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Tennessee Football LEARNED Something IMPORTANT Against Texas & I was there to SEE it! | Volunteers · SEC Football Addiction

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I sat in Neyland Stadium yesterday with about a minute
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: and a half, 1.22 left on the clock, and it
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: was as loud as it had been all day. And
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  Speaker 1: I think that's saying something because Neyland had been loud
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  Speaker 1: since breakfast. Game day was in town. The president was
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  Speaker 1: in town. The number one team in the country was
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  Speaker 1: in town. 100,000 people wearing orange or white were ready
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  Speaker 1: and had been waiting on this one since the schedule dropped.
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  Speaker 1: And for about 58 minutes, the Tennessee offense gave them
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: almost nothing to cheer for. Then in the span of
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  Speaker 1: about 90 seconds, it gave them everything. Finally, an offensive touchdown,
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  Speaker 1: an onside kick that you get the ball back. You
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  Speaker 1: got a chance to go down and either tie it
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  Speaker 1: or win it against what many thought was the best
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  Speaker 1: team in America. So how does a game that felt
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  Speaker 1: over suddenly feel like destiny might be calling? And then
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  Speaker 1: just to have it in the way that it did,
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  Speaker 1: I was right there in the frustration and heartbreak with you.
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  Speaker 1: I want to talk about three things today. One is
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  Speaker 1: going to sting a little bit. One should make you
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  Speaker 1: feel a little bit better about this team than the
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  Speaker 1: scoreboard did. And one is about an 18-year-old quarterback who
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: just found out what the SEC is actually like. Welcome
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: back to SEC Football Addiction. I'm TJ Pittenger. This is
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: presented by PrizePix. We're all new users who play a
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: $ 5 lineup and win, get $ 150 in lineups instantly if
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: they use code HMA. Tennessee came into Saturday 3-0. They
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  Speaker 1: were ranked number 14. They had three wins, three comfortable margins,
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  Speaker 1: and one thing that everyone kept saying, we will find
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  Speaker 1: out who this team is against Texas. Well, I do
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  Speaker 1: think we found some things out. Texas walked into Knoxville
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  Speaker 1: ranked number one just two weeks off of that comeback
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  Speaker 1: over Ohio State, and it really didn't take them long
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  Speaker 1: to get going. That opening drive, Arch Manning looked pretty sharp.
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  Speaker 1: Relique Brown shakes loose. The Longhorns are up 7-0, and
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  Speaker 1: you're starting to think, okay, don't let this be the
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  Speaker 1: Tennessee defense from last year. Tennessee answered, though, with a
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  Speaker 1: field goal. Texas gets a field goal of their own.
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  Speaker 1: It's 10-3, and then there's that moment in the second quarter.
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  Speaker 1: The whole stadium holds its breath. Faison Brandon gets buried
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  Speaker 1: under a couple of Texas defenders, doesn't get up right away,
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  Speaker 1: grabs at his shoulder. You're going to see George McIntyre
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  Speaker 1: come in. Brandon misses a full drive, plus that last
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  Speaker 1: play of that drive he got hurt on. But to
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  Speaker 1: Brandon's credit, he does come back. He walked back out
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  Speaker 1: against the number one team in the country after getting
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  Speaker 1: his shoulder checked in the tent. I think his toughness
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  Speaker 1: is something you can certainly hang your hat on. Halftime arrives.
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  Speaker 1: It's 10-3 Texas, and here's the thing about that 10-3 score.
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  Speaker 1: I thought your defense is the reason that it was
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  Speaker 1: that score. Texas, I believe, had seven penalties in the
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  Speaker 1: first half alone. You guys would not let them get
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  Speaker 1: anything going, and unfortunately, Tennessee could not take advantage on offense.
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  Speaker 1: The third quarter comes. The Vols pin Texas deep on
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  Speaker 1: a great punt The defense holds. Texas has to punt
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  Speaker 1: it back, and Quay Moss takes it the other way,
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  Speaker 1: catches it, cruts across the field, and goes nearly 60
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  Speaker 1: yards to the house. Neyland Stadium absolutely loses its mind 10-10.
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  Speaker 1: It was the moment of this game to me. You
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  Speaker 1: could feel it through the TV, I'm sure. Being there
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  Speaker 1: for it in person was absolutely incredible. The defense had
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  Speaker 1: been suffocating Texas. The crowd was fully into it. All
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  Speaker 1: Tennessee needed was for the offense to show up for
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  Speaker 1: a drive or two. Unfortunately, it never did. Later on,
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  Speaker 1: Texas kicks a field goal, go up 13-10. In the
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  Speaker 1: fourth quarter, with Tennessee's defense kind of running on fumes,
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  Speaker 1: the Longhorns put together a 60-yard drive. Brown punches in again.
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  Speaker 1: It's 20-10 with 5.41 to go. Game's over, right? Not quite.
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  Speaker 1: Down 10. Texas playing a little bit soft to keep
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  Speaker 1: everything in front of them. Brandon finally starts to heat up.
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  Speaker 1: Finally starts to take what's there. The Vols get 80 yards.
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  Speaker 1: Brandon throws the ball up. Mike Matthews turns around, catches it,
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  Speaker 1: steps into the end zone. And that was that. 20-17
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  Speaker 1: with a minute 22 left. Tennessee's got no timeout, so
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  Speaker 1: it's time for maybe the most exciting play in college football,
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  Speaker 1: the onside kick. Jackson Ross drops it in. Aaron Carter
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  Speaker 1: comes up with it. Tennessee ball. You're down three. Good
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  Speaker 1: field position. Neyland shaking. And then just like that. All
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  Speaker 1: of the excitement leaked out. A sack, a holding flag,
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  Speaker 1: a completion that stayed in bounds with no timeouts left,
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  Speaker 1: a scramble to the line to get one more snap off,
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  Speaker 1: and a final heave from Faison Brandon that unfortunately fell incomplete.
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  Speaker 1: I was hoping, against all hope, that we'd see a
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  Speaker 1: penalty flag there in the end zone on that final
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  Speaker 1: play so that Tennessee could at least kick a long
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  Speaker 1: field goal and take us to overtime. Didn't work out
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  Speaker 1: that way. Texas wins 20-17. Let's talk about the three
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  Speaker 1: takeaways from this game. I'll start with the most uncomfortable one,
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: the one that to me cost Tennessee this football game.
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  Speaker 1: The offensive line got whipped. I am usually over the
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  Speaker 1: top nice. I kind of like your fans, but you
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  Speaker 1: have to call a spade a spade. There is no
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  Speaker 1: nice way to say it. There's no way you can
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  Speaker 1: film room nuance this into making it look better. You
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  Speaker 1: gave up 10 sacks. Colin Simmons, who is elite, I understand,
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  Speaker 1: had five by himself. It tied the Texas single game
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  Speaker 1: program record. It wasn't just a guy that had a
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  Speaker 1: good day. He lived in your backfield. And it wasn't
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  Speaker 1: just pass pro. The run game was nowhere yesterday. Think
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  Speaker 1: about what that means for a Josh Heifel offense. This
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  Speaker 1: system lives on the run game. When you can't run it,
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  Speaker 1: the deep shots turn into long, developing plays, which turn
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  Speaker 1: into sacks, which turn into third and 18s, which turn
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  Speaker 1: into punts. And that was the story of the day
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  Speaker 1: over and over and over again. To be fair, obviously,
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  Speaker 1: Tennessee had some guys get banged up on the offensive line.
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  Speaker 1: You lose Wendell early. Losing a starter against that kind
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  Speaker 1: of front is brutal, but it's not an excuse for
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  Speaker 1: 10 sacks. And I don't think anybody in that building
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  Speaker 1: thinks it is either. Josh didn't use it as an excuse.
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  Speaker 1: He said, up front, we weren't good enough. The defense
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  Speaker 1: did its job. Special teams scored a touchdown. Texas committed,
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  Speaker 1: I believe, 11 penalties for 115 yards. The number one
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  Speaker 1: team in the country allowed Tennessee to hang around, and
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  Speaker 1: Tennessee forced Texas to allow them to hang around. But
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  Speaker 1: the Tennessee offense didn't score a touchdown until there was
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  Speaker 1: a minute and 22 seconds left on the clock. That's
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  Speaker 1: the game. The line could not win at the point
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  Speaker 1: of attack, so the offense couldn't stay on the field.
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  Speaker 1: The defense eventually ran out of gas, which brings me
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  Speaker 1: to the part that should give you real hope. Before
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: I go on, all of our Tennessee content brought to
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: you by Alumni Hall. Listen, I know you're not in
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: a good mood, so I'll make this quick. Use our
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: code CFA15. You get 15% off your order both online
• 7:05
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  Speaker 1: We appreciate them for their support. Takeaway number two. The
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  Speaker 1: defense is legit. If you look at the final score,
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  Speaker 1: you'd think this was a close back and forth game
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  Speaker 1: with two evenly matched offenses, but it wasn't. It was
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  Speaker 1: the Tennessee defense dragging this team through a street fight
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  Speaker 1: with one arm tied behind its back. Look how the
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  Speaker 1: Texas drives went. Touchdown to start, then a three and out,
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  Speaker 1: then a field goal. So early on, yeah, Texas was
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  Speaker 1: moving the ball. Arch had a good first quarter. And
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  Speaker 1: then I think Jim Knowles' defense settled in. You had
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  Speaker 1: an interception. You had some three and outs, several three
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  Speaker 1: and outs in this game. Texas was able to move
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  Speaker 1: the chain some. They settled for a field goal. Then
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  Speaker 1: more three and outs and more punts. The number one
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  Speaker 1: team in the country did nothing for large portions of
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  Speaker 1: this game offensively. The interception was a big one too.
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  Speaker 1: Manning took a shot downfield in double coverage. Lee tracked
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  Speaker 1: it and ripped it away from Cam Coleman right at
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  Speaker 1: the doorstep of the end zone. That's points coming off
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  Speaker 1: the board. Texas was in Tennessee territory, or it was
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  Speaker 1: very near, if not in Tennessee territory at that point.
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  Speaker 1: Tennessee brought pressure too. I mean, you know, the only
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  Speaker 1: reason it's not getting talked about more is because Texas
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  Speaker 1: had four more of them, but Tennessee had six sacks
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  Speaker 1: of Arch Manning. This is Knoll's first season in Knoxville.
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  Speaker 1: And if this is what this defense looks like in
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  Speaker 1: week four against this level of talent, I think that's
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  Speaker 1: a scary thought for the rest of the SEC. that
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  Speaker 1: fourth quarter touchdown drive. I don't think that was the
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  Speaker 1: defense breaking. I think that was the defense physically exhausted.
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  Speaker 1: When your offense cannot stay on the field and your
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  Speaker 1: defense never gets a break, eventually a Texas offense is
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  Speaker 1: going to have some success. However, that is a defense
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  Speaker 1: that you can build a season around. And even then,
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  Speaker 1: down 10 late, The defense still got one more stop
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  Speaker 1: and gave you a chance to go out and maybe
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  Speaker 1: make magic happen. And to be fair, you kind of did.
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  Speaker 1: You got the touchdown. You got the onside kick. Just
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  Speaker 1: couldn't finish it off. Tennessee needs to make sure that
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  Speaker 1: they don't waste defensive efforts like this anymore this season.
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  Speaker 1: And that takes me to takeaway number three. Faison Brandon
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  Speaker 1: still has a lot of room to grow. I want
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  Speaker 1: to be careful here because there's a version of this
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  Speaker 1: conversation that gets too harsh too fast. This was Faison
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  Speaker 1: Brandon's first SEC start. Heck of a first SEC start
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  Speaker 1: to have against the number one team in the country.
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  Speaker 1: He's 18 years old. He had already thrown for 552
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  Speaker 1: yards and six touchdowns in his first three games. And
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  Speaker 1: all three of those came against teams that are not
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  Speaker 1: built like Texas. And on Saturday, he got hit time
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  Speaker 1: after time. He got hurt in the second quarter. He
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  Speaker 1: sat for a drive. he was running for his life
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  Speaker 1: behind a line that could not block Colin Simmons so
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  Speaker 1: no this is not anything like quarterback is a problem
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  Speaker 1: at Tennessee or there's some kind of controversy but also
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  Speaker 1: we have to be honest he finished 17 of 29
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  Speaker 1: in for 145 yards. He had that touchdown, no picks,
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  Speaker 1: which in a vacuum is not a disaster. But a
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  Speaker 1: lot of that production came in the final few minutes.
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  Speaker 1: And Texas was playing him very soft to give everything underneath.
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  Speaker 1: Before that, he looked indecisive. I thought he held onto
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  Speaker 1: the ball too long. He was hesitant to rip throws
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  Speaker 1: into tight windows. And in the SEC, especially against a
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  Speaker 1: defense like Texas's, the windows are going to be tight.
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  Speaker 1: You're going to have to throw guys open at times.
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  Speaker 1: You're going to have to trust it and let it
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  Speaker 1: go before the receiver breaks. Some of that is on
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  Speaker 1: the receivers. I didn't think Staley had a phenomenal game,
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  Speaker 1: seven catches, 45 yards. For the most of the day, though,
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  Speaker 1: there was nobody open. Some of it's on the play calling, too.
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  Speaker 1: Not a lot of the quick game, not a lot
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  Speaker 1: of easy completions. A lot of things look long developing,
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  Speaker 1: so I think you can kind of hang that on
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  Speaker 1: Josh some. But when that's the problem, when your receivers
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  Speaker 1: can't get open, your quarterback's indecisive, and your coach is
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  Speaker 1: kind of calling things that maybe don't put him in
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  Speaker 1: the best spot, this is what you're going to run into.
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  Speaker 1: But that last drive is certainly one that Brandon's going
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  Speaker 1: to watch over and over. The ball was in his hands.
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  Speaker 1: They were down three. The clock was running with no timeouts,
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  Speaker 1: and he takes a sack. He completes a pass that
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  Speaker 1: doesn't get out of bounds. Those are the details that
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  Speaker 1: are going to separate a young quarterback from a great one.
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  Speaker 1: Clock awareness, knowing when to throw it away, knowing when
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  Speaker 1: to take the five yards and get to the sideline.
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  Speaker 1: Heupel talked before the game about wanting to see ball
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  Speaker 1: security and Brandon settling into the speed of the game.
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  Speaker 1: Ball security, I thought, was fine. No turnovers against the
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  Speaker 1: number one team in the country. Speed of the game,
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  Speaker 1: that's the part that he's still learning. And here's the
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: good news. That's the part that comes with reps. You
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  Speaker 1: can't coach the fact that he's 18 years old and
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: has never seen an SEC defense out of him. You
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: can play him through it. Saturday was a rep. It
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  Speaker 1: was a painful one, but it was a rep for Brandon.
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  Speaker 1: So let's zoom out. Tennessee lost to the number one
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  Speaker 1: team in the country by three points. I'm not much
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: for moral victories, but if I was ever going to
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  Speaker 1: try and sell you on one, if I was ever
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: going to try and paint one, you gave up 10 sacks.
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  Speaker 1: You welcomed the number one team in the country into
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  Speaker 1: your house. You had one offensive touchdown, and you lost
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  Speaker 1: by three points and had the ball at the very
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  Speaker 1: end with a chance to go win it. Think about that.
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: Tennessee played a pretty bad offensive game, maybe one of
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  Speaker 1: its worst in years, against one of the best teams
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  Speaker 1: in the country. And you lost by three. You covered
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  Speaker 1: the spread. It doesn't make you feel a lot better today,
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  Speaker 1: but it should make you feel a lot better about
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  Speaker 1: where this team can go for the future. Tennessee hasn't
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  Speaker 1: beaten the AP's number one team since 1985. Texas showed
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  Speaker 1: up on Saturday a little bit vulnerable. A lot of penalties.
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  Speaker 1: Arch wasn't his sharpest. And unfortunately, Tennessee couldn't cash in.
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  Speaker 1: I think that's a missed opportunity, but it's not the
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  Speaker 1: end of the world. Because the 12-team playoff doesn't punish
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: you for losing a three-point game to the number one
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: team in September. It punishes you for letting one loss
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: turn into two losses, turn into three losses. And that
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  Speaker 1: is what matters now. What happens next? What happens when
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: next week is Auburn in Neyland Stadium? The line gets
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: a week with the tape. Brandon gets a week to
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: watch that last drive a few times, and the defense
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: gets to keep doing exactly whatever the heck it was
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: doing against Texas. This team's first real test came back
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: with a lot of red ink on it. The good
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: news is that in this conference, the next test is
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: always just six days away. Go win the next one
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  Speaker 1: against Auburn. Get to 4-1, and then we'll regroup. Appreciate
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: you guys for tuning in today. Would love to hear
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: your thoughts on the game. I'll tell you, I had
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: a phenomenal time in Neyland. Maybe I'll talk with Sports
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: Talk Jay about that a little bit this week. We
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: will talk to you guys soon here on SEC Football Addiction.
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: Make sure you check out PrizeFix where all new users
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: who play a $ 5 lineup and win get $ 150 in
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: lineups instantly if they use code HMA.