Gameday on Rocky Top

Subscribe!

 

Listen here

Robo-Transcript below.

Pardon the errors, as the bot understands neither southern accents nor football.

GRT Podcast 9.21.18

NOTES

[00:02:56] Does this week still feel like a regular Tennessee-Florida week?
[00:07:25] Will’s prediction for the game.
[00:12:13] Hilarious transcription error here.
[00:15:05] Will’s list of priorities for the Vols this weekend against the Gators.
[00:21:43] Will’s answers to the Guessing Game questions.
[00:25:33] The odd strategy that Will has used to secure the overall lead in the GRT Pick ‘Em contest after Week 3.
[00:27:46] This portends the end of the world, as both Joel and Will admit that they’ve picked Vanderbilt over South Carolina this weekend.
[00:29:38] Will’s take on Rick Barnes, the Tennessee basketball program, and the addition of a five-star point guard to the mix.

TRANSCRIPT

Joel: [00:00:14] This is the Gameday on Rocky Top Podcast Episode 152. I’m Joel Hollingsworth and I’m with Wil Shelton again this evening. How you doing Will

Will: [00:00:22] I’m doing all right. How are you.

Joel: [00:00:24] I am doing great. We are on big episode 152 so you know Brad missed the big milestone a couple of episodes ago and he said he felt terrible about it. Actually he didn’t say that but you know it was it was a big deal. And now we’re like sorry I’m repositioning and got way too close to the microphone. So you know we’ve been racking them up this this week so we’re we’re going to roll this odometer over to you know we’re going to be at 1800 in no time flat.

Will: [00:01:02] Right.

Joel: [00:01:03] So yeah.

Will: [00:01:03] Only if Tennessee wins though like we’re not doing that many podcasts if we keep losing.

Joel: [00:01:07] That’s true because they’re much more difficult to do when they’re losing or they actually

Will: [00:01:12] Yes

Joel: [00:01:12] They do turn in sort of a therapy session. So those are kind of good. They tend to be longer and sadder and probably a lot less fun to listen to but they’re good for us you know. So that’s what counts right.

Will: [00:01:28] Well and longtime listeners of the podcast will recall that we didn’t we have we had a sports psychologist on once

Joel: [00:01:34] We did.

Will: [00:01:34] And

Joel: [00:01:34] Yes.

Will: [00:01:34] Liked to have a 2011 when things were really dark and dreary. And I also remember you’re doing one in 2010 we were and Tennessee was playing Ole Miss. The last time he won an SEC West game. And I remember being sitting outside a friend’s house. I was in Knoxville for that game and I was sitting outside a friend’s house we were doing like an hour and 15 minutes on Ole Miss and we were three and 6 and I was like. Internally I was asking anyone listening to this probably probably not. So

Joel: [00:02:09] Yes.

Will: [00:02:09] We asked if we can if we can avoid any other sports psychologist in our future. That would be it would be a really good sign.

Joel: [00:02:16] That would be a good sign. I will say that according to one metric there’s like twenty five thousand downloads over the course of 152 episodes so you know that sounds like a lot of people I guess.

Will: [00:02:31] Yeah. Yeah. And there were some. I think sometimes too about we did that one. It would have been 2009 where like on the same podcast we had Clay Travis

Joel: [00:02:44] Yes.

Will: [00:02:45] Spencer Hall

Joel: [00:02:45] Yeah.

Will: [00:02:46] Holly Anderson

Joel: [00:02:46] Yeah.

Will: [00:02:47] And the little old you and me. So. So you know like it’s you know that’s pretty cool

Joel: [00:02:56] Yup.

Will: [00:02:56] These days regardless of everyone’s changing opinions about Clay Travis or whatever the case may be. So yeah we’ve had we’ve had all kinds of fun throughout the years despite the the on field football products not necessarily being all kinds of fun and so hopefully that is a play this is a this is a fun week. It’s still like I still feel the same about this week right now as in just about any other year. Like another coaching change and going 4-8 last year given be by West Virginia and even Florida losing in Kentucky like I still feel the way I’m accustomed to feeling on the Thursday night before the Florida game or do you feel do you feel the same way like I. That’s that’s warm and welcoming to me that still feels like everything the Tennessee Florida game should be in terms of what what’s on the line for fans that sort of stuff. Does it feel the same to you.

Joel: [00:03:47] It actually does and I’m a little surprised about it because you know when we talked a couple of nights ago it was you know is this a race for the bottom of the SEC East. You know. And so if that’s the case you know you’re like well you know nothing. Nothing really matters. But you know what. When I saw that video which have you seen it yet the

Will: [00:04:08] Admiral Schofield video.

Joel: [00:04:10] Yes

Will: [00:04:10] Yeah.

Joel: [00:04:11] That is awesome. So after watching that that really finally kicked me into regular Tennessee Florida hate week mode. So yeah I’m excited. And you know what. It’s not just because it’s Tennessee Florida and I want to beat them and we owe them and we get all this revenge stuff and all the record of wrongs. Remember when we used to do that.

Will: [00:04:32] Yeah yeah.

Joel: [00:04:33] There’s a lot of stuff there you know it’s all pent up. But it’s not just that because as Brad was mentioning last night. This is this is sort of a game where you can think that whoever wins sort of has the inside track to competing with Georgia for the SEC East probably not this year but seems to be the team that’s going to be favored to be the one to to compete with them in the immediate future. So I don’t know. Maybe that’s reading too much into it and of course if we lose I’ll say well it won’t matter you know.

Will: [00:05:18] No I agree with that though I think that’s I’ve read some interesting stuff from the Florida perspective this week talking about. Because they’ve already lost to Kentucky if you lose again here for them. Is that sort of the a reality check that they their administration the powers that be in Gainesville might need to say hey this is way worse than we than we thought it was. And even in their moments when they thought things were going poorly for them before whether it was the end of Ron Zooks tenure or you know the sort of the last Urban Meyer year that led to the first Will Muschamp year when things weren’t necessarily great they still had the potential to bounce it right back you know Urban Meyer won a national championship in his second year. Will Muschamp almost won the SEC in his second year got him. I think it was the sugar bowl it was a BCS. Yes. You know at large bid for them in his in his second year so even when they’ve had down moments I think the Gators are used to, we can turn this around almost overnight. Year two we can win. You know 13 plus games in the national championship. And I think if Tennessee wins this game Saturday it’s going to almost help is the word I want to use. It’s going to help them realize like hey this is this is more down than we have been previously and it’s going to take more time I think than Florida fans might want to Because you know you lose to Kentucky maybe Kentucy’s good who knows. You know maybe Kentucky this is a 9 or 10 win Kentucky team maybe probably not but maybe. But I think if you lose here to a team you’re still accustomed to beating I’m sure and to a Tennessee team that also has won four games last year. That may this may be a reality check for the Gators that sort of last year and really a much longer period over the last decade for Tennessee fans. I think we’ve already kind of gone through that that process says that’s kind of how I look at things.

Joel: [00:07:25] Yeah. I asked Brad this last night because my my statsy preview machine spit out after some eyeball and gut adjustments a one point Tennessee win 23 22. That’s my prediction. And Brad completely independently without any prior discussion. His prediction was Tennessee 24 Florida 23. So we’re both expecting really close games. What are you expecting Saturday

Will: [00:07:58] Well independently as well I can tell you in the in the confidence points picks contest I picked Tennessee 21 20. So I think we’re we’re all either we’re all brilliant or we’re all idiots. And you know again longtime listeners of this podcast can come to their own conclusions on that. But no I think the biggest thing to me is this. It really does feel like a toss up. It’s I think it’s still hard to get a really good read on either of these two teams because you got one bad performance and then you’ve got competition that is just kind of hard to I think Colorado State a lot of people thought it was going to be better than what Bobo and John Jancek and those guys put together and so it’s hard to look at what Florida did last week with any kind of real confidence or merit. So I’m not convinced this is when people talk about is going to be a rock fight and two really bad teams and whatever the case may be I’m not convinced of all that. I don’t think this is you know if we go back to 2013 Butch Jones first year that that the infamous Nathan Peterman game. Those were two really bad offenses really bad offenses in that game. I don’t think the offenses are that bad when we’re talking about this year. And there was you know we’ve seen some ineptitude Tennessee certainly last year was was really inept at times offensively in terms of execution inside the 10 yard line and all that we remember so I don’t think that this is destined to be a 16 13 18 punts sort of sort of game. But I do think it will. It will be lower scoring and until you see Tennessee’s line protect against a better sort of defense than what they have faced this year. You can’t really I have a hard time picking Tennessee to score 28 30 points until I see the line stand up. But I don’t

Joel: [00:10:01] Yeah.

Will: [00:10:01] Think it’ll take 20 or 30 points to win this game. So yeah I think a toss up given given the toss up nature I still am going to write about this for Friday morning. I just default back to the same thing I’ve been saying for the last two or three years which is I think Tennessee is better. I think Tennessee has been the better team four years in a row at this. And finally we asked this question we were talking about Spencer Hall a minute ago we used to have him on the podcast when we were at SB Nation here every week and every year when Tennessee played Florida. And I feel like for years we would ask is Tennessee feels like Tennessee is the better team is Tennessee the better team or at least caught up and the recruiting rankings really didn’t ever bear that out regardless of what Muschamp was or wasn’t getting out of the Gators. But now that really has changed because of. You’ve got three years of Jim McElwain’s recruiting you’ve got a kind of a tough transition class with Dan Mullen and so. The Athletic did a good piece this week. Just looking at. Yeah like Tennessee in recruiting going back over the last three or four years is equal to or better than Florida. Now some of those guys at Tennessee transferred out didn’t pan out. Preston Williams those kinds of guys were really highly rated. And Florida I’m sure has got some of that too but I just feel like in every measure that generally speaking in terms of who gained the most yards in these games recruiting those kinds of things that Tennessee has been better than Florida in the last four years and that it’s not. Again I’ll I’ll get into this more in-depth and in writing it out but it’s not homer fan optimism crazy talk to say that Tennessee has had to have some spectacularly strange things happen to them. Many of them self-inflicted

Joel: [00:11:57] Right.

Will: [00:11:58] To lose in 14 15 and 17. And Florida fans will probably say hey we had some spectacularly. You know what happened in 16 was weird. All of the games have been weird. I think we would say what happened in 16 was

Joel: [00:12:10] We just beat

Will: [00:12:11] Tennessee.

Joel: [00:12:11] You

Will: [00:12:13] Yeah and if Tennessee had had their stuff together the first half would have been way worse. But you know Tennessee was capable of just beating Florida in at least 15 as well and really dominated, dominated seven eighths of the game in 14 the one they ultimately lost 10 to nine. And last year Tennessee didn’t dominate that game but Tennessee was play for play. I would say was better than Florida in last years game and just spectacularly weirdly passed the ball inside the 10 yard line a bunch of times. Again you don’t need me to tell you that, you remember but. I just default to I think these are evenly matched teams in terms of. 2018. And when I think something is close I often just go back and say look I think Tennessee has been the better team the better. Even now. Equal to or better than Florida in recruiting and overall talent which is something that’s almost never been true in the history of this robbery [KEEPING THIS ERROR FOR FUN!]. And so all that being the case I tend to lean Tennessee’s way. Now all that stuff can go right out the window if you get that sort of coaching ineptitude because I was saying that about Tennessee and Georgia up to the kickoff of that game last year where Tennessee and Georgia had played one possession games 2011 through 2016. And so regardless of anything else kept going back and saying look these these teams are not that far apart. And as it turned out the difference between Kirby Smart and Butch Jones made them incredibly far apart. So you know I’m open to be wrong about this as as I am most things but I think this is a toss up. If you asked me how confident I am I would say five out of ten. And you know you hope that it’s 5.1 out of 10 and Tennessee they will find a way to get this done.

Joel: [00:14:13] Yeah. That’s interesting that you mentioned the Georgia thing because the difference there I think still goes back to recruiting because it was always pretty clear that Georgia had better players and then it was just a matter of the coaches sort of evening things out. And I think with Florida it’s almost like we have about the same kind of players and where we lost was on coaching. Even though McElwain got fired too you know we just made some. It seemed like coaching blunders were sort of the primary culprit for those for those losses. And you’re hoping that with the coaching change that a little more discipline a little more football knowledge a little more you know hey we know what’s going on here maybe makes the difference. So anyway that’s kind of what I’m thinking.

Joel: [00:15:05] But what do you think is the list of priorities for Tennessee on Saturday.

Will: [00:15:13] I think first of all it is for Jeremy Pruitt and Tyson Helton establishing some sort of rhythm offensively that gives you your best chance of victory which is to say how much more are they going to ask of Jarrett Guarantano without asking too much of him. It’s quarterback that hasn’t thrown an interception yet he’s been hit on a lot but not necessarily been put in terrible positions by the play calling a lot of deep shots have been with max protection and that sort of stuff. So when you have to be a little more exotic than that against the better defense and an SEC opponent how much more are they going to rely on Guarantano to do things for him and the passing game without relying too much without us coming back next week and talking alright Guarantano had three picks in this game and what do we do and that sort of stuff. And then right alongside that what’s the balance in their run game. If Tennessee is the next to worst rushing team in the country in the first quarter this year. If we’re bad running the ball in the first quarter again. How. How patient are we going to be this got Philip Fullmer some years with Florida where when we talk about the team that wins the rushing battle wins this contest. If Tennessee has one of these you know 35 carries for 70 yards that’s too many carries at two yards a carry.

Will: [00:16:39] You know at some point you need to try something else so how. How willing is a head coach as a defensive guy that we all I think kind of assume is more conservative and would like to run clock and have his defense be the one that dictates the game. What’s the sweet spot there in terms of how aggressive you’re going to be. How patient you’re going to be with the run game if it struggles early. All that sort of stuff so I think figuring out what that rhythm is offensively that gives Tennessee the best chance to win. To me that is the most. Important thing. You know other other things we’ve talked about before are important. If this line can’t block. Not much of this matters. If Tennessee can’t get pressure with just their front four guys then we’re back to the West Virginia conversation of alright here comes a bunch of blitzes and if he gets it off. Cross your fingers that you know our freshmen back there are going to be able to to not get beat and that should be an easier task against Florida. But that’s you know those things to me are just kind of simple. If we can’t block out a lot of these matters and if we can’t get to Felipe Franks cross your fingers.

Joel: [00:17:53] Have you heard Brad’s a stat on that I can’t even repeat what it is. But it’s but the gist of it is that apparently the numbers so far this year show that Felipe Franks is worse if you don’t pressure him.

Will: [00:18:10] So the idea there is right is such a bad decision maker

Joel: [00:18:13] Yeah.

Will: [00:18:13] That you want to have him sit back there and try to read the field and and pick it out. And you know I’ve heard Brad say that I’ve heard some other folks I read on Tennessee have made that point. I’m intrigued by that. You know I have the memory of this guy bombing a Hail Mary on us last year so there is a part of me that’s like well let’s put that guy on the ground if we can. But you know this too I think that will be telling a little bit about Pruitt is I don’t necessarily think that Pruitt is super overly aggressive by trade but he he has tremendous experience going against quarterbacks that are far better than Felipe Franks when he was in Alabama and Florida State and Georgia and trying to find ways to minimize what they were able to do. But Pruitt talks a lot about turnovers. You know you talked a lot about it again this week and

Joel: [00:19:06] Yeah.

Will: [00:19:06] So that’s that’s one of the things I think that that Chavis was really good at when he was here. Not all the turnovers that Tennessee got were about getting pressure on the quarterback. Some of them were. We got real good athletes and we’re going to put them in the right radar area on on the field and we’re going to trust that they’re going to go make a play. And I think again you’re seeing Pruitt play freshmen because he trusts that these guys have abilities to make plays that maybe some of the Butch Jones upperclassmen just just don’t have as much ability there even though they got more experience so you know I’m intrigued by that. I don’t I don’t know that you can build a whole game plan around that. The trust Felipe Franks to do something dumb game plan. I don’t know if that works or not

Joel: [00:19:52] Yeah.

Will: [00:19:52] But I mean again to see this rivalry. It’s so funny to look at and talk about because that the 15 game like those were two good teams that Florida with Will Grier was a really good team. And Tennessee as we all know in 15 was just a team that lost really close games to the east champion and other teams that made the playoffs so that 15 game was two really good teams going at each other. But the other times in these games you know we’re seeing Felipe Franks and Austin Appleby in 2016. And the guy where they made the change in 14 right and brought the kid and off the bench that got the one touchdown drive for him after a turnover. What was a kid’s name Harris or something like

Joel: [00:20:42] I don’t remember.

Will: [00:20:44] But so like we haven’t we haven’t seen sterling quarterback play outside of Will Grier in 2015 from from Florida in this rivalry. So is that part has changed obviously significantly from from back in the day and from Tim Tebow. So I don’t know. I think that’s just the sort of recent history weighing on me of saying well we’ve already been beat by Felipe Franks once and you know beat by in 2014 by bad quarterback play and we’re down 21 to 3 to Austin Appleby in 2016. So you know that is maybe I got a little too much scarring for that but this is where I part of the thing about having a national championship defensive coordinator is your head coaches. I don’t have to worry about that. I trust Jeremy Pruitt’s smart enough to figure out what to do there.

Joel: [00:21:34] Yeah. All right. So we’re we’re sort of running a little late here but you get a little extra time.

Will: [00:21:42] Yeah sure.

Joel: [00:21:43] Ok. So I just wanted to run through the guessing game questions. Just real quick I know you probably haven’t seen these yet or unless you read. OK. So you can you can defer if you want or just answer quickly or as with as much detail as you want but I’m going to run through them quick. So first one is which is greater Tennessee’s rushing yards or Florida’s passing yards.

Will: [00:22:09] I feel like the answer to that has to be Florida’s passing yards. If the answer is our rushing yards it’s going to be a real good night. But I think as much as Tennessee has struggled to run the ball with consistency. I think Florida will find opportunities and enough opportunities in the passing game even if it’s Felipe Franks for for the Gators to be the answer on that one.

Joel: [00:22:34] Ok. Does it change your answer. If I told you that Charleston Southern ran for 222 on them.

Will: [00:22:42] No see I don’t know enough about . . . like Kentucky. I think Benny Snell is a better running back then than anybody that we have on our roster. And also Kentucky the way they run the football is just different than the way we seek to run the football in terms of philosophy different enough anyway. So like not knowing enough or anything about Charleston Southern, no it does not. That does not change my mind on that. But again if that is the answer I think things are going to go extraordinarily well for Tennessee.

Joel: [00:23:18] Ok. That is exceptional infallible logic and I’m going with Tennessee’s rushing yards. So. All right.

Will: [00:23:26] They’re your questions. Yeah.

Joel: [00:23:28] So who scores the first touchdown for the Vols. Ty Chandler, another running back. A wide receiver or somebody else.

Will: [00:23:39] Well somebody else would be fun if we’re talking about all that stuff. But I will go with a wide receiver. I think I think Marquez Callaway is great. I think they intentionally didn’t really go to him a lot against against UTEP. I think Jauan Jennings obviously is someone that has a lot of history and success in this rivalry. And I’ve been impressed with Josh Palmer. Brandon Johnson was good last year. I think there are a lot of options. Tyson Helton as we read about in the summer USC and at Western Kentucky he involves three and four guys almost every game. It was really diverse in terms of the number of receivers out there so I would not be surprised to see one. I think Callaway maybe, when Tennessee’s offense is on the field I think Callaway may be the best player on the field. No offense to Trey Smith but then 2, just some wrinkles and there again if you’re going to lean on Guarantano more are there ways to change them up and slip something in there to Jordan Murphy or you know those those kinds of things so I will I will go with a wide receiver on that one.

Joel: [00:24:45] All right. I’m going with another running back just the field against Ty Chandler I think it’s going to be a running touchdown first and I’m just going with the field versus Chandler and the somebody else, that’s basically a spot for Dominick Wood-Anderson. So.

Will: [00:25:02] Right. Or Jarrett Guarantano on a roll out keeper.

Joel: [00:25:06] That’ll work. Yeah. Ok third question who leads at half time the Vols the Gators or nobody

Will: [00:25:15] If the action is juiced toward nobody I mean if you’re giving me more points for nobody I

Joel: [00:25:20] Probably

Will: [00:25:20] May I may

Joel: [00:25:20] Am.

Will: [00:25:20] Actually yeah I may pick that and the actual contest but I’ll say Tennessee. I mean again if if were saying it’s 50/50, Tennessee’s at home and said as he had been better the last few years I would lean towards Tennessee.

Joel: [00:25:33] All right cool. You’re actually like you’re in the lead overall for the pick em contest this year is that right.

Will: [00:25:44] I am it’s very strange to me. I got again longtime listeners and readers will know I’m a gut person but I’m also like I pick teams that I like. I don’t like to be conflicted when I’m watching the games.

Joel: [00:25:59] Yeah.

Will: [00:25:59] I don’t like to think oh I really like this team to win but I picked this other team so one way I got ahead of a lot of people early is I had Virginia Tech over Florida State in week one

Joel: [00:26:08] Ok

Will: [00:26:08] And that’s a that’s a game where a lot of people I know put a lot of points on Willie Taggart and company down there

Joel: [00:26:16] Yeah.

Will: [00:26:17] And they should not have done that. So that’s not the Virginia Tech is my point Willie Taggart may turn out to be fine but that was a I’m back in my house now is about 20 miles from Lane Stadium. So I am I’m a little biased in that direction anyway but. That was that game had the total makings of a game that Virginia Tech wins which is what happened so I say all that to say I tend to do as well as Tennessee does

Joel: [00:26:45] Yeah.

Will: [00:26:45] In a given year in these things. So

Joel: [00:26:47] That’s what I was going to say if Tennessee ever wins the national championship you’re going to also win the pick em.

Will: [00:26:52] That’s right. Exactly yeah. So so far I am in first. But I had us to beat with Virginia. I’ve certainly got Tennessee not I don’t know know I think the confidence points on West Virginia I had like 3 I think I’ve got Tennessee at like 9 this week.

Joel: [00:27:10] That’s

Will: [00:27:10] So

Joel: [00:27:10] Pretty high for

Will: [00:27:11] You know

Joel: [00:27:11] A one point

Will: [00:27:12] It’s

Joel: [00:27:12] Game.

Will: [00:27:13] I’ve got some other some other things in there though that I’m interested in. And it makes me look so smart. But last week another reason I’m in front is I picked BYU to beat Wisconsin. You know why? It’s because we play BYU next year. And it’s better for us nationally if they’re good so.

Joel: [00:27:30] That was not infallible logic.

Will: [00:27:33] No. It’s like I said it’s my heart and my gut. I had I had it with like one confidence point but I bet lots people had Wisconsi at like 18 confidence points so

Joel: [00:27:43] Yeah, that was me.

Will: [00:27:44] Is that right.

Joel: [00:27:46] Yeah.

Will: [00:27:46] Yes. So I just pick those thing I pick that game because it’s of interest to Tennessee and because we play BYU next year. And I pick BYU to win because even joked about it on Twitter. It’s better for Tennessee if BYU is better next year and then we beat them. So you know I’m that’s I don’t think I have anything I’d have to look at it. I think I have anything really crazy this week. I had a real hard time like this is the weird world we live in where the two most interesting SEC games this Saturday are probably the best one is Mississippi State and Kentucky which I don’t know how that happened but like truly that’s the best SEC game this week and the hardest one to pick to me outside of Tennessee Florida is South Carolina Vanderbilt.

Joel: [00:28:33] Yeah yeah

Will: [00:28:34] Like

Joel: [00:28:34] I got Vandy

Will: [00:28:34] That’s

Joel: [00:28:35] In that one actually.

Will: [00:28:35] I’ve got Vandy too. And it’s so weird like I don’t know how many times I’ve said the phrase I’ve got Vandy in that one in my life let alone against the team that was going to be the second best team in this division.

Joel: [00:28:47] Yeah.

Will: [00:28:48] And I think it’s in Nashville and Vandy may even be favored like it.

Joel: [00:28:51] No they’re

Will: [00:28:51] I

Joel: [00:28:52] Not.

Will: [00:28:52] Think

Joel: [00:28:52] But it’s close. I think is like two

Will: [00:28:53] It’s like two

Joel: [00:28:53] And a half

Will: [00:28:54] And a half. Yeah. So I don’t know man this is this is weird but no joke I mean I feel bad for Alabama and Texas A&M is the 330 game and all that but Bama sis till at 27 and a half point favorite in that

Joel: [00:29:09] Yeah

Will: [00:29:10] Game. The

Joel: [00:29:10] Yeah.

Will: [00:29:10] Best game this week like that is in a totally fair world. Mississippi State and Kentucky is the 330 CBS game this week. But instead I’m sure it’s like ESPNU or something like that.

Joel: [00:29:25] So if you’re looking for a way to win the pick em you just have to change your strategy and figure out some way to go with Will’s gut. That’s basically the lesson I’m learning from this

Will: [00:29:36] Through the first

Joel: [00:29:36] Sir.

Will: [00:29:36] Three weeks yeah.

Joel: [00:29:38] All right. Quickly last question because I wanted to get to this if we if we still had time. You’re the basketball guy. So do you have anything to say about the hoops team landing five star point guard Josiah James.

Will: [00:29:53] Well you know I think everyone who you just can’t assume about things everyone assumed things about Rick Barnes over the course of X number of years he’s kind of doing what he did at Texas which is build the program his way establish his culture and then here comes the big money recruit. I mean again this is lots people have said this on Twitter I tweeted this to in the history of recruiting rankings this is the third highest commit to ever sign with Tennessee. Only Tobias Harris and Scotty Hopson have have been higher. So you know this is a big time player like Tobias Harris may only be around here for one year. But I think Barnes also learned with all those guys at Texas which led to a bunch of earlier exits in the NCAA tournament than than they were seeded for. You know it shows me that he’s not afraid to still go after the very best players that we’re not trying to be Virginia or no offense to Virginia. They were incredible last year in the regular season. We’re not trying to be South Carolina in our conference who we’re going to do it our way or we’re going to recruit kids and only play our way like it. Barnes is still more than happy to take a five star kid if he fits what we’re doing and we’ve been in on other five star kids as well. So now it’s I me will be interesting to see as we go from here how many more of these one and done ish players is Barnes going to go after and try to get.

Will: [00:31:28] But I think you got to feel so good about the culture at Tennessee right now and where you know we’re in a year where You know you’re going to lose Admiral. Grant’s a junior. You might lose him, you might lose Kyle Alexander. When you were trying to figure out OK is next season is 2019 20 going to be a rebuilding year. Well no. Now it’s going to be. We might have an NBA lottery pick on our team. So you know that’s that was a great thing. I think for Tennessee’s future so just goes to show you man all the things that all the things in terms of on court success that I thought Tennessee lost when Bruce Pearl left and I wasn’t sure if they would ever get back. Barnes, still got to get to the Sweet 16 or the elite eight with Tennessee, but Barnes has Tennessee competing and recruiting at those same levels right now. And that’s that’s an incredible testament to him so we can’t get back the shirtless painted chests whatever. But we also we also can’t get back or should want to get back lying to the NCAA. So you know it’s. It is. As a long suffering Tennessee basketball fan I am thrilled that it certainly appears that what we’re seeing right now isn’t just oh man we’ve got a really good mix of players and we’re going to be really good for two years and we’ll see that you know Barness is setting this thing up to keep Tennessee at the table for a long time and I think that’s tremendous.

Joel: [00:33:03] I will forever maintain that Bruce Pearl didn’t get fired for lying to the NCAA. As much as he did for admitting it which is a shame because that’s what you should do when you do something wrong. You should admit it but all the people who just maintain their lie when everybody knows they’re lying. They always get a pass. I hate that

Will: [00:33:22] Yeah. Oh yeah I mean it’s Clay Travis. We mentioned him earlier as one of the first people I saw say hey this this whole thing with Pearl is like no one will ever come clean to the NCAA again I promise

Joel: [00:33:35] Yes.

Will: [00:33:36] You that because you get a 3 year show cause for it. So you know. Good good for Bruce. He’s again I’ve written about this Bruce is at Auburn, legally or illegally. I have no idea but he’s doing great things at Auburn and good for him. Cuonzo is at Missouri doing great things good for him like you know everybody can be Rick Barnes doesn’t need Cuonzo Martin to suck for him to be successful and thanks be to God we don’t have to have you know here’s Bruce Pearl cutting down nets and meanwhile we’re four and 14. Can you imagine if we hadn’t hired Barnes or if you know whatever had happened and we actually finished 13th last year and Pearl won the SEC . Can you imagine. I mean just it would have fit really well with the rest of the decade. But you know I am I am as bad as things have been in football to have had to have had as good as we had it with Pearl for six years and now two two have come back to a place where it feels like anything is possible with this basketball program. Again that’s an incredible thing. And if Tennessee does not play well Saturday night and they lose to the Gators. Chris Chris Pendley and I were talking about this earlier today that it may be the first time in the history of ever that Tennessee is quicker than Kentucky to say wait till basketball season baby but basketball season is coming. So that’s that’s good news on the back end.

Joel: [00:35:10] That’s Will Shelton and that’s going to be a wrap for episode 152 of the Gameday on Rocky Top Podcast. As always please subscribe rate and review bonus points if you use the phrase.

Joel: [00:35:25] “I’m going with Will’s gut” in the review. That’s the secret phrase for this.

Will: [00:35:32] Next week the secret praise will be I trusted Will’s gut and I shouldn’t have

Joel: [00:35:38] I’ll remember them or write that down.

Will: [00:35:39] Yeah.

Joel: [00:35:41] And so for Will Shelton I’m Joel Hollingsworth and this has been the Gameday on Rocky Top Podcast.

Joel: [00:35:49] Have you noticed that the robo-transcript always calls it the Gameday Iraqi. Actually I’ve been I’ve been

Will: [00:35:56] Not

Joel: [00:35:56] Correct

Will: [00:35:56] Saying

Joel: [00:35:56] In it.

Will: [00:35:57] That

Joel: [00:35:58] Gameday. Iraqi. Podcast. Iraqi Top.

Will: [00:36:03] Yeah there are real because that typically is how I hear the podcast that I’m not on is by reading the transcript on my lunch break or something like that and I have. There have been some real gems in there. So whatever whatever whatever service you’re using to translate it I would not change it because I really enjoy it.

Joel: [00:36:23] I’ve been actually correcting most of them but if they’re really good I’ll just leave them and make a note of what was the hilarious one from yesterday.

Will: [00:36:30] Like a standard woman rush or something

Joel: [00:36:32] Oh yeah

Will: [00:36:33] Like that

Joel: [00:36:33] It was.

Will: [00:36:33] Or

Joel: [00:36:34] He tried to say a four standard four man rush. Is that standard woman rush. Yeah that was

Will: [00:36:41] Yeah

Joel: [00:36:42] A good one.

Will: [00:36:42] You’ve got to watch out for that. Yeah.

Joel: [00:36:45] I know I was gonna say you said you know having him cut down the nets at Auburn while we’re 4 and 14 that would be kind of like if Saban retired they promoted Butch Jones and he hoisted the crystal trophy over there.

Will: [00:37:01] Seems unlikely.

Subscribe!

 

Listen here

Robo-Transcript below.

Pardon the errors, as the bot understands neither southern accents nor football.

GRT Podcast 9.19.18

NOTES

[00:03:55] Quick takes on the news items of the day.
[00:07:07] Our game predictions, and why.
[00:10:47] The list of priorities for the Vols against the Gators.
[00:19:10] Brad’s answers to this week’s Guessing Game questions.

TRANSCRIPT

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:00:12] This is the Gameday on Rocky Top Podcast Episode 151. I’m Joel Hollingsworth and I’m with Brad Shepherd tonight. Brad you. You missed the milestone episode 150. What do you have to say for yourself.

Brad Shepard: [00:00:29] I feel like I’ve probably been a part of about 50 of those maybe 70 of those and

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:00:36] That’s a big . . .

Brad Shepard: [00:00:37] Since I’ve been blogging we’ve been pretty bad. So I would say probably 50 of those were sad podcasts so I hope you guys were a little bit uplifting on your 150

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:00:51] We did our best. We were talking about UTEP mostly so that helped. Although

Brad Shepard: [00:00:55] That does.

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:00:56] We did get into a little bit of Florida but yeah it was a big milestone. We’re trying to figure out you know what is the gift for 150. Will thought it was candy I thought it was a sack of potatoes. Do you have an opinion.

Brad Shepard: [00:01:09] Oh sack of potatoes is a great answer because I love the sack of potatoes as we all know

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:01:16] I was spreading that rumor all over Twitter you know.

Brad Shepard: [00:01:22] Because of because of our head coach. Now I would say that a scan of the scan a can of Skoal or a scan

Brad Shepard: [00:01:29] Of coal. I don’t know what I don’t know what a scan of coal is but a can of Skoal was I think the gift for 150 podcast should be

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:01:37] Scan of coal. You know I mean that’s you know you just put it on the copier or you press the button and you send it to your e-mail. You know

Brad Shepard: [00:01:45] Scanned at Kohl’s maybe. I don’t know.

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:01:47] There we go. All right. So anyway we’ve got we’ve got several Vols related things to get to tonight. So I want to get the warm up question out of the way first. Brad what is the what’s the best game that you’ve ever been to in person Vols or not. Do you have one that comes immediately to mind

Brad Shepard: [00:02:06] 1998 Tennessee Florida and I mean you know I’ve been to a lot of games a lot of good games but that game was it was the outcome that we all wanted. It was just you know the I mean history has has has really made it kind of stand out but from an atmosphere standpoint after game standpoint and it was just you know it was loud it was intense it was constant and then we were rewarded for it. It was just great. And as much as as much as the Arkansas game was awesome at the end that game was not fun at all.

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:02:44] Is

Brad Shepard: [00:02:44] The

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:02:44] Arain

Brad Shepard: [00:02:45] Game

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:02:45] Right.

Brad Shepard: [00:02:46] It was it was awful. And even though you know it’s a little bit lesser on the scale but you know Tennessee Cal 2006 was was a whole lot of fun because the stadium was raucous and ready and and Tennessee really kind of poured it on. So there have been some good games and or been several of them but nothing really compares to 98 Tennessee Florida. For me

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:03:13] Yeah I was at that Cal game too and it was at the game where the guy from Cal was saying oh you know Neyland can’t be nothing. You know we have fans here too. We even have car flags or something like that.

Brad Shepard: [00:03:24] Yes.

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:03:25] So

Brad Shepard: [00:03:26] Yeah.

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:03:26] We ramped it up just a little bit just for him. Actually I had a young child in 98 so I didn’t see and I’m not sure I saw any games live that year except you know on TV live. So the one that I was at was. Was it 2016. Jauan Jennings Florida that was a good one. When we just finally started rolling against them that was that was awesome.

Brad Shepard: [00:03:55] Sure.

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:03:55] So they were a bunch of stuff happened today. Defensive lineman Kingston Harris is moved to offensive line quickly. Good. Good move bad move just short answer.

Brad Shepard: [00:04:10] Not I’m not sure I mean I’ll like Kingston Harrison’s potential at defensive line. I think this is something that you know Pruitt is going to be known for his time at Tennessee I think that he’s going to look going to give guys extended positions to see if they can help and Harris definitely fits the bill from a size standpoint and Tennessee needs some help on that offensive line. If he’s ever going to be able to help this year. But you know what if he goes over there and he’s all of a sudden very good tennis he did that with Jashon Robertson and he pretty much

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:04:43] Yeah.

Brad Shepard: [00:04:44] caught on immediately and became Tennessee’s best offensive lineman for a while. So I got no problem trying it out especially considering Harris was not in the defensive line rotation as it was

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:04:54] Yeah it sort of really shines a light on the loss of Kennedy too. Maybe it’s just a numbers thing. He just needed another body over there. But you know I guess you gotta do what you gotta do. Also the hoops landed a five star point guard and Josiah James I don’t know anything about him yet except he’s a five star point guard. And if Rick Barnes can do what he’s done with the guys that he’s already had you start adding some blue chip talent into that lineup and watch out that’s going to be awesome. Quarte’ Sapp apparently will return to action this weekend. He’s been filling in I guess mostly and backup duty. Is that right. But having him

Brad Shepard: [00:05:35] Has been he’s had a bone bruise

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:05:36] Yeah.

Brad Shepard: [00:05:37] And

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:05:37] So he’ll be there and ready to help. But apart from the news you know the big thing is the Gators come to town this weekend. So it’s it’s a rivalry

Brad Shepard: [00:05:47] Pretty

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:05:47] Game

Brad Shepard: [00:05:47] Important

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:05:48] That is pretty important. It’s right up there with . . . I don’t know, class. And you know the things you’re supposed to say. So anyway the game.

Brad Shepard: [00:05:59] Yeah. There’s class.

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:06:00] Yeah.

Brad Shepard: [00:06:01] It’s not quite as big as psych 101 but you know it’s pretty big

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:06:07] Well it’s not like you know if it was finals maybe maybe a different deal. But this seems

Brad Shepard: [00:06:11] Right.

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:06:12] Like finals in the fourth week of the season. You know that’s kind of what Florida does to us. Right. So it’s a rivalry game it’s a night game. The schools released this awesome hype video with Admiral Schofield narrating that is just spectacular. Have you seen that yet.

Brad Shepard: [00:06:27] It is great. It’s great

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:06:29] It is awesome. He

Brad Shepard: [00:06:30] Yeah

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:06:30] Did

Brad Shepard: [00:06:30] I’m

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:06:30] A fantastic

Brad Shepard: [00:06:30] A big fan

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:06:31] Job.

Brad Shepard: [00:06:31] Of.

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:06:31] He’s like a little actor or something that dude on that little bit you know.

Brad Shepard: [00:06:35] I mean that guy he is. He’s impressive at whatever he does. He’s just a just a top notch all around kid an ambassador to the program. I mean it’s it’s it’s very cool. Yeah everybody needs to watch that.

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:06:48] Yeah love that dude. Everybody needs to watch that two or three times every day until Florida until the game. So on top of that it’s payback time. You know times two or four I’ve kind of lost count at this point. How many revenge things we owe them. But basically it’s

Brad Shepard: [00:07:07] Times 12 out of 13.

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:07:07] A big game. Times 12 out of 13 that’ll do it. It’s a big game. So my my statsy preview machine I ran it tonight. It’s weighed in it’s calling for a close one. It says Tennessee 23 Florida 22 win for the good guys. So that’s that’s that’s going to be my prediction it goes live in the morning. So Brad what are you expecting he expected a close one. Not a close one yet another new and thrilling way to develop nausea. What do you think.

Brad Shepard: [00:07:40] It’s really unbelievable that that’s what the machine spit out that that’s what you’re predicting because I literally just finished writing my locks and keys column because I’m out of out of pocket tomorrow night and probably night. So I went ahead and got that in the hopper and of course as longtime readers know up with a prediction in there and predicted it. Tennessee 24 to 23. So

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:08:03] All right. Well there

Brad Shepard: [00:08:05] That’s

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:08:05] You go.

Brad Shepard: [00:08:06] Pretty crazy that it’s that close. I mean so I’m feeling at one point close victory like that. You know it’s I mean it’s it really could go either way. And that’s what that’s what’s great about the game this year. And you know everybody wants to talk about well this could be could be the battle for last in the EAst and we talked about that last week

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:08:27] Know

Brad Shepard: [00:08:27] In a couple days ago actually feels like last week. But you know I mean move beyond that is still Tennessee still very important to us. Very important to them. It’s actually in my opinion. And I called this out too. I think it’s probably the most important Tennessee Florida game in in several years and it’s not because it’s for the east but it’s really because we know that Tennessee and Florida are the two programs in the east that have the resources that have the the pedigree to have the history that have you know the recruiting ability to step up and play with Georgia and they’re not going to this year. But this is step one toward reclaiming that status and whether it be Florida wins and they use that as a catapult and you know start recruiting better. And you know it look good for Mullen’s you know kind of a notch in his belt for his first season or whether Pruitt can kind of get an early signature win I call it what you will. This might not be a really good Florida team but it’s still Florida. So an early signature win in Tennessee you can use that on the recruiting trail. But you know the bottom line is is that these teams needed for bowl eligibility more than anything especially

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:09:45] Yeah.

Brad Shepard: [00:09:46] After Tennessee loses to West Virginia and Florida loses to Kentucky. When you look at those upcoming schedules you know Florida’s got LSU you every year like we’ve got Alabama every year and those look like definite losses this year for both teams and so when in Tennessee obviously has to play Auburn and in Georgia. And you know it’s it’s just it looks like and with Kentucky and for Kentucky and Vanderbilt and Missouri and South Carolina being better than what they’ve been in recent years if Tennessee loses this game you’re looking at having to win three out of four. And that’s that’s tough. I mean that’s I don’t want to say it’s impossible but it’s improbable at this point. So the winner of this game both of these teams need a win not only to get the program started not only to look good in recruiting not only to make your fans feel better about the hire you made but to make it to the postseason this year. I think it’s a vital game for both programs.

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:10:47] So what does the list of priorities look like for the Vols this weekend. Maybe top three. What’s at the top of the list.

Brad Shepard: [00:10:57] The top of the list is protecting Guarantano because you know that’s Jarrett’s proven that he can throw them that he can throw the ball he’s actually look good against pressure this year at times. But we all saw what this offense could be like in the first few snaps of that West Virginia game. If they don’t get you know good proper protection. And I feel like this Florida pass rush is much better than West Virginia’s pass rush. So you know it’s to get C.C. Jefferson. But I mean he was back last week but he comes back in full strength this week. They’ve already got Jabari Zuniga over on the other edge. So they’ve got two legit pass rushers not elite pass rushers but legit pass rushers they can get pressure on Tennessee and quite frankly as I talked about in the locks and keys column tomorrow. I mean Drew Drew Richmond and Trey Smith. Neither been very good this year and that’s something that Tennessee has really desperately got to improve on the edges in this game to protect Gurantano and if they do feel like that Guarantano has enough weapons and has proven he can make all the throws that Tennessee can really get some things in the passing game because or are secondary. It’s not what we’re used to Florida’s secondary being. So if if he just has time to throw the football. Tennessee is going to be able to make some plays downfield and that’s going to be vitally important to not only maintaining these drives but also some of those flash plays that Tennessee not had against Florida. They did a couple years ago but they’ve not consistently had this long period of you know being worse than the Gators. So I think that that’s important. The offensive line, number one. Number two.

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:12:44] Let me

Brad Shepard: [00:12:44] I

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:12:44] Stop

Brad Shepard: [00:12:44] Know

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:12:45] You

Brad Shepard: [00:12:45] That.

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:12:45] Right there just for a second.

Brad Shepard: [00:12:45] Yes. For sure

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:12:47] You mentioned that Florida’s secondary is not what we’re used to. Why is that because a lot of us are just focused on Tennessee. Can you elaborate on Florida’s secondary.

Brad Shepard: [00:12:57] Well they’re just younger. I mean they’re not. There’s not a lot of proven players out there and you know they’ve got they’ve got some guys back there. But you know they don’t have the they don’t have the really elite players back there that they’ve had in the recent past. And it’s and it’s. And frankly McElwain you know even struggled to recruit those guys in the last couple years so some of the guys that they’ve got back there that are young and talented are not quite as talented as we’ve seen in the past so you know they’re they’re kind of scrambling around back there too. Now they’ve got some players. I’m not I’m not I mean Florida’s always going to have players were always going to have athletes but you know they’ve got some guys. I mean Kentucky has a JUCO quarterback Terry Wilson who’s a sophomore who is really been one of the bright spots in the SEC so far this year so I’m not taking anything away from him but his knock coming in to UK was was accuracy and that kid shredded Florida. I mean he had time to throw the football. Of course, he’s a mobile quarterback. So he moved the pocket around and was able to kind of create some space for himself and really just dissected that defense and that secondary. So you know Guarantano can move his feet around around a little bit. We saw a little bit of that in the UTEP game if he can kind of get in some passing lanes and see some some receivers clearly. I mean I think Tennessee is going to be able to move the football through the air against Florida.

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:14:26] All right. Thanks for that. Second priority then.

Brad Shepard: [00:14:30] Second priority. I know that we talked the other night about about Felipe Franks and how he’s actually been better against the blitz but I’m never going to go into a game say it as he doesn’t need to pressure the quarterback. They’ve got to get more pressure on Franks than what they’ve done with the other quarterbacks. Yeah and make him make quick decisions because I just don’t think that he’s consistently going to be good at that. And Tennessee Florida Florida doesn’t have a lot of the game breaking receivers. They don’t have the Antonio Calloway on their team. They don’t have the Percy Harvin from the past. They’ve got good possession guys. Freddie Swain who Tennessee lead for for a long time in the recruiting process is probably Florida’s best receiver and he’s kind of I don’t want to say he’s a possession guy because he also returned last week for a touchdown but he’s not your game breaker player that you’re used to Florida having so you know I think that if Tennessee can to Frank he’s going to go to a safety valve a lot more. And you know Tennessee could make some plays on the back end if they’re if they’re fortunate. They do you know they kind of are the opportunistic team they were against ETSU Florida is by no means ETSU. But you do want to try to get Franks in a situation where he feels like he’s got to get rid of the ball quickly. And when that happens I don’t see him consistently being a good quarterback and then

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:15:55] I

Brad Shepard: [00:15:56] You know to me.

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:15:57] I feel

Brad Shepard: [00:15:57] Yeah.

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:15:58] I feel compelled to point out that Tyrie Cleveland looks like maybe he can get behind a defense and

Brad Shepard: [00:16:04] Yeah

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:16:04] Just

Brad Shepard: [00:16:05] She

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:16:05] Have just

Brad Shepard: [00:16:05] Does. But but but he’s inconsistent. He does. And you’re right I

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:16:11] He’s the

Brad Shepard: [00:16:11] Kind

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:16:11] Guy

Brad Shepard: [00:16:11] Of

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:16:11] That

Brad Shepard: [00:16:12] Glossed

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:16:12] Did it last

Brad Shepard: [00:16:12] Over

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:16:12] Year

Brad Shepard: [00:16:12] Cleveland.

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:16:12] I had on the last play.

Brad Shepard: [00:16:14] Yeah. I mean

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:16:15] Ok.

Brad Shepard: [00:16:15] But but he’s he’s so yeah. I just kind of blocked that from my mind.

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:16:20] Good for

Brad Shepard: [00:16:20] But

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:16:20] You.

Brad Shepard: [00:16:21] He got

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:16:21] That’s

Brad Shepard: [00:16:21] Behind that he got behind the Butch Jones defense. So I mean I’m not you know whatever but

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:16:25] Ok.

Brad Shepard: [00:16:26] But you know he’s he’s so inconsistent. I mean he’s he’s the kind of player that can be too sure. I mean you can but he’s not he’s not the blazer that’s going to go down there and be open five or six times downfield he’s just not that guy. And so you know I mean I feel I think Tennessee matches up fairly well with Florida’s receivers really especially when they’ve got their more athletic group out there. I may not I’m not on the Baylen Buchanan train by any stretch of the imagination but you know I wonder if Tennessee is so they’ve had two really good Bryce Thompson gangs in a row. Alontae Taylor even though he’s let receivers get behind him a couple times he’s shown some flashes. I’m not sure that this is not the game where they just put those kids out there because they’re the better athletes. I mean so we’ll see. I mean I’m not saying Buchanans not going to have a role in this game. Absolutely. But you know Tennessee is going I’m not sure that Tennessee’s going to blitz a ton. And so they’re going to try to get pressure with four or five and then you know kind to kind of lay back because I’m not sure that they feel like Florida can beat them passing the football. If Florida can more power to them but I’m not sure Florida can either. So that’s that’s going to be an encouraging or encouraging that’s going to be an interesting chess match to watch there. And then the third the third thing is really this is the most important thing we’re talking about my keys but you guys still need to read the column tomorrow.

Brad Shepard: [00:17:51] But but the most important thing is Tennessee absolutely has to get out to a quick start to a quick start. You score a touchdown early. That crowd that game at Neyland stadium that that 12th man kind of thing. I mean everybody’s going to be lathered up and excited and it’s going to be you know kind of hot. I mean it’s just going to be it’s all this just all of that kind of momentum. I mean that place is electrifying quickly especially in a game like that. So I mean if Tennessee. You know the crowd is going to be into it early. And if they keep the crowd into it you know Florida’s offense is bad and that offense already being bad is going to struggle to get any kind of rhythm going. If they can’t hear themselves think as we all know Neyland has that ability to get that loud and to stay that loud especially for a game that’s this important so I think it’s it’s very important for the fans to get their brand full voice and be ready and I think they will be because I think everybody realizes this this year is not going to be quote unquote special but this is a very important game to maximize the potential of this season. And I think that you’re going to hear that tomorrow I’m sorry Saturday not in Neyland Stadium

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:19:10] All right. So we do this guessing game on the website for the community on Fridays. So I got the questions here and I know you’re going to you’re going to field these cold so we won’t hold you

Brad Shepard: [00:19:23] Oh

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:19:23] To

Brad Shepard: [00:19:24] My

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:19:24] It. But just wanted your sorta off the cuff responses to these so the first question is which is greater Tennessee’s rushing yards or Florida’s passing yards.

Brad Shepard: [00:19:39] Oh well I would say Florida passing yards. Tennessee’s I think Tennessee established a run against UTEP established that they want to run the football and that they expect to run the football that they know they’re going to have to run the football to be to win these important games. I think Tennessee will do an ok job running the ball. But you know what’s an OK job against Florida. I mean you know I see Tennessee maybe rushing or you know 140 yards maybe. I mean if that’s if they I think if Tennessee rushes for 140 yards, 140 to 150 yards they win the football game and you know Florida. Even though Florida is not going to blow Tennessee out of the water passing the football you’ve got to think against that young secondary they’re going to go for more than that so I say Florida passing yards

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:20:32] All right. You know I think as I was researching this I’m pretty sure that I came across the fact that Charleston Southern ran for 222 yards on them and

Brad Shepard: [00:20:45] Oh my gosh.

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:20:46] I know I looked at that and I fact checked it three times and I still think it’s wrong. I still think that I must have read it wrong because that sounds really high. So before it actually goes live tomorrow I’m going to check it again. But if that’s right then you know there is some promise there. So anyway

Brad Shepard: [00:21:05] Sure. Absolutely.

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:21:06] It’s is probably wrong because you know it’s late it’s late on Wednesday night as we’re recording so you know and I’m old

Brad Shepard: [00:21:12] We’re going with it being right.

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:21:14] There you go. All right. Next question who scored the first touchdown for the Vols. Ty Chandler, another running back, a wide receiver, or somebody else.

Brad Shepard: [00:21:25] Oh man. Whoscores the first touchdown for the Vols. Oh that’s a great question. So many options. I think Tennessee. I think Tennessee is going to hit a pretty big play early. I’m going to go with Marquez Callaway

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:21:43] All right a wide receiver I didn’t even make you choose a guy just anybody in the receiving corps except

Brad Shepard: [00:21:48] Yeah we’re going to go with the receiver

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:21:49] All

Brad Shepard: [00:21:49] And

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:21:49] Right.

Brad Shepard: [00:21:49] I’m going to go I’m going to be specific. I’m going to say Callaway on a deep ball from Guarantano.

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:21:55] Right. You know Palmer’s

Brad Shepard: [00:21:56] Maybe not a

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:21:56] Been

Brad Shepard: [00:21:57] Ball but you know more

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:21:58] Because

Brad Shepard: [00:21:58] Than 15 yards

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:21:59] Palmer’s been getting the deep balls. Right. But

Brad Shepard: [00:22:02] Yeah.

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:22:02] You

Brad Shepard: [00:22:02] Well

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:22:02] Know

Brad Shepard: [00:22:03] Both those guys yeah. I mean that’s that’s encouraging. Tennessee’s got a couple of deep threats.

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:22:07] Yeah

Brad Shepard: [00:22:07] I think

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:22:08] I think when I

Brad Shepard: [00:22:09] Really

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:22:09] Answer this

Brad Shepard: [00:22:09] Like Palmer’s progression.

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:22:11] Was the

Brad Shepard: [00:22:12] They are really like Palmer’s progression. David Johnson is the truth at wide receivers coach. He’s already getting more out of those guys than we’ve seen over the receiving corps since the Dooley days.

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:22:24] Yup yup he’s good. Scuse me I think I’m going to go with another running back

Brad Shepard: [00:22:32] Who are

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:22:33] Just because it’s the field against Ty Chandler I guess so.

Brad Shepard: [00:22:38] You know I wanted to say Banks but I’m not you know I’m not sure Banks is going to get the ball after that fumble. I mean this kind of game he will some think he’s going to have a role but I like that pick. I think that Tennessee could give it to Madre down there at the goal line.

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:22:52] Yeah. Or you know Jordan too.

Brad Shepard: [00:22:55] To

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:22:56] All

Brad Shepard: [00:22:56] Be

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:22:56] Right.

Brad Shepard: [00:22:56] Jordan tap dances a little too much for me around there but whatever

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:23:00] He does. Yeah they got after him for bouncing it outside too much too right. And that’s.

Brad Shepard: [00:23:06] Yeah man this is going to be this is going to sound terrible but I’m an offensive lineman. I mean dude run straight up my tail. That is what you need is a running back. Push me into the end zone like I’m blocking for you

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:23:19] That’s

Brad Shepard: [00:23:19] Run

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:23:19] Why

Brad Shepard: [00:23:19] Over me

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:23:20] That’s why I think that Banks started getting so many carriages because Jordan was down there against. I think it was ETSU. Yeah. And so he bounced something outside at the goal line he got yanked immediately yelled at and Banks went in there and ran it straight up the middle and got a touchdown. And then he did

Brad Shepard: [00:23:40] Absolute

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:23:40] It again on the next one. So yeah but that’s the great thing about competition is is it provides coaching and learning opportunities to your guys because I bet Jordan is going to learn that. So. All right. Third question who leads at halftime the Vols the Gators or nobody.

Brad Shepard: [00:24:00] I think Tennessee’s got to score early and keep that momentum to win the game and since I picked them to win the game I’m going to say Tennessee leads at halftime. I think they’re going to lead. You know I think it’s going to be a good little lead and you know Florida’s going to score early in the second half and kind of make it a football game. But I mean if I’m going to stick with my Tennessee prediction I say the Vols lead at the break.

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:24:23] All right. Well we’re out of time. That’s Brad Shepard and that’s going to do it for the Gameday on Rocky Top Podcast. As always please subscribe. I said please please rate please review. Those things are are all nice for us and we like them very much. And you also get bonus points if you use the phrase does a duck pull a truck. Let’s use that one tonight. That worked. What was that there was two years ago.

Brad Shepard: [00:24:54] It was two years ago.

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:24:55] All right. OK good. So for Brad Shepard I’m Joel Hollingsworth and this has been the Gameday on Rocky Top Podcast.

Brad Shepard: [00:25:13] Going to be fishing on Friday and a concert that night and so I’m not gonna be

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:25:17] Are you going to

Brad Shepard: [00:25:18] Out

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:25:18] See

Brad Shepard: [00:25:18] Of pocket.

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:25:18] Taylor Swift

Brad Shepard: [00:25:18] So

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:25:18] Again.

Brad Shepard: [00:25:20] I’m not I’m going to send Jason Isbell in Asheville and John Moreland too. And that’s

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:25:27] In

Brad Shepard: [00:25:27] He’s

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:25:27] Asheville.

Brad Shepard: [00:25:28] He’s awesome

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:25:29] How long of a drive

Brad Shepard: [00:25:29] Asheville

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:25:30] Is that

Brad Shepard: [00:25:30] North

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:25:30] For

Brad Shepard: [00:25:30] Carolina.

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:25:30] You.

Brad Shepard: [00:25:32] It’s five hours.

Subscribe!

 

Listen here

Robo-Transcript below.

Pardon the errors, as the bot understands neither southern accents nor football.

GRT Podcast 9.18.18

NOTES

[00:00:49] Favorite novels: Siddhartha, by Hermann Hesse, Harry Potter, Michael Crichton, Dr. Suess, and Shel Silverstein.
[00:04:43] How does Will feel about the 24-0 score against UTEP?
[00:08:30] Those moments in the stadium with pockets of fans intently watching other games that matter.
[00:12:02] The race for the SEC East and where Tennessee and Florida fit in as of right now.
[00:17:04] Is Tennessee improving?
[00:21:55] Pruitt’s, and coaches’ generally, communication with fans.

TRANSCRIPT

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:00:13] This is the Gameday on Rocky Top Podcast, episode 150. That’s a big mark there isn’t

Will Shelton: [00:00:19] Wow.

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:00:19] it Will. That’s

Will Shelton: [00:00:21] I’m honored to. I mean I’ve been on most of them but I’m honored to . . . apologies to Brad for being on episode 149. I’m happy to be on episode 150 here.

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:00:31] Yeah. Does anybody know what the special gift is for 150

Will Shelton: [00:00:37] I don’t know it’s probably like a piece of candy or something

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:00:40] Yeah.

Will Shelton: [00:00:40] Something like that.

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:00:42] It might

Will Shelton: [00:00:42] Yeah.

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:00:42] Be a sack of potatoes.

Will Shelton: [00:00:44] Yeah. I have to treat ourselves tomorrow to a peppermint or whatever.

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:00:49] All right so I got three seconds in before I got sidetracked. So yeah I’m Joel Hollingsworth and I’m with Will Shelton tonight. So we got lots of stuff to get . . . . We’re going to run through basically the same questions with Will that we ran through with Brad last night including the off topic question which Brad and I just are talking about books last night for some reason. So Will’s short answer Do you have you have a favorite novel.

Will Shelton: [00:01:20] Oh man. A favorite novel. Man I have. I have lots of favorite things. I really like. I like Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse when I was growing up. That’s kind of a coming

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:01:36] I’ve never.

Will Shelton: [00:01:37] Of age of a different sort of religious perspective.

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:01:39] Ok.

Will Shelton: [00:01:40] Never. Never read it didn’t have. Didn’t have to read it in school anything like that.

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:01:44] Me

Will Shelton: [00:01:44] Like

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:01:44] I’ve

Will Shelton: [00:01:45] I

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:01:45] No

Will Shelton: [00:01:45] Had to read it for school. Yeah.

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:01:46] I’ve never even heard of that. It must be

Will Shelton: [00:01:48] Never

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:01:48] Like

Will Shelton: [00:01:48] Even heard

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:01:48] Alcoa

Will Shelton: [00:01:48] Of it.

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:01:49] Thing or something.

Will Shelton: [00:01:50] Maybe we are. Alcoa was an A+ class school system in the state of Tennessee when I was there. My I don’t remember if it was like freshman year or it was a high school year that it was required reading but it’s like, it’s Hermann Hesse it’s like a Near Eastern sort of coming of age thing is one of the first things I read from a like a non white Christian perspective but also still very spiritual about this guy that sort of looking for meaning in all kinds of different ways. And that was a helpful book to me when I was someone who was also looking for meaning outside of the sort of normal judo Christian sort of answers that are given there so I really like the answer that I want to give when I want to sound smart and distinguished. I really like Harry Potter

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:02:42] It

Will Shelton: [00:02:43] So you know

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:02:44] Worked.

Will Shelton: [00:02:44] Like right now I can I’d be happy to talk about Harry Potter as well. So

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:02:49] I’ve never read those. I probably should.

Will Shelton: [00:02:51] Really

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:02:52] Yeah

Will Shelton: [00:02:52] Man

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:02:52] I really have. Have

Will Shelton: [00:02:54] They

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:02:54] Not

Will Shelton: [00:02:54] Are it’s for me. I came into them later on like I think the first book now is a bit of a challenge because the kids are so young in the first book. So you’re dealing with like I think 11 year olds in the in the first book but then every next book is another year at the Hogwarts school and so by the time it gets like three or four they get really good. And she is just a fantastic writer. So really like I’m trying to cover all my bases

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:03:23] Yeah.

Will Shelton: [00:03:23] Here. I really like some of the less famous Michael Crichton Books like Sphere. It was made into a terrible movie after they had tried like five of his other books into movies. But that is a really good interesting interesting book. So

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:03:42] Very cool.

Will Shelton: [00:03:42] Yeah.

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:03:42] See you guys were way too smart for us in public school in Edgington Illinois. You know our required reading was like Dr. Seuss, Shel Silverstein.

Will Shelton: [00:03:56] Yeah Where the Sidewalk Ends is I mean it’s not a novel but also a favorite. Sure.

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:04:01] I once memorized Sarah Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out. That was fun. So anyway and I just want to mention too, I thought I heard you say Judo Christian which I found like really really funny for some.

Will Shelton: [00:04:15] Like karate Jesus

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:04:16] Yes.

Will Shelton: [00:04:17] Yeah

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:04:17] There you go.

Will Shelton: [00:04:18] Yeah. I do. I’m a fan of. I like talking about karate Jesus in sermons. In terms of like when they came to arrest him to be crucified could he not have just turned into karate Jesus and taken everybody out so

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:04:33] Wax on wax

Will Shelton: [00:04:34] That

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:04:34] Off.

Will Shelton: [00:04:34] Maybe that was a Freudian slip there because I really do enjoy the image of karate Jesus.

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:04:40] It’s very

Will Shelton: [00:04:40] So

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:04:40] Good. Yeah I like that. All right.

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:04:43] So Vols. Yeah that’s why we’re

Will Shelton: [00:04:46] Right.

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:04:46] Here.

Will Shelton: [00:04:47] Right.

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:04:48] Ok. So we beat UTEP, but the score 24 to 0. Lots of people sort of grumpy about that. How’s your emotional level about a score of 24 0 versus UTEP.

Will Shelton: [00:05:04] I think you could kind of see it happening as the game was unfolding. I mean I know I saw it happening on my Twitter feed of people reliving the angst of scores that were far too close against inferior competition in the last few years. But this one was so different from those in terms of the way Tennessee actually dominated the opponent in yards per play and S&P+ those kinds of things. So you know we’ve covered the offense both as it happened and I know you wrote about this that when you fumble at the one yard line and when you have a chop block callback another touchdown. And when you’re coaching staff like it wasn’t that they didn’t seem disinterested in doing anything the way that Butch Jones and those guys often did when they were playing the North Texas of the world. But they certainly didn’t see they seem very confident that Tennessee was going to win the game as they should have been. And so you know they were efficient without trying to be overly explosive I’m not sure they thought they were going to score a touchdown on that little toss to Ty Chandler there even though it was the I think the first play of the second half right. So I think they coach that exactly the way they wanted to plus or minus a fumble at the one yard line so offensively you know Tennessee went up like 17 spots in S&P+ this week. And UTEP is literally the worst team in college football in that metric so you really have to handle them well to make that big of a jump when the the you know that system expects you to really dominate them.

Will Shelton: [00:06:40] I think the other thing too is the defense dominated in a non exciting way which is to say reminded me of some high school games that I’ve seen where the other team has just so much better that every drive is a punt. And like that’s not exciting there’s no interceptions there’s no goal line stands or turnovers or anything like that. But I mean it was just a complete boring. It was as dominating as you can be defensively while also doing that in the most boring way possible. So yeah like it wasn’t memorable you’re not going to at the end of the year say Oh remember this big play or whatever but still I mean incredibly impressive not that they shut them out but just that they made them punt on every single drive. That’s really good and impressive so yeah I think it was. I think if we don’t see the last couple of years of Tennessee struggling with UMass and Ohio I mean there’s a long list. You know UMass Ohio North Texas Southern Miss last year kind of things had already gone off the rail but even Indiana State last year was was closer play for play than it should have been. So if we hadn’t been through all of that the last couple of years I think folks would have really not had much to say about this game other than that is what happens when you fumble the one yard line.

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:07:57] Yeah there’s something to be said about boring forgettable wins too. I remember watching a few weeks ago John Pennington had a bunch of 98 players on and they couldn’t remember that. I think it was Jeff Hall he said you know somebody said something about our win over who was at UAB that year and he said we

Will Shelton: [00:08:19] Yes.

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:08:19] Didn’t play we didn’t play UAB. And Will Overstreet said that he didn’t remember the game either. So you know 20

Will Shelton: [00:08:28] Yeah

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:08:28] Years

Will Shelton: [00:08:28] That

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:08:28] Later

Will Shelton: [00:08:28] Was.

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:08:29] But.

Will Shelton: [00:08:30] Well no that was that day was the day that Ohio State lost to Michigan State and so like I was in the stadium at Tennessee’s game. This is back. Back when the only way you could follow other games is if you had a radio or maybe you like five people in the stadium brought one of those portable handheld TV sort of contraptions. You know if you’re under the age of 20 you probably have no idea what I’m talking about. But anyway like people I think we beat UAB like 37 to 13 or something like that. But all anyone was interested in was watching Ohio State struggle and then ultimately watching them lose that game which meant Tennessee was number two going into the day which then Tennessee went to number one and they of course played Arkansas the next week. But yeah I remember being in the stadium that day and it was one of those games where once you got up two touchdowns on UAB you knew you were going to win. And then that slow trickling is Ohio State really going to go down to the Nick Saban’s Michigan State team. And finally what had happened seeing pockets of the stadium. I used to love this. It doesn’t happen as much anymore. Pockets of the stadium where people have radios or TVs celebrate when there was an interception. I think late in that game. So like I say I do the things I remember most about that they are not what Tennessee did against UAB. It’s that emotion of oh my gosh we’re going to be number one tomorrow so I can I can forgive Jeff Hall and Overstreet and those guys for forgetting as UAB. I think Houston was the other way that we beat Houston 42 to 7. So yeah those are those are not the games anyone thinks of when they think of 1998. It’s alright.

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:10:05] I guess it’s fair to say that Hall and Overstreet probably didn’t have Ohio State Michigan State or whoever it was on on their little TV things done on the sidelines

Will Shelton: [00:10:15] They could have

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:10:16] Either.

Will Shelton: [00:10:16] Had the. The Bobby Denton update. That was the greats. You know how most of the stadium found out back then when you don’t have twitter or anything else is waiting for the P.A. announcer to to announce it over that thing. This happened a couple of years ago I think I wrote about this two years ago when we needed LSU to beat Florida to win the East. And we were playing Missouri. The fact that now not everyone’s phone the Wi-Fi in the stadium is terrible and not everyone’s phone was refreshing at the same time and so I know the game ended with LSU getting shut back shut down twice at the one yard line. But before there was a play before that that LSU like hit a big pass or something

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:10:59] Yeah

Will Shelton: [00:10:59] Where they got down to the 5 yard line or something. And I remember sitting there in the stands and seeing people all over the stadium start celebrating. I mean I remember saying over and over something good is happening. You know LSU must have won the game. Something good is happening but it was instead just people were delayed with their people were celebrating something that actually happened five minutes earlier. And then you know other people obviously were not jumping up and down realizing that Florida had won that game. So that’s just an interesting. That’s how things have changed inside Neyland Stadium when you’re trying to pay attention to other games that have a huge impact on Tennessee. It is. It has changed and the fact that we can’t all . . . we all needed a radio. No. No

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:11:40] Yeah

Will Shelton: [00:11:41] One had a radio. That’s what we needed and that moment was a radio. But technology was not our friend that day.

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:11:46] Yeah. There are no more radios everybody streams over the phone and you know everybody. Like you said different time shift. So anyway I had to ask Brad another question about UTEP. But we’re done with UTEP. We don’t care about UTEP

Will Shelton: [00:12:00] Right.

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:12:00] Anymore. Yeah.

Will Shelton: [00:12:01] Yeah not going to matter.

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:12:02] All right. So Florida. I know I I’m berating myself for even asking this question because it just it sounds like a terrible question but I think there’s some value to it. So is the game Saturday between the two worst teams in the SEC East. And if so how depressing is that.

Will Shelton: [00:12:30] Maybe I think I think this division is close enough that at the end of the year you’re going to have like 3 2 and 6 teams or something like that. I don’t I don’t think there’s going to be honestly unless it’s unless it’s us unless it’s Tennessee. I don’t think you’re going to have you know a couple of oh and a couple of one in sevens and then some separation. I think you’ll probably have a handful of teams that are two in six or three and five or something like that. But in terms of again in terms of S&P plus right now these are the two worst team in the division. I know Tennessee was the worst team in the division last year. And you can probably argue that Florida was the second worst team. I mean maybe Vanderbilt but not at the end of the year. So so yeah. And I think the others it’s too early to judge South Carolina. South Carolina is kind of like Tennessee where you thought hey maybe they can sneak up on somebody that’s much better than them. And it turns out not at all. But I don’t know that we know a whole lot else about South Carolina other than they’re not nearly as good as Georgia much like Tennessee. They’re not nearly as good as West Virginia but I don’t know what else.

Will Shelton: [00:13:40] But Kentucky better than we thought should have beaten Florida by more than they did. Vanderbilt very real. You know Vanderbilt is such a fascinating as we go and talk about the way things used to be. Not too terribly long ago it was still you’d never pick Vanderbilt ever. Doesn’t matter who they are playing don’t pick Vanderbilt. They won’t win and now I mean they have hammered. It’s not like they’re hammering UTEP. They hammered Middle Tennessee and hammered Nevada which are teams that have programs that have had a pulse recently. And I mean one was 28 points and the other one was 31 points I think I mean just hammered those teams and had every right to beat Notre Dame in South Bend. That was a legitimate close game. I thought Shurmur is a really good quarterback and not just a really good quarterback by Vanderbilt standards so now all of a sudden I think when we start talking about Tennessee. It’s not even so much of oh Vanderbilt or oh South Carolina or whatever just the matchups. Vanderbilt not a particularly good looking matchup for Tennessee right now Missouri. Not a good looking matchup for Tennessee. I mean that looks like all kinds of West Virginia. So

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:14:54] Yeah.

Will Shelton: [00:14:54] Now if you’re if you’re trying to find so Tennessee needs to go three and five in the U.S. to get bowl eligible and then the other three wins come in the nonconference you know given if they beat Charlotte. So you’re trying to find three here. You know it’s not going to be Georgia Alabama and probably not Auburn. There’s a little bit of wiggle room. Go ahead. I think I had Auburn at 15 percent in the old win calculator machine this week. You had them. You had a noticeably higher than Alabama or Georgia right like there was

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:15:24] Yeah

Will Shelton: [00:15:24] There was a little separation there now. Yes. So

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:15:26] Yup

Will Shelton: [00:15:27] We got the bye week. It’s a potential trap game for Auburn. These are all things we’ll talk about in a couple of weeks. Auburn’s got Mississippi State the week before and Ole Miss the week after maybe a little trap space but probably not. So now you’re talking about. We’ve got to get three out of the rest of the East. Even if you get this one this is not the happy conversation we want to get. Even if you get the gators. All right. What’s the next easiest one. I don’t

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:15:56] Yeah.

Will Shelton: [00:15:56] Know how to answer that question. You know like Kentucky

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:16:00] Maybe

Will Shelton: [00:16:00] Legit

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:16:01] Yeah.

Will Shelton: [00:16:01] Good. Vanderbilt legit. And you know on the road. It is not Missouri

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:16:10] No

Will Shelton: [00:16:11] I

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:16:11] No

Will Shelton: [00:16:11] Promise you that. Not right now. So then they’re back to South Carolina. The one that some people are even still looping in with that stretch so nothing is I expect all five of those games to be toss ups. So there’s nothing that can happen in Tennessee Saturday that can guarantee an outcome in terms of both eligibility to me win or lose against Florida. You’re going to have four more of these toss ups and if you when you’re going to still need to win two of them and if you lose you’re going to win three of them which obviously is a greater challenge. So yeah it is. Are these the two worst teams in the SEC East. Maybe by some metrics right now. They are but I don’t I just don’t think there’s a lot of space there between South Carolina and Tennessee and the rest of the division outside of Georgia and the middle there. I just don’t see a whole lot of separation right now.

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:17:04] Yeah and you know it’s weird because it does seem like Tennessee is improving. And you know your knee jerk reaction is well it’s it’s the opponents right that that’s why you feel like they’re improving but there’s something about it that even accounting for the level of competition just makes you feel a little better about the team doesn’t it. Is that just me.

Will Shelton: [00:17:29] No I think the I think Tennessee’s weaknesses are the things that they don’t do well right now are much more understandable than they were under Butch Jones when when. Like when I watch this team and I watch the secondary get dusted by West Virginia. I understand why that is. It’s in part because we’re choosing to play freshmen and West Virginia’s got really good players. So you can not like the answers about the pass rush but those especially you really find out this week. But the answer just may be hey we don’t have the players for that. And that’s going to be a recruiting issue. And that means to get pressure on the quarterback we’re going to have to blitz our tails off. And hope that those freshmen back there in the secondary are getting better. As. The year goes along When they don’t do things well offensively. So far. That has typically been because of a breakdown on the offensive line. And. I get it. Like I don’t like it but I get it I understand. So it’s not what we’ve seen recently where either Tennessee’s play calling is just really really frustrating and borderline ignorant or were intentionally just doing a whole bunch of crap behind the line of scrimmage and a lot of it goes backward and there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of purpose.

Will Shelton: [00:18:53] And they’ve got unnecessary constraints on the guy who’s one more play away from being the starting quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers right now. So I think Tennessee’s weaknesses are apparent but they also are reasonable like it makes sense to me why we’re bad at the things we’re bad at and that helps me be able to say like hey yeah I like Missouri that’s a bad situation for us because we can’t put pressure on the quarterback and we’ve got freshmen on the back end. So like I’m not mad about it is what it is. You know so some of that stuff is is I think it’s just more understandable situations happening right now and it’s you know Jeremy Pruitt’s had one recruiting class so you can’t say oh we should’ve got better players in here. So that that to me has made things I think more than anything it just makes things a little more simple. With this team and that’s why we talked about leading into the season and what we see in these first three games is hey look look at every play look at progress. And I see. And I think everybody sees baby steps of progress you just also see in some places. Hey we’ve we’ve still got a really long way to go.

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:20:04] Yeah you keep hearing Pruitt talk about consistency being the thing. And you know what. He’s right you know because they can do some things really well at times. But when you don’t get you know all 11 doing it right each time then that’s one weakness that can blow up a whole play and you blow up enough those plays. They start adding up and you get real problems. So anyway the other thing I was going to say you know those freshmen back there by the time we play Missouri and if they get torched everybody will say well they’re not freshmen anymore which is one of my favorite things ever for people to say because you know what they are still freshmen. Everybody else got older too. You know. So

Will Shelton: [00:20:48] And there too it doesn’t even matter so much about . . . . If we still can’t generate a pass rush up front and you’re going against I mean Drew Lock is an NFL quarterback. Hey Kyle Shurmur might be. I don’t know. We’ll see. But you know you can generate pressure at some point you can only cover those guys for so long. And some of that is on Pruitt. And I think this is another area of progress. Is learning how risk averse he should or shouldn’t be when it comes to calling a defense against an offense that’s got some firepower. This one Saturday should not fall into that category as much. But you know he’s learning too here’s how much I can ask of these guys and sometimes the consequence is like I mean I think he’s even said there isn’t times against West Virginia we’re like hey our guys were where they were supposed to be and just get beat like they’re guarding better players. So you know I really I can I’ve heard a couple of people say this and I wrote about it a little bit.

Will Shelton: [00:21:55] I like that Pruitt admits his own mistakes and his own flaws. He’s learning how to do this too. I think there’s a whole, when we’re talking before we started recording about Brad’s podcast and talking about Derek Dooley like there’s a whole fascinating thing of Tennessee coaches and how they communicate to us as fans because we’ve seen so many different guys in so many different personalities over the last ten years and both football and basketball that you know like I think Bruce Pearl ruined us all in this regard because he

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:22:26] Yeah.

Will Shelton: [00:22:26] Was both incredibly entertaining and also won a lot of games. But you know Dooley was Dooley was usually correct in what he said about his team. It’s also his job to make those adjustments that he never really made. But you know I think hearing especially after Butch Jones hearing Pruitt talk about hey I could have done this better hey I’ve got to do this better. After five years of a coach that within his personality or whatever reason did not want to admit any mistakes even when mistakes were obvious that that is refreshing to me. You know Pruitt will have to learn. Tyson Helton will have to learn fast enough to keep their jobs and so on and so forth as far as all that goes. And this is I wrote about it already this is a big test this week for Pruitt and Helton both to say how how long are we going to be patient with the run game against these guys. How much are you going to trust. Guarantano against the best defense he’s seen all year. You’re going to need more from him to win this game. So we’ll learn more as it goes but I think within reason those guys are off to a good start and I have enjoyed Pruitt talking fairly candidly it seems like about his team and individual players and himself in ways that after Butch Jones and knowing this guy came from Nick Saban. I wasn’t sure we were going to get that. You know I thought we might get again the Cuonzo Martin School of we lost this game because we didn’t make shots. Yeah I know that. But please elaborate. And I think he’s. Done. Barnes is good at this too. You know. Doing a good job elaborating on some things And being honest while also doing so in a way that’s not throwing your own team under the bus a little bit as Dooley could do sometimes. So I was I have been more encouraged just by what he says and admitting some flaws and admitting his own growing pains that has been refreshing to me and I’m I know I’m not the only one on that

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:24:29] That’s Will Shelton. That’ll do it for the Gameday on Rocky Top Podcast this evening we’ll have another one where we talk more about Florida later on this week. Brad is up the next day and then Will the night after that. So please subscribe so you don’t miss anything. Give us a rating. Give us a review. Make it a good one. Bonus points for using the phrase I guess we’re going to go with Dooley’s Sack of Potatoes again because that was from last night. And that was good enough. So for Will Shelton I’m Joel Hollingsworth and this has been the Gameday on Rocky Top Podcast.

Will Shelton: [00:25:11] S I D D H A R T H A Hermann Hesse

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:25:16] Is that Indian.

Will Shelton: [00:25:18] Yeah I feel

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:25:18] Buika

Will Shelton: [00:25:19] Like I should like the shout out. I think my freshman English teacher because we did a lot of Shakespeare there but that was also a required reading in high school. And so shout out to either Ms Scruggs freshman year or Dr. Clark sophomore year for putting that in front of me.

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:25:42] So Will are you saying that Derek Dooley is like the doctor who says hey you have cancer. Good luck.

Will Shelton: [00:25:50] I have I just have this image not the image I have the audio of Dooley. We may be talking about this before the end of 2011 when he was so tired of getting asked about when Tyler Bray was coming back and he just goes. He has a broken thumb like like exasperated because you know we were getting hammered by everyone we were playing and Matt Sims and Justin Worley were not inspiring any confidence and so it’s like a fanbase will Tyler Bray to come back for that Vanderbilt game you know. But I love you know he he Dooley was great at press conferences and all that stuff.

Joel Hollingsworth: [00:26:28] There’s probably an upper level communications course that should be taught by Beverly Davenport. That that is basically you know the what you should do when you’re communicating with fans is the new coach is what the other guy who just got fired didn’t do. So you do that you’re going to be fine. There’s your 400 level course. I’ll take my billion dollar paycheck and go retire on the Tennessee River.