Kentucky, The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

November 27, 2011 Mike Mozingo 13 comments

Tennessee’s season came to an inglorious end Saturday, losing to Kentucky for the first time since 1984. It was a season of firsts for the Vols, unfortunately none of them good.
*1st ever 7 loss SEC Season
*1st team to not win on the road all year
*1st team to finish last in the SEC East

None of those are any good at all. But at least for the moment let’s take a look at just the Kentucky game

The Good

Justin Wilcox’s entire crew played well. There will be people who say that we got beat by a WR playing quarterback, and while that is certainly true, Tennessee outgained Kentucky, held the Wildcats to 217 yards, and Kentucky had just 2 possessions that gained over 25 yards. That’s amazing defense. Anybody who tells you that the defense is to blame in this loss is smoking something. Or their logic is burning in a cloud fueled by rage. (Probably the latter)

The top three tacklers were all true Freshmen, Brian Randolph, AJ Johnson, and Curt Maggitt.

The 2012 defense should be pretty stout.

The Bad

Everything else.

The Ugly

Losing to Kentucky for the first time since 1984. I was six, and if I said I remembered that game, I’d be lying. Heck I don’t think I remember anything from 1984 period except some vague Kindergarten and first grade memories, and a trip to Sea World.

The fact that the aftertaste of this nasty loss can’t be completely washed away next week, or in bowl season, or on National Signing Day (Which will help a little), or the spring game. No this loss won’t be washed away for 278 days when Tennessee plays North Carolina State in the Chick-Fil-A game. Now that is ugly.

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newtonrail 5 pts

Charlie Baggett "retired" Now.

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tidefan 5 pts moderator

newtonrail I bet he unretires faster than Urban Meyer. Too good of a coach to stay "retired."

tidefan I don't know his age but he looks over 60( I'm 66). D Rogers has been getting away with "dog cussing" him on sideline, so it's probably time to go. Two people Dooley has to rein in or let go are Rogers and Bray. The program has to be bigger than him. I doubt Saban would let it go on, and hope Dooley stops it, because I really like Dooley.

newtonrail He's 59 according to the infallible Wikipedia. Perhaps as a position coach he just says "I'm too old for this schtick" and stays retired (and good on him if he does, he's had a great career), but 60 is pretty young for a coach these days.

tidefan It is young but don't know his health either. Since there is a payment of $$$ involved, those on Volquest assume it's not exactly voluntary. The truth is no one knows right now. He's coached a lot of good WR's over the years. He's certainly not the first coach folks would want to see leave, and there are many rumors about Wilcox leaving and taking Sirmon with him. That I certainly hope isn't true. The D## has steadily improved with what he had to work with.

newtonrail My best guess right now is that he suggested he was considering retirement and the program decided to help him with that decision. That's probably a fair middle ground where no one has to be the bad guy. Most of the speculation on Wilcox leaving that I've heard centers around Peterson leaving BSU, which obviously hasn't happened yet.

NashvilleVol 5 pts

From what I understand, Dooley allows Da'Rick to do whatever he wants including yelling at his position coach on a regular basis. Sounds like CCB and Da'rick needed to part ways. That said, I feel like we are losing a huge asset to our team by losing a GREAT WR coach. I truly hope he's not leaving due to a strained relationship with an outspoken student/athlete or that of a head coach that's afraid to control his star players. Either way, seems like a tough loss. If we lose Sirmon, who's been an enormous recruiter for us thus far, we're in trouble with several recruits that are still pending and that have verballed. I'd hate to seem him go.

Alabama And Tha U Fan 5 pts

lol, Tennesse lost to a team with-out a QB.

Barney 7 pts

Message boards are speculating that recently ousted Memphis HC Larry Porter has been contacted as to serve a RB coach.

I saw my first game in '57. I saw the first time we had three coaches in three years: Wyatt, McDonald, and Dickey. I wasn't happy to lose game for seniors but kind of have to agree with Barney and Dooley this may end up being a good thing. The younger players will grow up, and we will have three classes more spread out in numbers, and depth. It will take till 2013 to fully restock. Dooley will make progress next year, and those voices on some message boards calling for his job now are just nuts. He may have a little more growing to do on the job, but now isn't the time to start over. I don't know that I have the time to see us mess this up again. The one thing that worries me most is the discord in locker room, and D. Rogers is part of problem apparently. We do need a RB's coach, and possibly a new OL coach. I'm not close enough to situation to know whether Hiestand is part of problem.

If we can't manage to score more then 7 points in a game then we deserve everything we get. The defense did as much as could be expected of them short of picking off the ball and scoring...although they weren't even passing often enough to do that.

In regards to "The Streak", I cannot tell you how glad I am to see it come to an end. Obviously I would have rather won that football game, but still, those 26 straight games were becoming a distraction every time we played Kentucky. Perhaps it is something Coach Dooley can use next year and this offseason to light a fire under this young football team. If any good can come from this loss its that Tennessee is quite possibly the hungriest team in the SEC if not the country. With another recruiting class, another year under McKeefery's training plan and all the speed and strength that comes with it gives me hope that we can be pretty good next year.

To me the most disapointing thing about this game was the way our seniors, particularly Tauren Poole behaved following the game. I know him and Austin Johnson have been through a lot and it is understandable why they would be bitter. But Poole insinuating that some of his teammates were more concerned about statistics then winning provided me with a disturbing insight into the 20ll Vols locker room. Isn't Poole the same guy who told us he was going to rush for 2,000 yards last season?...yeah...go ahead and graduate.

Finally, I think 2012 is a make or break year for Derek Dooley. If he wins 8 games he will come off the hot seat that he was officially placed on following Saturday's loss. If he wins 7, he will keep his job but remain on the hot seat. Anything less then that and we will find ourselves looking for new coaches. Going into this offseason, I am interested to see how we finish on the recruiting trail and if Dooley decides to make any changes to his coaching staff. Obviously we are in desperate need of a Runningbacks coach so that is one to watch.

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Kentucky, The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly