Pandemonium Reigns
Episode 162 - Questions for UT post OU win
(upbeat music) - Pandemonium reigns podcast. What is up? Happy day. Whatever day it is that you are checking out this episode of the Pandemonium reigns podcast. We appreciate it so much. We don't like necessarily doing these episodes solo because we love doing it so much together. But boy, y'all have made it worth it a while. You've made it so, so meaningful. We appreciate everyone on YouTube, on the podcast. You guys can beat it up right now. We really appreciate that. And really today, just wanted to mainly look back at Oklahoma and what a win that was for Hyrule, for the team, for every fan and ball nation on the road in Mormon, Saturday night. Wanna look back at that through the lens of a few questions that have hit me just as I've kind of bashed in and relished the win that that was. Wanna do a little bit of a look kind of overall at the team where we stand one third of the way through this journey that is the 2024 season. And then also wanna do some very, very lot preview work towards Arkansas and kind of what's left on this schedule for Tennessee, the teams that they're gonna face, what the season's kind of looking like and shaping up to be so far. But again, we thank you so much for checking out everything lately. Been way too good for us. We really, really appreciate that. We super miss coming at you together because we really, really enjoy making the show and talking to sports, what we love. But we appreciate you all so much. It's been really encouraging, really positive lately and just really wanna thank you all for that. But without further ado, what a flex. What a flex. Defensively, what a flex by Hyrule, just a, I mean, he coached a low key masterpiece on Saturday night. Everyone's probably seeing the video of him and Nico coming off the field and he's just telling Nico, heck of a job, just kind of editing, hoppled down just a tad. Heck of a job leaned on the defense because of the way that they were making life so hard on Oklahoma, just like they've done to everyone else all season. I mean, just what a job. I texted Dan and I said, our boy is growing up right before our eyes and I don't mean Nico. I mean, Josh Hopple. And obviously he's not a young boy. He's not a young coach, even he's a grown man. And he's coaching like it. He knows he's got a defense full of grown men. You know, it really feels like he's building a situation, of course, with the help of his wonderful staff at this point, what the product they're putting on the field convinced me that it's not a wonderful staff, that they're really gonna be in position to kind of stack, like I talked about in earlier episodes, stack talent, really where it matters. The work that's being done on the trenches defensively is just, guys, it's incredible. It's stuff that we've not seen consistently in 20 plus years. I mean, it's phenomenal. We all owe like a check to Rodney Garner. We owe him to Tim Banks. We owe him to William Martinez. We owe him to Josh Hopple. Obviously there aren't even those paychecks this year. You know, we've had coaches come through here get paid millions of dollars in buyouts and in salaries and do just God awful work on the field in the recruiting pop lines and bringing talent to the university. And that is just not the case right now. Tennessee is lining up to be able to really stack guys because going forward, okay, we're talking to a four and five star position player at any level of the defense. We've got new stuff. I mean, absolute fire on film to show those guys. Here's how you're gonna be coached. Here's how we're gonna use you at Tennessee. I mean, we're doing it with guys that were four and five stars coming out. Joseph's, Pierce, Omari Thomas, you know, we're doing it with the transfers that we didn't even like blink at in this past off season like Jackson Moy. I mean, Omari Norman Lutt, if you were someone that was like, oh my gosh, we got him. When he committed Tennessee out of the portal, then props to you because you clearly know your stuff. You clearly watched some film. You probably saw the motor that that guy has brought throughout the course of the season, maybe not so much in Norman, but on the whole, he's been a heck of a motor guy. He has been just vital for this defense. Again, that's been assembled. They're really, really gonna be able to, I think show great film to secondary players. And that's kind of been the bugaboo when Tennessee might've done everything right. But we were just too thin, too injured in some cases. When you look at like the 2023 season or flat out, just didn't have the pieces. Maybe you go back to 20 or 21 to show the secondary players. Look at the way a Jacobi Thomas from MTSU is just murdering ball carriers right now. And obviously last week he got deemed for it. This week, he said, okay, hold my beer. I'm knocking this guy clean into our sideline. He's gonna fill me and not wanna get back up for the next play. That was what a hit. What a hit that was, dear Lord. Jeravakouli, whatever was told to him in recruiting props to everyone on staff that played a part in that. It sounded like they had some work to do to kind of sell him on, hey, again, how we're gonna use you, what we're gonna have to support you on the field in terms of pass rush and other players around you, whatever it was, massive shout out. Because I think he's the perfect missing piece for a defense like this. And we obviously saw him shine in Normans, Saturday night and look, okay, make the case all you want that any of Tennessee's secondary players over the last few years could thrive in this defense. And they probably could do much more than they ever did with the assist from the defensive line, with the constant fear and pressure and hits that quarterbacks are taking from anyone in this defense, as it's been already. And you probably have a point. But Jeravakouli is special. He is a ball hawk. He adapts really well to the ball in the air. I mean, he basically played a flawless game in Normans, Saturday night, and I mean, really shut down whoever was on his side of the field. That like Heath, great addition, all right. This, I made a point. Maybe the North Carolina State recap, I know I was really fired up. My blood pressure was probably super unhealthy of that game just because I was, I was riding really out. What can I say? Okay. And I said something along the lines of, I can't even remember what I said. That's where I'm at these days. Something along the lines of mad credit to the work that's been done in the portal. Okay. Where as fans, you know, we see in this is a bad example because it's an offensive example and talking defense, but you know, we see Juice Wells popping the portal and oh my God, go get this guy. And Tennessee just doesn't jump at everyone in the portal. Okay. There are teams that live and die by the portal. Ole Miss is kind of showing you how to live by it for the state, showing you how to die by it. We know that. That's nothing new. And I've talked about it every episode. It's not something I really want to keep hammering home. So just an example for this scenario though. I mean, again, Jackson Moi, did we even blink twice? Yay, we got to recruit. That's probably it. Like we got someone in the portal, but oh my God, it's out of position where we don't really need any help. Like that's probably our reaction. You know, when on the day that Jackson Moi committed Tennessee, again, going back to Omaha and a lot prior to last season, like that's probably where we were. Like just a piece at a position where we're really strong. Cool. Can we also do it maybe in the secondary next? Again, man, just the work, whatever selected process, however they kind of get into the DNA and the character or, you know, the brotherhood and aspect of these guys. And maybe even more so when one does come along, you know, not to pile on, but the linebacker from Texas who kind of has some issues here and there for sure, you know, we don't let that bring you the entire season down or game down, at least on the whole very often. So mad credit to the work that this staff does in the portal. It is top notch next level. And again, I talked about, you know, at the top of the episode, looking at this game through the lens of a few questions that I have. So I want to go ahead and do that now. All right, question number one. Not gonna be that rigid about it every time. This one's still more of a in the joking category than serious, but, you know, when I'm not making this episode today, what I'll probably be doing is topping up a well-worded apology to Tim Banks and William Martinez, at the least, you know, inch, we didn't. We've not said anything probably about inch so far. And my God, if we do, it's glowing. It's really good. The way he's got Carter, Pealy, T-lander, young guys, flying around, burying ballcares, especially in the case of Keenan Pealy, my gosh, if I saw him coming, you know, I might be sacrificing myself and just going down on the play because I do not want to be buried in the grass or the turf, whatever surface we're playing on. We probably don't owe inch and apology. I owe Tim Banks and William Martinez, the biggest apology. I can't, if I ran a search in my text messages for all the times that I probably said something like towards the direction of a DB, turn your head. Honestly, I said it a lot in 2023 and the defense took steps in 2023. They played good haves here, good games there. I mean, you know, not going to get down fully into this yet, but we pretty much saw Tennessee, Texas A&M from 2023 play out in Norman on Saturday night in 2024 with the exception that there's so much more explosion and potential on each side of the ball. But again, if I had a dime, probably for every time I said, you know, again, referring to a defensive back, turn your head, play the ball, okay? If I had just a penny for each of those times, I'd probably have a dollar at least, okay? Perhaps it was all along just how much we needed to take a step in the roster department. And they finally got the guys here that are taking the coaching, that can see the film breakdown, that can be coached up. All of those things are finally coming to fruition. Maybe it's that, and look, I've got complaints going back, you know, to William Martinez's first tenure here. If you ask Georgia fans, there are complaints there about his tenure there, whatever it is, I still, you know, for four games through a season, I apologize. And you will be hearing from me probably in your DMs if they're open or in reply to another tweet, if not, that's @coach_nez, also an underscore there at the end. So it's @coach_nez_nez, underscore. Yeah, he's getting one also @coach_tenbanks. He's getting one as well. Because again, it's just shaping up that they just had to get, and I'm not saying they're, you know, like we talk about coaches sometimes, we joke about coaches sometimes that, well, if they don't have their roster full of five stores, what are they gonna do? And I think there are signs that, and this roster is still not full of five stores. There's obviously more talent than there's been consistently in a long time in Knoxville right now. But maybe they just needed the caliber of athletes that they've got right now. And it is higher three ends, excuse me, higher end three stars. And it is four stars. And it is mixing in some five stars here and there, mainly on the defensive line still. But again, the profile, the caliber has taken a step up at every level, defensively, certainly offensively. We know this is, we know how this has been the case with the way it's been a receiver. And certainly at quarterback, the way Tennessee's recruiting. And look, four-star linemen are kind of feeling in everywhere. We know Lance Hurd, five-star. We obviously gotta get him straight now, gotta get him on the field. But again, maybe it was just truly that Banks, Martinez, maybe it's some hoppler philosophy in there on what he thinks of when he envisions his defense of being. But all those things he said, really going all along, but specifically going back to how he hammered it home after the NC State win are, they're playing out every week in front of our eyes, y'all. The speed that Tennessee pursues the ball with, whether it's the quarterback dropback, whether it's a man making a catch, which has been tough for teams to do, or if it's a ball carrier. Again, Oklahoma got to the edge a couple of times. Dan talked about that, I've heard others talk about it. And really, they paid the price and they had a swarm of orange, white in Norman, Saturday night, come in their way any time that was the case. And I mean, just again, the speed profile, the strength profile, again, specifically defensive line. But it's a stronger defense, is a much faster and athletic defense. And maybe everything that we heard in terms of the youth movement in the secondary. And just again, the raised speed and athleticism awareness, whatever it is across the board is what it took, ultimately for Tim Banks and William Martinez, but they're just putting together masterpieces right now and making life just miserable for any offensive player, for any idea of what a coach wants to attack with offensively, they're making it so tough, making it, really just name your impossible. But yeah, that's my first question. And I stand by, you know, is your apology ready to go out to Tim Banks, at Coach Tim Banks and William Martinez, you know, have you got him on Twitter? I'm sure if we were really creative, we could probably figure out their UT email address, all these things. And if you figured out, send it your boys way because they've earned them and they're coaching some dang good football right now. Pursuit speed, again, just the attack of this defense is off the charge right now. And I'm here for it. And again, you know, I wouldn't say the check is in the mail, but you're getting a pretty nice salary. You're earning it right now to the max. So they've written apology on the way. Check your inboxes, check your DMs coaches. We appreciate the work, excuse me. You know, next question. In the past, I know that we've not had much trust. And this is not to really beat home question number one, but we've had limited trust in the defense, you know, could we score enough points to outlast the team? And again, there's been signs that that's been breaking along the way. I think if we look back now, you know, Kentucky last year, Texas A&M for sure last year, where we didn't have to have, what was it, 30 points, I think for Tennessee to win a game under Hopple, you know, we didn't trust, that was our level of trust in the defense was that, yeah, if we don't score 30, 35, it ain't happening or it's gonna be dang tough. And the look, the Texas A&M win last year was tough. Kentucky, you know, that gave us their best offensive performance performance in the season, especially Devin Leary. You know, we know those things, but, but in terms of trust as fans right now, and really I'm, I wish I could pick Hopple's brain on this and just get an off the record answer that, you know, probably couldn't even be shared or whatever, but I wanna know who does he trust the least right now? You know, I've heard from some that it's, that he doesn't have trust in Nico. That's why it was conservative the other night. No, I'm sorry, no, I'm not going with that yet. I think rather than untrust or distrust in Nico, it is let's not throw him to the wolves. Let's not put all the pressure on him to win a game on the road when we've got this defense that is again, I'm not gonna beat the point into the ground, but just making it a lot miserable. We've got this defense, we've got this run game that gave us 150 yards. And that's again, also been in the magic number category for what Tennessee needs to win a game like 30 points was previously. You know, I don't think it's Nico, the Hopple trust the least. I guess at that point, it would have to be the wide receivers or the offensive line. And I think if you wanna categorize the question like this, who does he trust the least? And you wanna specifically frame it for a Saturday night, it's gotta be that offensive line. I mean, again, whatever the deal was with Lance Heard, it's not optimal, you know? He's your biggest NILP edition for this season, for sure, I would think Niko's deal was obviously huge and is looking to have been worth it, all those things. But in terms of new additions for 2024, it's probably Lance Heard and well, we need tomorrow a while. And we've had it in the time he's been on the field. He's looked good, but we've gotta have him on the field. We've gotta be playing all those things. We've gotta play out. You know, Campbell, he was finding some injuries or the not. There's obviously youth. There's obviously guys that have joined has walked ons behind them. Youth being, obviously, I think, well, we'll see trust going forward, but maybe they weren't ready for that fear of steep fence that Oklahoma had because, you know, those of you that are saying that's one of the top defenses that Tennessee's gonna face this year, I couldn't agree more. I mean, it's probably gonna be like Oklahoma and Georgia, probably not in that order, necessarily, and then Alabama. And then, you know, we'll kind of get to it after that. But, and obviously, Alabama has a lot more new there. We're not even gonna go back into that either. But, you know, Georgia, we know, is gonna have a stellar defense, whatever their offense turns into, whether Kentucky was a flute, whether Kentucky knew what was coming, you know, they're not bad offensively, they're not that. But we know they're pretty good defensively. Oklahoma's got a fierce defense. That defensive line also presented problems. You know, they, they, they plugged gaps and they did that with, with their linebackers as well. They, you know, they're probably gettable more at the second, at the secondary levels, you know, they're corners and they're, they're safeties. But, you know, again, framing this from who did hopple trust at least right now, I think it's got to do that offense line. And, and look, I'm not framing this or saying this is the worst thing ever. I'm saying that hopple was, I'm just bringing kind of another angle to say that hopple was incredibly smart to, to not force the issue, to not, to not roll out his 2021 or 2022 offenses in situations where Tennessee couldn't block them in front of you because of, again, who you had available, who you had in Norman, the other not. And again, really put unnecessary pressure on Nico to win a game that, I mean, look, a game that was 22 to three entering the fourth quarter, I believe, you know, a game that you won by 10. And, and, you know, one of those touchdowns by Oklahoma was propped up by a really, really generous, roughing the passer on Ariane Carter. You know, I know there was some contact to the head, but I mean, you got to be able to walk the pass somehow if he's getting the pass off. So, or if he's dropped, if he's attempting to pass, you've got to be able to walk it somehow. And, well, Ariane Carter wasn't given the opportunity, necessarily, and look, you got to keep your hands out of the quarterback's head, we've seen it, all that. But in terms of trust right now, you can't tell me that Hopwell doesn't trust Nico. I do think he's nurturing a young and learning quarterback who's not started 10 games yet that I'll go with. I will not go with distrust. Receivers, you know, I don't think you distrust them because again, it's, it's, and maybe part of it is that he's still figuring out what, which ones he wants to lean on the most because we've seen, we've seen Thornton flash this year in ways that he didn't consistently last year and that he's still got to do consistently. We've seen Brew being Brew. Oh my gosh, get away from him if you're in the open field, if you're trying to tackle him, or you're probably taking a worse hit than he's taking. You know, we've got to get scroll going. We didn't see the tight ends as much. In fact, you know, it was, it was a couple of third down pickups that I really, really liked. But I do think what I'm getting at is, is we do need to see them create some more separation. And obviously we need Niko to have the time to get it to him and he doesn't need, you know, they got to be wide, but naked open. But, you know, we've got to give him time. And then what they've got to give him at least a window or a seam or a direction to throw towards to lead them. But again, just kind of framing that from who does Hoppe will trust the least. I'm curious to hear y'all's thoughts as well. So, you know, let us know in the comments if you don't think it's the OL or, you know, if you're someone that thinks he mismanaged the situation or went to conservative look, I checked with, with one of, in my life, the greatest authorities on, on going to conservative, that's my dad, you know, I asked him, did he think that we went to conservative and, you know, he said we, we sat on the lead, but he, we controlled the game and, and he was really, really happy without the defense played out. And, you know, I don't know how you would really fight with that take. I can't, you know, there's too many, too many football people. And again, speaking from my limited football knowledge, I think he managed it almost perfectly, just, just conservative enough to, to prevent an ego from taking another hit from potentially giving up another fumble, which does need to be tidied up, ball security when, you know, the chance of a hit is coming. But right now you've got a defense that can, man, you can give them the opponent, the ball, inside the 10, and they can bow up and force, force the ball right back. I mean, that's lucky in, in forcing the brakes to fall your way in some regards, but, but that's strength. And that's, that's real strength that Tennessee's not had. And sometime, which actually really, really goes really well into my next question, you know, what year, literally what year did that win feel like? You know, defensively, I think again, that it felt a lot like 2023, Texas A&M, not on the hole though. I mean, there was so much defensive flexing going on that I can't say 2023. I can't say, I can't say anything post 2008 probably at what that felt like defensively. I mean, I'm not pointing to 2008. Obviously there was a lot of bad football played in 2008 and, you know, former got fired as a result, but what year did that win feel like? And I'm not just saying defensively, you know, on the whole, all things considered, what year did it feel like when the clock struck zero in Norman on Saturday night? It just didn't really feel like, you know, earth, 2020s, or at least 2010s, Tennessee football, when the clock struck zero, would that win the other night? And I'm not just talking about the ugly streak that was broken, you know, followed all the time that's passed since winning in Athens and '06, et cetera, you know, but you know, what year did that win feel like? And I think it's definitely that era. I mean, because again, you know, I talked about it a little bit earlier, you know, like I said, Hopple is growing up right before our eyes, the way that he's kind of molded and found new ways to win games. And it's just year four here. And also it's just like year seven of Hopple as a head coach, just highlighting those things that we already know. But yeah, it didn't feel like what we have been, which is great, which we know all the changes that are, all the good changes that have happened. I mean, it didn't feel like that. You know, a lot of people, you know, maybe more casual or more extreme fans, ones that stay at the level of my blood pressure and blood temperature following the NC State win, want to say things like '98 defense, 2001 defense. And I'm not quite there yet. I'm not saying that I'm not saying this defense isn't good enough to make a playoff run or a championship run or perhaps win one. And I'm not calling for that yet either. But, you know, I'm not willing to go quite that far yet either. It's probably more, you know, you just find like the best year between, again, probably '01 and when things fell to pieces for a former. And he was ultimately let go because I don't think Kiffin obviously didn't have this. Dewey, I'm not in, no, butch, no, prove it, no. And that's why he was brought here. That's why, you know, moved up the ranks as a coach was because of his defensive prowess. And it never happened. You never had time to do it, whatever. You know, so I would say just pick your, you know, your best year, your best blend of a year, even between like, you know, 2000 and when things fell off a former. And that's what that felt like. I mean, again, state-of-the-run game long enough, did enough passing the potential and the ceiling. There just is hardly one, like it's, again, it's a matter of guys getting healthy more than it is just how limited Nico and this offense is because he looks like a guy without limits when you really look at it. I mean, Tennessee ran the ball for 2.9 yards per rush to the tune of 151 yards on 52 carries. That's a lot of carries. And again, almost three per, I would present you with Oklahoma's 34 rush attempts for 36 yards, 1.1 per carry. And again, that just turns the clock back for me on what that win felt like. About, you know, again, about 20 years because the defense was nasty. Hoppel in his way that he chose to win this game which Tennessee had 11 and a half, one minutes of time possession. And I know, you know, maybe that's going to be a trend with these new rules because you're just first down, don't drop the ball, et cetera, and you run clock until, you know, under two minutes, two minute warning, et cetera, you know, staying in bounds, late in games, things like this, late in haves, things like this. And it just, it just takes the clock back for me. You know, offense, again, I think it's, I think it's just turning into a blend of Hoppel's best because I can't really, just like the way that I'm not saying the defense is like 98 level, 2001 level because, you know, of a championship and because of like Henderson Haynesworth, et cetera, you know, Chavis, all those things. I'm not willing to go that far for this defense yet. I'm also not willing to say that Hoppel is some over-conservative, you know, again, just draining the clock. Although that's what he did very effectively, I'm not, he's, that's just not what we are. We're not, we're not there. We, we played the game smart and dominated it. I mean, just the evidence is everywhere, 120 more total yards, eight more pass yards on 13 fewer attempts. You won the turnover battle by one. You lost the penalty game by 50 yards. And again, there were some very questionable things in there or very lot things in there that led to those calls happening. Less first downs, but you also weren't trying to claw your way out of, you know, 19 and 22 to three, et cetera. You weren't trying to come back and you weren't turning to your freshman quarterback or your backup quarterback. You weren't, you weren't playing from a Han. So a lot of those things are kind of natural with that. And like I said, you still outpass them. You outran them by, you know, leaps and bounds even with a not so great yards for Rush. But again, you know, just, I want to know in the comments kind of what year did that, did that make you feel like? And if you're a ball fan younger than me, 32 years of age and you've seen mainly in your, you know, I've got great football in the late '90s, early 2000s that I've lived and breathed on for a while. But if you're a younger fan than me, you don't have that. So perhaps I'm reaching out to our, you know, my age and older audience here, but what year did that win, what did it feel like, you know? If it's not a Tennessee win, you know, give me examples of what that felt like just kind of the way that Tennessee controlled the game. Did what they were supposed to do. They didn't push, I keep saying it, but they didn't throw Niko to the wolves and let him keep continuing to get hit or turn the ball over or put him in unnecessary pressure or, you know, giving things that are going to be on his mind and may scar him for the future. All those things, they didn't do it. So those are reasons, I think it's great that Tennessee and Hoppel played it the way that he did. I mean, especially when you have him coming off the field, talking to Niko and heck of a job, you know, here's why we did it. And Niko was like, yeah, man, duh. Like great, great call coach, thanks. And, you know, the team rewards him with the game ball in the end on a very emotional return in Norman. All those things, what year did it feel like? That's all I want to ask. And that's really what I want to hear from you the listener in the comments. One final or just a couple final questions to kind of land this plane, wrap up this episode. You know, speaking of trust, somewhat speaking of fear. Is it still Georgia? Is it Alabama? Who puts the most, you know, kind of hitching your giddy up? Who kind of instills the most fear in you, the fan for, you know, the remainder of the season? I'm not, you know, I'm not saying that Tennessee can't go to Arkansas and lose. I'm not saying Florida can't continue to pull the rabbit out of the hat. I'm just saying when you look at those teams, those are not who you fear the most by, you know, just roles of nature. And again, the guys that Alabama and Georgia have had on their teams, you know, and still is the most fear. What's your level of confidence at? And what does your record kind of stand a third of the way through the season? Those are things I want to, again, also hear in the comments and in our applause and all those good things I want to know. And then again, I want to just briefly look at Arkansas a little bit, not going to abbreviate the game today. We've got 10 days to do that. And I'm going to enjoy those days because I know as those days take place, rest is happening. Healing is happening for a lot of guys on this team that, again, have played four pretty tough games and that have a really, really tough stretch coming, you know? So, and Arkansas is not, even if Tennessee goes to Fayetteville and wins comfortably, which is not what Tennessee does in Fayetteville, like it just hasn't gone that way before. And again, we think we're a new team. We think we're a program that's taking steps. So perhaps that's what Tennessee should do. But, you know, Arkansas does have some playmakers and some intrigue from literally top to bottom, you know, with Taylor Greene, Jekwita Jackson, Landon Jackson, a lot of guys that can make plays. And again, it's a weird place for Tennessee historically. So I'm not, you know, diving all the way into that. But, you know, matchup predictor, 81.2% in Tennessee's favor today, again, with about 10 days to go until that matchup is played out. Arkansas obviously led by Taylor Greene passing the football 65 of 121 for a nasty, ugly 53.7% so far. Four touchdowns, passing four touchdowns, rushing four interceptions and non-sacs taken through their four games. One other thing that I want to highlight, and again, you know, just high level right now is they've got a very physical game coming up with Texas A&M on Saturday while Tennessee is getting that very, very, very important rest, relaxation time with friends, family, whatever it is, as long as Tennessee handles to buy wheat appropriately, that's what they'll be doing instead of, again, facing a very physical Texas A&M team, no matter what the talent level is, they're going to, you're going to be felt by Texas A&M when you play them this year. Jacquelyn Jackson, I mentioned him, rushing the ball is 69 attempts for 472 yards at eight touchdowns. He is, he's going at 6.8 yards per clip right now. That is, that's strong. And I don't care who you've played. It's kind of like, you know, another, and they've played Oklahoma State. They played in beat Auburn this week. So that's not, you know, that's not Kent State. That's not UTC. That's a pretty decent, a group of things that they've played, obviously. Andrew Armstrong leading the way for them through, you know, as a receiver with his 23 receptions for 348 yards along with 35, no touchdowns, which is a little odd when you kind of look at his 23 receptions and the fact that number two has got only 10 receptions and only one of the touchdowns. So a little intrigue, but, you know, perhaps what we can say is Taelyn Green doesn't spread it around all that much. He needs to take steps for his sake, you know, for his completion percentage and limit the turnovers for sure. But again, it's going to be a matchup of great intrigue. I think that's just what it's always, that's what it always is with Arkansas. I mean, it's just been a weird place, you know, whether it was the Wildcat kind of being launched on Tennessee 20 years ago. I don't think that's, you know, something that'll happen this game or would hurt Tennessee in the same way. But Taelyn Green is a great athlete, you know, and Jekwin and Jackson's a great athlete. And they've got those guys that they've added through the portal and they've got a coach that's coaching for his job that I respect the heck out of. And, you know, if there was any coach on remaining on the schedule that I think just on his merit for his positional coaching history that could do something about Tennessee's pass rush, it would probably be Sam Pittman. Now, he may be so limited with what he has, protect that, you know, Taelyn Green and prevent, you know, penetration coming all across the offensive line and from our rush, you know, that it may not matter. But if there's a guy that I was going to look to trust, then it would be Sam Pittman. I mean, that's just, he's that good of an offensive line coach. And, you know, that's just the work that he's put out there. But we'll do, you know, more reacting to Arkansas, Texas A&M. We'll do a lot of reacting this week if we do, you know, anything because again, our guys have got their feet up when they're not out there continuing to get better and continuing to work on some of the issues that we definitely have. I mean, you know, we're a foreign football team, which is perfect in record, but that's it. I mean, Nico's got some things to clean up. You know, the defensive line has probably got some things they can clean up when you look at it again, the competition they've played, the worries that, oh, if Oklahoma came to that game full health and they didn't on the offensive line, we should have done what we did, you know? So I'm sure there's things that can be done better when you have a guy like Rodney Garner, who speaking of coaches at their position, you know, Sam Pittman a moment ago, give me Rodney Garner over anyone, I don't care. So you know there's gonna be some things that you can find in the film to make these guys even better. And that's terrifying if Tennessee remains on your team's schedule, you know what I mean? So there's that, but that's what we're gonna be doing this week. We're gonna be working on our issues. We're gonna be kicking our feet up, getting healthy, all those things, gearing into a tough road test, even if, you know, it's a game that Tennessee pulls away and wins by a bunch, you know? That's gonna be a tough opponent and it's always been a weird place play, I keep saying it, but it's true. So there's not for sure. But yeah, thank you so much for checking out this episode of Pandemonium Rams. We appreciate it so much. Can't thank you enough for the sport, especially I've laid it. It's been amazing to see. Thank you so much. God bless. Good year. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)