Watching the game last night I saw a few things that stick out to me. First, our PPV coverage on the "Vol Network" is absolutely awful. You could not see the players numbers or names, half the time it looked as if the entire screen was a piece of aluminum foil. It is bad. Is this the best you guys can do?
The defense still has some issues. We did get a couple of key stops and did force turnovers, but we also allowed some major yardage. What makes this game worse than the Cal game was where the yards came from. We showed a lack of run defense in the first game. Against Southern Miss we gave up only ninety yards. Forty-eight of that going to the QB Young. What worries me is that I thought we had a fairly solid pass defense. With a lot of talent and experience in the linebackers and secondary that was our strength. We gave up 264 yds passing with 127 going to one receiver including a sixty-nine yard touchdown. What the???? We did though, only allow 108 yards of offense and 3 pts in the second half. Really have to work on some holes in the defense, because from what I have seen Florida is pretty stellar on offense, I do not want to get into a gunslinger type shootout with them.
Offensively we looked pretty solid again. thirty-nine points on a pretty balanced offensive front. With 193 yards rushing and 276 yards passing with only two late turnovers I was pretty pleased. Erik was a very efficient 23 of 36 with two touchdowns and still NO INTERCEPTIONS. Arian Foster looked good with 125 yards on 23 carries and two touchdowns. Now to the SHOCKER for some, we had a great night receiving. Ainge spread the ball around and picked the Golden Eagle Defense apart. Three receivers stepped up to the line and took the reins in leading the offense. Meachem, Swain,and Smith are back? Nope. Let me introduce you to Lucas Taylor, Austin Rogers, and Josh Briscoe. They combined for two touchdowns, with Rogers and Taylor both amassing over 100 yards apiece (112 rogers, 118 taylor.) Maybe piece by piece we are starting to put this thing together. "The potential has always been there, so we aren't shocked that they're where they're supposed to be every time," Ainge said about his new top pass catchers.
Special Teams also showed some signs of life. And it came from some unexpected role players. For the first time in recent memory, we did not have a Colquitt handling punts. I understand the bloodline will only last so long, but it was weird to see. Still sore from a pulled quad muscle Britton, remained on the sidelines. Daniel Lincoln also stepped up to the plate and was perfect from the field on both field goals and PATs. Fulmer said he opted not to use Colquitt for punting or kicking responsibilities because he was still sore from punting in the Cal game with a lingering muscle pull. Fulmer said he was pleased with how Lincoln and punter Chad Cunningham have performed in his place.
"Lincoln, our young kicker, and Cunningham, our young punter, came through for us," Fulmer said. "Britton might have been able to play, but we took the chance that the youngster would get it done."
"Lincoln, our young kicker, and Cunningham, our young punter, came through for us," Fulmer said. "Britton might have been able to play, but we took the chance that the youngster would get it done."
