Pandemonium Reigns
Episode 161 - Tennessee gets a statement win
"First time in his collegiate playing career is going to have to walk into an opposing stadium that's going to be packed out, screaming "Boomer!" "Boomer!" "Tana C!" "Boomer!" "Not today!" "Pandamoriama Reigns!" "Tana C!" gets its first top 15 road win since 2006 when they played Georgia in Athens. Eric Ainge was your quarterback. Oklahoma suffers its first double-digit loss in Norman since 2016. Balls are up to number 5 in the AP poll. What's this the biggest win in Josh Hypos' tenure at Tennessee? Thank you so much for hanging out with me. My name's Dan. This is Pandemonium Reigns. So excited to talk this game over with you. And I just want to say thank you before we get into this for spending your time with me. Allowing me to tickle your ears as we talk a Tennessee victory over Oklahoma 25 to 15. Got a couple different ways that I want to break down this time together with you. One segment I just want to talk about explosive plays. Another segment I want to talk about how this game was really impacted by two plays. Really, really impacted by not saying that these two plays dictated the outcome. But they were highly indicative of this game. Hope I use that word in its right context. And finally just want to give out some game balls. Before we do all that, let's ask this question. Was this the biggest game of Josh Hypos' career at Tennessee? I mean, you all heard what he said post-game after this thing was over. You could see in his post-game interview how much this one meant to him. He was emotional on the field in the post-game interview. Looking around, his eyes are usually fixed to the reporter. As she was getting started, his eyes were kind of looking around to see who was around him. He was obviously making contact with friends and old acquaintances that he had spent time with. And Norman Oklahoma. So this game obviously meant something to him. And I think this one was a really, really important win for him to get with this being, you know, Oklahoma's first game in the SEC and welcoming them, so to speak, to this conference. And this is a guy who normally just does not show a lot of emotion. He usually keeps things really close to his best. I want you to listen to some of the things that he said once this game was over. You probably heard this, but just want to highlight it for you. This game was never about me coming back here, not for this football team. I say all that, but they also understood that this one was a little bit different for me personally too. You're going to have to read between the lines on that one. He's not just laying it out there for you, but this one obviously meant something to him. Obviously meant something to him and the vindication that he had to feel as Bob Stoops looks down onto the field, as Tennessee has just flexed their muscles over a blue blood program of this sport. And really, Tennessee etching its name or starting to etch its name back into elite status of this sport. But Hypell goes on to say that that's not what this is all about, but I do appreciate their recognition. He says in the locker room afterwards to his team, I appreciate you all having a little extra for me as he is fighting the emotion that you can tell he's trying to swallow it here. He says, "I love you guys. I really mean that. I'm proud of you. I'm proud of how you've grown. Our best is still out in front of us." Asked where the game ball was going to go, Hoppel says it's going to go into the office for sure. If you didn't see that, Nico actually twice once the game ends and in the locker room gives Coach Hypell game ball. I can't say I've ever recalled a moment where players give their coach a game ball. But good for Josh Hypell, man. What a story. Even if you're not a Tennessee fan, you have to appreciate the authenticity. You have to appreciate the genuineness, the storyline and the narrative that took place on Saturday. And how things just kind of came full circle for Josh Hypell when he gets his coaching start after winning a national championship as their quarterback gets a coaching start in Norman, Oklahoma. Becomes the offensive coordinator is relieved of his duties to put it nicely. Fies around over the country, spends time at Utah State at Missouri head coach at UCF finally before he takes over the Tennessee job. The stars align where Oklahoma comes into this conference. Their first conference game, hosting Josh Hypell. Dude, what a story line. Real quick. I want to end this by saying this. My wife and I have this conversation what feels like quite often. She loves dramas and romantic comedies and stuff like that. And then it drives me nuts because those dramas and the movies, they're all scripted. This is genuine. This is organic. This naturally happened. This sport literally has everything. And just props to Josh Hypell, man. So glad that he is our head coach, that he is the head coach of the University of Tennessee. You know, Michael sends me a text earlier and says basically that we've got a good one. And I respond with he's arguably more honorable than Philip Falmer. Arguably more honorable than Philip Falmer. If Hypell can add a title to this resume in his time of Tennessee, might go down as one of the greatest, one of the greatest, lowdown, you're kneeling lovers, one of the greatest in Tennessee history. But nonetheless, let's jump into the rest of this episode. Alright, so here what I want to do is I want to talk about two plays that really, really impacted this game. I'm not saying that they necessarily determine the outcome, that if you take these plays away from this game, that you obviously have a different result because they were so impactful. And I'm not saying it changes the final outcome as far as the win lost column, but it could arguably definitely change the narrative of the rest of the game and obviously the scoreboard. So in the second quarter, 13 minutes, 55 seconds left, we are in a third and five situation. Dane Davis whiffs on Blitzer Robert Spears Jennings. Nico is hit on his throat. He fumbles, it is recovered by Oklahoma on the Tennessee five yard line. From here, this screams points on the board for Oklahoma until it doesn't. Until it doesn't. Arnold is going to be stripped by Joshua Joseph's. It's going to be recovered by Joshua Joseph's. This drive is actually going to end in a punt for Tennessee, but we totally flipped the field, they get hit with a false start on first down, next play, Jason Jenkins shoots the gap, completely untouched, safety. So let's say that that doesn't happen, that the fumble and the fumble recovery doesn't have by Tennessee and that Oklahoma just settles for three. Well, because that happened, it's a five point swing. Let's say that doesn't happen, but Oklahoma finds a way to get into the end zone. Nine point swing, the defense. So back up for a second, sorry. Steve Spurrier was the king of after a turnover, chucking it deep, trying to catch the defense off guard because that is when the defense secondary is typically flat footed, they're not prepared to be on the field. The pass rush isn't quite there, not this squad. They stood up and Joshua Joseph makes a play, puts the ball back into the hands of the Tennessee offense. Yeah, sure, it ended in a punt, but Jackson Ross pens him deep, Oklahoma makes a goof, points on the board for Tennessee. Absolute massive play that impacted the outcome of this game in Norman on Saturday. The second play, same quarter, second quarter, five minutes, 36 seconds left. Third and nine, Dane Davis, again, he whiffs on Trace Ford. Now, in Dane Davis's defense, Trace Ford, man, he bends his hips. He dips his shoulder, his pass rough rush move right here. This should be, this should be in like the dictionary on how it's done. Like, put this thing, put this thing on film. The way he bends his hips, man, he's looking like Mr. Fantastic out here from the Fantastic Four, making it nearly impossible for Dane Davis to block. It doesn't look like a good attempt or a good effort on Dane Davis. Nonetheless, Nico's hit, fumble, again, right? Recovered in Tennessee territory. Next play, Arnold, drops back, has, or can't seem to make a decision, right? He's going through his reads, decides to settle on his checkdown, but it's too late. Dominic Bailey is in hot pursuit. He's coming into his face from the opposite hash. He hits this receiver in the backfield who is on the opposite side of the numbers. It's going to be a, I don't care who you are. It's going to be a hard throw to make. The ball is short. The ball is backwards. The ball is live. It is recovered after multiple bounces in the balls of, in the balls. Excuse my fridge. In the hands of multiple Tennessee defenders ends up in the hands of Jacoby Thomas. By the time it's all said and done, we end up on the OU 45. Eight plays later. Eight, Dylan, Samson runs later. Touchdown, Tennessee. Leaving Oklahoma with, what is that? A hundred seconds left to do something and a half and they just haven't been able to. Dylan, Samson puts this, this offense on his back at this point. The scoring drive is all him. One play I'll, I'll give you is a speed option from Nico, but what I didn't like from Nico is there is the pitch was quick and it was a little high. It was in, it was in his face mask. Whatever. It was good enough to get it into the hands of Samson. Eight plays later. Forty six, either forty six or forty eight yards later. Touchdown, Tennessee. Oklahoma started out with great field position. They were in Tennessee territory. They just didn't do anything with it. And here's where I want to take the time to say this. Jackson Arnold is not the quarterback going forward for Oklahoma. It's this Hawkins kid. He's got an it factor. He was hard to stop once they decided to make the run with him once they pulled the trigger in Hawkins. Going into half when they decided to put Hawkins on the field, I thought this might be a chess move where, okay, we're down. Let's move some chess pieces around. Let's make Tennessee spend some time planning for something that they haven't planned for already. All right. Roll back out with Jackson Arnold in the third quarter. They didn't do it. Hawkins is the guy for them going forward and it absolutely needs to be. But bringing the summit to a close. Two plays, man. Two plays where the Tennessee defense doesn't get caught sleeping. Fresh off of a Tennessee offensive turnover, they don't get caught sleeping. They don't get flat-footed. This front is nasty, man. Creating turnovers, putting the ball back into the hands of the Tennessee offense. Props to the Tennessee defense for winning this game for us come Saturday night. If you listened to my episode going into the game, I talked about how I thought this game was real. I thought this game was really going to be dictated by the explosive play. Who can create the explosive play? Who can limit the explosive play? Well, this fell into the favor of Tennessee. It fell into the favor of Tennessee. Statistically, I want to look at this for a moment. Actually, let's just look at some Oklahoma stats here. Michael Hawkins is going to be your leading passer for Oklahoma. He was 11 for 18, 132 yards, and a touchdown. QBR of 58.9, averaging 7.3 yards per completion. Jackson Arnold, less than 50%, completion percentage, 7 for 16, 54 yards. One touchdown, no touchdown, one pick. I want to talk about that pick here in just a moment. Michael Hawkins had a run of 11 yards. Jaques Pataway had a reception of 46 yards. We got caught in man coverage here. This might have been a short cross if I remember right. Anyway, good play designed by them, 46 yard gain. Other than that, that's it. That's really all they had. At the end of the Javerti Barnes run, he is absolutely plastered by Jacoby Thomas, which is so funny to me because all of these, all of all Twitter, and I'm going to doggone ball Twitter for a second, all of all Twitter and ball notion, welcome to the SEC. Welcome to the SEC. Dude, he's an MTSU transfer. Are we really going to pretend that a school like Oklahoma doesn't play big boy football? That's just pure ridiculous. He's an MTSU transfer. All right. He did knock the crap out of him. Okay. Now Tennessee, on the other hand, Nico was 13 for 21, a buck 94, and a touchdown. Dylan Samson, 24 carries 92 yards and a touchdown, a long of 16. Deshawn Bishop, time to put this man on scholarship, 16 for 65, 4.1 yards per play, a run long of 17. Nico had to run himself. He was total eight for 15. He had a long of 16. Here's where we won the explosive play battle. Dante Thornton, 66 yard touchdown on what was an absolute rope from Nico Iamaliava. Nico's footwork on this passing touchdown, this is elite, I remember 2010, the music city bowl, Tyler Bray, looking off the backside safety, hitting what I believe was Derek Rogers for a touchdown against North Carolina. I thought, oh my gosh, this freshman just looked off this safety. Holy crap, we got a quarterback going forward. Dude, this doesn't compare. Obviously, we all know what Tyler Bray turned out to be, but this does not even compare. Nico's footwork, his mechanics are elite. He puts this thing on a rope and it's, I don't know if he could have handed this thing any better. It's out in front of Thornton, but it's, I mean, I'm pretty sure Thornton's elbows are not locked out, so it's not that far out in front. Hits him in stride, Thornton flexes his speed, breaks down, or breaks out away from the defender, ends up towards the left sideline, touchdown, Tennessee, and then you got Brew McCoy. And then you got Brew's back, y'all. He's back. Brew looks faster than before his energy. He looks more physical than before his, did I say energy injury? You know what I'm saying? This is bad podcasting before his injury. Brew had a 42-yarder and Brew had a 38-yarder. Big ones, big ones, big, big plays. And, ultimately, we were able to withhold them on the offensive side. There is a situation where Jackson Arnold, those a pick, Drummond McCoy is the one who makes the interception. They run a flood concept on the right hash. They're on the right hash. They run a flood concept. And if you're not familiar with that, the other concept is it's basically where all your routes are one side of the field. It's an easy read for the quarterback. You're wanting zone, and you're wanting... You really want to cover two, and you want the quarterback, who's playing flats, to make a decision. High or low. If he plays low, throw the high route, if he plays at high, take what he gives you, throw the low route. So what happens is, ball is right hash. Burks, number six for them, is on a post, and Drummond McCoy is on the line of scrimmage pre-play right up into his grill, but he gives him a free release. JJ Hester is on the left side, and he is in tight. He's going to run about a 20-yard crosser just through the right of him, is that tight end. The tight end is just going to try to chip that end. And the only other route you have is Tyler Tatum, who is coming off a play fake. Slips through the floodside B-gap into the flats. He is met by James Pierce, who is playing low. Gonna get into that in a second. Dr. McCoy shows low, shades high. Okay, Arnold, face some pressure here. But there was enough time for him to at least should be able to see Drummond McCoy falling back. On this crosser, Will Brooks is over the top of it. Drummond McCoy is underneath it. Drummond McCoy picks this off. Arian Carter there is ready to leave block on this thing. And it's returned to what was near the original line of scrimmage on the OU 48 yard line. We just didn't let him have it. And by the time that they got that Hawkins found... Oh gosh, I said his name already. By the time that Hawkins found... What's his name? Jacquez Petaway on that 46 yard pass completion. It was almost too late at that point. Obviously, they kept it until the final possessions there. They needed two touchdowns and two P-A-Ts in order to make it a game. I think a lot of people, especially Norman, felt that it was over at that point. But for the most part, man, we just didn't allow the explosive play, which brings me back to the Tennessee side. I'm scrolling through Vault Twitter. Darren Commercial breaks and whatnot. And we're upset. We are clearly upset. What is with this conservative play caller? Hipple is in Norman. He should won't blood. Yadda, yadda, yadda. Listen, let me tell you what this came down to. Yes, Hipple won a blood. The Hipple was faced with a decision. You either are going to have to win this game this way or you might not win this game at all. And he did what he had to do to win this game. I'm talking A plus coaching job. He didn't go conservative. He did what he had to do. You need to consider this, Vault fans. You played without starting left tackle hurt. John Campbell goes down in the second quarter. Dane Davis has now played left tackle and right tackle in the situation. He shouldn't have been really playing at all. Hurt was out. We knew that. Obviously, that's going to insert Davis. But then John Campbell goes down and you enter in Larry Johnson. And so you're playing without hurt who I would like to think is going to eventually be a first round pick. John Campbell, who is an extremely serviceable, who's going to be drafted. I'm not going to say first round. But nonetheless, Dane Davis was proven that he was struggling. So why would you continue with this lead to put the ball in the air? We saw what was happening. How many times can the defense turn that back around for you? I mean, it's just not realistic. It's almost not even realistic what actually happened and what the Tennessee defense did for us. But how many more times can the Tennessee defense do that? Don't think that's very realistic. So Hypo said, all right, time to put this thing on the ground. And even in some third and third and third and long situations, third and short situations, there was a screen to squirrel white that was, I mean, yeah, it was conservative. But I mean, you're going to run it again? They ate it up, but take what they give you, okay? And maybe some Tennessee fans are looking this going golly, but we punted eight times. We punted eight times. You did what you had to do to win this game. It was really proving itself that Oklahoma, especially with Arnold, wasn't going to put a long drive together. And with this new kid Hawkins, who the whole world was learning about, was he going to over and over again, put long drives together? So we were playing field position, playing field position. That this is why we ran it on third and longs. I get it. It's not our normal MO. It's not our normal DNA. It's not who we usually are. It's not what we were doing in '22 with Hooker. I get that. But in this situation where this was an exchange of body blows and haymakers in the end, we landed more. And we were, we just kind of jabbed away at this thing. A good example is the eight play drive, 46, 48-yard drive by Dylan Sampson. Put it on his back. Put it on his back. Pass Pro was not going to be there for the offensive line. Obviously, you like what you have with Cooper and with Scraggins. But that's two. And you play with five. All right. We lulled them to sleep a little bit when we were able to kind of consistently move the chains on the ground. We took a shot deep. We didn't connect. I love the shot attempt. It pushes the safeties back again. It reminds the linebackers like, "Oh, shoot. They still might do this. They're not just going to run this thing out." And in my mind, in my thoughts and opinion, that give a job by hypo and doing what he had to do to win this game. Yes, he wanted blood. But it's even more important that he escapes Norman, Oklahoma. And I shouldn't even use the term escapes. That he leaves Norman, Oklahoma with the win, with a chalk mark in the win column as opposed to, you know, maybe getting greedy or just being stubborn. Well, this is who we are. This is what Tennessee does. I think the only people who think that we live and die by the explosive play and by the deep ball and by, you know, the Hended Hooker Jalen Hyatt. Look, situation. Probably Tennessee fans. Hypo's going to tell you, we want to run the ball. This conference, this game is built and predicated on running the ball and stopping the run. That's what it comes down to. And Hypo did an excellent job in coaching this game. All right, I want to end this thing by giving out some game balls. Let's go with the offense first. You could even argue to give a game ball to Jackson Ross. Eight punts, like, did anybody think he was going to put eight times in the year? Offense. Ah, man, I could have gone several ways. You could have gone Bruce McCoy. You could have gone Dante when big plays were essential in this one. You could have gotten Nico, right? Had some situations where he escaped and found yards, you know, his passes and some of those things were elite. Numbers weren't great, but, I mean, he obviously did enough for us to win. I'm going to land on Dylan Sampson here, though, who got off to a really, really slow start. Could not find yards on the ground. His numbers do not just jump off to you. He's just shy of a hundred, eight yards shy of a hundred on 24 carry. So that's less than four yards per carry, but that eight play. Eight rushes. I can never remember, 46, 48 yard drive. That was elite. And for the rest of the game, he managed to find yards when there wasn't grass on his touchdown to close out that eight play drive. It wasn't there. And Herb Street and Reece Davis salivated over the, you know, the spin button comment. He did what he had to do to get the end zone. He found it made a way. And I thought he was really good in Pass Pro. I thought he was really good in Pass Pro when he was in. So props to Dylan Sampson, who is now getting really close to being halfway to the century mark on the season. And Tennessee's four games in. Tennessee's four games in. I thought Dylan Sampson did a lot to help us win this football game. And, you know, if you could give like a game ball 2.0, you might have to go to Sean Bishop because when Sampson couldn't find it, Bishop did. Put that man on scholarship. Defense, there's a lot of places you could have gone defensively. A lot of places you could have gone defensively. My mind first went to. Arian Carter, who led the team of tackles with six, also had a tackle for loss. My mind went to Tyree West, who had a sack, who I believe, yeah, also had a tackle for loss. His tackle for loss, if I remember right, he was not the place I'd end. Play design was to the opposite side A gap. And he had grass until Tyree West hops him from the side. This dude's turning into a baller for us. Almost wanted to go Tyree West. Joshua Josephs almost wanted to go there, who had a massive fumble and fumble recovery that I mentioned earlier, really wanted to go him. German McCoy, who I thought, let me think about this. Was he the best Tennessee secondary player on Saturday night? I mean, he was solid. And the thing I like about this guy is he wants to hit you, which should remind you a little bit of Kamal Haddon, but McCoy's technique is far better. Hadn't wanted to hit stick you. McCoy wants to hit you and bring you down. If it feels like McCoy wants you down, but he wants you to feel it when you go down. I almost went him, but I landed. I'm going to land on Keenan Pealy. And part of this is because this dude's got a quicker step than I think any of us thought. He was never out of position, ended up with five total tackles and a tackle for loss. When he had to be the force player, he did really great at that. This guy is, I don't think we knew what we got in Keenan Pealy when we got him. And I just want to say this before I close this thing. Every last year in the Virginia game, man might be a hidden blessing for us. If he stays healthy that year, he's out of eligibility going into 24. How much of an impact would he had in 23? I think we obviously had a much lower ceiling. What a hidden blessing. I mean, I hate to say that, but man, I'm glad he's on this 24 squad. I am so glad he's on this 24 squad. So I'm going to give my game boss to Dylan Samson. And I'm going to give it to Keenan Pealy, man. I thought it was awesome, just also kind of enclosing that we got to see Christian Charles in its safety. They rotated him what feels like every other driver or something like that in the second half. So good to see him back on the field. Obviously, if you know me, knew him personally in his time in high school. He was an inch away, man, from a sack. But Tennessee goes into Norman, flexes its muscles. And it looks at Oklahoma and says, "Oh, this is the game that you want to play. We can do that. You want to slow us down. You want to play a time of possession game?" Cool. Let's do that. Rolled up their sleeves and started exchanging blows. We hit more haymakers and we hit more jabs. And you could argue that this score should be even more different because you have that really debatable, incomplete pass, fumble situation, what was rolled a touchdown by Christian Harrison, but then wasn't. It was actually rolled an incomplete pass. I mean, that was just a whole fiasco. I think the whole world knows that that was a fumble picked up in return by Christian Harrison. Whatever, though, man. I'll take it. We were penalized way more than they were. We ran well. We did enough putting the ball in the air. We did it without Lance Herd and John Campbell, did it without those guys. Again, Selden was not in half-back number two, it was DeShawn Bishop, y'all, y'all. We're good. Tennessee is going to go into a bi-week. All eyes are going to be on Alabama, Georgia. We're going to get a bi-week. We're going to hopefully get guys like Herd healthy, going to get guys like Campbell healthy as we get ready to go on the road to Fayetteville, Arkansas. Just a quick little side note. Tailing Green kind of struggled with Auburn a little bit. They sat him doing this other kid, putting him back out there. First game, he worried me a little bit. I'm excited for the bi-week because my heart rate and blood temperature can go down. But man, I cannot wait to watch the balls go up to Fayetteville, Arkansas and take on San Pittman and try to get a revenge game after that 2020 ridiculousness. Thank you so much for hanging out with me. Appreciate you guys tuning in and subscribing and liking this video. If I be saying that, that means that you're going to do it. One of a couple of our last episodes, especially my preview episode, going to this one, that really blew up. I just want to say thank you for that. A lot of views on that one over 2000. Thank you, thank you, thank you. If you are not, if you're listening right here on podcast and you're not subscribed, do us a favor, man, and go hit like on this video and subscribe to the channel. And if you're watching on YouTube, do the same thing for Spotify and Spotify and Apple podcast and anywhere you can get your podcast and just go give us a five star rating. Really, really looking forward to hearing Michael's episode on this. Again, we're going to keep coming to you solos. It's just a way for us right now in this season to put out more content. And this kind of seems to be the way that you guys like things because you're telling us with your click rate and your likes. I love you guys. Thank you so much for hanging out with me. I'm Dan. This is Pandemonium Reigns. God bless. Go balls. Pandemonium Reigns. [MUSIC] [BLANK_AUDIO]