THE DAY AFTER - FLORIDA:
A WIN IS A WIN IS A WIN...BUT...
We knew it heading in...c’mon, how could you not know!?!
It was Florida week after all, meaning no matter how the season is going for your team, no matter what the win-loss records are for each team, and no matter what the “sharps” at the books believe, there are no guarantees when Tennessee plays Florida. Ever. Even in a season where our opponents Head Coach is likely in his last season as Head Coach, you assume nothing. And man, did the Vols ever reinforce that rationale on Saturday night!
We all had put the Arkansas debacle behind us, and got into the mindset that everything is still in front of us...go 6-1 in the last 7 games, and the Vols still secure a spot in the College Football Playoffs. A split with Alabama and Georgia will get you into the Field of 12...provided you win the other games. You know, Kentucky, Vandy, Mississippi St., Florida...yeah, those guys...the team that was a 14.5 point dog at game time. What could go wrong?
Well, for the first half, on a picture-perfect Fall Saturday night, it ALL went wrong! Tennessee took the opening kickoff, drove over 50 yards with a fair amount of efficiency and tempo, and then...on a botched handoff between Nico Iamaleava and Dylan Sampson at the Florida 24, the Vols coughed the ball up to the Gators. That was as close to scoring as Tennessee would get in the first half. The Vol defense kept it close, exhibiting their reliable shutdown tendencies, and kept Florida, who was actually running productive offense, out of the end zone, and limited to just a field goal. Good thing, because the Vols offense looked unimaginative, pedestrian, a bit spooked to be honest. Nico throwing a terrible INT, the Vols recklessly going for it on 4th & 1 deep, and I mean DEEP in their own territory...they converted that 4th down, but, it felt like Tennessee Football was in the “upside down”, and after last weekend’s horrific performance at Arkansas, this was the worst possible scenario, playing itself out right in front of our very eyes. Florida up 3-0 at half...the Vols second consecutive scoreless first half of football in a week’s time.
Things got a little better in the second half, which was largely because Dylan Sampson is the best running back in college football not named Ashton Jeanty. #6 put the Vols on his back in the second half and carried them to reverse a 10-0 deficit and take a 17-10 lead late in the game. But then the Vol defense bent if only for a moment, but allowed Florida to tie the game with :30 seconds left (BTW, special thanks to soon to be ex-Florida Coach Billy Napier for not nuttin’ up and going for a two-point conversion to win the game in regulation...I mean, what did he have to lose? But I digress...), leading to an overtime showdown. Just what we needed...more mind-numbing football!
In overtime, the Vols D did what they do (shout out to Mssrs. Pearce, Norman-Lott, and McCoy for ballin’ out on defense and keeping this game close for so long), shut down the Gators, and then Tennessee promptly pushed the ball down to the goal line, at which point, Dylan Sampson punched in his third TD of the night, and propelled the Vols to a 23-17 win in a battle of which team sucked less!
Hey, as I said at the top of this piece, a win against Florida is nothing to take for granted, and this team is 5-1, but I’d like to play a little game of “cause and effect” here, because if Tennessee wants to move forward and make that 5-1 record become 6-1, the very same things that I said on Friday’s episode of Under Review are still mission critical to the Vols being postseason worthy...and I saw nothing on Saturday that indicates they improved on those “non-negotiables” that I referred to. So, to restate it:
First, the penalties people...it’s become a liability! 6 more on Saturday night...mostly on our offense. That takes the Vols to a total of 33 penalties in their 4 games against Power 5 opponents so far. I believe that sloppiness is a by-product of offensive line play that is a problem...for Tennessee! That ineptitude in the trenches leads to what I feel is not only conservative, but downright fearful play-calling on offense, which leads to the situation with Nico. For a position and a player that needs to be rooted in pace, poise, and confidence, all of a sudden it feels as if Nico has little to none of those attributes that appeared to be in his DNA at the start of the season. When was the last time we’ve seen a dime from him to one of our receivers? What about one of those beautiful strikes in the middle of the field, when our receivers catch it without breaking stride...I don’t recall one of those connections since Donte Thornton in the first half at Oklahoma. Instead, I’m seeing a quarterback running for his life seemingly every play, and throwing erratically. He’s still my QB1...I believe in Nico, but there are so many things that are collapsing around him that frankly has to be getting into his head out there, so we’re not seeing what we really paid for. And then this inefficiency on offense put more pressure on a great defense, but it’s getting stress tested these past few weeks. It’s ALL connected...cause and effect! These are the items that absolutely must be resolved if Tennessee is to knock off a team like Alabama on Saturday. Sure, the Tide isn’t exactly rolling like we’ve seen in years past, but they’re still a Top 10 team that has supremely gifted athletes all over the field...many, many more than what we’ve seen from Arkansas and Florida...maybe combined!
At the end of the day, as the sayings go, the Vols “live to fight another day”, they “survived and advanced”, they “won the game in front of them and will move on to the next one...one game at a time”. And somehow, after two weeks in football purgatory for the Vols, the road to the College Football Playoffs remains wide open, and it’s all there for the taking, right in front of the boys...you can assume that this weekend is akin to a playoff game for both teams...here’s hoping we’re talking about a memorable, comprehensive reboot of Tennessee Football this time next week!
