Watching the Hokies, I sensed a definite change in attitude when the Volunteers tied the game.
It seems to be a product of the mindset that a 14 or 21 point lead is insurmountable. As well as being completely depressed when there is a perceived failure by the defense.
I feel like Tech's roster is filled by front runners. Guys who are good when they are succeeding. There is a culture shift occurring whereby you realize football has crazy swings in score and momentum and score and react accordingly. Fuente characterized it as "relaxing".
There were positive moments tonight. The team is not a finished product. Fumbles doomed the chances. But a shift in outlook is also needed on terms of a feeling of defeat vs a positive feeling of coming back.
Comments
The coaches didn't help when we didn't even attempt the onsides kick.
Driving in the red zone down only 2 scores before cam's fumble. Don't over think what it was. Secure the ball and the game would have had the ebb and flow you are seeking. Instead, we fumble and make stupid mental errors that cemented the momentum in favor of the vols.
I agree with this 1k% and more. Everyone needs to step up from coaches to players.
Step up and realize wins don't come easily. You have to battle. The other team is going to punch you in the mouth. Get motivated. Quit being scared and afraid to fail. Be aggressive!!!
It was even called The BATTLE at Bristol!
Yeah, after last year's ECU game 14-0 didn't feel secure at all
Actually, I felt pretty safe at 14-0 at ECU last year. However, the ensuing mental agony that game caused taught me to never assume ANYTHING again based on a 2 TD lead.
They need to pull the boxing glove on a stick out of the closet.
Yeah and use it on all the coaches. What happened to the mantra of "We are going to do what we are good at" (paraphrasing?) I didn't see us good at much. This is not that young of a team.
I don't mean to be totally negative because there is still a lot of football left but I am just incredibly disappointed at some of the mistakes that were made.
I think that if the fumbles were cleaned up, I think we walk away with the W. Tenn didn't really impress me for as much as they were being hyped.
I agree. I think the defense played extremely well and showed great resilience. Also the offense played well in gaining positive yards. Take away those turnovers and it's a different ball game. Gotta protect the ball!
The new staff chose to replace the boxing glove in the offseason with this:
Edit: spelling
I think it will eventually shift away from what we currently know. Our team is filled with Beamer recruits and because of that they felt exactly how we all did when Tennessee came back in the second quarter... Here we go again.
The culture shift is going to happen gradually. That is not going to go away in 2 games. Fuente needs a team of his guys and that mentality will change.
I'm encouraged despite the score. We look so much more like a football team than years past. Send Wyatt to anger management classes and stroman to a flag football league and we'll be fine!
Stroman made smart decisions on every kickoff and punt return. He got burned twice by size of the WR but played ok down the stretch.
Every kickoff? No.
Yeah, there was one that he should have kept in the end zone.
But at least we're not to the point where I want to pull out my list of kick returns for the year and see how many should have stayed touchbacks.
He caught one kickoff one yard deep in the endzone and took it out, and somehow three UT guys got to the 10 yard line without being blocked. I was very disappointed in our kickoff return blocking last night, to be honest.
Agreed, it's hard to blame Stroman when he's taking first contact at the 10. For the record I simply don't see what our coaches see in him as a returner, but Saturday night was mostly on the guys in front of him. I am trying to be patient but so far our STs have been just as bad as the last 5+ years. Shibest is supposed to be one of the best in the business but you damned sure can't tell by how his unit has played the first two weeks.
He has returned a punt for a TD and despite the poor kickoff blocking took several kickoffs past the 30 and made lots of guys miss.
In general he looks tentative to me. Doesn't mean the guy's without skill, but he's never shown anything that would scare me if I were an opposing coach. He's obviously got good speed but IMO he takes too long to get going. I'd like to see the coaches give Murphy a chance to show what he can do.
I'd be tentative too if my escort didn't arrive until I was already surrounded.
That said, two games in and I like Stroman much better on PR than KR.
What happened to Greene doing KR?
No idea whatsoever. I don't think he's injured or anything...
Stroman should have left most of the kickoffs to either stay in the endzone or let them go in. We ended up with bad starting position on a bunch of his returns.
I feel we gave them the game. UR not going to win games with that many turnovers and flags. I don't want to take anything away from UT. They took advantage of our mistakes and blew us out! UT should win a lot of game this year. Hopefully we can get a handle on the turnovers and we will a lot of games as well.
Disagree with them winning a lot of games. They look suspect to me. Their OL is super porous. We got pressure rushing 3! Dobbs was hit all night. Outside of two nice passes into the end zone v one on one their passing game is non-existent. If you can contain their run game then I don't think they can do much. Their defense is full of talent but I still wasn't as impressed as we pretty much moved the ball at will on them save our penalties and fumbles that saved them. I'm not sure how the rest of the SEC east is so maybe they will but that will mean the SEC East is weak IMO. Bama wins the SEC easy this year.
I think they are going to have a very tough time with FL. FL's defense is pretty good from what I have seen so far.
I agree with some of you. I think we will be OK. 5 turnovers = 21 opposition points. 100+ penalty yards kills drives. Defense looked good. Stro got burned on perfect passes to big receivers. Offense looked sweet, but slightly out of sync. I like us!!!
Not to nitpic but Stoman want burned per say. He was in position, but was just going against a larger reciever and got beat playing the ball. Burned to me says that his guy was wide open and he was playing catch up.
Other than that I agree though. I think we have good times ahead of us including in this season.
You are not nitpicking. When I did not see Alexander starting, my heart sunk.
Yeah I was curious as to that and was wondering if they were going to put Alexander in after the second TD on stroman. They obviously had a matchup they liked. I don't think they threw at Facyson except maybe once.
Agreed, even the one TD he ripped one arm away from the ball, but the receiver was able to one hand the ball with the other.
This is what burned looks like.
Ford's specialty IMO
Frank Beamer to the team after the game: "It's alright guys. It's just a preseason game anyway."
Can we not have Kirk Herbstreit do any more of these games.
2007 - LSU
2009 Alabama
2010 Boise State
2013 Alabama
2015 Ohio State
Just stop, ESPN. You;re killing us.
As long as we keep getting 8 PM ABC games (including all the ACCCGs in our future), he'll likely be calling them. Especially now that Brad Nessler is gone.
8 PM ABC games is a good thing. Herbie ain't the problem. Up to us to break the jinx.
Yes, agreed completely.
Which we will and soon. We have an offense that will have us winning big games on the big stage soon enough.
I feel like Herbie wants to like us, and wants to believe that we're a good team. But every time we get right on the edge, we can't close the deal.
Sometime late in the game, he was giving mad props to one of our guys, and right now, I can't remember which one. Maybe it was Sam Rogers, although he has praised Sam quite a bit and that was one more example.
That game was a 5:30 PM on ESPN. Herbie would have been with Musburger calling the 8 PM game on ABC. This site says we had Sean McDonough and Chris Spielman.