Pandemonium Reigns
Episode 165 - Tennessee couldn't escape Fayetteville
(music) Well, Tennessee went into Fortville, Arkansas and couldn't escape. Did everything they could to just get out alive. Couldn't do it. Thank you so much for tuning in. My name is Dan. This is Pandemonium Rains. I'm here to talk Tennessee and Arkansas and all that was and all that could have been. Here's the deal. I put out two episodes going into this week saying, "Hey, you need to be cautious with this one." As a fan, you need to be cautious with this one. Don't overlook this one. Arkansas is better than their record. Sam Pittman is a quality coach. Say what you want to about him, quality quote, quality coach, muffled my words there. Quality coach, positive environment to play him. He's brought in some solid pieces in the transfer portal. Dangerous team, dangerous setup, the context, screened trap game. And some of you guys straight came after me in the comments, calling me a Negeval, batter ball syndrome, don't know what I'm talking about. And as much as I hate to say this, I told you. Now, here's where I was on. I predicted us to not only win, but win outright to take the points cover. I think that there's a lot going for us. We're better on paper. The talent gap was significant, but there was just a lot of things contextually that screamed. Trap game, trap game, Saturday night in Fayetteville on a fan base and a coaching staff that is in despair mode with their backs up against the wall. And Sam Pittman just proved that he has a team that you don't want to back up against the wall. Say what you want to about him. Oh, well, they're three and two this, you know, lost to Oklahoma State. That, you know, I told you better than their record. They're better than their three and two record. Just a few plays away from being undefeated. And I don't think that we got their best. I really don't. I think that their ceiling is higher than that. But I will say this in our defense. That was bad. That was a poor performance on our end. A lot of things that Hypo didn't do well. A lot of things that are offense didn't do well. I'm actually going to speak pretty highly of our defense and even secondary here. But just not a good performance. Arkansas didn't get our best. And that's all it takes. 2024. I would like to introduce you to 2007 because this is what we have. This is what's going on with all the upsets. Massive for Tennessee that Alabama went down and not only went down, but went down to an unranked Vanderbilt. That's going to help us in the long run if we can take care of business from here on out. But we've got to take business from here on out. And just a couple of other things before I get into my two segments here. From the fan perspective, if this game was inevitably going to happen, if we were going to lose inevitably somewhere, I want it to be Arkansas. I don't want it to be Florida. I don't want it to be Bama. I don't want it to be Georgia. I sure don't want it to be Kentucky. And I definitely don't want to lose to Vanderbilt. Obviously, I don't want to lose to the group. Five, four schools that we have, you know, rest on our schedule. I like Sam Pittman. I like Taylor Greene. I like Jacquelyn and Jackson. I like Landon Jackson. This is the one that I'm going to choose. Again, their backs were up against the wall. Sam Pittman's back was up against the wall. And apparently, there's another guy on that coaching staff who you backed up against the wall, and you don't want to do that. And that's their, if it's coordinator Travis Williams, who is going to be a head coach someday, someday very soon. There's an elite play caller. Did everything defensively right against us? Okay. Cops of Sam Pittman for not only going out and getting him, but also getting Bobby Petrino. But two things that I want to ask here. Where did it go wrong? And where do we go from here? Those things are coming up right here in the next segments. If you would have told me that going into this weekend, that Tennessee was going to hold Arkansas to 19 points, I went recovering, ride it in stone, seal it, sign it, deliver it. That is a win because we score points. 19, our defense held them to 19. That's a win. That's a recipe for a win. I don't need to see anymore. Well, that's not what happened. So where did it go wrong? Well, there was a couple things, especially offensively, that went wrong for us. And I'm going to start not hate on, but I'm going to start with Niko. Some of you are already out on Niko. Looking on ball Twitter, looking on ball Instagram, pull him. He's overrated. That is pure insanity. You need to go ahead and start getting Jake Merklinger ready. That is insane. This is not a video game. These things are not artificial intelligence. You don't, all of a sudden, just to get, you don't get to start in just investing in another quarterback and get him ready, especially for a home game against Florida. I know that we're favored by double digits. It doesn't matter. It's Florida. We haven't beat them. We just haven't done it. And so many times, well, we've been better. 2012, I would argue, could have had him in 2013, had him in 2015, let that go, had him in 2017, let that go, right there on a drop pass in '21, '23 should have. So many times, well, we should have, and it hasn't happened. So let's just start getting Jake Merklinger. That's silly. That's pure insanity. I mean, this is not the depth chart on EA College football 25. Niko is QB one, okay? In his defense. I know his stats weren't good. He was 17 for 29, about 58, QB-R of 39. That's not good. If you look on that last play, though, where he should have put it up. He should have put it up. Hypo says this. You've got to give one of those guys a chance to make a play. He doesn't do it. It's Joe Milton, 21 Ole Miss all over again, which makes it sting so much worse, because there was an opportunity to win it and you just didn't even give your team a chance. He's human. He's human. And I've got to believe that he's only going to get better from this. He's a stand-up kid. He works hard. I mean, he's got all the intangibles. So to rot him off, if that's you, man, just leave the fan base. That's insane. You're insane. I get it. He had a bad night. And this is part of the recipe for upsets. You don't play your best every single Saturday. You're going to have these things. It's going to happen because these guys are human. It happens at the high school level, at the college level, at the pro level. Oh, my gosh, it happens at the little league level. Nico wasn't good, but going back to the last play, what I was going to say is yes, he didn't put the ball in the air. He should have. But when he finally gave us the end zone view, nothing was there. And there were so many times throughout the game where I'm going, pull the trigger, throw the ball. Is it possible that nothing was there? I just want you to consider that. Just consider that for a moment that maybe Nico was smart with the ball. Maybe he's protecting the offense, not putting the offense in jeopardy. Maybe it was a good thing he didn't throw the ball. Say what you want to. He's got to be better. I think Hyple knows it. I think Nico knows it. I think the entire offense knows it. The entire state of Tennessee knows it. Everybody knows it. He's got to be better. And I think he's going to be better. I'm hoping that this game for Nico will be Hendon Hooker 2021 pit, where we ended that game on a pick because Hooker threw a pick. I'm hoping that he continued to get better after that. I know it was his introductory, but he just continued to get better and better. Sometimes you got to take one on the chin and take one on the chin only makes you better. But pulling the plug on Nico, man, that's just pure insanity. Is it possible that the receivers were not getting open? Is it possible that Lance Heard didn't have a good night? I don't even think some people are out on the offensive line as a whole and LRB. That's not me. The tackle position is really hard to disguise when it's weak. And Lance Heard had a proper English verbiage here. He had an awful night. Awful night. He was not good. Keep in mind, I said going into this, Lane and Jackson, a dude's elite. He's going to be a first round pick. Going to be a first round pick. Do as elite. And Heard was just not good. Is it possible due to all the off-the-field things going into this and the bi-week and whatnot? Who knows? But to put that on Nico? Because Heard had a really bad night and that's your blind side? That's just not fair. So the offensive as a whole, he used to be better. You have to be better. What else went wrong? Clock management went wrong. I still have all the trust in hypo. I am still full hypo. I believe that people are human. I believe that Josh Hypo is human. And he's still for the most part fairly young in his coaching head coach tenure. I think he's going to get better from this. But the way that the clock was managed, especially on that closing drive, was not good. And I would be willing to bet that if he, excuse me, that he would tell you that he could do a better job there. On the last drive, Nico creates space, rolls out to his left, finds Brazil, bears it up, allows him to make a play, balls caught and downed around the 20, 25, something like that. We end up in a third and five situation. Instead of running a play and then using a timeout, we use a timeout. Try to get into a better play. Obviously, hindsight is 20-20. But I would love to have seen the timeout after the play was ran. We are so good at going fast. Well, I say that we are. Maybe we're not. But you would like to think that we're good going fast and getting into the next play and catching them off guard. I would have loved to have seen this gone tempo right there, gone fast and got into a play and then burned that timeout. I didn't think that was good. What I did think was solid was on Arkansas's possession before that, letting them in the end zone. So many people are infuriated by that and I'm going, you have to. Otherwise, they just chew the clock and kick a fill goal and you have no time. You got none. You have to. So, hey, genius part. On behalf of Hypele to let them in the end zone, but I would have loved to see them use those timeouts better right there in that closing possession. I think it would have been better to have burned the timeout after the play. But I'm not the one making millions of dollars doing this. I'm just the one with an opinion. Okay. What else went wrong? Stock defense for a second. I think defense overall played really, really well, especially Germain McCoy. Germain McCoy allowed catches, but what else do you want him to do? He defended some of these things extremely well. Taylor and Green just dropped some things in the bucket, man. So I don't put it on him. Overall, the defense, you know, as a whole, not totally displeased. I'm more displeased with banks told you going into this that we're gaining trust with him. And what I would like to see is throw a bunch of different looks at Taylor and Green and confuse him and put him under pressure. And we just didn't do it. Everything that Arkansas did to us defensively where they would show seven and send five and drop two randomly. You don't know where it's coming from. That's what I wanted to do to them, but we didn't. It was more of a keep it in front of it or keep them in front of us, wait for them to make a mistake. Pierce came alive a little bit. I think that cost us a little bit. I would have loved to have seen more pressure on Taylor and Green. The middle of the field was wide open for them a lot. Taylor and Green had a great night. By the way, hate the fact that he got hurt. Hate it. I do think you need to change that role. I mean, can't hit them low. Well, you also can't hit them high. Apparently, you just can't hit them at all. So I don't think it was dirty, but I mean, what else do you want to do? Real quick, let's talk about what else went wrong. Let's not do this thing where we blame penalties. That's an away game in this conference. They're going to get away with that stuff. We need to come to terms with it. That is what it is. That is what it is. But I would have loved to have seen us. I'd love to see this mix up our Blitz packages a little bit. Didn't do it. Finally, what else went wrong? I think this was, this is ultimately what cost us. We had a chance to take possession. We forced them into a punt situation. We were going to take over possession. Jordan Ross makes contact with the punter. He knew it. So don't go in his DMs and, you know, fretting, you know, don't do that. He's a kid. They're going to make mistakes. Jordan Ross has got a really bright future here in Tennessee. But man, that cost you. That's a bone-headed play. That's a stupid play. And I'm pretty sure that possession allowed them to drive the field and get more points on the board. Momentum swung big time after that. And you just can't do it. What else went wrong? Conservative play calling? Maybe. You know, I really, I told you after the Oklahoma game I didn't think it was Conservative play calling. I think it was, I think it was high pole playing the game that was at hand. Here? Man, I'm not so sure. I'm not so sure it was Conservative play calling as Arkansas just didn't give us much. You know, the, the, the saying goes, take what they give you. They didn't give us a lot. They didn't give us a lot. Wreshing yards were hard to find early. You know, that, that, that run that Samson broke was a bit of a, was a bit of a breakdown, actually. Pops to him for turning it into a long game and then finally finding the end zone at the end of that possession. I don't know that it was Conservative play calling. I don't think it was high pole's best. Finally, I think what else went wrong is that you didn't go tempo. I really thought tempo here would have opened up better offensive line play. It would have opened up receivers being more open. We didn't do it. I'm not sure why. I'm not an expert. I have experienced wearing pads. I have experienced being a coach on the sideline. I don't know. I got no clue. My thought is go tempo, run it, get guys like Landon Jackson, suck and win. The one time we did really try to go tempo. We got to first down and then they hit us in the backfield or something. We didn't really do it again. Didn't really come back to it. I don't think it's because Nico can't manage it or can't run it. I think that's insane. I think he can. I think he had to go tempo. There's just a handful of things there that went wrong for us. Props to Arkansas for playing their best football that night or playing really good football that night. Again, I don't think that was their ceiling. Playing really good football that night. Taking advantage of us. High pole has got some things to figure out. I trust him to figure this out. I trust him too. A lot of things went wrong. Let's jump into the next thing. Next question. Where do we go from here? Where do we go from here? Well, this loss certainly changes your entire perspective on the rest of the schedule. Let's take a look at the rest of the schedule here. Obviously, Tennessee, not news to anybody here, going to play host to Florida next week. That game has bigger implications on it now. All right. All because it's how does Tennessee bounce back from this? This game is going to show you the culture that resides within the locker room for Josh Highpool. It wasn't a good look for Mario Thomas to do what he did on the field after that game was over. I do believe there's more to that context. I do believe these people were up in his face or something. It doesn't give him a right to do what he did and pushing those people. Can't do it, but that's not a sound of good culture. I'm going to say that actually he just lost self-control. I'm not going to say it's indicative of the culture. But if this Florida game at home now is going to show us exactly what's in this locker room. All right. And then after that, you're going to play host to Bama. So going into this game before Arkansas, everybody assumed that this was a win. I didn't assume it, but I predicted it. If you'd have won this Arkansas game, you could have lost both Bama and Georgia and still be a contender in the side of this 12 team playoff, not the case anymore. You now have to split one of these. You can't lose to Bama and Georgia. You have to beat Florida. It's got to be done. Matter of fact, you've got to win up the rest of your schedule and you've got to split Bama and Georgia. That's going to be a tall task. That's going to be wherever the whole world is going to be watching Bama's next game and to see how they bounce back after that Vanderbilt loss, which that Vanderbilt loss for Alabama, massive for us, massive, massive, massive because that is a bad loss on their end. And we need Arkansas to get some more wins underneath their belt as they play out the rest of their season, but huge for us in light of the 12-3 playoff. Kentucky, I think the verdict was totally out on Kentucky, but we're starting to get a better understanding of Kentucky after that Ole Miss win when Kentucky just kind of pushed them around. You should get this win against Mississippi State at home. The Bama game for Georgia showed us that Georgia is beatable and I think it showed us, it put on film, things you can do to get at Georgia, but that's going to be probably going to be a night game in Sanford Stadium. It's going to be a tall task and then UTEP, that should be a win at Vanderbilt. Now, who wants to play Vanderbilt right now? They are the current Appalachian State. Nobody wants to play Vanderbilt right now and who thought that anybody would be saying that coming into this 2024 season. So you got to split Alabama and Georgia. You got to win out the rest, the 12-team playoff, a playoff spot is still in the foreseeable future for you, but the margin for error is so much less. It's so much less. There's no more room for goofs. You got to handle Florida and Kentucky and Mississippi State and UTEP and Vanderbilt and all of them, and you have to split Alabama and Georgia. Two more things here. This loss for us could be good. I want you to consider a 20, what was that, 2016 Clemson, Deshaun Watson, go on to win the title that year. They have a really bad home loss to pit. Really, really bad home loss. They didn't coach well, they didn't play well. It was bad. It was a real bad home loss. But after that game, Clemson was a monster, a force to be reckoned with. Obviously, they go to win to win the title, right? We need that to be us. We need to take this and learn from it and grow from it, and I believe that we will. I am still glass half full regarding Hyrule and this locker room and the staff and this roster. I'm glass half full, but you got to let this one piss you off. Let it piss you off and get better. Let Florida take the brunt of Arkansas. Go punch them in the mouth. Then when Alabama comes to town, play pissed off. Play pissed off for the rest of your schedule. Let that do that to you. You can either let these things become stumbling blocks for you or stepping stones. We see it all the time. Sometimes losses get the best of you. Sometimes they turn you into something better. I'm going to choose to believe that that's what's going to happen for us. This loss could be a good thing. Sometimes teams need a loss. Sometimes they need it. One last thing here. I want to address a YouTube comment. He says this. Can Tennessee correct the issues on offensive line? Let's start there. Can Tennessee correct the issues on offensive line? I think you can, but I think it's, I think only, that's an absolute. I think the way to do that is to return to the style of offense that you are. That is going tempo. Let's get back to tempo, which is what I really wanted to do against Arkansas. Then he says this. Nico doesn't look comfortable in hypo's offense. I don't think that's the case. I really don't think that's the case. If Nico doesn't look comfortable in, in hypo's offense, that would have reflected itself in other games. I don't, I don't necessarily think this is a quarterback friendly offense. I think it's pretty complex. It's in the moment, make a decision. And Nico's pretty decisive. I don't know that he looks uncomfortable. I think they need to do a better job of maybe playing to Nico's strengths. And just simply getting back to tempo. Let him run the tempo. He says this was a mistake to sit Nico last year. How can you know that would be my answer? At that moment in time, if it's me, I'm probably sticking with Joe. You can do this thing where you destroy a kid. I mean, look at all these rookie quarterbacks who have gone into league and they've had to start or play too soon. And it just destroys their confidence, destroys their, you know, their mental ability to play the game. I don't necessarily, I don't necessarily think so. I think Milton was a very good role model for Nico. Very good leader for Nico. I think Nico learned a lot under Joe. I think the ceiling for the two are entirely different. I think Nico's ceiling well, super seeds. Those are not words. Super seeds Joe bought, you know, a country mile. So I don't necessarily think that was the wrong idea. I mean, Joe led us to an 8-4 record. Should have beat Florida. I don't know that that loss is entirely on Joe, though. Should have beat Missouri. Was that loss entirely on Joe? I mean, we were right there. We were really close to a 10-2 season. All right. Joe did really well against Bama in a game in which we lost. Is Joe the reason we lost that game? I don't think so. So no, I don't think it was, I don't think it was the wrong thing. How can you know for sure? But I do think it was really good for Nico in helping his development and setting the time for Nico to come in, to come in, and BQB1. Okay. So, with all that said, this is going to bring us to the end of the episode. Thank you guys so much for tuning in. Thank you so much for our growth that we have experienced lately. I appreciate that so, so, so much. So with that said, make sure you hit like on this video. Subscribe to this channel. If you're listening on anywhere you get your podcast, like Spotify, Apple Podcast, Google Play, you can find us there. Sometimes Pandora wants to take this down. I'm not real sure why. Whatever. Let me know if that's happening. But if you're listening on podcasts, as we're going to say, go back to YouTube. Hit subscribe there. Help us out. If you're watching on YouTube, go give us a rating on one of those podcast platforms. Experience some really, really cool growth lately. It's all because of you. It's wild that people want to listen to our opinions. Wild to me. You know, yes, I do have some experience putting on pads. I wasn't very good. I was a much better basketball player. The fact that I ended up with a college football scholarship blows my mind. Yes, it was NAIA Division III. But I got a chance to put on pads again and play the game and learn. Awesome experience. But wild that you want to hear our opinions. And I just want to say thank you so much for that. One last thing before I hop off here. Be upset about this game. Sure. Be mad about it. But don't let it consume you. Because at the end of the day, it really is just a game. And there are way more important things in life to be pissed off about, to be angry about, to let ruin your days and your weeks and whatnot. And this is just not one of them. Does it minimize your fanship? Does it minimize anything about you being a fan? Listen, I love the balls just as much as the next guy. And when we win, I'm going to celebrate the heck out of it. And when we lose, I'm going to be upset for a minute. But I'm going to move on. Don't let it impact your kids. Don't let it impact your family. It is what it is. There's nothing you can do about it. Control the controllables. Way more important things to be mad and upset about. With that said, I love you guys. Thank you so much for tuning in. God bless. Go balls. Pandemonium reigns. [MUSIC] [BLANK_AUDIO]