Quote Originally Posted by wmevans1976:
GL this week Freak. Love the picks.
What did you take away from the Vols last night?
Looks to me like they are way ahead of schedule but can't tell if the weak run game of UT last night was just the strength of Utah State's def middle, or if it is a weakness of UT.
What did you think?
First of all I have tremendous amount of respect for Butch Jones as a football coach. I think he was a great hire. I think he's a guy who will get Tennessee in the mix of SEC East sooner rather than later. Tennessee is hungry to be competitive again, from the administration on down to the fan, and everyone in between.
When looking at Tennessee's schedule, last night was pretty much a MUST WIN game for Tennessee. Losing to a team like Utah State in their home opener would have been a huge setback for that program in more ways than one. You can pretty much say the same thing about next week's game against Arkansas State. Given the urgency of last night's game, I seriously considered a wager on Tennessee, but the 5.5 points scared me a little, so I went with a 2-team, 7-point teaser instead. I had Tennessee +1.5 last night, and have Miami +10.5 tonight.
Going in, I didn't think Utah State would leave Neyland Stadium with a win, but I did think there was a good chance that Chucky Keaton would give the Vols a run for their money. Obviously that wasn't the case.
This game leaves us in a typical Week 1 predicament: is Tennessee really that good, or is Utah State really that inept? Or is it somewhere in between? Inexperienced bettors tend to overreact to big wins and humiliating losses, so I'm not ready to pronounce Tennessee legitimate contenders in the SEC East, nor am I prepared to put Utah State humanly down like a rabid dog.
That said, I was very impressed with the tenacity of Tennessee's defense. They consistently set up Tennessee's offense in great field position, only to watch them squander golden opportunity after golden opportunity. I felt like this may be one of those games where a team repeatedly keeps the opposing team in the game, only to have that team come back and make a run in the 4th quarter. The Vol's defense was having none of that however.
Offensively I thought Tennessee was a little too pass happy. They were clearly out-of-sync in the 1st half, but that's not really that unexpected in the 1st half of the 1st game of the season. Worley seemed to have settle down nicely in the 2nd half. They were also more balanced in the 2nd half, which I also think helped open things up for Worley and the offense.
Tennessee is definitely a team to keep an eye on for some wagering opportunities. They looked like a team that will get better and better each week. I think we'll know a lot more about Tennessee after their week 3 road trip to Norman, Oklahoma. At this point I don't think they'll embarrass themselves. That game shapes up to be the kind of game where Tennessee will hang really tough in the 1st half, and then probably fade late in the game.
Atta boy jimmy 
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