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Which TN team will show up against KY? · Champions of Life

welcome to the champions of life podcast where 3 orangeblooded Tennessee alums discuss how there's always next year Yee-haw, and welcome back to another wonderful podcast of Champions of Life.
Uh, you've got Joe Mihalic, Lane Greer, myself, and we're here to talk shop about Tennessee.
And, uh, you know, like we're always, we're working like heck to provide high quality logistical services to all of our customers.
Shipping, trucking, distribution, storage, you name it, we will not let you down like our beloved Vols might.
But even if they do, we're still champions of life.
We're still champions.
So we, we have, uh, we dropped the ball.
Um, ah, what is it? We what? That's rough.
Too easy.
That's rough, Bobby.
Too easy.
We haven't, we haven't had a podcast in a little bit, so hey, big Bama win, and then the inevitable, I don't know, AI can scrub our podcast, but I want to say that I'm fairly certain that I predicted a Bama win and a horrible loss to South Carolina, just like most Tennessee- Mm fans who've been watching us play in the last six or seven years, sorry for doing that, it was unintentional, uh, that that would happen.
And of course, sadly, it did- Mm with procedural penalties, three touch- I've never seen three touchdowns come off the board, undisciplined, just sloppy football.
Just a huge, huge disappointment, especially after- Mm a week of other top 10 teams losing.
And so now we're on the outside looking in.
Sloppy is a good word.
Sloppy assignments of the reffing crew- Mm to, you know, a former, uh, quarterback for Alabama.
I don't know how that happens.
Dude, surely there's other games.
Did ACC play that day? Were they s- playing on Saturday? I'm sure, yeah.
W- were, like, any other conferences, like the Big 12, 10, whatever it is now- Somebody's playing they could have been assigned there.
Yeah.
Why our game? There, there does feel like there's a conflict of interest there that no one seems to really care about, and if you go to the conspiracy theory rabbit holes on the internet, and you look at all the results of our games with him as the referee, it is not great.
No.
Not great.
Now, it's Tennessee's fault for not executing, but maybe those things don't get called on every...
I don't know.
We, we did not help at all.
No.
Did not help them.
No.
Made it easy- easier, but it is interesting.
Whatever they, whatever Vegas said is what we ended up with.
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Three points.
Laney? Well, I just don't know what team we are.
Alabama was shocking.
That was a shocking win.
Mm-hmm.
The way we shut down Russell was...
I mean, truly, I was like, "What team is this?" Uh, we, we haven't played like this.
And then you get to the next week, similar type of dual threat quarterback, and- He killed us he kills us.
Yeah.
And our defense that has looked so good, it's gone, and then we you know what happens on offense.
I feel like what we do know, this is Tennessee across all sports, we play up to big competition, then down to lower.
Mm.
Basketball's the same thing.
Baseball, soccer, volleyball.
Shout out to the volleyball team.
It's doing great.
Doing awesome.
Yeah, yeah.
They are doing great.
But you're right, Laney, week to week, no consistency.
That's a huge issue The, yeah the disappointment is the f- the film is out on Sellers, their quarterback.
Why are we not spying? Okay, we, we are spying, that's great, and it's working great.
You've got Moss, who's athletic enough to read, and he...
You sh- see some of the replays, they're not taking bad angles.
They're, they're containing.
It's like they're in the position they need to be, and then on some of the most important defensive series, there's no spy, and he's just, he's doing whatever he wants.
So I think South Carolina is a good team.
They have a good quarterback.
That happens.
It was pretty frustrating to lose in the way that you did, and I think if, if Hipol would've taken knees to go into overtime, I would've been mad.
I would've been frustrated.
I would've been disappointed.
Um, but of course, like we...
I can't remember, obviously before the fumble, which is a bad play and I don't fully blame the quarterback in that situation, but you gotta take care of the ball.
Uh, there was a, another penalty leading up to that.
Like, I feel like we, we had a big gain, but it was brought back for some reason.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Uh, and we had momentum.
Mm-hmm.
We're moving the ball.
That killed it.
Yeah.
And so we're, we're right back to where we were, and then you're, you're kind of pressing to say, "Okay, do...
We're at the 38.
Do we conservatively just play for overtime, or do we go for the kill?" And it's like, "Let's go for it."
And then stuff like that happens.
And that's, that guy's a, he's a top whatever he is, 15, 25 draft pick.
Yeah.
Put a help over there.
Right.
That might, that might- Double team him that might help.
Right.
So.
And South Carolina, their record, they have been in every game that they've lost.
Yeah, yeah.
I mean, they, well, overtime games, and so again, we always have a game every season where we make the quarterback look like a Heisman candidate.
And not that LeNorse, I mean, he, he ebbed and flowed that game.
Mm-hmm.
But he did look really good.
I mean, that, his last touchdown run that he had- Amazing you're, they're, you're still- That was amazing seeing highlights and people talking about how incredible he is.
He's a good runner.
If other teams had not lost, one of you already said it, on that same day, we would, it would've been more, more eyes, more laughter at Tennessee, but there was other upsets that day, which is great.
Good news for us.
It was kind of washed out.
So moving forward, is it...
Like what was more shocking to me against South Carolina, yes, the offensive issues were insane and soul crushing, but the defense playing like they did- Mm-hmm not playing well on the road, like we just hadn't seen that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So moving forward, um, my concern is if the offense is still middle of the road, we sort of have a passing game that's inconsistent.
I'm sorry, but I think Bishop is more beat up than we are- Mm-hmm being told.
Yep.
It's a lot of touches.
Um, exactly.
And so he's gonna wear down.
Our secondary, we're already, our offensive line, we're thin.
Secondary's thin.
Mm-hmm It was good timing for a week off, though.
We needed it.
It was.
But do we- You mentioned film.
Kentucky has film on us, how bad our defense had played against, uh, South Carolina.
So do we bounce back, or do we...
Is it in our own heads now? Mm-hmm.
Do we, uh, go 0 and 2? Do we lose for a second week? I don't, I don't know if I wanna go first on this one.
The good news is, as dire as it may feel like, the s- the season is still in reach.
Like, we still have the ability to go to the playoffs.
There's a lot of crazy things that are gonna happen between now and then.
We have a great defense.
Assuming a healthy Bishop, you have a great run game.
The passing attack is gonna be what holds you back from being ultra-competitive.
Um, it is, it is frustrating, obviously, the bias of Alabama, who would be- being so far ahead of us in the rankings right now.
Those rankings- Oh, no.
That's totally legitimate, Bobby They totally- I don't know what you're talking about.
They don't really matter right now- Yes but it is annoying.
But that's great news for us.
That's, that's motivation.
Yeah.
Hey, we're 13.
We're outside.
Wait, it's 12.
Yeah.
13.
12 this year.
Outside looking in.
That's great.
Get mad.
Get angry about it, and win out.
Just win out.
You don't have to worry about it.
It should be motivation.
You're right.
Right.
We don't do...
If we were number six, we'd probably lose.
Yeah.
If we were...
Go ahead.
This is what I don't understand.
Either head-to-head match ups matter- They don't or they don't.
They don't.
And if they don't matter, why are the games- They matter to us being played? They matter to the normal people.
Some, some games they do and some they don't.
Yeah.
Just depends on who it is.
It's b- it's, it's- Depends on the logo it's about the m- the revenue.
Right.
Depends on the logo.
It's about the revenue.
Yep.
Who's going to the games- Right who's buying the tickets, what is gonna get the most viewership.
There, it's not scientific at all.
Okay.
So for Kentucky.
It's n- it's Neyland.
It's night.
It's dark mode.
Mm.
That's a tough place to win, in my opinion.
And so Kentucky is playing really good football.
I love that they're, they're going after it, they're going for two, and they're scrappy in the, the offense.
Uh, Will Stein's offense is very, very creative, and it puts you in bad spots as a defense, but I trust our defense.
I trust Neyland.
I trust the night atmosphere.
And, you know, I was there when we destroyed Will Levis and that offense that was supposed to be so highly talented.
Obviously, different quarterback, different coaching, but they came in thinking they were gonna smoke us, and they're our little brother.
We took care of business.
So I have full confidence that we will bounce back, um- But I've been wrong before.
Doesn't there come a time, I d- I just have little sisters.
There comes a time when little brother is able to beat up big brother though, right? Mm-hmm.
Theoretically.
I feel like we're at that point.
Maybe in basketball sometimes, but surely not- Yeah in football yet.
I hope not.
They beat us twice in our lifetime.
Yeah.
Three times, I can't remember.
They don't turn the ball over.
Their coach is actually, like, passionate on the sideline.
He is.
Mm-hmm.
Getting after it.
He is.
He's willing to try crazy things.
I mean, they go for the two-point conversion, um, there instead of going into overtime.
But when does that catch up to you? Sure.
And they go for it on fourth down.
Go for it on fourth down.
I mean- A couple of those go the wrong way, and they're saying, "What is this guy doing?" 100%, but he's still a first-year coach.
Yeah, he's got a- he's That's what he's doing.
And they bought in though, you know? They're like- They're playing for him "Okay.
He believes in us."
Yeah.
And the more you do it, the better you get at it surely.
Yeah.
So.
It's house money right now.
Yeah.
He's not gonna get fired year one, so it's like- No, no get the guys go- get them on your side.
Yeah.
Butch was, or Butch.
Butch kinda did some of that.
That's right.
That was a Freudian slip, but, like, Heupel was doing that year one and year two, 'cause we had under- undermanned teams, and we were going for it on fourth down.
I love it.
We were being aggressive.
I love it.
So.
So since we aren't playing that way now, you're still confident, home field advantage- I think defense- our defense home field- Okay run game.
All right.
Uh, here's the other th- this is the hard thing, is George threw three beautiful- He did touchdown passes that none of them counted.
Right.
That stinks.
Mm-hmm.
But that was a glimpse of, like, all right, man, you can do it.
Let it rip.
Yeah.
But will the coaches let him let it rip? Very much so they're, it's a conservative coaching staff, and they're gonna prioritize ball control, time, the clock management- Yeah not in the way that we want them to, but m- managing time of possession.
I don't know.
I don't know the- So what you're saying is get a couple first downs by throwing it, and then all of a sudden when you get past the 50, start running it and getting stopped, and then, then to punt it.
I'd love to see a couple shots.
I...
Okay.
I would too, but frustration- Yeah reigns.
I'm gonna say we'll win too, but maybe pretty close game.
I say we win by three.
Yeah.
I don't know what it'll be, maybe 28, 20, I don't know, 27, 24.
Is that a number, 23? Yeah, either one Somewhere in there.
Upper 20s, lower 20s I'm gonna go 27-17 Vols.
Okay.
I have to break rank.
I picked seven to five at the beginning of the season, right? That's true.
And I think this is one, yes, the Neyland Effect, if, if I were gonna pick us, that would be the reason, is because we're good for at least two delay of game penalties.
Like- Mm our fans are crazy.
Mm-hmm.
Um, but I just...
Minshew is good, their quarterback.
He's pretty good.
They don't turn it over.
We are so penalty prone, whatever.
I, that's not gonna change on the road or at home.
Really hasn't been a factor.
Um, I think we lose at home to Kentucky for the first time in- Ugh.
Mm how many years? Ugh.
Decades? Mm.
Yeah.
They've gotten us at historic Kroger Field a couple times, but I don't, I don't think they put any- Yeah, they've not gotten us here in, I feel like it's, like, 100 years or something.
Well, was it the Guarantano game that they came in here and absolutely clowned us? I think so.
They had, like, three pick sixes.
I thought it was, like, the '80s.
Anyway.
I think it was Guarantano.
Wait.
Was he the hefty lefty? Oh, no.
No.
It was- That was, uh, Jared Lorenzen Lorenzen, yeah.
He's really sorry.
Rest his soul.
The hefty lefty.
Rest his soul.
That's a big guy.
What? Yeah, he's, he passed a couple years ago.
Wow, okay.
I'm sorry.
Well, I feel bad now.
Me too.
Anyway, we're going, we're gonna go down.
We're losing.
Every game's a must-win at this point to be in the playoff race, and I think sadly it's, it's over.
Although, there is a situation where, depending on certain teams moving forward, there could be one to two SEC teams at the top that only have a single loss, and then the rest of the field could be, like, three losses.
And so then there's potential for Tennessee, but I- We beat each other up so bad.
Just, just to clarify, 2020, COVID, Kentucky 34, Tennessee seven at Neyland Stadium.
Wait, what? Seven.
That was six years ago? Guaran- Guarantano threw two back-to-back pick sixes, which basically sealed the deal in the first, first half.
What was it before that? When was our, when did- I don't know.
Man.
He was- Wow, okay.
He forgot.
I blocked that out of my memory.
Yeah.
Ugh.
That's how horrific losing- There's a battle to Kentucky football is.
Mm.
Yeah.
Okay.
Well, on that note, let's go Vols.
Go Vols.
We need a new soccer coach.
New soccer coach, Ricky B.
Get those boys playing defense.
Mm-hmm.
Two halves of basketball.
Let's get, let's get some- Not in one post presence down there.
Yep.
Yep.
Get that bench.
Hey, but way to go Dalton Knecht last night with the Knicks, right? Oh, what'd he do? Yeah.
What'd he do? Coming off the bench, 10 points, like, 15 minutes.
How'd I miss that? Yeah.
All right, way to go.
Yeah.
Maybe he gets, maybe he gets more playing time.
Show the Lakers they didn't know what they have.
Go Vols.
Go Vols.