at 16 - 16 or at best, we score a TD and take the lead.  Who knows what happens after that.  You can play the what-if game all you want.

Well, that was kinda my point. We avoided disaster at South Carolina. That should've been enough to make sure it never happened again. As I said above, the penalty Saturday night wasn't a big deal in and of itself, so I wouldn't have had a problem with that if it hadn't already been an issue. It isn't the fact that he hadn't been flagged up until that point; it's the fact that we've all known it was just a matter of time until it cost us in a crucial situation, and it finally did.

As for calling out players, I don't see the point there. Players get called out on message boards (including this one) every day. How many of us said "Dammit Josh Malone!!" after that 4th quarter INT Saturday?

Only one of us actually put into written words here ... :dance:
In person, your ears might have heard (slightly) different words ... :doh: