Tennessee’s 31-27 win over the South Carolina Gamecocks Saturday night was a Big, Beautiful Ugly. Even with an allergy to third-down conversions on offense and an inability to cover the slant route on defense, it was a great win to kick off the 2020 football season. Will and I hit on all of it in this episode and also take a quick and early look at Missouri.
Category Archives: Gameday on Rocky Top Podcast
Gameday on Rocky Top Podcast – Episode 167 – It’s Game Week!
In this episode, Will and I welcome the 2020 Tennessee Volunteers football season with an elbow bump, tackling a variety of subjects including:
- Which of the Vols and their opponents might be best-suited to handle the weirdness of 2020
- What we most want to see from the team in the opener
- Cade Mays and that offensive line, and more.
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Gameday on Rocky Top Podcast – Episode 166 – SEC projected records and standings for 2020
In this episode, Will and I go almost game-by-game through the 2020 SEC schedule to arrive at the projected record and league standing for each SEC team.
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Gameday on Rocky Top Podcast – Episode 165 – SEC stock portfolio re-allocation for 2020
The GRT guys re-allocate their stock portfolio of SEC teams heading into the 2020 season. What and how much are they buying, selling, and holding? Play along by re-allocating your own portfolio here.
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Gameday on Rocky Top Podcast – Episode 164 – We go-in bow-lin
The GRT guys break down all the best from Tennessee’s 24-20 win over the Missouri Tigers, including Jarrett Guarantano’s 400+ yard performance, where this trio of receivers fits into the lore of WRU, possible bowl destinations and opponents, and Will’s egregious apathy concerning the GRT picks contest. Plus, a bit more rasslin’ talk!
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Gameday on Rocky Top Podcast – Episode 163 – a Kentucky Christmas
The GRT guys break down Tennessee’s win over the Kentucky Wildcats and tackle a variety of topics in the process, including Jarrett Guarantano, Christmas movies, and rasslin’.
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Gameday on Rocky Top Podcast – Episode 162 – Hot-dogging with UAB
Will and Joel break down the Vols’ win over the UAB Blazers, predict with absolute clarity the remainder of the Vols’ football season, hit on hoops, and fondly recall Tyler Bray’s back tattoo.
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Gameday on Rocky Top Podcast – Episode 161 – South Carolina
Will and Joel celebrate the Vols’ big win over the South Carolina Gamecocks, and Will provides a Tennessee basketball primer.
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Gameday on Rocky Top Podcast – Episode 160 – I am not a doctor
Will and Joel look back at all of the bad and all of the good from the Tennessee-Alabama game and look forward to the upcoming game against the South Carolina Gamecocks.
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Robo-Transcript
Alas, there is no robo-transcript this week, as the bots have become self-aware, have organized, and are demanding higher wages.
Gameday on Rocky Top Podcast – Episode 159 – Beat Bama?
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You can also listen along with the robo-transcript below and even change the speed if you like. Pardon the errors, as the bot understands neither southern accents nor football. Also, there’s no bumper music in this, so the first 14 seconds is just, like, space, man.
GRT Podcast 10.16.19 transcript powered by Sonix—the best audio to text transcription service
GRT Podcast 10.16.19 was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the latest audio-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors. Sonix is the best way to convert your audio to text in 2019.
Joel:
This is the Gameday on Rocky Top podcast, episode 1 59 and we are Joel Hollingsworth and Will Shelton, the Vols are coming off a twenty to ten upset of the Mississippi State Bulldogs last Saturday, and a bunch of guys made the pro football focus all SCC team of the week. I think it was a Trey Smith and Nigel Warrior or first team and Darrell Taylor was second team in Smith. I think actually got something like Coach Offensive Lineman of the Week or something like that. Basically, it was a good, good day for the guys. This week, though, the balls are heading straight for the teeth of a monster in Tuscaloosa, where they travel to Alabama to take on the Crimson Tide, who is again the number one team in the nation. But before we get to Alabama, Will, you wrote just after the Mississippi state game that it wasn't so much that that the Vols won the game, although they were a six and a half point underdog, but it was really more how they won. So can you talk a little bit about that for the folks that are listening, but missed that earlier in the week?
Will:
Well, at least being in the stadium Saturday, it felt like a game. Tennessee was in control of pretty early. You know, it felt like a game. It was at least going to be competitive and compelling. You wondered if are you gonna get punished for throwing two interceptions in the endzone? Turns out not really. And then even when Brian Maurer goes down, there's obvious.
Joel:
Upside down.
Will:
Oh, yeah. Yeah. My wife, when that happened immediately goes. Someone find his mother. It's like it's it. Yeah. I mean it was it was a I'm amazed that he bounced right back up from it. I know that had to be a lot of adrenaline because I'm sure that things felt like a car crash.
Joel:
Oh, no.
Will:
Some.
Joel:
Yeah. Because, I mean, it wasn't just that he landed on his head, it's he landed sort of not sort of the wrong direction. So he is neck head to bend before his momentum would actually finish him over the top. You know, that just didn't look at it. I don't like that.
Will:
Yeah. I don't know if it would have outside of the concussion. I don't know if it would've been whiplash or whatever, but it didn't tickle to her. So but you know, even when all of that took place and we have the angst about are we going to throw Garran Tanno because of what he's done this year, it creates obvious anxiety when Tennessee has to get in passing situations. And yet you just because of the defense, I never really felt like it was a game that Tennessee didn't have control
Joel:
No,
Will:
Of.
Joel:
No,
Will:
And you could lose that
Joel:
Wait,
Will:
Way.
Joel:
Wait.
Will:
We saw that with BYU,
Joel:
Are you
Will:
Where
Joel:
Aware
Will:
That
Joel:
That
Will:
Was
Joel:
Was
Will:
Evident
Joel:
Evident
Will:
Early
Joel:
Early
Will:
On,
Joel:
On?
Will:
That Tennessee could control that game. But I just think so.
Joel:
Oh,
Will:
It's hard to say.
Joel:
Wow.
Will:
Wow, big upset. But six and a half is a it's a pretty solid upset.
Joel:
Yeah.
Will:
Statistically speaking and all that, it didn't look like Mississippi State was a touchdown. Better than Tennessee at any point in that game. And we'll see. I'll be curious to see what Mississippi state has right now, because if I'm a bulldog fan. I'm grasping right now because you lose to Kansas State at home that over game was all kinds of bad and Auburn lost to Florida, who lost to LSU? So you can't tell yourself you just got obliterated by one of the two or three best teams in the country. Maybe one of the 10 best teams, but not one of the two or three best, which was on the table at the time. They did that at Mississippi State. And then to turn into this performance off a bye against Tennessee, who at the time was the only team in the country not to have an f.b.i.'s win. Not great. And the schedule coming up for them, not great. So I'll be curious to see how we feel about this Mississippi state win at the end of the season. But at the moment, yeah, you still don't you don't throw away a six and a half point underdog victory. But again, and we're playing the long game here now. That's been the case since it's been the case all year. But really since Georgia State, it's been the case. And long term, the most important things for Tennessee. Figure out your quarterback. Maybe we need way more data on Brian Maurer. And you got to get better on both lines. And I thought for the defense to do what they did and shutting down the leading rusher in the SCC and also to really bother him in the passing game with all those sacks and for the offense, when everybody in the world knew what was coming on the most vulnerable drive the first time all day, the field position wasn't in Tennessee's favor.
Joel:
Yeah.
Will:
I mean, they just dominated for four carries in a row. Everybody's talked about how great that was to see. So, again, we'll see how we feel about the win itself later on. It depends on if Tennessee can beat South Carolina, if they can keep a 6 and 6 season realistically on the table. But long term. Are these offensive linemen going to keep getting better? Are these defensive linemen? Because there's they've got some some well hyped kids coming in next year. But you're still talking about freshmen there. You need to develop what you have. And it was a good day for all those guys. So, yeah, I just thought the way it happened. You're already seeing a spark at quarterback with Mauer. Now you've got sustained great play on the offensive line, especially like Trey Smith, like you said, and guys making plays on the defensive line against what was the leading Russia in the SCC. So a really, really good day for the long term for Tennessee. I thought on top of the obvious, just relief and a little release in the short term, the way the season has gone.
Joel:
Yeah, that the defensive line. It was a whole bunch of guys, too, it wasn't just one guy having a great game. It was like I was watching it like, hey, SEC from I don't know you. Who are you?
Will:
It's
Joel:
You know,
Will:
Sprits.
Joel:
It's
Will:
Yeah,
Joel:
It's like
Will:
I had
Joel:
There's
Will:
To.
Joel:
Another guy. I don't know.
Will:
I had to pull out the program and look for I can't even remember who it is now. Maybe Darel Middleton is
Joel:
Yeah,
Will:
Somebody that was making plays or I was
Joel:
Yeah.
Will:
Like, who was that? So.
Joel:
Yeah. Him and Benetton.
Will:
Yeah.
Joel:
Yeah.
Will:
Ja'quain Blakely was in there to
Joel:
Wow.
Will:
Make it. He didn't get a sack, but he made
Joel:
Mm
Will:
Some
Joel:
Hmm.
Will:
Nice things happen. I think it was my wife enjoyed that. He was. He had the belly hanging out.
Joel:
Now, you
Will:
That's.
Joel:
See, she likes big bellies.
Will:
Let's listen. I can testify to that. So it's David, haven't had a nice piece today or maybe yesterday about the game saying that when you look at those seven sacks, it wasn't necessarily great defensive line play. A lot of it was good coverage, which. Fine. Great. Awesome.
Joel:
Yeah.
Will:
You know, like whatever, those guys are finishing the job that a lot of those guys on the back end are doing. And it was nice to see that you mentioned the pro football focus grades, watching the game. It really
Joel:
Really?
Will:
Felt like Nigel Warrior was having a great game.
Joel:
Yeah, yeah.
Will:
And sometimes you feel that way
Joel:
Way
Will:
And then you go
Joel:
Back.
Will:
Back and especially with a guy in a secondary. You remember the plays he made, but you don't always remember the plays he gave up unless there, you know, sort of monumental kinds of plays. But I really. Warriors face such high expectations because of his dad. As long as he's been here and has failed to live up to what we built him up in our minds, probably unfairly as so there is a little bit of me when he was playing so well that thought, well, he's probably not playing as well as I'm hoping he is, but he really did,
Joel:
Yeah.
Will:
At least in this one game. So that was that was really encouraging to see.
Joel:
Yeah. And then at the end of the game, you know, after. I think it was right after Mississippi State scored their touchdown to make it a little close. I said, OK, well, they're gonna have to pass now, you know, because you could tell that they were just playing with the lead and they were just wanting to sort of run out the clock and, you know, play it safe. And, you know, like you said, four straight runs. They were all successful. It's like, well, what do I know? Hey, you know, I'll take that. That was fun.
Will:
Well, there's there's a whole separate conversation we said on the side, because we're not allowed to have this problem right now. But for everyone that wants to make the Will Muschamp comparison, which, by the way. Good. Good week to be will most champs. So it's not that it's not all bad, but
Joel:
Maybe
Will:
Everyone
Joel:
The only week
Will:
Cares.
Joel:
That it's actually going to be Will Muschamp it.
Will:
It's right. But when we're setting that, we're setting it to the side for now. But people will want to say, well, it's nice to win this way, because we lost the Georgia state and BYU and had beat anybody. And it was nice to beat Kentucky this way last year. But this isn't sustainable. You're going to have to be more aggressive. Most champion Florida. It's fun to win games 20 to 10 for a year. And then you start losing those games and everything's closer than it should be. And it's just no fun at all. So I appreciate that Pruitt at least said in the post-game, hey, we probably can't win every game this way because. That's correct. So there was at least a verbal acknowledgement that this kind of thing isn't going to get it done every Saturday and it will get old and frustrating as Tennessee gets better and we expect more from them. But man, it was it was exactly right. Their run pass ratio. All that stuff, it worked exactly the way they wanted it to.
Joel:
So speaking of, hey, we're not going to be able to win every game like that. Pruitt joked I think he was joking about unveiling the Arkansas high school game plan of of always onside, kicking and never punting on fourth down. And, you know, the idea being that you're never going to let the other team actually have the ball. Right.
Will:
Right.
Joel:
And, you know, that's kind of funny. But, you know, Josh Ward mentioned on his podcast, looked on Vols that he thought that maybe it really wasn't all that bad of an idea. And when you start thinking about it, it's like, well, what is the downside? You know, it's just field position if you're unsuccessful, right. A failed onside kick gives the ball to the other team at midfield or better instead of at the twenty five and always going forward on fourth down. You know, that gives the ball to the other team right there instead of forty five yards away. So it's just field position and. But, but, but it might also work some of the time too, in which case you're extending a possession or maybe even stealing one. And what really is the value of an extra twenty five yards on kickoffs or forty five yards and a punt when the Alabama offense is going to score ninety five percent of the time anyway. So let them score quick and then you can get the ball back and eat more clock. So I'm all in that. That's what you know, I'm rooting for that. I know is not gonna happen, but I don't know. What do you think you wanted? You want to join me and Josh on this on this train?
Will:
Well, it's really that is an old, you know, Madden video game kind of way of doing things. And I never I was never that guy playing those games, but I did. I thought about I guess there's still time to do this recording. And so on Wednesday I thought about Busted Out Madden and just trying it in a game. This just to get a feel for it. In my spare time to seek as I haven't you know, that's that's a sort of middle school Madden tactic. But
Joel:
Was that does
Will:
You.
Joel:
That game actually have to a quarterback and three NFL first rounders? A wide receiver?
Will:
I would have to take like the Bengals. Put them in the orange uniforms and go against the Patriots in the red uniforms and imagine the imagine imagine the fire. But, you know, the interesting thing about that to me would be obviously, since he did it and somehow won the game, that would be front page news. But you know what? If Tennessee does it and they only lose by like 20 when you're five touchdown underdog. It would be interesting to see how they chose to carry that forward. From that point on, Pruitt is more aggressive. Again, when you're following Butch Jones, it's hard to not seem more aggressive, but on fourth downs, more aggressive on onside kicks. Last year, we were the best, best looking, onside, kicking team all year. We just missed by inches several times. So, you know, they work on it. And to that stuff, I wonder what kind of message are we sending to the defense? But what kind of message is Alabama's offense going to send to the defense?
Joel:
Yeah.
Will:
On the other side of things.
Joel:
Yeah.
Will:
So that to me would be the only interesting thing about it is if it weren't just enough to convince you maybe to think about doing it against South Carolina, that, you know, that's where it could get off the rails, is you do it and somehow you're let's say you lose by 17 to Alabama. You know, said something where you can entertain the miraculous at the start of the fourth quarter. Something like that. Well, then you try next week against South Carolina and it failed spectacularly and you lose a game that you would have won otherwise, just playing it straight up. So, yeah. I don't. I mean, I don't think he's. I think if he was going to do that, he would not have said it loud.
Joel:
Yeah.
Will:
You know, you just do it. But it would it would at least be interesting at 9 0 7 or whatever time they're gonna kick this game off. It would it might keep a few more eyeballs in front
Joel:
Yeah,
Will:
Of it.
Joel:
That's way past my bedtime. Thing is, I don't think that there's really any need to play keep away from oil must champ offense, though.
Will:
I hope not. Yeah,
Joel:
Yeah,
Will:
That would be
Joel:
I
Will:
That would be
Joel:
Know.
Will:
Best.
Joel:
All right. So I have this theory about what makes the Alabama passing game so good. I mean, this is one of the actually let me ask you this first. You've you've been watching these guys for a really long time. Is this the best Alabama offense that you've ever seen?
Will:
Maybe I'm going to write this for Friday morning about's. We did a version of it last year. What is success against this team? What are the things you can do? And last year it was at least at the time of the Tennessee game. If they don't score a touchdown on the opening drive success. You know, like if they score less than thirty five in the first half. Success. That sort of thing. So I think it is. I think it's in the conversation. Sometimes I feel this way about some of the Kentucky basketball teams that have come rolling through Knoxville where you're like, OK. That one. But then if they lose in the Elite Eight, you can't really say that. You know, it's like last year's Alabama offense. I would put them on the on the list. I would put two right now in terms of like most dangerous quarterbacks that I have ever seen play against Tennessee. I would put two on a top five on that list right now. Like without hesitation. I mean, I'm talking about like the Danny Werfel list. I
Joel:
Mm
Will:
Think
Joel:
Hmm.
Will:
Two is two. It scares me more than Tebow ever did. Playing against Tennessee. So I think that quarterback portion of it is going to be there, whether Alabama wins the national championship or not. So, yeah, I think it's got the potential. Last year did, too. They just didn't finish it there at the end. But, you know, that's that kind of helps a little bit in a backhanded sort of way to say, well, we're going to get wrecked here. We're at least getting wrecked by maybe the best offense that Tennessee has ever faced. We talked about that when Tennessee played Marcus Mariota and Oregon Butch Jones first year of like, hey, this team might win the whole thing. And had opportunities, too. So, you know, we'll need to wait until the year is over to get that full answer. But I would say. Yeah, definitely in the conversation.
Joel:
So I'm glad you mentioned Mariota because I think part of the problem is. I think when we played Oregon, there's just no way to simulate that speed, you know. And so everybody's faster and you're taking bad angles all game because you're just underestimating where they are going to be the entire time. And that's that that's what I was getting about getting that when whenever it's talking about the Alabama passing game, because I think that. The reason that they are so good is that I'm going to call it frictionless because in a passing game you generally have some friction between, you know, catching the ball and then running after the catch. So the guy either has to, you know, stop and catch or he has to adjust on the fly or maybe has to slow down or speed up just a little bit. But tooa and his receivers, they have zero friction at that point. Those guys are always hit right at full speed. And I think that the rest of the defense just doesn't. They're just not used to seeing that happen without any friction whatsoever. I know that's the goal for everybody, but it just seems like they've perfected it. So that's what I'm going out with with these receivers. They just it everything is so smooth and I hate them for it. So. Well.
Will:
Well, I think Tennessee last year we saw a version of this in the second half of the West Virginia game right away where you had a quarterback and a wide receiver combo where that guy, like even above average coverage didn't matter. That guy could put it where it needed to be. The receivers were going to make the plays. And I'm sure that's incredibly frustrating for a defensive back to say. I mean, I was I was there. I was right with him step for step. And they made a long play anyway. There was a throw on Bama's opening drive last year where two like rolled out and threw it back across his body all the width of the field. And Jerrod Means is like a pindrop just boom right there. And even the Alabama fans in the stadium were just, you know, amazed that he made that throw. And it's just one of those like. I'm not sure what we're supposed to do yet. Like what else? What else can you do about something like that? So. Yeah, I guess I think too is already. He's already in that level of there's gonna be some stuff that happened Saturday where you just kinda have to shrug your shoulders and say, yep, yep. That's that's great. And let's just move on to the next play.
Joel:
Hey, did you see Doug Dickey's comments? I think it was a Dance Hall of Fame ceremony or something, or he was talking about his idea to expand the playoff to. I don't know whether it was eight or 16 teams. I think it was 16. Do you happen to see those comments? I'm sorry.
Will:
It did not see it.
Joel:
Oh, OK. So I'm going to paraphrase here, but it because I only glance that I was an M.D. doing something else. But, you know, you hear a lot of arguments like this and how do you make it Orac and all this stuff? And there was some stuff about that. But the thing I thought was so interesting was his reason for it. And he said it's creating a rich get richer of a bigger problem of the rich getting richer, because right now there's basically eight teams with the 14 playoff. There's eight teams that have that are legitimately chasing it each year. And so they're getting all of the best guys. Those eight teams. But if you expand it to like 16 team playoff, then you have 30 teams that can go into someone who's living room and say, hey, you know, we're going to be in the playoff this year without being laughed out. So I just thought that was really interesting yet. Any thoughts off the cuff on that?
Will:
I still think the very best model for this is eight teams with five automatic bids. If you win your conference, you're in. And in that model you make everybody's doing this anyway. Make them all play a conference championship game, which means if you win your division, you have a chance to win the national championship period every year. So for a conversation like that makes the South Carolina's and Missouri's of the world have a say, a some small percentage chance to win a national championship. You know, like Missouri right now and S.P. plus Missouri is the favorite to win the SCC east now. But I don't know if they'll be eligible for it or not. But that would be my point, is you. Every team has a chance to win their division. Not every I mean, not Vanderbilt and Kentucky, but many more teams have an opportunity to win their division. Then think about making a four team playoff with no automatic bids. And if you make if you win your division, you're gonna get a shot against whoever it is in in the lead title game. And if you win that, you're in. So I just think that is I think anything more than 8 ruins the regular season, which is the best.
Will:
It's what makes college football great is the weight on every outcome. And making it about automatic bids and division winners means you keep the head to head value, which is the other thing that makes it so great. So I think you can accomplish what I applaud Dickey for making that suggestion, because I think he's right and you can track that through. We've been doing this now for, say, five years, six years with a playoff. And it is a lot of Alabama and Clemson and Ohio State and becoming a lot of Oklahoma here. But I think, you know, you provide the most hope to the most number of teams while maintaining the sanctity of the regular season. If you do eight, eight teams, every conference champion gets in the highest rated group of five. Champion gets and. So you've got a Cinderella every year and then to At-Large teams that the committee could pick. So I just hope that one is always my favorite. To me, I just think it accomplishes all of those things.
Joel:
All right, back to Bama. Tennessee was, I think, opened as a twenty nine and a half point favorite and it's now up to thirty four and a half I believe, last time I looked. That's a lot of points, man. That does not look like a fun game to watch. So I think ESPN FBI gave Tennessee a one. This is off the top of my head, but I think it's a two point seven percent chance of of winning. So that's also fun. So what is it that we want to see on Saturday night? Do you know a team that is favored by that much is going to make the opponent look bad in almost all areas? So what is it that we're looking for to hopefully find some glimmer of hope in that game?
Will:
It's funny when you're an underdog, when you're a five touchdown underdog, you know. So if Tennessee loses by thirty one, they've covered the spread with a little room to spare. But I don't think any of us are going to say, hey, lost by thirty one. You know where that was? That was decent work there. I think you want to see you want to see Tennessee move the ball offensively. You want to see them land their shots. Because some teams like Ole Miss. It's not just Texas A&M, but some other teams that are closer to Tennessee's talent level right now have landed a few blows on them. There's lots of the most optimistic version of any of this is Bama's got some injuries on the defensive front. They're not what they used to be there. They don't have to be because they can score 100 points a game or whatever. But, yeah, I mean, you want to see if Monday if if Alabama wins this game. Sixty three to twenty. Well sixty three to thirty one or something like that is going to feel better about things that Auburn team in 2013. The DOBs played against that was fifty five to twenty three.
Will:
But you know Tennessee was within seven right before halftime and at a point and. Auburn got some special teams touchdowns too. But at a point there you just. OK. They're better than us and they're pulling away. But if you can land some punches early, if it's, you know, seventeen to seven and then twenty seven to 14 or whatever, just lands and punches. B attempts to be compelling television at the start of the third quarter, like at halftime of Tennessee's down twenty eight. That's probably not great. You know, so is can you keep it to twenty one or less in the first half. Gives some reason or some idea that maybe if you come down the field and score to start the third quarter, then maybe BAM has been playing football for a while here without a bye. Tennessee almost got him four years ago in Tuscaloosa in that scenario. So, you know, that's that's one thing also to look at there. But, you know, I don't know. I just I'm not sure. I don't know how this Tennessee team stops these guys, which goes back to the onside kick conversation.
Joel:
I'm wondering if that 9 o'clock kick, wasn't it? You know, hey, can you put us on after most of our fans bedtimes? I don't know. I
Will:
Well,
Joel:
Cause.
Will:
The fun online joke about that is Alabama has this fancy new synchronized stadium light thing, which I am sure we'll see a bunch on Saturday, but they haven't played a night game at home yet.
Joel:
Oh.
Will:
So this is their first opportunity to use it this season. So some some people are like, you know, hey, we spent millions of dollars or whatever on this system. Can you do us a favor and throw us a late. Central Time start against the team? We're going to be favored by five touchdowns against. Oh, that'll be fun and cool. So, yeah, I've been expecting lots of snark and jokes about the fancy new light system at Bryant Denning.
Joel:
So I'm actually glad that I asked you that question because something you said made me think of something I hadn't thought about before, which which is you kind of want to compare yourself to everybody else who's played them. Right. So if you look at their scores so far, you get Duke lost. Forty two to three. You don't want to be like them.
Will:
But they were compelling for a quarter and a half.
Joel:
Ok,
Will:
Something
Joel:
So you
Will:
Like that.
Joel:
See, I go a little bit longer than that, which, you know, generally we're only good for a quarter and a half. But maybe in the both the first half and the second half, maybe we're we're in at New Mexico State. Sixty two to ten. You don't want to let him get to 60. Ole Miss, not southern miss. Forty nine to seven. Now, if you can do better than that. That would be good. So we're really looking at South Carolina, Ole Miss and M and Ms. Top twenty five team or. Or was.
Will:
More talented than us by far.
Joel:
Yes.
Will:
A&m is,
Joel:
Yes.
Will:
But not the other.
Joel:
Right. So you got South Carolina forty seven, twenty three. That would be respectable.
Will:
Four. Yes, it is. I would take that
Joel:
Yeah.
Will:
Right now.
Joel:
Ole Miss. Fifty nine to thirty one. I like the thirty one part of that.
Will:
Twenty eight. Same thing. You cover the spread by a touchdown and you scored a lot of points and could tell yourself, hey, when we're not playing Bama, we're gonna do great.
Joel:
Are you doing that math in your head? Because, you know, it's after 9 for me and I just I didn't even realize that's it for
Will:
Football bars and church attendance are the only two men that I can do.
Joel:
This dude is so good at Severns, man.
Will:
The threat seven thousand fifty nine thirty one. They both kicked a field goal in their.
Joel:
All right. And then and I was forty seven. Twenty eight. What's that. That's a. Right.
Will:
I say, yeah, but again, I wouldn't I wouldn't compare us to. Same thing with A&M, that game, listening to the updates, driving back from the Mississippi State game on Saturday. You know, it was. Oh, all right. Now it's twenty seven, fourteen or whatever. Oh, they're within. Okay. Well there's still high. That's what you want is compelling as long as possible. And and you're not going to get the sort of Duke was compelling for a while at like 7 to 3 or something like that in the first week of the season. You're not gonna get that. So you want to me, it's going to have to be the trading blows compelling.
Joel:
Yeah.
Will:
Which would be especially if Mauer plays.
Joel:
Yeah. And I would be OK if if it comes down to us holding our own for a while and then just get getting worn out at the end of each half. We're just. There's an explanation for that. Right. So yeah, I'll I'll take that too. I meant to look up a rap name for you, but I still have not done that. So I'm just gonna give you your freestyle anonymous thing. Give him a chance to say whatever you want to say as long as you make it rhyme and say it in rhythm.
Will:
Yeah, well, I can't. I can't promise you either of those things. You know, this is bargaining again. David even had a nice piece today where athletics doing this thing, where they're doing mid-season reviews on all these teams and his his each one they're doing. What's the biggest question for this team? And his was was Mississippi state a turning point or an outlier? And that's right. You know, there's a chance we look back.
Joel:
Yes.
Will:
It's not just the end of the season, but in about three weeks. And we say, oh, Mississippi State is in the toilet like there. It's just not happening for them.
Joel:
Well, they
Will:
And.
Joel:
Got all those I'm sorry to interrupt, but they got all those suspensions, too, which can't help the overall record.
Will:
No, nor can playing LSU and everybody else that they've still yet to play despite having three losses now. So, yeah, there's a chance that happens and we get back into the business of not only losing but losing to losing to Missouri by twenty eight hours or something like that. I mean, that's that's still possible. I think it's clear at this point that Vanderbilt is very bad and maybe looking for a coach by the time they get around to playing us. UAB is sneaky. You have like 5 and 1 or something like
Joel:
Yep.
Will:
That, but they're still not. They got some football. Let's play before they play us.
Joel:
The SBM loves you. By the way,
Will:
Yet
Joel:
Every
Will:
The
Joel:
Week.
Will:
Advance that still don't love them, but I mean, look at their record the last two years. They. They deserve some love.
Joel:
They're putting up points in their keeping opponents from putting up points. I know their schedules are out there, but that good. But.
Will:
Yeah. But, you know, we'll see about about them by the time we get there.
Joel:
Yeah,
Will:
And Kentucky, you know,
Joel:
I think.
Will:
I think this school of thought there is if you could beat Kentucky the way you beat them last year, and you've shown with Mississippi State that if your team has something below average at quarterback, you can kind of smother that. They did that with BYU with the exception of one play. So I know Tennessee is capable of shutting down an offense that does not have a quarterback that's worth a whole lot. So I don't worry about that one. But yeah, I mean, I think there's that's the argument. Was this an outlier? And in a couple of weeks, we're gonna be back to talking about making sure this team doesn't get to 3 and 9 or whatever. Or was it a genuine turning point? Because, you know, it's it's got him at five point one on the ole expected win total this week. So it's it's not impossible, but there's work to do here. So and we just we fell into this trap last year. And when they beat Kentucky last year, we're five and five. I thought, man, this this year, a successful year is in the bag. You know, even if they even if they split these next two games, this is gonna be a successful year. We're gonna go to a bowl game. Things are trending up. And then they just. I mean, you were there. We were all there. They were awful against Missouri and Vanderbilt. So you just never know what's going to happen. But yeah, I think that's I think that's the question here going forward.
Joel:
And that'll do it for this episode of the Gameday on Rocky Top podcast, as always. Thanks for listening. As always, do us a favor. Subscribe, give us a rating. Have a review. I need to start saying this at the beginning because, you know,
Will:
Got
Joel:
I don't know very
Will:
To
Joel:
Much.
Will:
Make it to the end. Yes.
Joel:
Yeah.
Will:
Thank you for bringing it to the end if
Joel:
Yeah.
Will:
You're still listening to this.
Joel:
Yeah. So bonus points, if you include in your review the secret phrase onside kick. There we go again with that one. So for Will Shelton, I'm Joel Hollingsworth and this has been the Gameday on Rocky Top podcast. And I applaud Skype for actually making it through with booting you off and making you start mid-sentence again.
Will:
Indeed. I think we we stayed true to our word of finishing by 9:15. So it's a valued hour, our effort there.
Joel:
It did. Very nice. All right, well, wish me luck with the statistics. I don't even know what it is we're trying to figure out tonight. Something to do with. I can't even tell you.
Will:
Well, yes, I did find a way to turn it into multiples of seven and football scores and you'll just find.
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