ON MY ALLEGED MIND (1-3-22)
MUSIC CITY BOWL WRAP: After days of postmortem and PMCBSD; Post Music City Bowl Stress Disorder I won’t waste your time or mine with any in-depth analysis. Let's go straight hit-it-and-quit-it:
-Our secondary play was horrendous
-Our pass rush was non-existent
-Hendon Hooker despite outstanding numbers was far from outstanding from either an accuracy or decision-making standpoint.
-Our play calling both at the end of regulation and the OT period was as bad as we’ve seen from Heupel in Year 1. We should have been playing for a game-winning FG in regulation and kicked one twice in OT. Running up the middle on 4th and goal from a tight set with a diminutive RB was mystifying.
-The officiating was reprehensible bordering on criminal.
-The surface at Nissan Stadium is a disgrace. NFL field my ass.
-College football better do something about stoppage of play by feigned injures and incessant reviews. Both are making the game unwatchable.
-Strange game when looked at in the rearview mirror. Neither team deserved to lose or win. Probably should have called it a day at a tie.
GRADING HEUPEL IN YEAR 1: To describe my feelings almost a year ago when Josh Heupel was named Tennessee’s Head Coach as
“underwhelmed” would be an understatement. I thought at the time UT Athletic Director Danny White had quickly tired of the search and taken the easy route. Turns out he actually made a quality hire despite the obvious criticism sure to come his way.
GRADE: B+
JUSTIFICATION: Prior to the season I picked the Vols to finish 6-6. I truly believed they would win only 5 but couldn’t bring myself to publicly predict a loss to Kentucky due to pride
and fear of Matt Dixon burning my house down with me in it. Seven wins in his first season, playing an extremely exciting brand of football, versus a schedule that turned out to be even more daunting than originally thought and quickly reversing direction from Joe Milton to Hooker deserves a near-superlative grade.
IS A B+ TOO GENEROUS? Above and beyond what I mentioned above Heupel’s starting point was untenable. He inherited as depleted a roster as anyone in the history of the program with the possible exception of John Majors in 1977. He also had to contend with without exception the most toxic, negative aura surrounding the program for as long as the University of Tennessee has fielded a football team. That to me suggests anything less than a B fails to recognize the challenges that had to be overcome in 11 short months.
HOOP SHOTS
-Olivier Nkamhoua and Uros Plavsic showed me something at Alabama. Both proved they can provide a physical presence and aren’t afraid of the moment.
-Both need to slow themselves down where they can also score when needed.
-Unless one or the other can become a more dependable post scorer this team’s fate will ultimately come down to Brandon Huntley-Hatfield becoming a comfortable option for Rick Barnes to turn to.
-For Plavsic to play extended minutes the Vols will have to play more zone defense. He’s simply too big and plodding to defend out on the floor.
-The zone Barnes used some at Bama was actually effective. The problem is we don’t rebound out of it well enough to use it more than a few possessions.
-After years of trying to make point guards out of shooting guards it is a great luxury to have both Kennedy Chandler and Zakai Zeiglier on the same roster.
-There is ZERO reason for Victor Bailey Jr to be on the floor in a crucial offensive possession instead of Justin Powell. Z-E-R-O!
-This team is so much better defensively at this point than I thought they were capable of.
-In the Vols first 10 contests they shot more than 15 free throws only three times (18 vs ETSU; 16 vs Texas Tech; 16 Vs USC-Upstate). And on five occasions they attempted 10 or less (5 vs UNC; 10 vs Tenn Tech; 9 vs Presbyterian and Colorado and 7 vs UNC-Greensboro). The last two games they have attempted 27 versus Arizona and 20 versus Alabama. They need to continue that trend if they are to be successful in SEC play. More inside touches than we attempted in the early season will assure we march to the charity stripe more often.
-I love Josiah Jordan-James but he should be our 5th or 6th option offensively. Rebound, defend, pass, lead and score late in the shot clock or off the offensive glass. That’s his role.
-The Vols are currently outscoring their opponents off turnovers by 10.5 ppg (21.6 to 11.1). Keep that up and it will be a joyous winter.
-The Vols early season SEC road schedule is brutal. After falling in Tuscaloosa two of the next three games are @LSU (Jan 8) and Kentucky (Jan 15). Those are the most difficult stops on the entire conference slate. Win one of those and take care of business versus Ole Miss and South Carolina in midweek home games and that will be a good start to the SEC gauntlet.
NEXT TIME: Turn our full attention to hoops.
CLOSING COMMENT: May God grant you a blessed, healthy and prosperous 2022.
