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The Mike Keith Show | BYE WEEK REVIEW WITH BRENT HUBBS (10.26.26) · The Mike Keith Show

0:00
SPEAKER_18: From the peaks of the smokies to the banks of the Mississippi.
0:06
SPEAKER_18: This is your home for the University of Tennessee.
0:20
SPEAKER_18: This is the Vall Network.
0:26
SPEAKER_18: Inside Access, behind the scenes.
0:29
SPEAKER_18: From Rocky Top, direct from the coaches.
0:32
SPEAKER_18: Insight from the players.
0:34
SPEAKER_18: The inside track.
0:36
SPEAKER_18: Mike Keith starts now.
0:41
SPEAKER_17: Welcome to the Mike Keith Show, delivered by Uber Eats.
0:44
SPEAKER_17: After losing at South Carolina 27-24, Tennessee heads into its bye week, 6-2 overall and 3-2 in the SEC.
0:53
SPEAKER_17: It also means, almost amazingly, we are two-thirds of the way through this football season.
0:59
SPEAKER_17: Brent Hubs of VallQuest.com and a 30-plus year member of the Ball Radio Network joins me to break down the first eight games.
1:08
SPEAKER_17: So Tennessee fans are up here after Alabama, kind of down here after South Carolina through eight games.
1:16
SPEAKER_17: What's your overall assessment of this Tennessee football season to this point?
1:22
SPEAKER_15: That Tennessee is talented enough and good enough to beat anybody on their schedule.
1:27
SPEAKER_15: They're also not elite enough that they can roll the ball out there and have a bad day and beat teams on their schedule.
1:34
SPEAKER_15: And I think that's life in the SEC.
1:36
SPEAKER_15: Coaches like to use the term margins, you know, the margin for error is small.
1:41
SPEAKER_15: And it is.
1:42
SPEAKER_15: And and that's this league.
1:43
SPEAKER_15: And I I think Tennessee is better on defense through A games than we ever imagined they would be.
1:48
SPEAKER_15: Um they're growing some on offense, but they've got to grow faster.
1:52
SPEAKER_15: They're different on offense than what we imagined they would be.
1:55
SPEAKER_15: Four games coming up, you can win all of them, you can lose them.
1:59
SPEAKER_15: And I think that's the weekly life that we're living in this league.
2:02
SPEAKER_15: And the last two weeks show that, uh bear that out more than anything we've seen all season.
2:11
SPEAKER_15: I think it's what Jim Knowles has done defensively.
2:14
SPEAKER_15: And that's what's given you a chance to win.
2:15
SPEAKER_15: When you think about where you are right now as a two-loss team, uh, you still haven't scored 30 points, you know, against anybody in the SEC, yet you've got a chance to win every game.
2:27
SPEAKER_15: So um I I think the best thing is what Jim Knowles is doing.
2:30
SPEAKER_15: He's giving you a chance to win the game.
2:32
SPEAKER_15: I think the second best thing is that Tennessee, until Saturday night in Columbia, South Carolina, had done a good job of playing complimentary football, you know, bleed the clock, shorten the game, and all of those things that that you need to do when you lean on a defense that way, they've got to do that the rest of the way.
2:49
SPEAKER_15: But I think it's the what Tennessee's done on defense, and then obviously the play of Deshaun Bishop in the run game is is what stands out to this point.
2:57
SPEAKER_17: Areas where you think Tennessee is still most vulnerable?
3:01
SPEAKER_15: I think depth on defense.
3:04
SPEAKER_15: Is there gonna be enough charge left in the battery for the rest of the way?
3:08
SPEAKER_15: Gas in the tank, whatever you want to say.
3:10
SPEAKER_15: You're playing 18, 19 players uh a week, and you're playing probably half of those 60 snaps, 55 plus snaps.
3:19
SPEAKER_15: Do you have enough in the tank because you don't have any real depth that you feel comfortable with in the secondary?
3:25
SPEAKER_15: I think defensively that's a concern.
3:27
SPEAKER_15: Was the tackling issues at South Carolina simply because the North Sellers is a really good player, or was that because Tennessee was tired?
3:35
SPEAKER_15: Um I don't know.
3:36
SPEAKER_15: You know, we're gonna find out.
3:37
SPEAKER_15: They the open date comes at a great time for them to heal up and kind of rejuvenate.
3:41
SPEAKER_15: Do they have enough in the tank for the last four games on defense?
3:45
SPEAKER_15: Offensively, it's can you can you become more explosive?
3:48
SPEAKER_15: Uh I just think it's hard, Mike, to go 14 plays, 16 plays.
3:53
SPEAKER_15: It's great when you do it.
3:54
SPEAKER_15: Don't get me wrong, everybody loves the nine-minute drive to close out the Alabama game, you know, the six-minute drive in the third quarter.
4:00
SPEAKER_15: Those are those are beautiful.
4:02
SPEAKER_15: Can you do that on a consistent basis week in and week out and finish, or do you need to be more explosive?
4:09
SPEAKER_15: Tennessee had some explosion at South Carolina.
4:12
SPEAKER_15: They just got in their own way to lent to prevent that explosion from counting.
4:15
SPEAKER_17: Surprises to you at this point in the season.
4:19
SPEAKER_15: The fact that you've been unsettled at quarterback, exactly what are you, is a surprise.
4:23
SPEAKER_15: I I think the growth of the offense with the quarterback position, you expect it to be more linear than what it's been.
4:30
SPEAKER_15: Um both those guys have had moments where they've done good things.
4:34
SPEAKER_15: I think George has had good moments in league play.
4:37
SPEAKER_15: Um he's obviously had some really catastrophically bad moments as well.
4:41
SPEAKER_15: Uh so I I think just the fact that you're heading into this last four weeks and you're still trying to figure yourself out a little bit offensively is a surprise, I guess, from a negative standpoint.
4:53
SPEAKER_15: Uh and then defensively, it's that defensive front.
4:56
SPEAKER_15: I mean, to have 30 sacks at this point in the season, uh, with all the question marks about that group coming into the coming into the season throughout the offseason, right?
5:05
SPEAKER_15: You lose Chaz Coleman, your prize, transfer portal, rush in.
5:09
SPEAKER_15: You know, here's Tyree Weathersby leading the team in sacks, Marion dies right there.
5:13
SPEAKER_15: Xavier Gilliam's been outstanding.
5:16
SPEAKER_15: So the the the position's biggest surprise to me is just the production of that defensive line so far.
5:22
SPEAKER_15: Outside of quarterback, which you just touched on, questions that still linger.
5:26
SPEAKER_15: Where are you at playmaker at on offense besides Deshaun Bishop and Mike Matthews?
5:31
SPEAKER_15: Is that Design Brain?
5:33
SPEAKER_15: Is there what what's left there to build with him?
5:36
SPEAKER_15: What can you do there?
5:38
SPEAKER_15: Did you get Braylon Staley going at South Carolina?
5:41
SPEAKER_15: And and if so, how big is that down the stretch?
5:44
SPEAKER_15: They need more options, they need more weapons uh offensively that I think they have to to answer and and get better at.
5:52
SPEAKER_15: I thought I thought Javin Gordon's play was noteworthy.
5:56
SPEAKER_15: Um six carries, 41 yards, he had 20-yarder callback on a holding penalty.
6:01
SPEAKER_15: He he had a nice day.
6:02
SPEAKER_15: He looked like to me what we heard about, what I heard about, what you saw in fall camp.
6:08
SPEAKER_15: That looked more like what I was expecting that we had not seen to this point in the season.
6:14
SPEAKER_15: That's important because I listen, I I love everything about Deshaun Bishop, but can he carry it 32, 34 times a game for four weeks in November with the workload he's had already?
6:25
SPEAKER_15: Or do you have to get him some help?
6:26
SPEAKER_15: And I think Gordon helping in that run game, because I don't think this team suddenly, Mike, is going to become a 40-point game where you spread it out, you throw it all over the place, and you're up tempo, and you're just running everywhere.
6:37
SPEAKER_15: I think you're gonna lean on the run game, which means Bishop needs a good running bane, and maybe that's Gordon.
6:43
SPEAKER_17: So if Gordon is healthy for the first time in six weeks, then you feel like the fact that Bishop has carried 118 times in the last four games, that's 29 and a half carries per game on average.
6:58
SPEAKER_17: You feel like if Gordon can step into that role, Bishop won't have to do that.
7:04
SPEAKER_15: Listen, you gotta win games, you put your back against the wall with where you're at, you gotta keep winning games.
7:08
SPEAKER_15: But you think about what's in front of you and the possibilities that are there.
7:12
SPEAKER_15: I don't know that you're gonna be able to do that if you ask Deshaun Bishop to carry it 32, 34 times a game.
7:19
SPEAKER_15: He needs running mate, he needs help.
7:21
SPEAKER_15: And I think Gordon can be a really good compliment to him, which is what they thought it would be early in the year before the knee injury.
7:28
SPEAKER_15: Aries of this football team that can most use the bye weekend.
7:32
SPEAKER_15: Oh, I think it's that secondary linebacker too.
7:35
SPEAKER_15: I mean, Amari Campbell's played a ton of snaps.
7:37
SPEAKER_15: That secondary is playing every snap.
7:39
SPEAKER_15: So I think that group needs the rest, needs to heal up, and I think you've got to try to push and see.
7:46
SPEAKER_15: Can you find any help to steal a snap here and there along the way to to help somebody?
7:51
SPEAKER_15: Are you just gonna ride those five guys all the way to the to the finish line this year?
7:57
SPEAKER_15: Can Theodore help you a little bit, Mike?
7:59
SPEAKER_15: Can can you do something with Trey Petit and steal a snap or two here and there along the way?
8:05
SPEAKER_15: Can you get some depth?
8:06
SPEAKER_15: You've got depth at linebacker.
8:08
SPEAKER_15: Maybe you adjust the rotation a little bit, I don't know.
8:11
SPEAKER_15: But I mean, you can do some different things there.
8:14
SPEAKER_15: Right now, you're living with five guys in the secondary every snap.
8:18
SPEAKER_15: Uh I think you need, you know, in case of a turn turned ankle, you know.
8:22
SPEAKER_15: What if you get a targeting penalty and you lose somebody in the half?
8:25
SPEAKER_15: What where where does that go?
8:26
SPEAKER_17: Is there another player that you can think of that if he took off in November, it would give Jim Knowles' defense one more spark down the stretch?
8:36
SPEAKER_15: Tevis Metcalf's done some good things, but you're not taking Quay Moss off the field.
8:40
SPEAKER_15: So I think you're just kind of comfortable riding with that.
8:43
SPEAKER_15: I mean, maybe Spillman more at linebacker to be a little bit more productive and some more snaps there.
8:48
SPEAKER_17: But you know, they went to Quay Moss at safety when TJ Metcalf had to come out.
8:54
SPEAKER_17: They put Tevis Metcalf in at nickel and move Quay Moss to safety.
8:59
SPEAKER_17: Maybe more Quay Moss at safety.
9:01
SPEAKER_15: Maybe if you have to get some help, you know, for DeJun Lane or or for TJ Metcalf.
9:05
SPEAKER_15: I mean, you're you're robbing Peter to pay Paul, so to speak, a little bit, but maybe you do look at that if you're Jim Knowles and you do a self-scout here.
9:12
SPEAKER_15: It's like, do I need to steal some snaps for one of my safeties?
9:17
SPEAKER_15: And I move Quay Moss over there, and then maybe I can steal some snaps for Quay Moss with with Tevis Metcalf.
9:24
SPEAKER_15: And he becomes kind of Moss is the swing guy, but he's only the swing guy because I'm willing to play Tevis Metcalf 18-20 snaps a game, you know, and go from there.
9:33
SPEAKER_15: But that's certainly a possibility.
9:35
SPEAKER_15: Again, my biggest concern with them defensively is can they hold up playing 18-19 guys uh the rest of the way?
9:42
SPEAKER_15: When out of those 18-19 guys, 10 or 11 of them are defensive linemen.
9:46
SPEAKER_15: So you're just not rotating very much else on defense.
9:48
SPEAKER_17: When we come back, more with Brent Hubs as we talk about the first two-thirds of the season, and we've got the Built Ford Tough report.
9:57
SPEAKER_17: That's next on the Mike Keith Show, delivered by Uber Eats.
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14:17
SPEAKER_17: All right.
14:18
SPEAKER_17: We talk about some Vols who have proven to be Built Ford Tough this season.
14:25
SPEAKER_17: We will go back and forth.
14:26
SPEAKER_17: Brent Hubbs, you have the first choice.
14:28
SPEAKER_15: Uh Deshaun Bishop for me.
14:30
SPEAKER_15: Yeah.
14:30
SPEAKER_15: Nearing a thousand nearing a thousand yards.
14:32
SPEAKER_15: You know, the 17 pounds of muscle he put on this offseason has has really paid b dividends for him.
14:39
SPEAKER_15: Um he's played physical, he's finished runs, he's been durable.
14:43
SPEAKER_15: I know he got banged up uh at the end of the game Saturday against South Carolina, but I don't I don't think it's anything major.
14:49
SPEAKER_15: Um but he's been tough and he's he's carried the load for Tennessee.
14:53
SPEAKER_15: He's been outstanding.
14:54
SPEAKER_17: So if you go Deshaun Bishop, which I think is a great choice, I have to go Xavier Gilliam.
14:59
SPEAKER_17: No question.
14:59
SPEAKER_17: 26 tackles, uh double-digit tackles for loss yardage, six quarterback sacks, harassing everybody, taking up uh so much attention from the opposition, giving other guys chances to make plays.
15:14
SPEAKER_17: Xavier Gilliam has been a revelation to everybody.
15:18
SPEAKER_17: I think he's a first team All-America selection when it's all done, and the people at the next level are obviously very excited about him with good reason.
15:27
SPEAKER_15: He's fantastic.
15:28
SPEAKER_15: I don't know that we've seen anybody affect it like this in since maybe we we were talking about Big John and Albert back in the day.
15:37
SPEAKER_15: Now, I'd probably not miss.
15:39
SPEAKER_15: I'm probably missing somebody.
15:41
SPEAKER_15: He's just such he's one of one because he's a different player.
15:44
SPEAKER_15: Yeah.
15:44
SPEAKER_15: Because everybody goes, well, he's the I mean he's the next John, he's not John Henderson because he's not 6'7.
15:49
SPEAKER_15: And you know, he's he doesn't play that style of game.
15:52
SPEAKER_15: He's not Reggie White, he's not.
15:53
SPEAKER_17: I mean, Coach Fulmer had all these guys who were extraordinarily large, which you would love to have.
16:00
SPEAKER_17: He's not the biggest guy, he's just a Tasmanian devil in terms of how he stirs it up, whether they line him up on the nose, they line him up at defensive tackle, they put him out on the edge.
16:12
SPEAKER_15: I mean, he's he reminds me that Tennessee did that a lot with a guy named Turk McBride, who was from New Jersey.
16:18
SPEAKER_15: But Xavier's so much more productive than Turk McBride.
16:21
SPEAKER_15: And I'm not knocking Turk McBride at all, but the production level's not comparable.
16:25
SPEAKER_15: But from the standpoint of playing inside and outside, there there's I guess a comparison there.
16:30
SPEAKER_15: He's been outstanding.
16:31
SPEAKER_15: Give me another Vall who is built for tough.
16:34
SPEAKER_15: I don't think anybody understands or appreciates what Davin Hobbs is doing for this team right now in terms of how hurt he is and just kind of how he's pushing through.
16:44
SPEAKER_15: He he came off the field Saturday uh with that injury in the second half.
16:49
SPEAKER_15: And I mean the pain was real.
16:51
SPEAKER_15: Like he was hurting.
16:53
SPEAKER_15: He refused to go into medical tent.
16:54
SPEAKER_15: He just sat there to kind of catch his breath and figure out how I can get back in a stance and give you eight more snaps, whatever you need to try to get to the finish line with that.
17:05
SPEAKER_15: I I don't think people really understand how banged up and hurt he has been.
17:10
SPEAKER_15: That he's just giving you whatever he can give you.
17:13
SPEAKER_15: And some weeks that may be a little more than others, but he's giving you everything you got every week.
17:17
SPEAKER_17: Mike Matthews is the next one for me.
17:20
SPEAKER_17: Uh catch the ball in tough spots, took a shot at South Carolina on a play that was targeting and yet came right back again, ran it in there on the direct snap.
17:30
SPEAKER_17: He blocks.
17:32
SPEAKER_17: Whatever he does, he does it all out.
17:34
SPEAKER_17: I think Mike Matthews is definitely built for tough.
17:37
SPEAKER_15: Yeah, no doubt.
17:37
SPEAKER_15: And he's playing so physical, and he's you know, not afraid to go across the middle.
17:42
SPEAKER_15: He's blocking extremely physically on the perimeter in a run game.
17:47
SPEAKER_15: He's been really good.
17:47
SPEAKER_15: All right, give me another one.
17:49
SPEAKER_15: He's the guy we were talking about in the last summit.
17:51
SPEAKER_15: You wonder about the battery life a little bit, because he's he's played every snap for three or four consecutive weeks.
17:57
SPEAKER_15: He really needs the open date, I'm sure.
17:59
SPEAKER_15: Uh he's been so important for Tennessee to get people lined up.
18:04
SPEAKER_15: He's okay, he's the coach, right?
18:05
SPEAKER_15: He gets everybody lined up and people around him make plays.
18:08
SPEAKER_15: Then he goes and makes a bunch of plays.
18:10
SPEAKER_15: Uh he's been a much better player than I thought he would be when he transferred in from Penn State.
18:14
SPEAKER_15: Very, very good football player.
18:15
SPEAKER_17: I'll go tie Redmond at corner.
18:17
SPEAKER_17: Not only will he come up and hit people, he's great in coverage.
18:20
SPEAKER_17: And in the situations where they're gonna take a deep shot, he is unafraid to defend the deep shot with the right technique, with everything he has.
18:29
SPEAKER_17: Corners don't win them all, but the best way to not win any of them is to be scared.
18:35
SPEAKER_17: And Ty Redmond has no fear whatsoever.
18:39
SPEAKER_15: I'm gonna go with DeJon Lane at safety.
18:41
SPEAKER_15: Again, another guy who came in.
18:44
SPEAKER_15: Remember, he wasn't gonna be a starter until Idris Farouk got hurt.
18:47
SPEAKER_15: Now he was gonna rotate and play, but I mean, he was a guy that man, when when he realized that he was gonna become the guy, he really picked up his game and elevated his game.
18:58
SPEAKER_15: I like the way he plays downhill.
19:00
SPEAKER_15: He's physical, he protects the middle of the football field with a lot of physicality in terms of pass breakups.
19:06
SPEAKER_15: He's also, you know, got turnovers, pick six.
19:09
SPEAKER_15: He's played well in all three levels of the field, whether it's in run blitzes, whether it's in the back end playing coverage.
19:15
SPEAKER_15: I like the way he's played.
19:16
SPEAKER_17: Flip side for me is on the offensive line is a guy like Jesse Perry.
19:21
SPEAKER_17: He has battled some injury and continues to stay out there.
19:25
SPEAKER_17: Every time he's had to go to the medical tent or whatever he does, he's like, you know, put some dirt on it and let's go.
19:31
SPEAKER_17: Not perfect on every block, but the majority of times executes the mission well, gives them everything he has, and his grit and determination, even after some tough moments, he keeps coming back and playing.
19:45
SPEAKER_17: I think there's a lot of leadership in what he does, and certainly I think Jesse Perry has a lot of toughness.
19:50
SPEAKER_15: Well, I think the other thing you have to remember too is he's not playing probably his best position long term.
19:55
SPEAKER_15: Right.
19:55
SPEAKER_15: He's probably a guard.
19:57
SPEAKER_15: But for where they what they need right now, he's out there on the island competing every day when maybe, you know, a speed rusher is a problem with him from a quickness standpoint and things like that.
20:07
SPEAKER_15: Uh he's certainly battling for a guy that's you know out there at right tackle as one of their best five.
20:12
SPEAKER_15: Wonder how we've not said Jeremiah T.
20:14
SPEAKER_15: Lander here.
20:14
SPEAKER_15: Yeah, yeah.
20:15
SPEAKER_15: I figured that's where you were going at some point.
20:18
SPEAKER_15: Kudos to Jeremiah T.
20:19
SPEAKER_15: Lander for for hey, he loves ball, we all know that.
20:22
SPEAKER_15: But just embracing whatever the role is.
20:25
SPEAKER_15: You know, I mean the in the Alabama game, he played 18 snaps.
20:28
SPEAKER_15: Now you felt like he played 47 because he was in on every play.
20:31
SPEAKER_15: But that was a game plan that didn't involve him a whole lot.
20:34
SPEAKER_15: Then he comes back and plays 50 snaps at South Carolina.
20:36
SPEAKER_15: You never know what it's going to be week to week and what Jim Knowles needs, but Jim Knowles has carved out a role for him, and he just continues to show up and make plays.
20:45
SPEAKER_15: I kind of stole that one from you, I guess.
20:46
SPEAKER_15: You were supposed to be able to do that.
20:47
SPEAKER_15: No, no, no.
20:48
SPEAKER_15: Trent Thomas.
20:49
SPEAKER_15: You know, Trent Thomas is a guy, too, that just is physical.
20:52
SPEAKER_15: I mean, you know, that's a good portal get.
20:54
SPEAKER_15: You needed some depth.
20:56
SPEAKER_15: You certainly needed him more after the injury to Ethan Davis.
20:59
SPEAKER_15: How are you going to stay in the two tight stuff?
21:01
SPEAKER_15: Um, he's battled.
21:03
SPEAKER_15: And, you know, again, I think he's got some limitations in what you do in the past game.
21:06
SPEAKER_15: He's certainly not the receiver that Design Brahm is, but but he's, you know, he's stuck it in there and he's he's blocking and um put his hand in the dirt and coming off the ball and doing some things, and and he's been okay in in the past game too when they've asked him to do something.
21:19
SPEAKER_15: I I think, you know, as disappointing as as Saturday was in the loss, you asked me in the first debate, well, what's the biggest thing about this team?
21:28
SPEAKER_15: Maybe I should have said toughness.
21:29
SPEAKER_15: Because I mean we can sit here and and we're you know we're doing the Ford report here.
21:33
SPEAKER_15: We haven't mentioned Quay Moss.
21:34
SPEAKER_15: Nope.
21:34
SPEAKER_15: Quay Boss plays 210 pounds at 170 pounds.
21:38
SPEAKER_15: I mean, that guy's throwing his body into everything.
21:41
SPEAKER_15: You could keep going down the line.
21:43
SPEAKER_15: Yeah, you could just keep going down the line.
21:44
SPEAKER_15: This is a tough football team, and I think that's what made Saturday hurt.
21:49
SPEAKER_15: But this is this is a mentally and physically tough football team, and I think that goes back to what they got done in the nine months leading up to the start of the season.
21:57
SPEAKER_17: Well, and you look at Braylon Staley, he has to leave.
22:00
SPEAKER_17: That game comes back in, has the catch for the touchdown that's called back.
22:04
SPEAKER_17: It was a great throw, great throw.
22:07
SPEAKER_17: And he catches it knowing he's gonna get it, and he takes the hit, goes to the ground, has the touchdown there, would have put him up near a hundred yards.
22:17
SPEAKER_17: That's where he would have was headed, and he does that after being jostled around.
22:22
SPEAKER_17: And I mean, he's taken a couple of shots this year that have put him down for a minute.
22:25
SPEAKER_17: He keeps coming back.
22:26
SPEAKER_15: Well, these guys fight to get out of the injury tent.
22:30
SPEAKER_15: And you have to fight them to get into the injury tent.
22:33
SPEAKER_15: They just want a lot of these guys just want to rub dirt on it.
22:35
SPEAKER_15: I'm okay.
22:36
SPEAKER_15: Like, you know, they'll come out and the trainer's like, I need you to see you DJs.
22:40
SPEAKER_15: I need you to do this, I need to say that.
22:42
SPEAKER_15: And they're like, I'm like, they they want Braylon Staley to do all these exercises.
22:46
SPEAKER_15: He's like, I'm good.
22:46
SPEAKER_15: They want him to do, I'm good.
22:48
SPEAKER_15: Like, what else do you need?
22:49
SPEAKER_15: I'm good.
22:50
SPEAKER_15: And they're like, we don't have the ball.
22:51
SPEAKER_15: You're okay.
22:52
SPEAKER_15: Keep doing the karaoke's and the different things.
22:55
SPEAKER_15: And he's kept saying, I'm good.
22:56
SPEAKER_15: I just give me in the game.
22:58
SPEAKER_15: I think this team has a lot of that in them at all positions.
23:01
SPEAKER_17: And that's why, even in the two losses, it's not been because they weren't playing hard.
23:07
SPEAKER_17: It's not because they weren't competitive and they didn't get after the opponent.
23:10
SPEAKER_17: It's just they didn't execute enough.
23:12
SPEAKER_17: The toughness quotient gives you a chance in every game.
23:15
SPEAKER_17: And in the end, Tennessee has lost to at that time the number one team in the country, Texas, by three points.
23:22
SPEAKER_17: And on the road at South Carolina on a last second field goal by three points, where they had the game in hand and let it get away.
23:30
SPEAKER_17: So you say as you go into November, probably ought to be seven and one.
23:35
SPEAKER_17: Kind of feel that way.
23:36
SPEAKER_17: Sure.
23:37
SPEAKER_17: Understandable you would feel that way.
23:39
SPEAKER_17: And yet you understand if you win your last four, I don't see how they keep you out of the CFP.
23:47
SPEAKER_17: I don't see how they for knowing what the rest of the schedule is around you.
23:52
SPEAKER_17: And the other part of it too is you might be playing for the SEC championship.
23:56
SPEAKER_15: Well, and what you know is as you go into this open date here, is you literally, because of who you are, because of how you're made up, if you can take care of yourself, if you can clean up your mistakes, the stuff you can control, if you can clean that up, you will have a chance, an absolute real shot, really legitimate shot, at winning every game left on your schedule.
24:18
SPEAKER_15: Because the only thing that's beaten you to this point really has been yourself.
24:23
SPEAKER_15: Okay?
24:23
SPEAKER_15: I mean, and and that's the bottom line.
24:25
SPEAKER_15: Now, Texas was was but I get to that, but you had a couple things you can correct.
24:29
SPEAKER_15: You have to fix, you know, some penalties and some things like that.
24:32
SPEAKER_15: And then the South Carolina one, you just simply, I mean, you just you gotta finish that game.
24:37
SPEAKER_15: Even with the touchdowns call back, you've got that thing right where you want it with three and a half minutes to go.
24:42
SPEAKER_15: You just gotta get it home.
24:43
SPEAKER_15: Yeah, you've gotta do that for sure.
24:45
SPEAKER_17: When we return, it's time for the Firehouse Subs hot takes.
24:49
SPEAKER_17: And in studio, we have the Thanksgiving Turkey sub.
24:53
SPEAKER_17: Brent Hubs will be rewarded with one when we come back on the Mike Keith Show, delivered by Uber Eat.
24:59
SPEAKER_17: Stay with us.
25:00
SPEAKER_18: Taking you inside the walls of Rocky Top, the Mike Keith Show presented by Uber Eats.
25:06
SPEAKER_18: This is your ball network.
25:13
SPEAKER_17: Time for hot takes presented by Firehouse Subs.
25:17
SPEAKER_17: Right here in the studio, we have the Thanksgiving Turkey Sub.
25:23
SPEAKER_17: We even have this gravy, which looks good too.
25:26
SPEAKER_17: The Thanksgiving Turkey Sub from Firehouse Subs is back, but only for a limited time, Brent.
25:33
SPEAKER_17: Premium carved turkey, buttery stuffing, and cranberry sauce on a warm toasted roll, and they've got delicious gravy.
25:42
SPEAKER_17: Do not skimp on the gravy.
25:44
SPEAKER_17: We'll have some in a moment, but first we've got to do the segment.
25:47
SPEAKER_17: Okay.
25:48
SPEAKER_17: Brent Hubbs, what is your hot take of this, the show before the buy?
25:53
SPEAKER_15: My hot take for the rest of the year is I'm gonna say Tennessee sets a school record for sacks.
25:59
SPEAKER_15: What is the school record?
26:00
SPEAKER_15: 50.
26:01
SPEAKER_15: I think they'll get 15 more.
26:03
SPEAKER_15: But the way that they're playing.
26:04
SPEAKER_15: If you would have told somebody in August this team was gonna even have 35, much less the chance at the school record, I don't'm sure anybody would have believed that.
26:13
SPEAKER_15: Um but that that group's been outstanding.
26:15
SPEAKER_15: So that is my futuristic hot take.
26:18
SPEAKER_17: You had said that you thought they might get to 2936 in terms of rushing.
26:25
SPEAKER_17: And they're roughly, I think, 1700 right now.
26:29
SPEAKER_17: Do you believe that's possible?
26:30
SPEAKER_15: I think it's gonna be hard um to to get there, although they've run the football well.
26:35
SPEAKER_15: AM's really good against the run.
26:37
SPEAKER_15: They've got some tough teams against the run down the stretch.
26:39
SPEAKER_15: They can push it, they can certainly look look at it, but to get there, you're gonna have to average right at 300 yards a game.
26:46
SPEAKER_15: Well, remember you get a post game.
26:47
SPEAKER_15: Yeah, yeah.
26:48
SPEAKER_15: But you're still gonna have to be 200 yards a game thereabouts.
26:51
SPEAKER_15: I mean, it's gonna be uh it it'll be a tall task to get to get there.
26:55
SPEAKER_15: If you get Gordon going, if you get Dewan Morris going to help Deshaun Bishop, then all of a sudden I think now those runs for those guys, those five-yard runs can become ten-yard runs, and all of a sudden you got more more c breakaway ability, particularly late in the game, because Deshaun Bishop's not gonna be as tired.
27:12
SPEAKER_17: I have actually a bonus hot take opportunity for you, but it's a category.
27:18
SPEAKER_17: Are you ready?
27:19
SPEAKER_17: I'm ready.
27:20
SPEAKER_17: What rule related to SEC football would Brent Hubbs change?
27:25
SPEAKER_15: I want more transparency on how games are officiated and and what's reviewed and what's not reviewed.
27:30
SPEAKER_15: Like, was that a lateral or was not a that not a lateral?
27:34
SPEAKER_15: That would have been a five-yard loss with Lenore Sellers.
27:36
SPEAKER_15: Did they look, did they really how much did they look at that?
27:38
SPEAKER_15: Yeah, you know what I'm saying?
27:40
SPEAKER_17: So Brad Willis sitting next to me, he's to the naked eye, it looked like a backwards pass.
27:48
SPEAKER_17: So Brad Willis, in looking at that on the monitor, he said, Mike, you know, he's writing down, I think, you know.
27:56
SPEAKER_17: And who knows if they looked at it.
27:58
SPEAKER_17: Right.
27:59
SPEAKER_17: But it would be nice if the announcers, West Durham's calling the game.
28:03
SPEAKER_17: It would be nice if West Durham could say, Well, let's go to Birmingham and see if they're discussing this.
28:09
SPEAKER_15: Right.
28:09
SPEAKER_15: There's a lot of talk out there nationally about how we need to eliminate conference ties for officials.
28:15
SPEAKER_15: Okay, and you just some guys get you you get the Big 12, you get the SEC, you just go wherever, so there's it doesn't create this quote bias or whatever supposedly is out there that way.
28:25
SPEAKER_15: I don't know that that's even realistic with how officials are paid.
28:28
SPEAKER_15: It's not a full-time job.
28:30
SPEAKER_15: Right.
28:30
SPEAKER_15: And all this.
28:31
SPEAKER_15: But we're moving into the 2014 playoff.
28:34
SPEAKER_15: We're we're moving.
28:34
SPEAKER_15: I mean, the money stakes are so much higher now, and everything that is involved in the sport, the amount of money being invested in the sport.
28:44
SPEAKER_15: I think the sport needs to invest money into officiating.
28:47
SPEAKER_15: I think the sport needs to invest money into more transparency in officiating.
28:51
SPEAKER_17: I I've got one on in terms of transparency that I think would help a great deal.
28:56
SPEAKER_17: I think the SEC should require the home team, which has eighty members who can dress for a home game, and the visiting team that can dress 74 players by rule should have to turn in that list at two o'clock on Friday.
29:15
SPEAKER_17: You would have one offensive switch you could make on Saturday and one defensive switch, or one of those could be special teams.
29:24
SPEAKER_17: If your punter or kicker woke up sick, you could replace them.
29:27
SPEAKER_17: So you could make a change if something came up.
29:31
SPEAKER_17: It's not inflexible, but I mean, just the idea of these injury reports, which it's not governed by a specific set of circumstances.
29:42
SPEAKER_17: And if someone's not truthful on the injury report, what's the penalty?
29:46
SPEAKER_15: Well, we we haven't seen any.
29:47
SPEAKER_15: Right.
29:48
SPEAKER_15: And here and here's the other part to to balance it out as you're talking about.
29:53
SPEAKER_15: If you're the road team and you don't travel someone, you have to list them as out if they're on the injury report.
30:00
SPEAKER_15: Right.
30:00
SPEAKER_15: You don't have to do that for the home team.
30:02
SPEAKER_15: Right.
30:02
SPEAKER_15: You can keep listing them as whatever.
30:04
SPEAKER_17: Game time decisions.
30:05
SPEAKER_17: You get six more players, and and granted, the six more players are not gonna play in most cases.
30:12
SPEAKER_17: It's a bonus to them, and you're not having to travel them.
30:14
SPEAKER_17: So there's an expense thing.
30:16
SPEAKER_17: I I get why you would have the home team with more, although we could argue you should just make it 75 players for both teams regardless.
30:24
SPEAKER_15: I think we need to get away from this idea that we're gonna dress somebody for warmups just to give the appearance they're gonna be available.
30:32
SPEAKER_15: Right.
30:32
SPEAKER_15: But then when they come back out, they're gonna be in street clothes because we're trying to trick the other team that this person I like.
30:39
SPEAKER_15: I I just I I'm with you.
30:41
SPEAKER_15: I just think clean that up and let's get out of that gamesmanship or whatever.
30:46
SPEAKER_15: Because you can't do that really.
30:48
SPEAKER_15: I mean, it's you can't do that on the road hardly.
30:52
SPEAKER_15: But I just I just think that you're not gonna be able to do that.
30:54
SPEAKER_17: Well, I mean, if you wanted to travel a 75th and 76th guy with the idea that you might have to activate them on Saturday morning, fine.
31:03
SPEAKER_17: Right.
31:04
SPEAKER_17: Do that that's fine.
31:05
SPEAKER_17: You can travel how many people you want.
31:07
SPEAKER_17: That's your business.
31:09
SPEAKER_17: But don't give me this idea that we're having to pick from 105 guys and it's just not it's not cool.
31:17
SPEAKER_17: Yeah.
31:18
SPEAKER_15: I mean, again, you know, years ago, they used to hand the dress roster out to the media on Thursday.
31:24
SPEAKER_15: Here's who's dressing.
31:25
SPEAKER_15: Right.
31:26
SPEAKER_15: And now we're at the point that everything's cloak and dagger, and you know, we're doing all this, and how are we gonna list somebody?
31:33
SPEAKER_15: And you know, you you got a coach in this league listed all three quarterbacks on his first, you know, availability report just to try to stick it to the to the SEC.
31:42
SPEAKER_15: And I just think you can clean that part up.
31:45
SPEAKER_15: Just more transparency in this league.
31:47
SPEAKER_15: Because I think this league is saddled with conspiracy, and there'll be some of that always with fan bases.
31:54
SPEAKER_15: I get that.
31:54
SPEAKER_15: But they bring a lot of that talk on themselves because they do not invoke a lot of transparency.
32:00
SPEAKER_15: Yeah, what they do.
32:01
SPEAKER_15: That would be easy fix.
32:03
SPEAKER_17: Take that off of your plate.
32:04
SPEAKER_17: Brent Hubbs 67% awards coming up through two-thirds of the season.
32:11
SPEAKER_17: Who wins the awards from the hubber?
32:13
SPEAKER_17: We'll talk more Tennessee football with Brent Hubbs from VallQuest.com and the Vol Radio Network.
32:18
SPEAKER_17: Coming up after I take a bite of my Thanksgiving Turkey sub on the Mike Keith Show.
32:28
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32:30
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32:37
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33:03
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35:00
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35:11
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36:36
SPEAKER_17: We return to the Mike Keith Show, delivered by Uber Eats.
36:40
SPEAKER_17: Two-thirds of the way through the season.
36:42
SPEAKER_17: Two-thirds percentage-wise is 67%.
36:45
SPEAKER_17: So Brent Hubbs is here.
36:48
SPEAKER_17: And Brent Hubbs is going to take on some of these categories, the 67% awards.
36:54
SPEAKER_17: Are you ready?
36:55
SPEAKER_17: I'm ready.
36:55
SPEAKER_17: Okay.
36:56
SPEAKER_17: First question: your favorite play so far from 2026?
37:01
SPEAKER_15: I'm going to go selfish here.
37:03
SPEAKER_15: We're in Atlanta, Georgia, at Bobby Dyde Stadium.
37:05
SPEAKER_15: I'm down on the sideline there.
37:07
SPEAKER_15: And Jeremiah T.
37:08
SPEAKER_15: Lander intercepts that ball.
37:10
SPEAKER_15: Great pick.
37:11
SPEAKER_15: Great pick.
37:11
SPEAKER_15: Great play.
37:12
SPEAKER_15: Great.
37:13
SPEAKER_15: He drops in coverage.
37:14
SPEAKER_15: You're not even sure if he's exactly supposed to be where he's at.
37:16
SPEAKER_15: And he throws it, Mendoza throws it to him.
37:18
SPEAKER_15: Makes a great play.
37:19
SPEAKER_15: They all go to the end zone to do the whole NFL thing that we're now allowing to happen in college football.
37:24
SPEAKER_15: Sort of.
37:25
SPEAKER_15: Sort of.
37:25
SPEAKER_15: And so he comes off the side over to the sideline because they're get everybody off the field so you don't get a penalty.
37:31
SPEAKER_15: And I'm standing there and I'm getting ready to do something with you.
37:34
SPEAKER_15: And he comes charging.
37:36
SPEAKER_15: Like he's charging my way.
37:38
SPEAKER_15: Like, I don't know if he sees me.
37:40
SPEAKER_15: I don't know what.
37:41
SPEAKER_15: I mean, and he is just screaming at the top of his lungs out of excitement.
37:45
SPEAKER_15: His eyes are huge.
37:46
SPEAKER_15: And I thought, if he hits me here, I'm probably not going to finish this game.
37:50
SPEAKER_15: Like, I'm going to the medical tent.
37:52
SPEAKER_15: And so I joked with him about two weeks later.
37:55
SPEAKER_15: I said, Do you have any idea that I was standing there?
37:59
SPEAKER_15: And he said, No, well, now that you mentioned it, you you kind of looked a little white.
38:04
SPEAKER_15: You kind of looked a little scared.
38:06
SPEAKER_15: And I'm like, I thought you were going to tackle me, and I was going to be hurt at that point.
38:10
SPEAKER_15: It was just really funny that he had no idea it was me.
38:13
SPEAKER_15: It was just I was somebody that was there and the emotion that he had.
38:16
SPEAKER_15: And that's the one time where I'm like, Yeah, I need to get out of the way.
38:19
SPEAKER_15: You might want to move.
38:20
SPEAKER_15: I might want to move because Jeremiah T.
38:22
SPEAKER_15: Lander might hurt me.
38:23
SPEAKER_17: I think Weathersby's sack against Alabama, where it went to 130 whatever on the decibel list, was just the the press box shook at the moment that it happened.
38:37
SPEAKER_17: When he sacked Keelan Russell, it was just the most incredible feeling.
38:43
SPEAKER_17: And the thing is, too, from an announcer's point of view, you love it when you can see it coming.
38:50
SPEAKER_17: It's you can just see it and it's gonna happen.
38:54
SPEAKER_17: And you've got you've you're just like there were a couple of times at South Carolina when they ran to the other side of the field, we couldn't tell who had the ball because our location was so far back from the field.
39:09
SPEAKER_17: So, you know, you don't you you kind of have to wait and you figure it out.
39:12
SPEAKER_17: This was one that it was right in front of us.
39:15
SPEAKER_17: He's gonna get him.
39:17
SPEAKER_17: I see his number, I see how fast he's going, and I'm as excited as everybody with the crowd because I got it.
39:24
SPEAKER_17: Yeah.
39:25
SPEAKER_17: Just selfishly, I got it.
39:27
SPEAKER_17: Absolutely.
39:27
SPEAKER_17: And then the place just goes, wow.
39:31
SPEAKER_15: That play itself was a great example of complimentary football.
39:35
SPEAKER_15: And I thought Jason Swain did an outstanding job after the sack explaining why there was time to get to Keelan Russell because of the Alabama was trying to run it out and up and they didn't have time, and Tennessee had it covered.
39:47
SPEAKER_15: And you know, it it's one of those deals where you get at the end, it all comes together the right way, and you're like, yeah, everybody knows exactly what just happened, and it was delivered in an exciting way.
39:57
SPEAKER_15: Biggest play from 2026 so far, different than your favorite biggest.
40:03
SPEAKER_15: Um I'm probably gonna go with the uh Nathan Robinson, Jeremiah T Lander fourth down stop that took place um in the Auburn game because Tennessee was it was hard to score, and Auburn had some momentum.
40:18
SPEAKER_15: They were running the football there.
40:20
SPEAKER_15: Um I I thought that was a really important play because you just Tennessee was just a shell of what they were hoping to be offensively.
40:28
SPEAKER_15: It was like, can you get this thing home?
40:30
SPEAKER_15: And you know, if they get hot, if this quarterback pops a run here, whatever, you know, that that you know that that's a really scary, dicey type deal.
40:39
SPEAKER_15: And we saw what Auburn did, obviously, at Georgia and pulled off that that win there.
40:43
SPEAKER_15: I I thought that was certainly a couple of big plays fourth down in the Alabama game, but I'll go a little bit different there.
40:48
SPEAKER_15: I thought that was a huge play, and it was a terrific, terrific play by Nathan Robinson that was made there.
40:55
SPEAKER_17: For me, it was the Alabama fourth down stop at the start of the third quarter.
41:00
SPEAKER_17: Sure.
41:00
SPEAKER_17: At the Tennessee 40.
41:01
SPEAKER_17: Yeah.
41:02
SPEAKER_17: I thought it changed that.
41:03
SPEAKER_15: No question.
41:04
SPEAKER_17: That was I mean, that was the game winner.
41:05
SPEAKER_17: So I mean, that that's probably the biggest.
41:08
SPEAKER_17: No, but uh the one in the Auburn game at their 25-yard line because Goelish choosing to go right there was a huge deal.
41:16
SPEAKER_15: It was.
41:17
SPEAKER_15: And it ended the game.
41:18
SPEAKER_15: It ended the game.
41:20
SPEAKER_15: Then Tennessee took the one in Alabama and decided to go in the game with that one, basically.
41:25
SPEAKER_15: And so I thought both those were monumental plays on the defensive side.
41:28
SPEAKER_17: Best newcomers so far in 2026 and why.
41:32
SPEAKER_15: I love the way Quay Moss plays football.
41:34
SPEAKER_15: I I really do.
41:36
SPEAKER_15: He's a great open field tackler.
41:38
SPEAKER_15: He's been good in coverage, he's been a solid blitzer.
41:41
SPEAKER_15: I love Quay Moss.
41:42
SPEAKER_15: I love everything about that.
41:43
SPEAKER_15: That's just Anthony Poindexter said it best.
41:45
SPEAKER_15: The guy's just a football player.
41:46
SPEAKER_15: He is.
41:47
SPEAKER_15: And I think you love guys like that who are just ball guys.
41:51
SPEAKER_15: Quay Moss is just a ball guy.
41:52
SPEAKER_15: He could safety, okay, fine.
41:54
SPEAKER_15: You told him to go play corner, he'd go play corner.
41:56
SPEAKER_15: You want him to go play linebacker, he'd go play linebacker.
41:58
SPEAKER_15: I love everything about his game.
42:00
SPEAKER_17: Most improved returning ball.
42:02
SPEAKER_17: Someone was on the team last year.
42:04
SPEAKER_15: Who's made the biggest jump?
42:06
SPEAKER_15: That's a coin flip for me between Marion Dye and Tyree Wethersby.
42:10
SPEAKER_15: But Wethersby's got more, I guess, more production numbers-wise, barely.
42:13
SPEAKER_15: But I tell you, that it's it's those two sophomores.
42:16
SPEAKER_15: And and Tennessee bet on them.
42:18
SPEAKER_15: And and when it comes to retention and the transfer portal, what do you do?
42:22
SPEAKER_15: They banked and bet on those two guys delivering for them.
42:26
SPEAKER_15: And both of them have delivered big time in big time ways with different plays that have been made.
42:31
SPEAKER_15: I I don't know if I flip a coin there, but flip a coin and take one of those two for me.
42:36
SPEAKER_17: Most improved vol since the Furman game.
42:39
SPEAKER_17: Is it Dejahn Lane?
42:41
SPEAKER_17: Dejaan Lane is who I would probably say because he was thought it's like, oh no.
42:47
SPEAKER_17: Yeah.
42:48
SPEAKER_17: Because Farouk had been so good.
42:50
SPEAKER_17: Right.
42:51
SPEAKER_17: He was so made for this system, and he's gonna have a massive year, and then then you have to take him out and you put Lane in.
42:58
SPEAKER_17: Lane's all conference.
42:59
SPEAKER_17: If he's not, they shouldn't have a conference.
43:02
SPEAKER_17: Or maybe maybe that's too strong.
43:04
SPEAKER_17: But they shouldn't have the award.
43:06
SPEAKER_17: They shouldn't have the award.
43:07
SPEAKER_17: Yeah, I'm not gonna, I'm not for doing away with the whole conference.
43:09
SPEAKER_17: That's probably a little strong.
43:11
SPEAKER_15: That might that might be coming at some point in time.
43:13
SPEAKER_15: I know, I know.
43:14
SPEAKER_15: Let me give you a couple honorable mentions on the offensive side for that award.
43:18
SPEAKER_15: I think where Nick Moore has developed from that start of the center position in Furman to what he's doing now at left guard, I think he falls into that category, and I think Big Donovan Haslum falls into that category too.
43:30
SPEAKER_15: Big Donovan Haslam's a guy, Mike, could he could he could he physically get through 15 to 20 snaps a game?
43:36
SPEAKER_15: This guy's playing 60 plus snaps a game, and Tennessee missed him Saturday when he was out with the injury in the second half from a physicality standpoint in the line of scrimmage.
43:45
SPEAKER_15: Best supporting ball who doesn't get enough attention.
43:49
SPEAKER_15: I think Hobbes is a guy who doesn't get enough because he's not everybody was expecting such big things out of him, and he's not had the production that he would like to have had.
43:58
SPEAKER_15: Um, but I think what he's given you.
44:00
SPEAKER_15: Factors in there.
44:00
SPEAKER_15: I think another one who continues to play well and you hope he stays healthy.
44:04
SPEAKER_15: Big Nathan Robinson just kind of shows up every game.
44:09
SPEAKER_15: It's not seven tackles, it's not four tackles for loss, but man, he's eating up space in there.
44:14
SPEAKER_15: He's playing some vertical up the field.
44:16
SPEAKER_15: Nathan Robinson's playing really well, probably not getting enough love at this point with the rest of what that defensive line is doing.
44:22
SPEAKER_17: When we come back, it's time for the heavy lift presented by Planet Fitness.
44:27
SPEAKER_17: November figures to be a heavy lift.
44:29
SPEAKER_17: We'll look at the schedule and discuss it with Brent Hubbs when the Mike Keith Show continues, delivered by Uber Eats.
44:36
SPEAKER_18: Mike Key, Mike Key, Mike Key.
44:38
SPEAKER_18: Back with more Big Orange Insider Access.
44:41
SPEAKER_18: We are the Vol Network.
44:49
SPEAKER_17: Time for this week's Planet Fitness Heavy Lift presented by Planet Fitness, the Planet Fitness Black Card, only$24.99 per month.
44:57
SPEAKER_17: Bring a friend anytime and recover in the Black Card Spa.
45:02
SPEAKER_17: Join today.
45:08
SPEAKER_17: Kentucky, the SEC leader, coming to Knoxville Saturday night, November 7th.
45:15
SPEAKER_17: Valls go to Texas AM the following week.
45:18
SPEAKER_17: LSU is here on November 21st.
45:21
SPEAKER_17: Season ends at Vanderbilt on November 28th.
45:24
SPEAKER_17: Brent Hubbs, you are being asked for the heavy lift.
45:27
SPEAKER_17: What is the heavy lift for the Vols in November?
45:31
SPEAKER_15: To get out of their own way.
45:32
SPEAKER_15: I think it's where it starts.
45:34
SPEAKER_15: Is look, you're talented enough.
45:36
SPEAKER_15: I don't think it's one of those that there's some insurmountable challenge that you're facing to give yourself a chance to win.
45:43
SPEAKER_15: Penalties, turnovers, bust, um, you know, those type things.
45:49
SPEAKER_15: All the self-inflicted stuff that you can take off the table.
45:53
SPEAKER_15: Penalties are going to happen.
45:54
SPEAKER_15: You're going to get a holding call, you're going to get a PI call, but you can't jump off sides three times in a game.
45:59
SPEAKER_15: Or have three touchdowns called back.
46:01
SPEAKER_15: You can't have three touchdowns called back.
46:02
SPEAKER_15: You can't have false starts.
46:04
SPEAKER_15: You can't have illegal formations.
46:06
SPEAKER_15: All of those things that are in your control, the controllables you've got to control.
46:10
SPEAKER_15: And Tennessee's got to do a better job of controlling those controllables, both offensively and defensively, too now.
46:18
SPEAKER_15: I mean, here's the thing.
46:19
SPEAKER_15: This was, and I don't think it's a leaking thing.
46:21
SPEAKER_15: I think you can fix it in the open date and get everybody healthy.
46:24
SPEAKER_15: But Tennessee had more breakdowns defensively.
46:28
SPEAKER_15: I mean, Lenore Sellers missed two open touchdowns.
46:32
SPEAKER_15: They've got to clean some things up back there.
46:35
SPEAKER_15: They have they had not done that all season long.
46:37
SPEAKER_15: They they did that on Saturday.
46:39
SPEAKER_15: You've got to clean that up on defense, too.
46:40
SPEAKER_17: You what I wonder about that too is we said early on that playing Texas in week four, first SEC game, was not the greatest thing in the world for Tennessee.
46:51
SPEAKER_17: It was a tough, it was a tough draw.
46:54
SPEAKER_17: Not life's unfair and we're whining, but you would have liked to have played someone other than Texas to begin SEC play.
47:01
SPEAKER_17: In this case, seeing South Carolina right before the bye, in particular, having to deal with Lenora Sellers right before the bye and playing there, that's a tough draw as well.
47:14
SPEAKER_15: Well, and them coming off a bye.
47:15
SPEAKER_15: Well, that's what the you know.
47:16
SPEAKER_15: I mean, they they're coming off a bye, you're trying to get to a bye in different places where you are.
47:23
SPEAKER_15: And again, they found themselves a little bit at Florida, and then they got a week to build on it offensively.
47:27
SPEAKER_15: And you saw that out of the start, uh how they jumped out of the gates.
47:31
SPEAKER_15: Kudos to Tennessee for not flinching.
47:33
SPEAKER_15: They didn't.
47:34
SPEAKER_15: They went and kept playing defensively, they rallied and figured some things out, and then they just couldn't finish it at the end because of what I'm talking about for the heavy lift in November.
47:43
SPEAKER_15: They could not get out of their own way enough to get home and to finish that thing.
47:48
SPEAKER_15: And that's what you have to avoid, those types of things down the closing stretch here.
47:52
SPEAKER_17: Kentucky is the SEC leader, seven and one overall, five and one in the SEC.
47:58
SPEAKER_15: Well, and they're there because they're doing what Tennessee hasn't done.
48:02
SPEAKER_15: They are getting out of their own way.
48:04
SPEAKER_15: They're the least penalized team in the conference.
48:07
SPEAKER_15: They haven't had a turnover in four games.
48:09
SPEAKER_17: Do you realize they're plus thirteen in turnovers?
48:13
SPEAKER_17: The quarterback Kenny Minchie has thrown one pick all year.
48:17
unknown: Yeah.
48:18
SPEAKER_15: Crazy.
48:18
SPEAKER_15: Well, they're playing such a clean brand of football right now that gives them a chance to be successful in everything they do.
48:26
SPEAKER_15: And the amazing, I'll give them credit, when you watch them play, man, there's more motions and shifts and adjustments and flips and everything else.
48:35
SPEAKER_15: You would think at some point somebody's going to line up wrong, somebody's going to jump early, somebody's going to do something.
48:41
SPEAKER_15: They're not doing a lot of that.
48:43
SPEAKER_15: And then they're scheming some things to make it easy for Minchie.
48:47
SPEAKER_15: The tight ends are heavily involved in the passing game.
48:50
SPEAKER_15: So are the running backs that are involved.
48:52
SPEAKER_15: It is a different type challenge because what Will Stein is doing is different than anybody's seen.
48:59
SPEAKER_15: And so when you haven't had a full, I mean you can look at Oregon, right?
49:03
SPEAKER_15: When he's at Oregon and you say, well, do they have the weapons to do that?
49:06
SPEAKER_15: Or what is and then what has he tweaked?
49:08
SPEAKER_15: The amount of study on his offense this upcoming offseason will be similar to what people did to Josh Hypole after 21 and 22 to try to figure it out.
49:17
SPEAKER_15: That's what people are trying to figure out with Kentucky on the fly right now.
49:20
SPEAKER_17: Well, I mean, you get road wins at Texas AM, at South Carolina, and at Oklahoma.
49:27
SPEAKER_17: I mean, they've won at three tough places.
49:30
SPEAKER_17: Now, it's not Tennessee.
49:32
SPEAKER_17: Right.
49:32
SPEAKER_17: And it's not Tennessee for them.
49:35
SPEAKER_17: The whole thing is a different challenge for them.
49:38
SPEAKER_17: Will Stein hasn't done this.
49:40
SPEAKER_17: You know.
49:41
SPEAKER_15: So and and and listen, he's got kudos to them.
49:46
SPEAKER_15: I'm not saying they've gotten lucky.
49:47
SPEAKER_15: I'm not saying any of this.
49:48
SPEAKER_15: But I mean, how many, how many years are you going to be plus 13 in the turnover ratio?
49:53
SPEAKER_15: How many years are you going to hit perfect on two-point conversions to win games?
49:56
SPEAKER_15: Right.
49:57
SPEAKER_15: It's easy to do in year one when you don't have the expectations to be the riverboat gambler.
50:01
SPEAKER_15: Are you, you know what I mean?
50:02
SPEAKER_15: All those things going to play out that way for you moving forward.
50:07
SPEAKER_15: I I don't know.
50:08
SPEAKER_15: But he has certainly rejuvenated them and brought life to them to the point that they're sitting here talking about making reservations for the SEC championship game and what's probably the final SEC championship game ever.
50:20
SPEAKER_15: And they're on track.
50:22
SPEAKER_15: Yeah.
50:22
SPEAKER_17: They're in the Catbird seat.
50:23
SPEAKER_17: I mean, they win three of their last four, they're probably in.
50:27
SPEAKER_17: This is an interesting one for that, because if you're Tennessee, even if you have two losses and you win this game, then you've got a tiebreaker over them.
50:37
SPEAKER_17: And oh, by the way, you already have a tiebreaker over Alabama.
50:41
SPEAKER_17: So you could advance yourself.
50:43
SPEAKER_17: I I think the heavy lift for Tennessee is the fact that there's no cupcake in November.
50:48
SPEAKER_17: There's not a buy in November, and there's not cupcake in November.
50:52
SPEAKER_15: And that's exactly what the league wanted when they went to Worlds.
50:55
SPEAKER_15: Yeah, well they got it.
50:56
SPEAKER_17: I mean, even Vanderbilt at the end.
50:58
SPEAKER_17: I know Vanderbilt's not having their best year.
51:00
SPEAKER_17: They beat Tennessee three touchdowns last year, and they're always going to give Tennessee every single thing that they have.
51:07
SPEAKER_17: So that's not a cupcake.
51:09
SPEAKER_17: That may be the easiest game Tennessee has remaining.
51:12
SPEAKER_17: It certainly looks like that on paper.
51:15
SPEAKER_17: But Kentucky being good at AM, which is tough, and then LSU, which I mean.
51:21
SPEAKER_17: You knew he would have them playing once he got deeper in the schedule.
51:26
SPEAKER_15: And their quarterback play is getting better.
51:27
SPEAKER_15: I mean, Sam Levitt's playing better for them.
51:30
SPEAKER_15: We'll see.
51:30
SPEAKER_15: They've got some critical games.
51:32
SPEAKER_15: Their backs against the wall at two losses.
51:34
SPEAKER_15: You know, everybody's telling them every week's a playoff game for them.
51:37
SPEAKER_15: You know, the same thing for Texas, the same thing for Tennessee.
51:41
SPEAKER_15: Um, it is now for Tennessee, that's for sure.
51:44
SPEAKER_15: With with those two loss teams out there, that's where everybody's at right now.
51:48
SPEAKER_15: And um it's gonna be a wild month.
51:51
SPEAKER_15: And I think that's exactly what the league wanted when they set this thing up and they took off that that middle of the month layup day where everybody's playing whoever for a paycheck to reprieve or they had an open date in there.
52:02
SPEAKER_15: You got four weeks of absolute chaos demonstration.
52:07
SPEAKER_17: Thank you, sir.
52:07
SPEAKER_17: Thank you.
52:08
SPEAKER_17: For Brent Hubb and for our Five Ball Network staff, Mike Team, thank you for joining us and we'll see you.
52:17
SPEAKER_18: All week long to the latest from the Tennessee campus, Mike Teach Show, online, delivered by Uber East, UT Sports, We On Network.