Tennessee is set to play Georgia Tech in Atlanta on Saturday night. The Yellow Jackets are coming off a tough season-opening loss to Colorado.
Georgia Tech head coach Brent Key admitted this week that he did something after the Yellow Jackets’ loss to Colorado that he’s never done before.
Key is preparing his team for a big matchup against the Tennessee Vols in Atlanta on Saturday night.
But before moving forward to Tennessee prep, Key made his entire coaching staff and team watch film of the Colorado game together.
Brent Key said it was hard to look at what went wrong against Colorado
Key said on his coach’s show on 680 The Fan on Thursday that he canceled his staff meeting on Sunday and instead had all of his coaches and players gather together to watch the film from the loss to Colorado.
“On Sunday, I did something I’ve never done before,” said Key. “I was supposed to have a staff meeting at 10 am and a team meeting at 1 pm. I canceled the staff meeting, and I had one meeting with everyone. I stood in the front with all 200-plus people and basically had my staff meeting in front of the team, and I had my team meeting in front of the staff.
“And then we sat down and grabbed the clicker and we watched the game in its entirety in front of everyone. Because I wanted the players to see that it’s not all on them. I wanted the staff to see that it’s not all on them. It was also a therapeutic thing. It’s one of those things that I wanted them to see me be vulnerable. To see me talk about things that you know we did or didn’t do, and that everyone is accountable. And guys that did things that are not what Georgia Tech football is, from an emotional standpoint, they got to come sit right next to me in the front row, and we talked very openly in the meeting. And that was very needed. … It was hard. It wasn’t fun at all.”
It’s very clear that Georgia Tech did not take the loss to Colorado well. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a coach linger on a loss the way Key has lingered this week on the Yellow Jackets’ loss to the Buffaloes.
Now, that’s not me throwing shade at Key — I have a ton of respect for who he is as a coach and as a person. Maybe his team responds well to this method and beats Tennessee this weekend. I have no idea what’s going to happen. It’s just an approach you don’t usually see.
We’ll see on Saturday night if it was the right approach.
]]>Tennessee travels to Atlanta this weekend for a big early season showdown against Georgia Tech. And ESPN’s Rece Davis has a strong take on how the game will play out.
Tennessee will travel to Atlanta this weekend for a big Week 2 matchup against Georgia Tech.
The Vols opened the season by cruising to a 56-9 win against an overmatched Furman team.
Georgia Tech, meanwhile, lost 14-13 at home to an undersized Colorado team.
As a result, most of the national media is riding with the Vols in this game.
ESPN’s Rece Davis has a strong take on how the Tennessee vs Georgia Tech game will go
ESPN’s Rece Davis and Pete Thamel shared their thoughts this week on the College GameDay podcast on how the Tennessee vs Georgia Tech game will play out.
Thamel thinks Georgia Tech will cover the 13.5 point spread.
“We will see if they (Georgia Tech) bring more of an edge,” said Thamel. “I think the line here is somewhere around two touchdowns, and I think Tech drags this game into the mud a little bit and covers.”
Davis, on the other hand, does not think the game will be that close.
“No sir,” said Davis upon hearing Thamel’s take. “Atlanta will be covered up in orange. Tennessee will control the atmosphere — they’ll control the game, and they win big. I say Tennessee scores a bunch of points and they win big. Then they beat Kennesaw State (in Week 3), and they set up a showdown in two weeks with the other UT in the SEC when Texas and Tennessee play in Knoxville on the 26th of September.”
That’s quite a prediction from Davis. We’ll see on Saturday night how it actually plays out in Atlanta.
]]>Tennessee linebacker Arion Carter was the Vols’ only captain against Furman in the season opener.
One of the coolest things that happened in college football in Week 1 was when Vols senior linebacker Arion Carter trotted out to midfield as Tennessee’s only captain before UT’s game against Furman.
Carter was suspended by the NCAA for the game because of a $427 plane ticket (which he repaid), so the Vols made a statement by making him the only captain for the game.
Vols insider reveals how Josh Heupel told Tennessee that Arion Carter would be the lone captain against Furman
VolQuest’s Brent Hubbs joined 104.5 The Zone’s Ramon and Will on Friday and he revealed how Vols head coach Josh Heupel told his team that Carter would be Tennessee’s only captain against Furman.
“Everybody’s excited to see Arion Carter play,” said Hubbs. “I mean, last Friday, Josh Heupel announced to his team who his captains were, and he just simply in front of the entire team said, ‘We’ve got one,’ and he pointed at Arion Carter. And the room just erupted, because he’s one of the most popular players on the team. Everybody knows what he’s been through and how unfair it was that he was suspended for game one and that he had to deal with all of those things.”
It’s incredibly dumb that Carter was suspended for the game, but he couldn’t have handled it any better. And the same goes for Heupel and the staff at Tennessee.
]]>The Tennessee Volunteers will face the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in prime time on Saturday night in Atlanta.
The Tennessee Vols have been hit with a heavy dose of rat poison this week.
Tennessee is viewed as the overwhelming favorite to beat Georgia Tech on the road on Saturday night in Atlanta.
That’s in large part because of the Yellow Jackets’ lackluster performance in a Week 1 loss to Colorado.
“I looked at this game (before the start of the season) and I thought it was a dangerous game for Tennessee,” said On3’s Chris Low on WNML’s Josh and Swain on Thursday. “And I don’t want to be the one that puts the big jinx on them, but for me, Tennessee’s just better. Period. They’ve got better personnel. They’re a better football team.
“I know it’s on the road on (Georgia Tech’s) campus, but I bet you there’s 20,000 Tennessee fans there at that game. There will be a ton of Tennessee fans at that game. So I just look at this a lot different. … I think Tennessee’s two touchdowns better than this (Georgia Tech) team.”
Low’s take, based on what we saw in Week 1, makes sense. I don’t think he’s wrong.
But you never really know what’s going to happen until the ball is kicked off.
Tennessee gets hit with a reminder of who Georgia Tech is
Tennessee isn’t overlooking Georgia Tech. They aren’t treating this game any differently just because of the results in Week 1.
Still, it can be tough to ignore the “rat poison” from the media (Nick Saban didn’t popularize the term “rat poison” just because it was a good soundbite — it’s a real thing). Stuff like that can seep into the minds of players and coaches.
Fortunately for the Vos, they received a reminder this week from Vol Network sideline reporter (and VolQuest publisher) Brent Hubbs on who this Georgia Tech team wants to be.
“Georgia Tech under Brent Key has been physical,” said Hubbs on The Mike Keith Show. “He’s got a demeanor about him — he’s got a mentality about him. I think that’s why you’ve seen some of the reaction you’ve seen from the Week 1 loss to Colorado. It wasn’t just that they lost the game — they lost at the line of scrimmage, which is not what Georgia Tech is about.
“They weren’t as physical as you have seen out of them in the past on both sides of the line of scrimmage. Brent Key said after the game that the defensive line stuff is fixable. He’s not overly worried about it. He thinks it’s fixable. But he’s an offensive lineman, and from an offensive line standpoint, they’re going to be revved up. They’re going to play at a different level. Tennessee’s going to have to match that intensity because you know his personality. He’s fiery. He has challenged that group for sure.”
Hubbs isn’t saying anything that Tennessee doesn’t already know. But I still think it’s important for Tennessee that the “warning” from Hubbs is out there to counter the rat poison the Vols have been hearing all week.
Tennessee has the better roster. But Georgia Tech is more than capable of making it a long night for the Vols. Tennessee will need to play clean football, stay ahead of the chains, and avoid costly mistakes to make sure this game isn’t uncomfortably close in the fourth quarter on Saturday night.
]]>The Vols return to Bobby Dodd Stadium for the first time in 40 years.
The Tennessee Vols and Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets got their seasons over to very different starts in Week 1.
The Vols ushered in the Brandon Faizon era with a 56-9 shellacking of Furman. Tennessee’s true freshman quarterback accounting for five total touchdowns and showed with his arm and legs why he was a five-star QB coming out of high school.
Georgia Tech snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, blowing two golden opportunities to knock off Colorado in a 14-13 loss. The Yellow Jackets could not get the first down they needed to ice the game, and even allowing a touchdown, they had a 45-yard field goal attempt to win, but it was blocked.
Now, Tennessee heads down I-75 to Atlanta for a crucial early season non-conference clash. A to Z Sports’ college football writers weighted in on how they see it playing out.
Tennessee 37, Georgia Tech 24
Tennessee showed what it can do against a very outclassed opponent last week in Furman. However, the touch that Brandon showed on the deep ball and the success Tennessee had both in running the ball and controlling the line of scrimmage so dominantly on defense gives me belief that such a performance will translate well to a step up in competition.
Colorado eclipsed 180 rushing yards. Tennessee will do what they want offensively, and Tech will get some window dressing to keep this margin around the point spread.
Craig Smith, A to Z Sports Tennessee
Tennessee 33, Georgia Tech 20
Faizon Brandon only played about 2.5 quarters against Furman on Saturday, but that was all he needed to make a lasting first impression. The five-star signal caller lived up to the hype, accounting for five total touchdowns, 294 total yards, and showing efficiency with a 76% completion percentage. But Georgia Tech is not Furman. Coming off a Week 1 loss against Colorado on national television, Brent Key is going to have the boys buzzing, and I expect a better showing out of Alberto Mendoza after getting the first-game jitters out of the way. That being said, I think Tennessee’s tempo on offense and athleticism on defense will be too much for the Yellowjackets. Give me the Vols in one that’s tight early, but sees Tennessee pull away late.
Rob Gregson, A to Z Sports Alabama
Tennessee 31, Georgia Tech 17
The Tennessee Volunteers are coming off a strong win this past weekend, showing that their QB may be the real deal. But this time they’re playing a much more formidable opponent in the Yellowjackets. Now, they did lose to the Colorado Buffaloes, but this is a team you shouldn’t take lightly, largely because head coach Brent Key is one of the better head coaches in the country and isn’t talked about enough. He will have a good game plan ready. However, that probably won’t even matter. GT lost the battle of the trenches to Colorado, so imagine what a much bigger, better team like Tennessee will do. The Vols are going to walk out of this game likely feeling much better about the trenches and their run game.
Justin Churchill, A to Z Sports Oklahoma
Tennessee 24, Georgia Tech 23
Simply put, Tennessee is the better team. Quarterback Faizon Brandon was solid against Furman in his first start on Saturday, including running the ball with effectiveness and attacking vertically with Mike Matthews.
There are two elements of hesitation with having the Volunteers as bigger favorites: the game is in Atlanta, and Georgia Tech is primed to give them a run for their money. Alberto Mendoza showed flashes of promise, and the Yellow Jackets defense was impressive against the Colorado Buffaloes. This is a sneaky candidate for game of the week.
Tyler Forness, A to Z Sports Florida
Tennessee 31, Georgia Tech 13
I’m taking Tennessee to beat Georgia Tech 31-13 in Atlanta. The Yellow Jackets should be a much tougher challenge than Tennessee’s season opener, but the Volunteers have the more complete roster and should be able to control the game on both sides of the ball. Tennessee opened the season with a dominant 56-9 win over Furman, while Georgia Tech dropped a close one to Colorado after surrendering the lead late.
I expect Georgia Tech to have some success early, particularly with the home crowd behind them, but Tennessee’s defense should eventually take over. The return of linebacker Arion Carter gives the Vols another major piece in the middle of their defense, and his ability to help contain Georgia Tech’s rushing attack could be crucial. Tennessee pulls away in the second half behind a few explosive offensive plays and leaves Atlanta with a convincing 31-13 victory.
Ryan Roberts, A to Z Sports Notre Dame
Tennessee 33, Georgia Tech 20
Tennessee didn’t ask Faizon Brandon to do too much in his debut against Furman and he was very efficient with three touchdown passes compared to just four incompletions on the day. Playing Georgia Tech is a step up in competition, and a good tuneup ahead of playing Texas in a couple of weeks. Alberto Mendoza should be a solid challenge for Jim Knowles’ defense, but the difference in athletes between these two teams will be easy to see. The Vols could work their way into being a top-15 team next week with a convincing win over Georgia Tech. I expect Tennessee to go into Atlanta and win by a couple of scores minimum.
]]>Georgia Tech looked rough offensively in a season opening loss to Colorado last week.
There’s been plenty of speculation this week about whether Georgia Tech will make big offensive changes before Saturday’s matchup against Tennessee in Atlanta.
The Yellow Jackets’ offense looked out of sync in their season-opening loss to Colorado, and some have wondered if Brent Key might scrap the complex game plan and start fresh against Tennessee.
But it sounds like that won’t be happening.
Brent Key isn’t going to “blow up” the offense
Key, when specifically asked about the offensive line rotation, passionately stuck by his offense on Thursday while speaking to reporters.
“I’m not going to make drastic changes on something that for eight months we’ve evaluated, we’ve practiced, and we’ve repped,” said Key. “Our job is put the best five (offensive linemen) on the field, and that’s what we’re doing.
“You don’t have a game like that and blow everything up. You don’t do that. That’s a recipe for disaster for the entire season. That says you have zero confidence in what you’ve done the previous eight months. … I have confidence in the guys that are out there.”
Georgia Tech’s offense looked like it was trying to do too much against Colorado, and the offensive line got pushed around more than you would expect from a Brent Key-coached team. The Yellow Jackets, as a result, were never able to establish the run.
I think Tennessee should expect to see the same Georgia Tech offense for the most part on Saturday. The Yellow Jackets will make some adjustments and address the things that clearly didn’t work against Colorado, but it’s not like their scheme is getting a total makeover. Who they were against Colorado is who they’re going to be against the Vols – they’re just hoping to execute better than they did in the season opener.
That’s good news for Tennessee’s game prep. The Vols’ coaching staff has a full week of Georgia Tech film to study. If Tennessee can take advantage of the same issues that plagued Georgia Tech in Week 1, the Vols should be in good shape heading into Saturday night in Atlanta.
]]>Josh Heupel led Oklahoma to a national championship as a player back in 2000.
Everyone knows that Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel won a national championship as Oklahoma’s starting quarterback in 2000.
But not everyone knows that Heupel was barely able to play in the national championship game against Florida State.
Former Sooners head coach Bob Stoops told the story this week of Heupel injuring the thumb on his throwing hand the week before the game, and then watching Heupel look terrible in pregame warmups.
“What people don’t realize, and it’s been talked about a little bit, but not a bunch,” said Stoops on The Bozcast. “Heupel, he’s a left hander, he hurt his thumb in the middle of the week.
“And it’s bad, but not too bad. And you know Josh, he wasn’t saying a word. You know how tough he is. He was like, ‘Nah, I’m gonna play.’ We’re in warmups, we’re seeing [Heupel throw] all kinds of bad balls. I looked at our quarterbacks coach Chuck Long and our offensive coordinator Mark Mangino and they go, ‘What are we going to do?’ And I go, ‘We’re playing him — we’re not changing anything now.’ But that affected our whole day, Josh’s Thumb (did). But he fought through it, and we did what we had to do to win.”
Heupel completed 25-of-39 passes for 214 yards in the Sooners’ 13-2 win over the Seminoles. He also had 23 rushing yards on 13 attempts.
That’s certainly not the first story of Heupel’s toughness that we’ve heard from his Oklahoma days.
Former Sooners tight end Josh Norman detailed a couple of years ago what Heupel went through that entire 2000 season.
“As a team leader, he was a guy you could just count on,” said Norman. “Because you saw what he went [through]. When I tell you that run to the national championship, those last three or four games, honestly, it was hard for him to throw the ball from me to that trash can. If you go watch the games, he always wore long sleeves. And it was because literally from his wrist all the way up to his armpit — black and blue. He was jacked up.
“If you go back and watch the first game against Kansas State, shoot both games against Kansas State that year, they ran that 4-6 defense. They were bringing cover zero like 80 percent of the time. And the air raid ain’t known for seven/eight man protections. You got five or six at the most. They were coming after him. And they were getting to him. He was getting the ball out, but they were lighting his tail up. And you see that — literally like peeling him off the ground. And he’d just get up and you could just see the hurt and the pain in his face. But he’d look to the sideline, get the play, walk in the huddle, he’d call it, he’d make the play. He’d deliver every time. And just hearing that, it does something to you. So he was a great leader, man. We have so much respect for that dude. And that’s the reason all of the guys that played with him just love seeing what he’s doing even to this day.”
One of the reasons Heupel connects so well with his players is because they know he’s been through everything that he’s asking them to go through. And he went through it at the highest level of college football.
Heupel is still that same guy — he just has a headset instead of a helmet these days.
]]>Former Tennessee Vols head coach Butch Jones went on a four minute rant this week that no one asked for
Former Tennessee head coach Butch Jones is facing criticism this week for a conservative decision he made just before halftime in Arkansas State’s loss to Memphis last weekend.
With Arkansas State trailing by four points and less than a minute remaining in the first half, Jones had his quarterback take a knee instead of trying to push the ball down the field and get into field goal range. Some fans were upset with the decision because Memphis got the ball first after halftime, and they felt Arkansas State needed points there to stay in the game.
Butch Jones goes on a rant that no one asked for
No one asked Jones about the decision during his weekly press conference. But at the end of the press conference, after all the questions had been asked, Jones brought it up himself and went on a four-minute rant about why he made the call, essentially educating everyone in attendance (if you’re a Vols fan, you know all about getting “educated” by Jones).
Here’s the full transcript of his rant:
I was seeing if you were going to ask a question. I’m going to circle back. I think I need to do this. It’s kind of comical. I’ve never had to address this situation, but I’m going to address it. 38 seconds to go in the half. We’re down 21-17. We’ve got the ball on the 25 yard line, and Memphis has one timeout. Why would you put your team in harm’s way? What good can come of it? By the analytics, you’ve got a 7 percent chance for success, so a 93 percent chance it can go wrong. It’s all about managing the game. It’s not playing Madden, where you go to the bitter end. There’s consequences for your miscues. There’s consequences for your actions. Everything is deeply planned out. Probably, if we would have run the ball, nobody would have even said anything. But they see a victory formation and they wonder what’s going on. So you have a first-time starting quarterback. You’re right where you need to be of being in control of the game. He’s just coming off a couple of interceptions. Why would you put him in harm’s way? And then you’re very limited at running back right now, so why would you run the football and risk a turnover? Get out of the half. You like exactly where you’re at.
Probably the hardest thing as an offensive coordinator at the University of Alabama is managing that situation with Coach (Nick) Saban, and he was the master of it. And he always talked about never putting your defense in harm’s way and getting out of the half. There’s a risk/reward there. It’s really the first time I’ve ever even had to address this because it’s comical that we would even be talking about it. But I think it’s important that people know the rationale behind it and why we did it. There’s an art to managing a game, and it’s done throughout the course of the week. Every situation, it’s done through analytics. It’s done through a book. It’s done through kind of a gut feel. And probably you don’t remember this, but I remember it like it was yesterday. I tried doing that at App State, and it almost cost us a bowl championship. 43 seconds to go in the half. They had one timeout left. We had the ball on our own 25, and I elected to try to score points and was greedy. And what happened is they forced a three and out. We punted the ball. [They ran] two plays, and they kicked a field goal to end the half. And I said, “Never again. Shame on me.” It doesn’t go for what I believe in. It’s not been how I’ve been raised by Coach Saban and the other places we’ve been. I put my team in harm’s way. Now, the situation may dictate something else with the feel of the game, but I’ll never put our team in harm’s way. And you could say, “Well, coach, you’re not having confidence in your team.” No, I’m taking the emotion out of it, and I’m managing the game, and I’m trying to get the game to the fourth quarter because I believe in our players, I believe in our conditioning, I believe in all of those things. I even called the greatest of all time to ask him about it. So again, I can’t believe I’m talking about it, but I think I have to because it’s nonsense. But I think it’s important that people understand that there’s rationale and there’s reasoning behind everything that we do, it’s not my first time doing this, so I thought I would address it.
On one hand, I completely understand where Jones was coming from. Arkansas State was still in the game at that point. He didn’t want to make a silly mistake on the opponent’s side of the field and give Memphis easy points before halftime. I really don’t think it was that crazy of a decision to take a knee and go into halftime down only four.
On the flip side, I don’t understand why Jones even felt the need to bring it up. Coaches are going to face criticism for calls they make. It’s part of the gig. And look, sometimes they’re going to make the right call and it’s not going to work out. Sometimes they’re going to make a bad call and it does work out. No one bats 1.000 with coaching decisions. I don’t care if you’re Jeremy Pruitt or Bill Parcells – sometimes it just doesn’t work out. So I don’t understand why Jones felt like he had to defend his decision so passionately for four minutes, especially when no one asked.
Tennessee fans know all about Butch Jones’ conservative approach
There were several times when Jones was the head coach at Tennessee that his conservative approach cost the Vols.
In 2014 against Florida, Tennessee kicked three field goals instead of trying to score touchdowns, and they lost 10-9. In 2015, on the Vols’ first possession against Oklahoma on fourth-and-goal from the 1 with Jalen Hurd at running back (who was the size of a linebacker), Jones elected to kick the field goal instead of trying to score the touchdown. That’s a game Tennessee should have put away early, but they lost in overtime because they were a little too conservative.
And then there was the famous loss to Florida in the Swamp in 2017 when Tennessee went up 26-14 with 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter. Instead of going for two to stretch the lead to 14, Jones kicked the extra point.
Florida then scored twice and won the game.
It’s who Butch has always been.
And it’s part of what’s held him back during his coaching career.
I’ve always believed that the most aggressive team is the team that’s usually going to win the game. You have to be smart, of course, and there are times when it’s wise to be conservative. But more often than not, the team that’s the aggressor and executes is the team that’s going to win.
Jones, though, still didn’t need to take four minutes to give an answer that no one asked for.
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