Tennessee Stat Book
QUARTERBACK C
Nick Stephens avoided making costly mistakes in the way of turnovers, completing 16 of 28 passes for 137 yards and a TD. But Stephens inability to make the proper checks and reads at the line put the Vols' offense at a disadvantage against a sturdy Tide defense.
RUNNING BACKS C-
Arian Foster ran hard to get 21 yards on six carries, and also had three catches for 32 yards. Montario Hardesty and Lennon Creer were bottled up throughout the night, combining for 19 yards on 11 carries. No explosive element.
RECEIVERS D-
The Vols greatly missed playmaker Gerald Jones, as Eric Berry's token appearance netted only 3 yards on the only play he received. Austin Rogers was not fast enough to catch up to a Stephens' deep pass, and Lucas Taylor and Luke Stocker each had drops. Stocker also had two penalties, and Taylor was flagged on a questionable pass interference.
OFFENSIVE LINE D+
A decent push in some short yardage run situations was a welcome sight, but Chris Scott had two costly penalties: a procedure penalty moved the Vols back on a first-and-goal at the Tide 5, and Scott was whistled for a hold that wiped out a 13-yard gain in the pivotal third quarter.
DEFENSIVE LINE C-
Robert Ayers was active in first half but not nearly as effective when he was forced to move to tackle after Dan Williams' injury. Williams had been strong in the gaps prior to his injury. Demonte Bolden had a silly personal foul penalty.
LINEBACKERS D
Rico McCoy was credited with 13 tackles, but many of them were too far down field and McCoy was often knocked back. Ellix Wilson had nine stops and Nevin McKenzie one. Nick Reveiz had a hard time holding his gaps.
SECONDARY B
Eric Berry had 11 tackles and some big hits, and Demetrice Morley was in on nine stops. Alabama picked on DeAngelo Willingham much of the game, as UT was forced into a great deal of man-to-man coverage to stop the run.
SPECIAL TEAMS C-
LaMarcus Thompson forced fumble on a Tide punt return and Dennis Rogan recovered at the 5 after Dustin Colquitt's 54-yard punt. Colquitt buried another punt at the Tide 3, but had a costly 22 yard-shank Daniel Lincoln hit a 31-yard field goal but missed on tries from 43 and 51 yards. Montario Hardesty blocked a punt. Punt return team was offsides on final drive, giving Tide a first down.
COACHING D+
A sound defensive scheme held the Tide in check most of the game, but UT's defense couldn't force any turnovers and eventually wore down. Offensive scheme lacked imagination on a night when the Vols needed big plays.
OVERALL D+
Tennessee needs to find a spark in its offense, somewhere, somehow, to make solid defense and special teams play a factor. The Vols' untimely offensive penalties and inability to capitalize on field position have become an all-to-familiar refrain. South Carolina poses yet another threat.
Tennessee's signing class for 2012
Tennessee defeats Georgia 3-2 in…
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Comments » 224
graphpro#231211 writes:
Fat Phil ..... See ya! Wouldn't want to be ya!
FedUpVolFan writes:
Ist!
FLAVOLS writes:
FFFFFFFFF for offense!!
jack_2222#231746 writes:
Anybody remember a more inept offense this late in the season?
MemphisVol writes:
it's time hamilton. do your job.
jimmy71#237592 writes:
na na na na, na na na, na na na, goodbye. Refs - FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF, so sick of that white capped ref making crappy calls against the vols, almost makes me want to blame the refs, until I remember the round mound of ineptitude
Involitrust writes:
D+ for coaching..... Ok.... now that's laughable. F- all the way.
If MH needs money from the VASF.. just ask and I'll go a grand with my orange clad brothers to get a NEW HFC. let's see..... 1000.00 x (times how many boosters?) Say the word... hell I'll go 5k is that helps!!!!!!
tenuscvol writes:
A lot of Nick's throws were good....I think he continues to improve but time will tell....
The top teams have great QB's and we need one and hopefully Nick can become that guy.....
GoVols!
UrbanCryer writes:
agree with qb grade, no mistakes but no big play capability, but hes just a soph. hard to give bad grades to the o line and running backs when the box is always stacked with 8 or 9(and always getting run blitzed) guys because youre recievers cant get any seperation. recievers f. defensive grades fine. coaching F-. what happened to the aggresive d in the second half. where did the blitzing go? tired of watching 10-12 play drives. in the 1st half when they were aggresive they had bammer in trouble....then ut's offense took the field. the worst part is losing doesnt even bother me that much anymore i almost have come to expect it. bye, bye clausen. can you say scapegoat?
BleedOrange writes:
Right on. I'm not sure if Fulmer can turn it around or not. I am sure this new blocking scheme of Clawson's isn't working in the SEC. This is a good group of linemen playing very poorly. Somethings not right.
elsinoresam writes:
Fulmer can't "turn it around" now, he'll be lucky to stop the out of control spinning and keep it out of the ditch. Mke Hmilton for goodness sakes don't let CHRIS PETERSON From Boise State get away.
sandman8323 writes:
is anyone left in here? Lets just burn this mother down and start from scratch it can't get any worse for tn football
utkell65 writes:
It's time Mike, do the deed!!!
cainclifton23 writes:
Why isn't EJ ABRAMS-WARD playing?
6'5 215 4.47
He has to be better than Rogers and Briscoe and Hancock.
Don't even have to tell you about Warren.
sandman8323 writes:
ha found ya
cainclifton23 writes:
Why does everyone want Boise ST. Coach!!!
They do not play anyone!
The beat Oklahoma in a trickplay fluke game.
What about when got POUNDED by UGA.
We do not need another little school coach. Clawson is enough
cainclifton23 writes:
Yea theres my boy Sandman speaking the truth
sandman8323 writes:
we need nfl veteran to come out of retirement and pop some young punks in the mouth
cainclifton23 writes:
Brent Vinson should be playing over willingham
sandman8323 writes:
i keep saying it but bill cowher is our man
cainclifton23 writes:
Singletary?
49ers interim head coach?
The most intense coach on the planet.
(Jeff Ulbrich is my cousin)
sandman8323 writes:
don't care if all freshmen play
DogAndPonyShow writes:
Anonymous GoVols rant posters who love to whine and cry about the poor state of Tennessee football, yet fill Neyland Stadium to capacity week after week - A+
If I were Mike Hamilton - I'd resign Fulmer to another contract extension AND raise ticket prices. Sure - online sites like FireFulmer.com would start popping up, and KNS forum postsers would overflow the internet with their rivers of e-tears, but gosh darn heck who cares!
Come Saturdays in Rocky Top?
Capacity crowds!
10 more years of Fulmer I say.
Who sank the once proud ship? The ones that kept showing up long after the show was over.
cainclifton23 writes:
I dont think we can get him, He makes way too much money working for FOX and will probably get another crazy offer from an NFL team with all there coaching jobs opening up.
He dont want NCAA.
Id like to have Tomlin though. the steelers coach now, or Mike Nolan or Lane Kiffen, he was a great coach, Al Davis is just an idiot
sandman8323 writes:
i am out of here time to sleep and dream of al wilson, peyton manning and willie gualt
cainclifton23 writes:
Haha I heard that sandman. see ya man
sandman8323 writes:
this was the last chance to but butts in the seats and recruites on the sideline. the titanic sunk in 3 ours fulmer just did the samething in 5 years. U tell me wicth one was harder to watch
sandman8323 writes:
ok sorry that had to be said later.
kantanuuv writes:
I'm very concerned about those who attended the game. Did any of you get trampled underfoot during the stampede to the parking lot in the 3rd quarter?
Seriously though, what better way to spend a Saturday evening than watching UT get humiliated by Alabama, my new favorite team for a week. Especially in front of 106,000....no wait, 90,000...wait wait.....30,000 fans.
Two of those fans apparently got a head start on trick or treat by wearing bags on their heads - masquerading as fans like Mr. Stephens masquerades as a QB.
Now I've been around Vol fans long enough to know that they never get beat by a superior team. It's always something else - the grass was too high, or Liberals raised their taxes, or (lately) the officials conspired against them. Like when they gift-wrapped UT's only touchdown with 2 bogus interference calls.
But there is a silver lining to this disaster. The players are still having fun. Like Mr. Briscoe, your top receiver. Even though he made some horrible mistakes, he laughed and joked with his buds on the sidelines all night.
I managed to laugh quite a bit myself.
memphistnvol writes:
Yeah, not to mention we can always count on Willingham to get at least one personal foul per game (at least, it seems that way).
cainclifton23 writes:
Stephans is not a bad QB. Hes not familiar with checkdowns and reads cause he hasnt been playing.
at least he doesnt turn the ball over look at the past two national champs they didnt have great qbs.
Matt Flynn and Chris Leak
nextyear writes:
I attended the game. Two SHOCKING POINTS to me:
1. The stands WERE full ... of Bama fans! I've never seen the visiting team fans take-over Neyland like this night. Crimson was everywhere, including the high donor section on the West side. Crimson was present in every section throughout the stadium. I'm sure the end of the game was like an Alabama home game. I left early in the 4th.
2. I've watched college football since the mid-1970's. I've never seen one coaching staff get so outcoached before. Alabama knew our plays on offense (and called the perfect defense many times ... the corner blitz on that stupid delayed hand-off fake comes to mind) and on defense (and called their perfect offensive play against our defense ... the raise up and just throw to the receiver wide open down the seam comes to mind .. UCLA beat us with that one play). We looked uncoached in the FLA game, and this time we looked outcoached to the EXTREME.
I can't imagine Fulmer being around next year. I hope he retires from coaching this week so the search can begin. I nominate BUTCH DAVIS, DENNIS ERIKSON, and ANYBODY WITHABRAIN.
rootin4volz writes:
Unfortunately, when your secondary grades out better than any other component of the team, you're in trouble. Not even in the 70's was there a team this dismal...hell, at least back then they won one or two that they weren't supposed to win! Totally disheartening.
FedUpVolFan writes:
Watching replay and listening to Vols radio broadcast.Yeah,I know.I have no life.
Ist Quarter:Vols:0 for 4 on third down conversions.The jump by left tackle Chris Scott killed us.Yes.He moved.I watched it in slow motion.
Our poor QB has no clue.Not his fault.Should have called time out before they blitzed and sacked him for a loss.Shanked punt led to 3 points for Bama.We came up a half a yard short of a third down.How?????
Rogers was open and pass was overthrown.Before that Lucas Taylor was wide open and no throw.
And that was just the Ist quarter.
Sad!
FedUpVolFan writes:
Amen!
You could not pay me enough to attend another game.This is heart wrenching to real fans.
Watching the replay and geting mad again.Blocked punt and all the offense can do is lose 2 years so we can miss a field goal?????
Anyone who keeps supporting this joke of a team is a traitor!
FedUpVolFan writes:
Yeah,yeah.Thats yards not years.Same thing with this offense.
FedUpVolFan writes:
4th down in 2nd quarter and a yard to go for a first.Ball on opposition's 3 yard line.What would Fulmer do?????
Kick a field goal.
Saban went for it, scored a TD, killed the TN crowd, and ballgame over,
All after Fulmer's stupid attempt at a 51 yard field goal.
slambob2#228938 writes:
Bama's a great team and they played a great game. The Vols lost for the usual reasons that teams lose:
1) Speical teams failure - how much energy was drained when Lincoln missed those two field goals. Bama rocked after the missed 51 yarder with a quick TD drive.
2) QB play - he missed reads that cost UT sacks and possession and couldn't identify (against a very tough D) open receivers.
3) Unforced errors - The false start at the 5 was emblematic of the undisciplined play of this UT team. And it cost UT the lead and all its momentum.
4) Questionable offiicating - phantom calls that change games in Bama's favor are a part of this rivalry. Phony Off. Pass interference, a quick whistle on a fumble resulting in a 14 point swing and an Bama tackle that held UT's DT closer than a newborn's momma couldn't shake loose a flag in a hurricane. But then, when is the last time you remember Bama not benefitting from several huge calls? That's just the way it is.
The coaching search begins. But I would recommend an AD search first.
98reax writes:
Kicking game, sad.
OLine, pathetic.
Defense, insignificant w/o offense.
Offense, MIA.
Discipline, none!
Coaching, possibly the worst I could ever imagine.
My attitude, indifferent.
eutefan writes:
Sometimes it seems so useless to remain -- David Allen Cole
BigVolOnBoard writes:
As a member of the local American Association of Grocers, we fully support Phil Fulmer and his appetite.
eutefan writes:
Ain't giving you no more hooch money... you'll just drink it up.
vol98champ writes:
How did the Jerry Green basketball virus infect our football team? I watched several basketball games in that era where we had much better talent than the opponents, but wouldn't play hard and either lost or barely won. Those teams had no pride. This football team should be ashamed of themselves. We have 5 or 6 guys playing their guts out and the rest of this mangy bunch laughing and having a good time loosing. I feel for Fulmer, but he recruited these losers. I would pay to see Saban take ours and Fulmer take there's and see what happens the rest of the season. I bet the laughing would stop.
babyhuey writes:
This game was a painful example of what happens when you start losing the players. When a WR blows a first down, and then sits laughing on the sideline, that shows that he has no respect for his coach or his team. This attitude seems to be carrying over to other players. Nick tried to do something about it, but a lot of the guys are just over it and aren't really into it any more. The D is a different matter. That was a gutty performance by a D that played 70% of the game. Berry is a first team All-American. They just had no chance when the O could not execute. CPF has now been exposed twice by Cutcliffe leaving. Please retire with dignity, Phil. The hay is in the barn, and you can rest now.
eutefan writes:
Looks like Berry is just as mortal as the next man when on offense. Guess we'll have to come up with another miracle.
In the meantime, how about letting Stephens check off when he sees a blitz coming, or the box is stacked?
And how about letting the O-line move around a little bit, getting some blocking angles?
babyhuey writes:
This is the worst I have felt about UT football since the North Texas debacle of 32 years ago.
thevoice writes:
Completely agree. Finally someone else gets it. Been trying to make this point for months now.
hmhawk writes:
I'm just a wage slave but I'll go a hundred if I have to put it on a credit card.
Madkels writes:
If you watched the GA-LSU game you saw great throws. Stafford was dead on with his throws and he was the difference in the game. If Nick could rise to that level, who knows.
txvolsfan writes:
Fulmer needs a job with FEMA, They have never evacuated anywhere as fast as that Neyland stadium evacuation!!!!
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