The CheckerBoard

Amen op

my frustration at the FL game had nothing to do with the D. I was proud of the way the D played. It was unfortunate timing when the predicted breakdowns occurred, but like the OP said, we knew it was going to happen. The other side of the ball though.....well you all saw. I don't want to go through a coaching change either, but whether that happens or not depends entirely on how coach Dooley gets this team to respond to the FL game. Collapse in the 2nd half against teams while up or tied is absolutely unacceptable. That gets corrected.....oh my oh my it will be a good year and the future is bright. 1-2 more collapses and Dave will just about be forced to make a move and the FL and AL streaks will increase by another few years. JMO

A lot of our players in the post game press conference said they all were trying too hard and over pursued. They have to stay in there lanes and wrap up. I was pleased with the defense in the first half. When they lined up and came at us we stopped them. I was actually suprised we didn't see more wild cat after the first score because he went in untouched. Motion killed this team. They learn the signals and stay at home we'll be ok.

As for Bray I hope it was just him forcing the ball bc he wanted to win so bad. We'll see how the next few big games play out. And for god sakes, Dooley needs to call plays if Chaney wants to keep scrapping the run when the going gets tough. We can't win close games by passing every single play when its tied or behind.

The defense will be fine. Unfortunately, while we have a very good stable of horses in the front 7, the defensive backfield is obviously lacking some SEC-level athletes and when you have those growing pain type issues, they're magnified x2 by the lack elite speed back there. They also were dealt no favors by the UT offense for that 10 minute span in the late 3rd/early 4th when they seemed to be on the field most of the time.

We also had some break downs in execution, particularly the on-field pre-snap adjustment on the first long TD play in the 3rd quarter. We'll see that play again and when the safety goes with the motion man strong side someone has to adjust back to the middle of the field.

I find it interesting that people say they were happy with how the defense played in the first half. I was actually happy with how the offense and defense played in the first half but unhappy the defense gave up that field goal just before the half. I never expected to score more than 28 points against a defense like Florida's and we got 14 points in the first half. I also was happy with how the offense came back and scored a touchdown after Florida opened with a field goal in the second half (a point conveniently forgotten by Bray bashers).

The bottom line is this - we will not be beat top tier SEC teams by outscoring them. We will beat them playing defense. Let's see if they are up to the task.

^^agreed

I don't disagree but I will point out that coaches sometimes take the blame to keep it off the players.

^^this

I'm not worried about the defense. We'll have a great defense when we upgrade our talent in the secondary. But offense? I don't think we'll ever have a championship caliber offense under Chaney. JMO.

Not the biggest CJC fan either, but i'd rather have a coach that puts the blame squarely on his own shoulders after a loss than one who points his finger and blames players

I think there are some really good points being made by all sides in this topic. Those who are honest will recall that this was going to be a switch from the 4-3 to a 3-4, and if history is an indecation, we should see improvement not just next year, but over the course of the season. It has long been my belief that we play FL too early in the season. I've noticed that Vol teams of the past USUALLY start looking better later in the season. This isn't a hard and fast rule, but a general statement.

The only thing I will take exception with in this whole thing is the criticism of CJC taking responsability. One of the big issues that some have had in the past with CJC as well as CDD is that they feel that the coaches are too quick to throw the players under the bus. As fans, this is why these guys are in a no-win situation. If they come out and say "Well, the players didn't exicute the gameplan, and that is why we lost the game", then people say that they are beating up on the team. However, if they say: "As coaches we made some mistakes and didn't get the team in the best position to win", then we say that they should be run out on a rail. Let's just wait and see what happens in October, because I believe that will be the time we learn the most about who this team and staff really are. Also, guys the running game, at least from my perspective, has shown alot of improvement over last year. JMO, GBO.