Quarterbacks B
Erik Ainge was good, but not great in completing 22 of his 36 passes with two touchdowns and an interception. The pick was a toss-up throw on third down, but he seemed to sail a few balls late in the game. Drops hurt his completion numbers.
Running Backs B
UT's backs were solid again for the second week in a row. High marks especially for Arian Foster, who averaged 6.6 yards a carry and finished with 139 yards. Montario Hardesty picked up the tough yards. More drops, however, than catches in the passing game. LaMarcus Coker was all but invisible, due to a head injury.
Receivers B-
Lucas Taylor gets an A-plus for his career-high 186 yards and 11 catches. Austin Rogers (3 catches for 28 yards) was less than impressive, dropping a wide open touchdown and at least one other pass. Good run blocking, and tight end Chris Brown's four catches, keep the grade at above average.
Offensive Line A
The Vols averaged 5.7 yards per rush Saturday, and UT's line didn't allow a sack for the fourth straight game. Ainge has now gone 218 straight passes without being sacked. Consistently opened holes and backside blocking allowed cutbacks. The Vols' 211 yards were a season-high.
Defensive Line C-
Very little in the way of pressure (one late sack by Antonio Reynolds, one hurry by Demonte' Bolden) against a true freshman quarterback, but the group rebounded from a fast start by Mississippi State on the ground. J.T. Mapu was quiet again, one week after reclaiming his starting spot. Bolden was again a bright spot, as was Dan Williams (five tackles) and Xavier Mitchell (tipped pass, three tackles).
Linebackers C
Active btoh against the run and in the passing game, led by Rico McCoy's team-high nine tackles and a tackle for loss. Ryan Karl had five tackles and a team-high three pass breakups. Jerod Mayo didn't exactly impress. As a whole good in run support.
Secondary C-
Brent Vinson dropped a pair of interceptions, as did Marsalous Johnson. Both however, set career highs in tackles with five each and combined for three pass break ups. Jonathan Hefney was beaten badly on Mississippi State's last touchdown play. Corners had difficulty adjusting to slant routes.
Special Teams C
Daniel Lincoln was the highlight, booting four field goals. All those came after he missed a 26-yard field goal, his first misfire of the season. Britton Colquitt punted well. UT's coverage teams were solid, and Hefney was better on punt returns. A muffed kickoff by Lennon Creer and Colquitt's kick out of bounds keep marks low.
Coaching B
Tennessee appeared to be caught off guard by the Bulldogs' passing game early, but made the necessary adjustments as the game wore on. Credit David Cutcliffe for sticking with the run again and pushing the right buttons on a direct snap to Foster and letting Ainge stretch the field to Taylor. UT's staff had the Vols ready to play and made the adjustments to avoid an upset.
Overall B-
Not flawless by an stretch, but Tennessee got the job done in what had all the trappings of a possible upset. The end result keeps UT in the hunt for the SEC East, and that's all that matters.
Memorable moments in Pat Summitt's…
Tennessee's signing class for 2012
Phillip Fulmer through the years
Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group
Comments » 77
FatherVol writes:
"Drops hurt his completion numbers" -- And you use that to lower his grade? He delivered. He can't help what teh receivers do with the ball.
Did the backs' grade go down because of Coker's head injury?
Can't figure you or your system out, Drew.
alfrizzle097 writes:
Mississippi State isn't that far from being a contender. I can easily see them filling the niche in the west that South Carolina filled in the east under Lou Holtz. That is a solid second teir team. They are capable of beating good teams (see Auburn) but will not challenge for west titles as long as Croom is there.
spudvol writes:
Can we give and F to the guy broadcasting the game with Will Overstreet? I felt bad for Will having to work with the guy. He kept calling the wrong players even having some of them in wrong positions. I thought the first couple of times was just brain farts, but he was doing it ALL game!
vol4good#206163 writes:
you know TD TN, I used to think your opinions mattered, now I think you are just bitter and I have tired of you. I really hope your world improves.
thevol writes:
Sorry your Saturday sucked Touchdowntn. My was fun, but I like watching Tennessee win. Do agree the broadcasting wasn't very good but who really cares, I was watching the Vols. I did think it was funny that they kept calling the field goal miss a 16 yarder(impossible). Good old SEC football. I thought the running backs looked very good. Foster made nice reads and cuts. Hardesty is on the verge of becoming a star. Taylor was a star. Bama week now. Go Big Orange!
DannyVol writes:
TouchdownTN,
Your glass is half empty, Sir. Sell all your orange gear at a garage sale and let it be done.
utmdm writes:
I'd say an F is too high a grade. Just paste a zero on the broadcaster.
mikeinknoxville writes:
When you have to degrade the broadcasting to find a negative your world must be the pits. Bet you were at Pompeii rooting on the volcano.
A win is a win. Rarely is a win over Miss st. very pretty. Foster and the offensive line played a great game. Hardesty made the most of his time in. Ainge played a solid game. Defensive adjustments were made when needed. The results are another sec win. In a year where the mighty keep tumbling it's survive and carry on.
OldNumber7 writes:
My heavens this defense is porous.
usnavyvolfaninva_still_getting_paid writes:
two bottomdwellers? I'm confused, I thought UT had only one SEC loss.
usnavyvolfaninva_still_getting_paid writes:
Here in VA, didn't get to see the UT/Miss St. game, but did get to watch LSU/UK. What a finish! It will be quite an accomplishment if the Vols can run the table! Let's start with 'Bama!!
Wilhelm16 writes:
How long is Austin Rogers going to be in the starting line-up? I love the Vols as much as anyone and I don't like to make negative posts, but He continues to drop easy passes. He showed a lot of toughness after getting hit in the mouth, but he has to catch the easy ones. You don't get too many so you have to make them count.
Defense is getting better. Not the play youd like to see but better than it was. They are playing with more emotion.
We will BEAT BAMA.
volfan53 writes:
I always enjoy a Vol win no matter how they got it. If you remember 98 we had some ugly wins that year. Go Vols, beat Bama. For all you fans who can only find negative things to say about the Vols may I suggest you just keep those comments to yourself.
k0605#241765 writes:
I agree with an F for the tv broadcasting crew. They kept saying Lincoln missed a 16 yarder over and over and over when it was obvious it was 10 yards longer. Maybe they don't know the goalpost isn't on the goal line.
vol88 writes:
I didn't think the win was too ugly...long drives...1 turnover. Just b/c Ainge doesn't throw for 375 yards doesn't make it an ugly game.
State is close to being a contender.
bigvoltrumpet writes:
I live in Tuscaloosa now guys (my company moved me here, still waiting on the punch line of that joke). Anytime we get a win, no matter how it looks, I get to go to work happy and brag. Especially since State beat Bama last year. Stupis Bama fans that work for me, drives me crazy.
I was at the game yesterday, when I left I was questioning Foster's play...He was not protecting the ball, basically asking for it to be stripped, also did not think he looked too impressive. Then Hardesty I thought looked outstanding, very powerful, very strong. Like a true Tennessee back. Then I see Foster had almost 140 yards, and 6.6 per carry. On paper we really did look great, bit watching it I just saw mistake after mistake. I did feel like Fulmer coiached a great game. I am still on the fence with him, I want him to show us what he can do!
LASTLY, did anyone else here in the starting line ups at the game where they announced Fulmer? "And now for Tennessee, in his 16th season, the dean of SEC coaches, Phillip Fulmer." thought that was a little odd at an opposing SEC stadium, guess they aren't used to good talent in Starkville.
GO VOLS!
BEAT BAMA!
I will be flying the car flags all week here in T-Town.
littletheyknow writes:
Last week I said TN needed to win big over MS, but I think this win was great. TN has to keep playing hard on D and the O line keep blocking for the run and you will see TN in Atlanta. If you can't see the improvement TN has shown then you are not watching what I'm watching or you just don't know football. There were a few missed tacles but tell me one team who doesn't miss a tackle. TN is not perfect but they are a very good team. There are 11 guys on the other side of the ball and if they couldn't play they wouldn't be there. TN will coach and play this thing out, if you think you can do better get youself some pads or find your own team to coach. TN 24 - AL 10 GO VOLS
vol98 writes:
A win on the road is a win on the road. Ask LSU. I think these gradings are ridiculously low. No it wasn't the dominating performance of last week, but you aren't going to do that every week. Does anybody else watch other games. Very rarely do even the "top" teams in the SEC or Nation look flawless without mistakes. Sometimes fans expect too much. If Rogers catches that ball, it may have looked a whole lot prettier. Overall, I'd say after the first quarter we won the physical match ups. Surprised we didn't play the slants better after the 20th time. Hefney with a personal foul and getting beat for TD is still disappointing from All SEC.
vol98 writes:
Does anybody know the rule when receiver and DB have hands on ball. I thought it went to receiver. This is the second time (Florida) this has gone against us. I saw about the same thing in the Ole Miss game and they called it a catch, although reversed b/c he stepped OOB. Ole Miss guy did end up with ball, but it was after he was down by contact. I'm confused and the announcers don't even mention it, granted with yesterday's announcers and CBS', I don't expect. Who was that guy? Oh yeah, Rogan...duh
Colliervol writes:
Wrong TN. Ole Miss, Vandy and Arkansas are the bottom dwellers. I've never seen teams find so many ways to lose games they should have won yesterday.
CrankE writes:
Listened to almost all of the game. Would love to hear Bob actually call out important information. He provides a summary of the play once it's over. John Ward would give it to you as it happened.
I would like for UT to have scored a couple more TDs instead of kicking FGs. Would have made for much less drama and fewer cowbells. MSU wasn't really put away until the last FG made it a 12 point lead.
imnotwithphil writes:
I think the overall grade of B- is correct - the Vols did what they had to do - but were not impressive. That said, we won't know how good this team is until we play a team with a solid offense... and we won't see one of those until USC comes a call'n.
gohawks1 writes:
carolinababe - interesting article, but there were some inaccuracies found there. Fulmer is in his 16th season, not the 14th as the article stated. His bowl record from '99 to present is 3-4, not 2-4. There may be others, but those two caught my eye.
yeavols#228407 writes:
Grades are reasonable. The Defense once again didn't look too stellar. Guess we'll just have to wait and see what next week looks like. It appears that after the LSU/KY game, we could go down at Kentucky. What a year.
georgiavol91#379211 writes:
Will SOMEBODY fire Bob K? He is terrible!
And I find it hard to believe that we have no other wide recievers that are not at least as fast and can catch better than Rogers. The kid does well in getting open, but there's no point to him playing until he can catch the dadgum ball.
rootin4volz writes:
Hey TouchdownTN...Your name is way too positive for your outlook...Why don't you change it to FumbleTN, or NegativeNancyTN? You know what you are? You're sour grapes, dude, sour grapes. How about shutting your pie hole now.
spudvol writes:
I am pretty sure we lined up at the negative one yardline before missing that 16 yard field goal!
bigorangesob writes:
I don't know about the other recievers but O'Neal is apparently having blocking problems as well as route running issues, yeah hes fast but if he's not in the right spot when he's supposed to be keep his ass on the bench
Pullingguard writes:
There has to be better receivers on the sidelines than Austin Rogers. He has dropped more wide open passes than the total number of catches he has made. Mystery why O'Neal has not been given a chance, and Vols coaching never inserts players into the real action to give them chance.. Makes me wonder about Troopers decision making. For Vols to make the run the receivers have to step up and play better, for you cannot have one receiver (Taylor) doing it all.
londonvol writes:
This is what happens when you follow a legend, most fail, Ward to Kesling equals a dropped ball!
jandjhome#228397 writes:
Pullingguard,Fulmer runs the show.He should be known as "coach override"Just ask Randy Sanders.jcvet I agree with you on the pet system. Th VOLs did a pretty good job yesterday, a win on the road in the SEC is good no matter what. The O line should get the award for the most improvement.
wisonsinvol writes:
What game were you watching or how much were you drinking?
Quarterback A- the only thing he did wrong was throw the ball too quickly three times. The int slipped out of his hand when he was throwing to Taylor who had two steps on the defender. Big whoop - otherwise a good game.
Runningbacks A- good YAC, good attitude, hard running, good decision making. Dropped a couple of passes.
Receivers B+ Nice game by Taylor but drops by Briscoe and Rogers need to be fixed. Good tough catches over the middle.
OL A+ Opened holes, no QB sacks and not too many hurries. Biggest Dline they have played and they won the batte.
DL B+ Played their gaps well. Two runs for big yardage came when DLineman knocked each other out of the play or both would have been stopped. Take those two long runs away and the big back averages 2.5 yards per carry. MSU QB was throwing the slant all day. Nobody can pressure a QB when he is throwing the ball on a two step drop.
Please, if you are going to grade the game, at least watch it.
yabadabadoo1026 writes:
Thevol I agree with you---------Hardesty doesnt look like the same runner as last year when he was dancing up into the line softly---------he is exploding thru, fast and stong , running hard and breaking tackles and working for every inch--been impressive
invisiblekid writes:
A win is a win is a win but it's hard to find much comfort in yet another game with an overmatched opponent within a TD going into the fourth.
invisiblekid writes:
Tend to agree with the defensive grades, they made a freshman QB look like an all SEC caliber player for 3 quarters. I think I would drop the coaching a grade though. Less than a day after an article about how well the Vols were doing in the penalty department, they get 7 for 72 yards. Also, they seemed slow to adjust to what the Bulldogs were doing in the passing game, changing coverages up some would help.
Wilhelm16 writes:
Some of those penalties were b.s. They called us for a block in the back and when they showed the replay I didn't see it. Hefney was already in the air and couldn't stop himself on the hit out of bounds.
cwisenhower#637741 writes:
I was at the game. Rogers dropped 2 TD's. Lucas Taylor's big TD reception was right in front of me. I didn't have to listen to crappy broadcasting on PPV thank God. Mississippi State actually brought a game to us. It was fun, but i was getting horrible reactions to my cheering from the State fans. Go figure.
xxorangecrush100xx writes:
Man! You epitomize the reason people around the country hate UT .. please go pull for another team, you're poison to our fans like Kelly Washington was poison to our team.
yeavols#228407 writes:
We have one quality win against a rotten opponent (GA) who barely beat Vandy. MSU, average, pooped out in the end or it would have been very different. I'll just keep hoping we can get better before the AL, SC, ARK, and KY game. If not..I am still not going to that dern Peach bowl.
99gator writes:
i deal with this same garbage on gator chat sites. i don't get certain fans.
let me clue you all in on a few things.
tennessee is not the new england patriots.
when the other team completes a pass, makes a first down, scores, forces tennessee to punt, etc, it does not mean that coaches or players screwed it up. sometimes things happen.
tennessee is not supposed to win every game 63-0.
you won a game in the league on the road and from what i can make out, controlled the game from start to finish.
be happy. my goodness.
99gator writes:
florida got killed by tenn in 1990. they got killed by nebraska in the fiesta bowl. they have gotten killed by florida state in 1992. it happens. it's not fun, but it happens. the year florida lost to tenn 45-3 in 1990, florida beat a top 5 auburn team a few weeks later 48-7. things happen. tenn has a chance to win the sec east and who knows what else in one of the craziest years i can remember in college football.
99gator writes:
oh by the way, the in 1990 tenn beat florida 45-3. florida won the sec. not recognized because of probation, but you get the point
GrandCanyonVol writes:
This team is not a great team. It is probably a good team, who can win on any given day and lose on any given day. You must outcoach people nowadays. I think we have a problem with that sometimes. Have been following UT sports a long time and have had a lot of enjoyment doing so. But, over the years I have realized that knowing where you are going when you die is what is really important. I still enjoy every win, but I also enjoy knowing my final destination in Eternity. Football is a game. Eternity is not!!!!
ksteelescvol writes:
That rotten GA team we beat knocked off bama in a night game in T town. Ask AUBURN if MSU is an average team. Our teams gonna make mistakes because we got some young guys in there especially in the secondary. I am worried about the ol ball coach though, we couldn't cover the slant when Pinkston was qb for the Cocks. Its BAMA week boys it doesn't get any better than this....
andy112382#209793 writes:
TouchdownTN, why are you still talking? Didn't you say we would lose bad to Georgia like you are saying about SC now? Possibly MSU?
Cheer up, man. Pull for your team for a change.
Great win! Keep it up and win the rest of'em! Back to the top 20 today! GO VOLS!!!
finn writes:
Most of you guys are starting to sound like auxillary members of the coaching staff. "a win is a win.' 'one game at a time' 'Miss St. is a real up and comer'..etc. I personally liked how Spurrier responded after the win over NC on Saturday. 'We got our butts kicked in the 2nd half and are lucky to get out here with a W.' No bullsh$t, no excuses. I would kill to see that kind of accountability by Fulmer.
hglover40#234154 writes:
TouchdownTN - Fulmer has NOT "out recruited everyone in the SEC save Florida for many years" : Average recruiting class from rivals for the last 5 years in the SEC -
GA 6
LSU 8
TN 10
FL 10
Auburn 13
And I think GA and LSU have three out of the last 5 championships. And the only one on this list with a better SEC record the last five than TN and a lower recruiting average is Auburn. You should check your facts before opening your mouth. Just an FYI, I would not wish you to look silly.
flstf writes:
Beat Bama.
DenmarkVol_aka_Mbumburu writes:
Re O'Neal -- if he's the fastest guy on the team, why not let him return punts and/or kickoffs? Can he hang onto the ball? We need somebody to BUST one every now and then. And Hefney just doesn't seem to be the guy.
pj_ladyvolnMI writes:
99gator...hey, the past couple of weeks you've been messing with my head by making me like you (like Tebow, a nice guy)...unlike some other folks from other random SEC schools that come on here and trash talk. Thanks...but we still want to win the east. :-) pj
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