volimhtown
09-05-2006, 10:10 AM
Now that the excitement has worn off and now that the media machine has moved onto other things, let's try to put the Vols' opening "big" win in context. For starters, all Big Orange faithful saw this coming the second the Vols left the field in Lexington last November. As painful and unimaginable as last season was, you just knew that there would be a renewed since of pride and determination going into this season. Frankly, Cal was more a victim of circumstance because it would not have mattered who the sacrificial lamb on the other sideline was. Rankings and expectations meant nothing as Saturday night was much more about Tennessee regaining respect and regaining their stature as an elite program as opposed to Xs and Os.
Now I'm certainly not here to make such claims or to proclaim that Tennessee is indeed "back", but Saturday certainly was a much needed and over-due step in the right direction.
My views:
First, you could tell that Cut was back!!! That's a great thing...there was some imagination to the play calling with some misdirection plays and moving Ainge around in the pocket is certainly only going to help him. I think they kept Cal's defense off balance all night long with the play calling. Sanders' predictability has been replaced with Cut's imagination!! Big plus!!!
Secondly, Chavis looks like he has another great defense. The Vols had arguably the best defense in the SEC last year and they don't look like they have missed a beat. Cal's run game was a non-factor and they kept the Bears' QBs running the entire game. Chavis had a great gameplan that was very well executed in this game. The Vols could not have imagined a better result than they ended up with on Saturday night. Rocky Top had not sounded that good in a long time.
NOW for reality:
Cal's defense was/is HORRIBLE!! They made an average Vol offense look really good. Despite the gaudy stats, Ainge still looked pretty shaky to me. The Gators' DBs have GOT to be praying that Ainge continues to throw those weak out patterns. If Cal had some good CBs, the game may have been very different. Not to mention that Cal never really pressured Ainge so we still don't truly know how much progress he has made. Finally, the running game looked very average as well. Again, poor fundamentals by Cal's defense really hid this in the final stats. The Vol O-Line and RBs better get this fixed before the 16th. Bottom line....Cal was VERY overrated or at least certainly severely under-achived!!
Good feelings are rightly restored on Rocky Top and for good reason. The Vols served notice on Saturday night that last year was a fluke and they ARE a force to be reckoned with once again. Let's just keep it all in perspective...the Vols still have opportunities to address and Ainge STILL has alot to improve upon before we can serioulsy talk about any type of championships, but it is nice to have a reason to talk again!!
GO VOLS!!!
Now I'm certainly not here to make such claims or to proclaim that Tennessee is indeed "back", but Saturday certainly was a much needed and over-due step in the right direction.
My views:
First, you could tell that Cut was back!!! That's a great thing...there was some imagination to the play calling with some misdirection plays and moving Ainge around in the pocket is certainly only going to help him. I think they kept Cal's defense off balance all night long with the play calling. Sanders' predictability has been replaced with Cut's imagination!! Big plus!!!
Secondly, Chavis looks like he has another great defense. The Vols had arguably the best defense in the SEC last year and they don't look like they have missed a beat. Cal's run game was a non-factor and they kept the Bears' QBs running the entire game. Chavis had a great gameplan that was very well executed in this game. The Vols could not have imagined a better result than they ended up with on Saturday night. Rocky Top had not sounded that good in a long time.
NOW for reality:
Cal's defense was/is HORRIBLE!! They made an average Vol offense look really good. Despite the gaudy stats, Ainge still looked pretty shaky to me. The Gators' DBs have GOT to be praying that Ainge continues to throw those weak out patterns. If Cal had some good CBs, the game may have been very different. Not to mention that Cal never really pressured Ainge so we still don't truly know how much progress he has made. Finally, the running game looked very average as well. Again, poor fundamentals by Cal's defense really hid this in the final stats. The Vol O-Line and RBs better get this fixed before the 16th. Bottom line....Cal was VERY overrated or at least certainly severely under-achived!!
Good feelings are rightly restored on Rocky Top and for good reason. The Vols served notice on Saturday night that last year was a fluke and they ARE a force to be reckoned with once again. Let's just keep it all in perspective...the Vols still have opportunities to address and Ainge STILL has alot to improve upon before we can serioulsy talk about any type of championships, but it is nice to have a reason to talk again!!
GO VOLS!!!