Good Luck Tigers

Prof T,

Is everyone excited about UT's bowl bid?

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Prof T,

Is everyone excited about UT's bowl bid?

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Hell yeah! It's funny but I haven't been this excited about a bowl game since the Fiesta Bowl (BCS/National Championship Game) but this is the step we desperately needed and what we had as our goal all year. I'm enjoying the feeling while I can because I know a time like this won't come along often - next year it won't mean as much as this one does.

It's been one strange trip the past few years. From getting mad at year after year of 1 or 2 loss seasons instead of a natty to this (God we were so spoiled w/Fulmer) but I think we've hit our turning point and are climbing back - goals met, recruiting class good. All is well on Rocky Top!

Now if we could just find some OT's....

ETA: Of course, there are a few who are still whining but they're a very small minority compared to the rest of the fanbase.

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I was going over the Bama scores this year. They jumped on UT 20-0 and won by 14. Did UT change some things after the first quarter or were there just a lot of mistakes?

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Peterman happened. It was a last ditch effort, imo to save Dobb's redshirt but Bama absolutely ate us up while Peterman was in for the first few possessions. Then this happened:




Dobbs led a pretty damn miraculous comeback for a while but we got down way too early and Bama eventually put a final score up that killed the comeback.

Now with regards to how they got up so quickly. 1. Our defense came out flat and I really don't think our team had any faith in Peterman and that added to it.

2. Kiffin pulled some trickery that should've been caught by the refs. They kept Amari off the field and would line up with only 10 men until just before the ball was snapped and would run him out at the last second. Our defense couldn't adjust to the late substitution as the officials didn't allow us too even though they should've. Bama pulled that trick more than once but the big one was the first play of the game that burnt us for an 80 yard TD.

But the biggest change was Dobbs who was spectacular. He lit them up running and throwing and did the same to USC and UK. You didn't get to really see that because our starting center went down in the UK game and our OL has regressed since. Terrible against y'all (understandable) but then terrible against Vandy (not understandable). I really hope we get our starting center back for the bowl game because as bad as our OL is (seriously 118th in CFB sacks allowed so saying we're the worst in all of football isn't hyperbole!) they are even worse without him.

Kiffin will script the first few offensive plays against you and the D needs to be ready for that. He will both bend and break the rules and has a history of it throughout his career. Defense has to play very smart and more disciplined.

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Adjusting to atypical sets is not our strong suit. I was surprised Arky didn't give us more weird packages like they did vs. OM. I really hope we don't get overly screwed by the refs in this game.

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The way refs have been these past few years I expect to get screwed and go by the old saying that to win "you've got to learn to beat the refs."

Atypical sets are difficult for a lot of Ds and Coop is difficult because he gets separation almost instantly (that's really what makes him so dangerous above all other qualities). But hopefully your D can get to the QB to keep that in check.