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Texas vs Tennessee CONCERNS after Longhorns Survive Against Volunteers? · College Football Addiction: A Show About All Things College Football

0:00
Speaker 1: Texas versus Tennessee. This is presented by PrizePix. Texas escapes
0:04
Speaker 1: Neyland just barely in the final minutes by a score
0:07
Speaker 1: of 20-17. Ultimately, a very narrow game in which Arch
0:12
Speaker 1: Manning left a lot to be desired. Texas' defense was
0:17
Speaker 1: smothering throughout this process. Ten sacks, five alone to Colin Simmons,
0:22
Speaker 1: who gave us a brand new version of an unsportsmanlike
0:25
Speaker 1: conduct penalty that many didn't ever think we would see.
0:28
Speaker 2: He was just testing to become a field instructor at Neyland.
0:31
Speaker 2: That's all he was doing.
0:32
Speaker 1: Yes. And by the way, credit to the referee who
0:35
Speaker 1: had to very quickly come up with simulating using the
0:37
Speaker 1: bathroom as the reason for the penalty. I thought that
0:40
Speaker 1: was very impressive. First blush, my thought about Texas getting
0:46
Speaker 1: away from Tennessee with this road victory. Sark has struggled
0:49
Speaker 1: on the road. It's been talked about quite a bit
0:51
Speaker 1: during his time at Texas. Texas did enough on the ground. defensively,
0:55
Speaker 1: this might be the best defense overall in the SEC,
0:58
Speaker 1: maybe in the country. I think that argument is there
1:00
Speaker 1: to be had. For me, I sent this in the
1:04
Speaker 1: group text. To me, if I was doing a stock up,
1:07
Speaker 1: stock down, even though Tennessee lost this game, I felt
1:11
Speaker 1: like stock up Tennessee, stock down Texas. Texas isn't going
1:15
Speaker 1: to move in the rankings. I understand that. But I
1:18
Speaker 1: didn't personally walk away from this game. thinking more of
1:21
Speaker 1: texas if anything it created more questions specifically on the
1:24
Speaker 1: offensive side of the ball but cole you're the sec
1:27
Speaker 1: guy i defer to you at first well number.
1:29
Speaker 2: One you never apologize for winning college football number two
1:31
Speaker 2: you never apologize for a road win in conference playing
1:34
Speaker 2: college football and number three you certainly can say that
1:37
Speaker 2: if one side of the ball doesn't show on up
1:39
Speaker 2: the other side has to do double duty and that's
1:41
Speaker 2: what we saw yesterday for texas's defense texas's defense right
1:45
Speaker 2: now i think send a message to the country We
1:48
Speaker 2: are one of the best, if not the best, in
1:49
Speaker 2: the sport. Not in the SEC. I think that they
1:52
Speaker 2: have already cemented themselves at that point. What we have
1:54
Speaker 2: seen from the pass rush, what we have seen from
1:56
Speaker 2: guys like Raheem Biles, what we have seen from coverage,
1:58
Speaker 2: Jelani McDonald downfield, they feel like the team to beat
2:02
Speaker 2: defensively in the SEC. And they're doing it in ways
2:05
Speaker 2: where they're not trying to over-exceed things. They are just
2:09
Speaker 2: making right calls, right reads, right directions at the proper time. Unfortunately,
2:16
Speaker 2: as I'm about to hit reset... The offense, this was
2:20
Speaker 2: your mulligan. This is where you have to go ahead
2:22
Speaker 2: and say, we got our one shot. I promise you
2:25
Speaker 2: in the future, it's going to be a problem.
2:29
Speaker 1: Overall, watching Texas play, they got enough out of the
2:33
Speaker 1: running game to keep this consistent. Arch Manning did enough
2:37
Speaker 1: to keep the offense going, but it's still harkened back
2:41
Speaker 1: to the Ohio State game, and I think Ohio State
2:43
Speaker 1: is a more talented roster than what Tennessee presented. But
2:47
Speaker 1: it's a perpetual problem, it seems like, now four weeks
2:50
Speaker 1: into the season is that the Texas offense just seems
2:54
Speaker 1: like it can't get out of first gear. I went
2:56
Speaker 1: into this game thinking that it could be Arch Manning
2:59
Speaker 1: connecting with Cam Coleman pretty often. I thought Wingo had
3:02
Speaker 1: himself a really nice game, not only as a pass catcher,
3:04
Speaker 1: but he was getting involved in the blocking game and
3:06
Speaker 1: was really helping out in the run. So I was
3:08
Speaker 1: impressed by some of their pieces here and there. The
3:12
Speaker 1: Tennessee defensive line had their success against Texas' offensive line.
3:16
Speaker 1: And I think at this point we understand Texas has
3:18
Speaker 1: a good offensive line, maybe not an elite offensive line.
3:22
Speaker 1: Does this feel like a season where the offense for
3:25
Speaker 1: Texas is going to do enough to help them get
3:28
Speaker 1: by and they're just going to ride the defense?
3:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't know at this point. I think that's
3:32
Speaker 2: a great question, and it's one that we'll figure out
3:34
Speaker 2: a little bit more down the line. Yesterday was not
3:36
Speaker 2: one of those days that you need your offense to
3:38
Speaker 2: have to deliver. You got to 20 points. Your defense
3:40
Speaker 2: kept Faison Brandon out of the end zone until the
3:44
Speaker 2: final 90 seconds. They unfortunately had the muff punt on
3:47
Speaker 2: what many are calling an illegal special teams play. Bygones
3:51
Speaker 2: be bygones, whatever it is. They were able to get
3:53
Speaker 2: a win, and you won by three, and you were
3:54
Speaker 2: able to handle business, and that's fine enough. But you
3:57
Speaker 2: are going to be going up against teams that have
3:59
Speaker 2: more high potent offenses and dynamic units that will be
4:02
Speaker 2: able to put 24 on you. 27 on you. And
4:06
Speaker 2: 27 may not be enough. I mean, 27 may not
4:08
Speaker 2: feel like a lot. But 27 with how this offense
4:10
Speaker 2: is looking right now. With the inability to run the
4:12
Speaker 2: football with Relique Brown. With the inconsistent, a lot of
4:16
Speaker 2: highlight throws from Arch Manning. But then right back to
4:18
Speaker 2: the remedial, underwhelming consistency of not being able to find
4:21
Speaker 2: open targets. Mundane level of offensive line playing. you're going
4:27
Speaker 2: to end up coming up short because of your offense
4:29
Speaker 2: is going to cost you. Now, again, it didn't matter
4:31
Speaker 2: yesterday because what you did defensively was what I think
4:34
Speaker 2: any smart team would do when trying to play a
4:37
Speaker 2: young quarterback that is looking to get in a groove.
4:40
Speaker 2: Make him beat you. He took away the rushing attack
4:43
Speaker 2: of Tennessee. They finished with less than 200 yards. They
4:46
Speaker 2: were averaging 1.6 yards of play. Neither Dwayne Morris or
4:50
Speaker 2: Deshaun Bishop could get anything going on the ground. I
4:53
Speaker 2: think the longest run was for 9 or 10 yards.
4:58
Speaker 2: And he got 10 sacks in the day. Which, by
5:00
Speaker 2: the way, it should have been 11. But we have
5:02
Speaker 2: to go ahead and say the Phantom won because of, unfortunately,
5:04
Speaker 2: Colin Simmons wanted to go ahead and audition to be
5:06
Speaker 2: a groundskeeper at Neyland. So that's just kind of where
5:09
Speaker 2: he was. He was watering the grass. And that cost
5:11
Speaker 2: you 15 yards. The boneheaded mistakes that we saw in
5:14
Speaker 2: this game though. The penalties. 11 for 115 yards. Is
5:18
Speaker 2: why you allowed a team to be able to hang
5:20
Speaker 2: around a little bit too close for comfort. You did
5:22
Speaker 2: all the right things defensively. By shutting down the passing attack.
5:25
Speaker 2: Forcing Faison Brandon to beat you through the year. Making
5:28
Speaker 2: sure that if he was going to win he was
5:30
Speaker 2: winning with his legs. And even then taking out the
5:32
Speaker 2: rushing attack so that way they became a remedial offense.
5:35
Speaker 2: They still weren't able to hang around because of you
5:38
Speaker 2: shot yourself in the foot. With face mask penalties, with
5:41
Speaker 2: excessive celebration, with hands to the face, jumping off sides,
5:44
Speaker 2: pass interference calls. And that's something that eventually can come
5:48
Speaker 2: back to harbor you. I did not like the way
5:50
Speaker 2: the Texas offensive line played. Bottom line, I didn't. I
5:53
Speaker 2: thought that if you want to look at this from
5:55
Speaker 2: this point, Tom, there were 16 sacks in this game.
5:59
Speaker 2: 16 on both sides. That's a record for teams in
6:04
Speaker 2: the SEC. There were 22 tackles for losses. And the
6:07
Speaker 2: only reason why we're not going so hard on Texas'
6:10
Speaker 2: offensive line is because of Tennessee's offensive line looked like
6:14
Speaker 2: it was at a commuter school. It looked like it
6:15
Speaker 2: was a community college unit at this point.
6:18
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6:20
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6:22
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6:35
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6:38
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6:42
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6:45
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6:48
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7:00
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7:03
Speaker 3: appreciate them for their support. Now back to the clip
7:05
Speaker 3: on the power two.
7:06
Speaker 2: You took away the run game. You made Faison Brandon
7:08
Speaker 2: feel panicked. It's the worst situation to be in as
7:11
Speaker 2: a young quarterback making your first start in the SEC.
7:14
Speaker 2: It was a welcome to college football moment for Faison Brandon.
7:17
Speaker 2: And you don't apologize for finding ways to win close.
7:20
Speaker 2: You don't. Because that's what we saw. When you got
7:22
Speaker 2: in the red zone, Relique Brown was able to go
7:24
Speaker 2: ahead and punch it on him for two touchdowns. I
7:26
Speaker 2: have no idea what is the infatuation with the genitalia
7:29
Speaker 2: movement on that one because there was another movement with that.
7:32
Speaker 2: Not going to talk on that one any further. You
7:34
Speaker 2: can go ahead and say that for whatever it is.
7:36
Speaker 2: But quite literally, and pun intended, it was a piss
7:40
Speaker 2: poor effort by the offense yesterday. And the only reason
7:43
Speaker 2: why you got away with it was because of your
7:45
Speaker 2: defense delivered. Now, it's okay for this one game, but
7:49
Speaker 2: you have Ole Miss coming to town. You got Florida.
7:52
Speaker 2: You have to take on LSU. You still have Texas
7:55
Speaker 2: A & M. We can take out the Texas A
7:57
Speaker 2: & M one right now, but you get my point.
7:58
Speaker 2: You still have games ahead of where there are going
8:00
Speaker 2: to be teams that can go toe-to-toe with you and
8:03
Speaker 2: make you pay offensively. Something has got to click. Credit
8:06
Speaker 2: where credit's due. Steve Sarkeesian did one damn smart thing
8:09
Speaker 2: this offseason, and I want to give a lot of
8:11
Speaker 2: credit here. He went out and he hired Will Muschamp
8:14
Speaker 2: to be the defensive coordinator. That looks like a perfect move,
8:17
Speaker 2: and he is not having to even worry about what
8:19
Speaker 2: the defense looks like at this point. His entire focus
8:22
Speaker 2: can be on the offense. He didn't have Hollywood Smothers yesterday,
8:25
Speaker 2: and that's a big deal. And I think that we
8:26
Speaker 2: all have come to realize Hollywood Smothers is that difference
8:29
Speaker 2: maker for this team. But you need a little bit more. Arch,
8:34
Speaker 2: at some point, I'm going to ask you to step
8:35
Speaker 2: on up, put on your big boy pants, and be
8:37
Speaker 2: able to win us a football game. Right now, you
8:39
Speaker 2: don't look like you can. Right now, it doesn't look
8:41
Speaker 2: like that Cam Coleman can be a consistent big play
8:44
Speaker 2: threat downfield. Now, is that on arch? Is that the
8:46
Speaker 2: play design? I don't know. But I can tell you what,
8:49
Speaker 2: so far, Ryan Wingo has been the better of the receivers.
8:52
Speaker 2: And we can't even really talk about Ryan Wingo doing
8:54
Speaker 2: anything yesterday because all of our focus is on the
8:57
Speaker 2: fact that he muffed the punt. I mean, muffed the
8:59
Speaker 2: onside kick that gave a second win to Tennessee to
9:02
Speaker 2: be able to come back and win this thing. So
9:04
Speaker 2: it's like, as much as you want to say that
9:06
Speaker 2: you don't apologize for wins, And again, Texas' offense may
9:09
Speaker 2: be able to find a rhythm, get a bye week, rejuice, rejuvenate,
9:14
Speaker 2: go back and look at the film, what works and
9:15
Speaker 2: what doesn't. All fine, potentially. Right now, it's not there.
9:19
Speaker 2: And right now, that is something that I think is
9:21
Speaker 2: derailing you from being in the full-on driver's seat of
9:25
Speaker 2: a national title contender as the favorite. I still think
9:29
Speaker 2: that you're there. Like we did our tier rankings earlier.
9:32
Speaker 2: We were talking in the group chat. I still will
9:34
Speaker 2: keep Texas up there at number one because that defense
9:36
Speaker 2: can play and it can travel. And I've seen Arch deliver.
9:40
Speaker 2: But I think you see it a little bit more.
9:41
Speaker 2: They're closer towards the back of the tier one than
9:44
Speaker 2: they are the forefront of tier one. And you're number
9:46
Speaker 2: one because of the win over Ohio State, which I
9:48
Speaker 2: give credit to. You won that football game. You took
9:51
Speaker 2: your advantages and you were able to win at home.
9:53
Speaker 2: There are teams out there that do look better than
9:55
Speaker 2: you on both sides of the football that would be
9:56
Speaker 2: able to make it a four-quarter affair. So it's time
9:59
Speaker 2: to go ahead and put it it together. Credit where
10:01
Speaker 2: credit's due. You won a football game on the road.
10:03
Speaker 2: That's about as much I can give you for credit
10:04
Speaker 2: for it.
10:06
Speaker 1: It's such an odd thing watching this offense because you
10:08
Speaker 1: certainly have heard a lot of people at this point
10:11
Speaker 1: talking about Arch saying, hey, if his last name wasn't
10:13
Speaker 1: his last name, would we have the expectation for him
10:16
Speaker 1: that we have? And I think that's fair. I'm still
10:19
Speaker 1: hung up on the back half of last season because
10:23
Speaker 1: he did look like he was an efficient quarterback. He
10:27
Speaker 1: did look like he was a quarterback that was above
10:29
Speaker 1: average when it came to college football, maybe even well
10:32
Speaker 1: above average. And I'm still holding on to what I
10:36
Speaker 1: saw from him put together in that first full campaign
10:39
Speaker 1: as a starter. But at this point in the year,
10:42
Speaker 1: you're kind of like, hey, you have enough games under
10:45
Speaker 1: your belt that this needs to get going. I have
10:48
Speaker 1: questions about Cam Coleman, who's been relatively quiet this year,
10:52
Speaker 1: especially in their bigger games that they played. Arch Manning,
10:55
Speaker 1: I think it was Kirk Herbst who made a very
10:58
Speaker 1: good point on the broadcast saying that when he doesn't
11:01
Speaker 1: see his first read open, he tends to look down
11:04
Speaker 1: and he looks to run. And that is something, granted,
11:07
Speaker 1: he can get away with. He is a good enough
11:09
Speaker 1: athlete that he can help Texas make some things happen.
11:11
Speaker 1: And hell, if he doesn't start running around a bunch
11:14
Speaker 1: against Ohio state, Texas doesn't win that game. So you
11:16
Speaker 1: take the good with the bad, but it's like, Hey,
11:18
Speaker 1: you've got to mature a lot faster here in year
11:21
Speaker 1: two is the full-time starter. Because to your point, like
11:24
Speaker 1: you'll get a buy and then it's the red river shootout.
11:27
Speaker 1: Then it's Florida. Then it's old miss. Then it's Camario
11:30
Speaker 1: Taylor and Mississippi state. The only chances that Texas has
11:33
Speaker 1: to feel a modicum of comfort. The rest of the
11:36
Speaker 1: way is at Mizzou. home against Arkansas, and then I
11:40
Speaker 1: know you were kind of joking about Texas A & M,
11:42
Speaker 1: but that is a rivalry game, so there's a lot
11:44
Speaker 1: of emotion there. You also have LSU on your schedule,
11:46
Speaker 1: and you have to go to Death Valley. Their schedule
11:49
Speaker 1: is brutal. There is the possibility that this offense comes
11:53
Speaker 1: back to bite them, but I keep coming back to
11:56
Speaker 1: what the defense did, controlling the line of scrimmage, holding
11:59
Speaker 1: Tennessee to less than two yards per carry, making Faison
12:03
Speaker 1: Brandin run for his life. Now, granted, they're going to
12:05
Speaker 1: face better quarterbacks than Faison Brandin, And Brandon is a
12:08
Speaker 1: true freshman. I can forgive a true freshman, a thousand percent.
12:11
Speaker 1: But Texas is going to deal with quarterbacks that get
12:14
Speaker 1: the ball out quicker and better offensive skill sets in general.
12:17
Speaker 1: So I guess my question with Texas is that can
12:20
Speaker 1: this offensive group start to find answers quickly? Can they
12:24
Speaker 1: get smothers back quickly enough that they feel confident in
12:27
Speaker 1: these bigger games? Because there is that distinct possibility. If
12:30
Speaker 1: they don't get it together, they could be on the
12:32
Speaker 1: outside looking in when it comes to the playoff because
12:35
Speaker 1: there are enough teams left on this schedule that that
12:37
Speaker 1: they could get bit three, maybe four times.
12:41
Speaker 2: It's entirely possible. Yeah, I will say for Tennessee's standpoint,
12:45
Speaker 2: because if it's always so pro-Texas, but we have a
12:47
Speaker 2: lot of Tennessee fans that watch the show. As much
12:50
Speaker 2: as I realize that probably a veteran quarterback is in
12:53
Speaker 2: a much more prime position to win you that football game,
12:56
Speaker 2: because it is, I think it's fair to say a
12:59
Speaker 2: Faison brand performance where he has sacked 10 times and
13:02
Speaker 2: has little to no success in the run game and
13:05
Speaker 2: needs all the way into the fourth quarter to find
13:07
Speaker 2: the end zone, I think it's fair to say that
13:09
Speaker 2: a veteran quarterback in that situation gives you a better
13:12
Speaker 2: shot to win. I still came away impressed with Faison
13:15
Speaker 2: Brandon in a lot of little things. More so, his
13:18
Speaker 2: integrity and his grit and his determination to continue to
13:21
Speaker 2: fight and try to be able to bring his team
13:23
Speaker 2: back in. Because again, it would be very easy for
13:25
Speaker 2: him after he left the game, he had a bruised shoulder,
13:27
Speaker 2: goes to the sideline, George McIntyre's warming on up. It
13:30
Speaker 2: would be very easy in that moment to say, you
13:31
Speaker 2: know what, I'm out. I can't come back and do this.
13:34
Speaker 2: I don't want to hurt the rest of my season.
13:36
Speaker 2: Let's see if George can go ahead and get this
13:37
Speaker 2: one out. Because again, if you end up losing, it's
13:39
Speaker 2: not the end-all be-all. But the fact that he came
13:42
Speaker 2: back in and he fought, knowing that his offensive line
13:44
Speaker 2: wasn't going to give him anything. I think it was
13:46
Speaker 2: like the first play he came back. He takes off running,
13:49
Speaker 2: like right to the heart of the defense. He's going
13:53
Speaker 2: full 300. What's his name? Leonidas. He's going full Leonidas
13:58
Speaker 2: at the arrows. Like, come get me. I think that
14:01
Speaker 2: you can appreciate that. And I think that the team
14:03
Speaker 2: can appreciate that as well. I was very impressed with
14:05
Speaker 2: how the defense played. You know, I know that you
14:07
Speaker 2: gave up 20 points. I know that that's a big
14:09
Speaker 2: deal because 20 points is more than 17. But for
14:12
Speaker 2: the most part, you kept Arch Manning in check. Kay
14:15
Speaker 2: and Lee got a big time interception. It was an
14:17
Speaker 2: arm punt, but let's be real. You're going up against
14:19
Speaker 2: Cam Coleman downfield. For you to be able to make
14:22
Speaker 2: that type of play, it's big. Six sacks on a day,
14:25
Speaker 2: you got to feel pretty good about yourself. 10 tackles
14:27
Speaker 2: for losses on a day, you got to feel pretty
14:29
Speaker 2: good about yourself. It just was the worst formula for
14:34
Speaker 2: a young quarterback to function in. That's just what happened.
14:37
Speaker 2: And so unfortunately, you'll lose this game. But I think
14:40
Speaker 2: that you realize that there is a lot to like
14:42
Speaker 2: about what is still in place at Tennessee. That said,
14:45
Speaker 2: I understand your frustrations. It's year six for Josh Heupel.
14:48
Speaker 2: It's Josh Heupel's offense and you want to see more explosivity.
14:51
Speaker 2: And it really wasn't on display against a top tier team.
14:53
Speaker 2: So questions to be had. That's for damn sure.
14:57
Speaker 1: The intriguing thing about Tennessee, and I said this just
15:00
Speaker 1: moments ago, is that I walked away from this game
15:02
Speaker 1: thinking the future is very bright for Tennessee. I know
15:06
Speaker 1: if you're a volunteer fan, that doesn't make it a
15:08
Speaker 1: lot better.
15:09
Speaker 2: Now, time out. 2026 future or beyond 2026?
15:12
Speaker 1: I think beyond 2026, and that's not even a situation of, hey,
15:17
Speaker 1: if you retain Faison Brandon for many years to come.
15:20
Speaker 1: It was beyond that. This team, I think, is going
15:23
Speaker 1: to have a chance potentially at the playoff this year.
15:27
Speaker 1: Because of what I saw from the defense, because I
15:30
Speaker 1: saw Jim Knowles defense and the pieces left over that
15:33
Speaker 1: he brought with him from Penn State, helping to instill
15:36
Speaker 1: and teach to the rest of the group, getting used
15:39
Speaker 1: to a defense that historically for many years, everybody says
15:42
Speaker 1: takes two to three years for teams to understand. This
15:45
Speaker 1: defense gave Arch Manning trouble. This defense managed to stop
15:49
Speaker 1: the run. I understand, you know, Eric is in the
15:51
Speaker 1: comment section here and he was talking about the offensive
15:53
Speaker 1: line for Tennessee. Yeah, it was a rough day for
15:55
Speaker 1: Tennessee's offensive line. It's going to be a rough day
15:58
Speaker 1: for a lot of offensive lines that face Texas this year.
16:01
Speaker 1: That's just the truth of the matter. So, yes, it's
16:04
Speaker 1: something to work on and it's something to focus on
16:06
Speaker 1: in the future. But you you don't take too much
16:08
Speaker 1: shame away from it because you maybe face the best
16:11
Speaker 1: front seven in college football this past Saturday.
16:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I do want to give a lot of
16:16
Speaker 2: credit real fast to more than just Colin Simmons. Colin Simmons,
16:19
Speaker 2: in my opinion, is the best defensive player in the SEC.
16:22
Speaker 2: And I think that you saw that on full display
16:24
Speaker 2: Saturday morning. But you had Hiro Kanu and Alex January
16:28
Speaker 2: and Manad Watson and Raheem Biles all getting after that
16:31
Speaker 2: offensive line and making them look like that traffic cones
16:34
Speaker 2: would have been better options blocking Faison Brandon than four
16:37
Speaker 2: guys who are making money in NIL. Five guys making
16:39
Speaker 2: money in NIL. And you made an offense one-dimensional as possible.
16:43
Speaker 2: A very tricky dynamic offense that is known for explosivity.
16:46
Speaker 2: So credit where credit's due. That front seven is going
16:48
Speaker 2: to be dangerous. And a lot of quarterbacks that are
16:50
Speaker 2: going to be going up against Texas. You're going to
16:53
Speaker 2: get maybe one or two opportunities to watch the dam break.
16:55
Speaker 2: And you have to connect if you want to win
16:57
Speaker 2: football games. Because I think that Texas' defense is legit.
17:00
Speaker 2: You won a football game because of that. Credit where
17:02
Speaker 2: credit's due again. You never apologize for winning in the
17:06
Speaker 2: SEC in a road environment. Especially in last season, that
17:09
Speaker 2: nearly hindered your success from going 9-3.
17:12
Speaker 1: I think the positive for Tennessee is the inverse of
17:17
Speaker 1: what Texas' schedule is. Tennessee's schedule is actually quite friendly
17:21
Speaker 1: the rest of the way. There's going to be some challenges,
17:23
Speaker 1: but you get Auburn next week. You're at Arkansas. The
17:26
Speaker 1: Alabama game on the 17th of October all of a
17:29
Speaker 1: sudden looks manageable for Tennessee. I don't think Alabama is...
17:35
Speaker 1: A juggernaut by any means is a very talented team,
17:38
Speaker 1: but I think Tennessee, that's pretty damn near a coin flip.
17:40
Speaker 1: That might be something where Alabama's minus three going into
17:43
Speaker 1: that game, right?
17:44
Speaker 2: Alabama was dominant yesterday, and I get South Carolina. In
17:49
Speaker 2: South Carolina, I don't really care. Like, Keelan Russell's good.
17:52
Speaker 1: It was a South Carolina team that has quit, and
17:54
Speaker 1: it's September. Like, we saw Dylan Stewart has been suspended indefinitely,
17:59
Speaker 1: and that was maybe just one situation, but Shane Beamer
18:02
Speaker 1: is a dead man walking, it looks like, in Columbia.
18:05
Speaker 1: I don't put a ton of stock in beating a
18:08
Speaker 1: South Carolina team that's already quit. But at the same time, yes,
18:11
Speaker 1: Alabama did look impressive in that game. My point being,
18:14
Speaker 1: Tennessee showed enough to me, defensively at least, that they
18:18
Speaker 1: can give some other teams trouble within this league the
18:20
Speaker 1: remainder of the season. The Alabama game obviously is going
18:23
Speaker 1: to be one. The aforementioned South Carolina game is on
18:26
Speaker 1: the road for Tennessee. I'm not terribly worried about that
18:29
Speaker 1: for the Vols. You play a Kentucky team that is
18:32
Speaker 1: dangerous defensively. At Texas A & M, Kyle Field's always
18:34
Speaker 1: a dangerous place to be. Home against LSU, you're grateful
18:37
Speaker 1: you get that one at home. And then at the
18:39
Speaker 1: end of the year at Vanderbilt, you really can afford
18:41
Speaker 1: to lose two more games. And honestly, the rest of
18:43
Speaker 1: the schedule, they should be underdogs in only two of
18:47
Speaker 1: the remaining games that they play, Alabama and LSU. And honestly,
18:51
Speaker 1: Tennessee will have a puncher's chance against Alabama and LSU,
18:55
Speaker 1: in my opinion, based on what you saw this past weekend.
18:58
Speaker 1: What do you think?
19:00
Speaker 2: I won't go punter's chance that this is the offense
19:01
Speaker 2: that takes the field. What I will say is that
19:04
Speaker 2: you got a test of what some of the defenses
19:07
Speaker 2: you will be going up against is like, not at
19:09
Speaker 2: full capacity. You saw what is the final boss mode
19:12
Speaker 2: of those defenses. How you respond this week against Auburn,
19:17
Speaker 2: I think is more important than how you will be
19:19
Speaker 2: able to play against a team like Alabama or what
19:21
Speaker 2: you expect from an Alabama team. Because it's always the
19:24
Speaker 2: game after the humbling that kind of shows you who
19:28
Speaker 2: you really are. How Auburn and Tennessee, how Tennessee wakes
19:32
Speaker 2: up and prepares for Auburn this week. How this offense
19:34
Speaker 2: gets back in the wagon and says, this was our
19:36
Speaker 2: worst performance. We will not let this happen again. That
19:39
Speaker 2: will tell me more about what I can expect from
19:41
Speaker 2: Tennessee moving forward. But I'll tell you what, I have
19:44
Speaker 2: strong faith that this team will be fun in the future.
19:47
Speaker 2: I have strong, strong beliefs. that Tennessee will be a
19:51
Speaker 2: roster we will be talking about for years to come
19:53
Speaker 2: with this quarterback hopefully being a reason why the college
19:56
Speaker 2: football playoff is in the horizon. The Texas defense is
19:59
Speaker 2: why you can still talk about them as a national
20:01
Speaker 2: championship contender. I think that was my big takeaway in
20:03
Speaker 2: this game.