VTTW Board Index

This can’t be all lack of talent.

We knew our secondary was not a talented bunch.  But this goes beyond that.

We have absolutely no answers for anything.  Man them up, they throw over us.  Zone, the find the hole.

It’s just all going their way tonight.

Only the head man can fix this. Totally undisciplined. All up to him.

Just slightly better than air.

 Very thin air. ? Would a good DC coach want to coach a team that puts them back on the field every 3/4 minutes

On their first possession, they made a first down on 4th and 1 on their first or second series in the drive. It’s the closest we’ve been to stopping them all night except for the one possession at the beginning of the 3rd quarter.

That 3rd and 20 conversion was sickening  :hurl:

We didn't get dog beat by a FLA....UGA....Bama...LSU...OSU...Mich....We got dog stomped by a bad USC team who had the 92nd ranked offense in the country missing players and their 2 best RBs....They took us to the woodshed and made us like it. USC had no better athletes than we did...We were ranked 5th and had a Heisman running QB....

Heupel better get the defense fixed or he will not be here long. Right now I see no way our offense will be this good next year.

He hasn’t been here 24 months.  We are 9-2.  Are you kidding me with that one bad loss he is in the hot seat crap?

After the past two DECADES are you kidding me??

Who said he would be fired in year 2??? If you read it says he will not be here long if he doesn't get it fixed....We are no better than last year and we aren't tearing it up on the recruiting trail right now when we have playing time to sell....And yes..If he doesn't get it fixed he will not last here....In fact I just saw him on ESPN and he said you will not win in this league playing defense like we did tonight....And he was not happy when he said it. We just gave up 63 to the 92nd ranked offense in the country whos been through more coaches than us,,,,They are a bad football team and made us look pitiful.

So yes....If it does not improve going forward with the defense he will not last as long as most would like....You do not get paid millions to give up 63 points to a USC.

We all knew the defense would cost us some games this year. I am surprised it has only been one. To be honest we caught a few teams on the right day and were lucky. I wouldn't want to play some of the teams we beat again.

I do bet a lot of our opponents are laughing their ass off. I bet Mizzou is calling it Kharma. All I will say is, I knew we were in no way a top four team with this defense. I think most all of us did.

We benefitted a lot from the transfer portal. Do you feel in any way these guys aren't really all in as Vols. and when things go bad they just say eff it.

The ONLY defensive player other than the DL playing is Walker
The others are buried on the depth chart

I can be accused of some lofty heights to my thinking... But... don't you feel like there needs to be some kind of explanation to have them replaced with this? Feels like seeing Michelle and getting mike. Now we have to crawl under a table or something.

I was referring to all of them in general. Even Hooker looked like he was having an eff it moment after the game got away from them. Maybe my tracking the situation is a little off. But , damn 9-2 is a gift considering what Heupel inherited.

Well, we have had one absolutely terrible game.  Otherwise it would seem we have been overperforming on D, no?  I think a lot of times this D has been playing over their ability.  We need more talent.  I'd give him one more year and see how it goes.

no shizzle

I just want to know what happened in this game. There is no way that Heup did not try to prepare this team. Was it that the money started flowing in and that was what the team was playing for and they lost their incentive? Doesn't this type of result demand answers?

I think what TnPhil is saying is that if this awful defense continues over the LONG TERM, Heupel ain't gonna make it.  Its a relative term.  My guess is that if D is still this bad throughtout next year and into Season 4, then Heupel might need to be let go.

Way too early to say, but TnPhil is not wrong.

Coaches who come from a particular background often suck at the other.  Muschamp had great defense at both Florida and SC, but offense was never worth a shizzle.  Look at how Venables struggled in a similar vein at OU.  And what about our own experience with Poot?  On the other side of the ledger, OU for years has been known as an offense only team under Stoops, which is ironic considering he was a good DC back in the day.

We need to hope that this game has Heupels attention and he focuses more on D from here out.

My take is the same after Pruitt bumbled away the Georgia State game.  I'll give him one mulligan.  But if this becomes the norm....


Anyway, Heupel isn't anywhwere near the hot seat.  Furthermore nowadays if you have to pick one, its better to have an offense first coach.  This season and what Kiffin has done at Ole Miss prove that.

Uliimately you can't be unbalanced.

In summary, I don't think by "not here long" TnPhil means  "a couple more seasons" vs our coach for a decade or two.

TnPhil can of course say what he means more precisely, I don't read his mind nor do I speak for him.

But that IS what I am saying.

Dabo Swinney is a case in point. He has been an offensive person his entire life...played WR, began his coaching career as a WR, then eventually moved up to offensive coordinator at Clemson. His early Clemson teams weren't bad, but they weren't great either. After giving up 60 to West Virginia in the 2012 Orange Bowl he fired Kevin Steele on the spot. There were plenty of people who said he shouldn't have done that; it was a knee-jerk reaction after one bad game. But the proof is in the pudding. Since that time, Dabo's Clemson teams have won 6 ACC championships and 2 national championships. He did what needed to be done to make his team strong on both sides of the ball. I see lots of people arguing for Banks to get one more year. Nah, I've seen enough. Let's make the change now. Assuming we don't completely collapse and lose to Vandy, we're going to be in a good place after this season and able to attract quality candidates. Let's make a change while we can, and not wait for a potentially lackluster season in 2023 that might deter candidates.

Same here. Will Muschamp is making $800K as a co-DC at Georgia. An example of who we could pursue.

I'd love to have Muschamp as DC. That having been said, we're lacking talent at every level. Having a potent offense exacerbates this because with an anemic offense opposing coaches would punt on 4th and 2.

Now they play on the edge and go for it. Since we're inept and untalented the opposition converts.

Great points....Heupel has shown way more savvy and ability than any of the previous 4, including Kiffin, so we can hope he focuses a bit more on D and fixes it.

And just to reiterate, offense does seem to be more important these days, but clearly our defense needs to be much better than it is.