Oklahoma roll call and game talk

I won't be there but ughhhhh I don't have a good feeling about it

Offense should be fine but boy that D looked rough, I suspect they'll play better but I don't believe in sudden miraculous improvements week to week and that may be what is required

I will not be there and I'm kind of ticked about it even though I knew months in advance I wouldn't be able to.

I, too, think Tennessee will be able to score points on their defense. I doubt we average 7 YPC or whatever we did against Bowling Green but we should be able to run the ball well against them.

Maybe I will sound like an idiot after the game but I am not worried about our secondary just yet. Go back and watch all the defensive snaps from last week. We were in man to man cover zero the entire time...that's as vanilla as it gets. Getting Kelly and Martin should make a difference too.

I think the game will boil down to these matchups


- Tennessee DL vs Oklahoma OL

I just realized that OU is starting freshmen at both tackle spots. We have a plethora of pass rushers to throw at these guys and this will be the biggest key to beating them. Do not let Mayfield get comfortable. Now is the time for Mckenzie and Tuttle to step up in DOB's absence.

- Tennessee DB vs Oklahoma WR

OU has some good wideouts and Sterling Shepard is their main guy on the outside. He's not a big WR but he's the type that could make one guy miss and take it to the house. If Martin is healthy enough to play a lot of snaps, I would like to see Janitors put Sutton in the slot and have him follow Shepard around all game. We should see Tennessee in a lot more zone either way.

- Tennessee OL vs Oklahoma front seven

This is what killed us last year with Striker and Co. pinning their ears back every play no matter the down and distance. Negative yardage plays absolutely kill a HUNH offense. I think we can win the matchup due to Dobbs' running ability, an improved Hurd + Kamara and an improved OL. I know it was just Bowling Green but these guys looked way better than they did in any game last year. We should know just how good they truly are after this test.

Samia and Brown started their game against Akron last week. I was confused too because every depth chart I came across had St. John at RT but that wasn't the case last week.

Ah, my bad then. I didn't watch, and was just going off depth charts. I'll take it.

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Forgot to mention the other day: it was really nice to see us go under center inside the 5; that's been something I've wanted to see for awhile. This post was edited on 9/9 at 10:58 pm

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YES! Thank god. I'm not saying you have to do it all the time but AT LEAST it should be an option we can use

I think we are all a little anxious about this one. Another loss in this environment and it's "frick, here we go again". Get a win and this could be an exciting season.

This isn't a must win, but these are games we have to start winning at some point. Neyland will be absolutely electric Saturday night...it will be a huge letdown to come out and lay an egg.

Only beating the bottom feeders and a mediocre SC won't cut it this year.

Same here. I'm ready for Saturday. I stole the wall of text below from VQ tonight. Somebody got on one of the OU sites and copied what their posters were saying after their game with Akron. Positive news for the good guys

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the right side of our OL is pretty bad. that #90 wore down in the second quarter, but in the 1st quarter he was living in our backfield. some of our best runs were when we let kasitati's guy overpenetrate and run behind him.mayfield is going to send someone to the hospital this season during a TD celebration and it might be himselfwhere did we find this baxter kid? he is kind of a mini josh norman - someone who makes everyone around him seem better than they arewide receivers are 100% better than last year (even with the drops). massive kudos for that move...mayfield didn't really start playing well until that guy on the akron sideline headbutted him to slow him downmayfield resembles manziel in a lot of ways - bad mechanics, bad arm position, a cannon, logic defying great accuracy. he is only missing one thing - elusiveness - and that sends him from super exciting to "he's not going to finish the season" status. dude needs to stop running the ball.he hit a receiver in the chest north of 80% of his throws. so many dropshis best throw is still the back shoulder. unfortunately, only one receiver (neal) knows how to catch one of them.both running backs are really good, but with this OL they'll be lucky to have many yards. In the first half, there were 2-3 DL in the backfield on every playshepherd needs to start getting on the ground. he takes way too much awkward punishment for 1 extra yard. getting upended on that punt return, legs cut out of bounds, body slammed on that long reception...tight ends got their quota of receptions for the year in one game

Defense
it is amazing how players don't really change over their career. sanchez has never been able to handle defensive success. we go 5 series without allowing a 1st down and then he falls asleep and bites on a double move.i'm upgrading our linebackers from bottom 2 to bottom 5 in the conference. they still can't finish plays on the opponent side of the line of scrimmage, but they made a couple of plays that would have previously gone for big yards. their tackling still annoys me (why do you always give them 3 more yards?). their getting off blocks still annoys me. but they are improved over last year. barely.when akron started running the ball, they went to the typical blueprint for success against us. leave 2 DL free and putting OL on the linebackers. one of the DL is blocked by scheme, the other is left 1 on 1 in space with a running back and no support. works. every. time.saddest play I saw was one akron OL blocking all 3 of our linebackersbest play was devonte bond running on late and the QB running right into himour pass defense is really bad. we were busting coverages left and right. had Bowden ran that Pohl guy all game they might have had 21+ points.Dimon did pretty well for being undersized, the question is whether he can keep it up against better teamsstryker may be getting the nickname "drive by" soon. he needs to hit the qb not run past themDL overall was pretty good. we had some pretty good explosion into the backfieldsecondary run support was pretty bad in the few opportunities they had to come up. hitting guys 15 yards downfield is not a recipe for success.

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I'll be there, I think the Vols pull it out but nothing would surprise me.

You be care meow and stay hydrated meow. Also remember meow if some jackass sooner starts actin too big for his britches meow you take that #7 bottle ( meow empty of course) and bash it up side his head meow