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General Neyland Would Hate These Vols
By MoonDog | September 21, 2008
After another embarrassing loss to the Florida Gators Saturday afternoon in Knoxville, former Tennessee head coach General Robert Neyland is probably rolling in his grave. Losing to the 4th ranked team in the nation isn’t the issue - it’s how the Vols lost the game and have continued to lose big games.
Tennessee Vols Head Coach Phil Fulmer
Looking every bit as clueless as they have in their first two games, Florida jumped out to an early 17-0 lead and never looked back, cruising the rest of the way in their 30-6 victory over Tennessee.
Breakdowns in the kick off and punt coverage units, penalties, turnovers and poor execution cost the Volunteers dearly - and all of those errors occurred in the first quarter.
Offensive coordinator Dave Clawson’s play calling continues to be unimaginative and ineffective. Clawson clearly doesn’t understand the plays that worked while he was the head coach at Richmond aren’t going to work at this level.
Quarterback Jonathan Crompton hasn’t improved and continues to make poor reads and even poorer throws. Crompton turned it over twice on the goal line in the first half, killing any chance the Vols had of winning the game.
Crompton botched a handoff from the 1-yard line and also threw an interception that was picked off by Janoris Jenkins in the end zone just before halftime.
The Tennessee defense has yet to learn how to tackle and coordinator John Chavis apparently didn’t get the memo on how best to beat the Gators.
Often calling for three down lineman and a linebacker rushing from the backside, Tennessee seldom put any pressure on Tebow. In reality, it didn’t matter because when Florida needed to convert a third down or come up with a big play, they were able to do so.
The Gators were in the Vols’ heads from the very beginning, with Florida linebacker Brandon Spikes luring running back Arian Foster into an early dead ball personal foul that cost the Vols’ 15 yards. Earlier in the week Spikes was quoted as saying the Vols were quitters, giving up last season during Florida’s 59-20 win over Tennessee.
The Vols’ didn’t quit Saturday, but they probably should have because the outcome was all but determined 15 minutes into the game.
Florida's Brandon James Returns a Punt 78 Yards for a TD
After the game, head coach Phil Fulmer placed the blame for the loss squarely on his shoulders. That may appear noble, but the reality is the Vols’ have been playing this poorly with growing regularity over the past five seasons and Fulmer is directly responsible.
What’s most troubling is Fulmer’s almost comical description of Tennessee’s special teams during his post game comments. “Our punt coverage has been exceptional (in previous games),” Fulmer said.
Uh, no coach, the special teams have been bad and everyone knows it - except you. In the first game of this season, the Vols’ gave up a touchdown on a blocked punt to UCLA.
On the opening kick off Saturday, the Gators Brandon James dropped the ball, collected it, and ran 52 yards to set up Florida’s first score. Later James would score on a 78-yard punt return giving Florida an insurmountable 17-0 lead.
The special teams continue to be abysmal, a strength coach Neyland and former coach Johnny Majors preached. Yet this Tennessee team has perhaps the worst special teams in Vols’ history and shows no signs of getting better.
With 106,138 packed into Neyland Stadium it was obvious near the end of the first half how displeased Vols’ fans were, showering the team with boos as they left the field. By the middle of the third quarter the sold-out crowd began leaving en masse only to wonder what happened to the once proud Tennessee football team.
Another harsh reality that seems to have escaped Fulmer is how mediocre the program has become, being relegated to middle of the pack status in the SEC. Forget about national prominence too, as the Vols have struggled to beat quality competition, going 17-23 against ranked teams since 2000.
And it’s only going to get worse.
With remaining games against Auburn, Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky and a resurgent Vanderbilt team, Tennessee will be lucky to win six games this season.
Six wins isn’t acceptable, neither is seven or eight, the number of victories Fulmer needs to achieve in order to receive a one-year extension of his contract.
The coaching staff hasn’t shown any signs of knowing how to correct the problems and that doesn’t bode well for Vol fans. It’s going to be a long season in 2008, perhaps making the 5-6 debacle of the 2005 season seem pleasant.
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Tags: Tennessee Vols Football, Florida, Brandon, NCAA Football, Tennessee, Volunteers, Majors, MoonDog Sports, Southeastern Conference, Neyland, Crompton, James, Fulmer, Vols, Chavis, MoonDog, Special Teams, Gators, Clawson
Topics: NCAA Football, Southeastern Conference, Tennessee Vols Football |
7 Responses to “General Neyland Would Hate These Vols”
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September 22nd, 2008 at 10:06 am
[...] General Neyland Would Hate These Vols [...]
September 22nd, 2008 at 4:29 pm
[...] I cannot ignore what I witnessed at Neyland Stadium this past weekend. I have a feeling that, as MoonDog noted, General Neyland would have been sick to his stomach over the Vols [...]
September 22nd, 2008 at 8:45 pm
[...] Dog Sports - General Neyland would hate these Vols Moon Dog Sports - Are the Nittany Lions any Good? Hugging Harold Reynolds - Female Eagle Fans Boast [...]
September 25th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
[...] General Neyland wouldn’t be a fan of these Vols, writes Moondog. (Be careful with the banners on our buddy’s site if you’re at work.) [...]
September 26th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
[...] I wanted to know what the heck we were doing out there on the field and still do. CincyVol couldn’t believe Crompton’s incompetence, but he agrees that Eric Berry deserves some props. YMSWWC thinks our players and coaches are arrogant and finds it unacceptable that we had the 13th best SEC quarterback going into the game (he has moved up to 12th now - YIPPEE!). He even busted out this great line: “Crompton is like a defective tampon, does not function for the entire period and has no second string. (In Fulmer’s eyes).” MoonDog points out something that I mentioned after the UCLA game - there is no doubt that General Neyland hates these Vols. [...]
September 29th, 2008 at 9:10 am
Guy’s you are really dreaming if you think these Vols can get out of this season with 6 wins. They will be lucky to finish with 3 wins if they stay as they are after Alburn! I have said for years the real problem at UT is defense. For years now we have given it up on 3rd down after 3rd down after 3rd down. All you need do it get to 3rd and long (now just 3rd down) aginst UT and you WILL get 1st down and everyone in the SEC knows it! 3 down linemen on obvious running downs with line backers dropping back in coverage. Constant Back side blizting leaving the middle WFO. Four down lines pulling stunts play after play while running backs chew up chunks of yardage up the gut play after play. And turning the outside cornor has become a given against UT. They Show 4 down on short 2nd and 3rd downs and then drop a D-end back in short coverage. When defensive ends do manage to turn a play inside as they are charged to do, no linebackers because they are 10-12 yards down field in coverage while d-backs are deep in double coverage. It’s prevent alright, prevent the win. It’s nuts! This isn’t the NFL. And these current defensive backs can’t even read properly, let alone react in good order. Blown coverage time and again. Arm Tackeling on every down. Bone head personal fouls, offsides. Defense doesn’t win games but there is no winning without a strong swarming defense. As sad at it has been on offense so far this season, our defense is LESS prepaired on game day. It’s time for a change alright and defensive cordinator is the very first place to start. IMHO
October 10th, 2008 at 7:20 pm
Whats up Moondog. I agree completely!