Man, I’ve haven’t been this emotionally exhausted from a football game since Kick 6. Somehow I have so much to say, but can barely find the words to say it.
Unlike some, I’m actually proud of the guys. We fought a top 6 team, on the road, while also fighting ourselves and the officiating. A lesser team would have been blown out. But we survived, and still came oh so close.
Bryce will leave the Capstone as one of my favorite players of all time. Without him we’re a 3-4 loss team last year, and probably 2-3 loss team this year. I love that kid, and I hope he becomes the new standard of the NFL.
On the other hand, I’m distraught. The one thing we couldn’t do in a game this evenly matched was beat ourselves, and we did that so many times.
How do we let one WR hang 200 yards and 5 TDs on us? How do you not start double teaming him after his 2nd deep TD? The lack of awareness and adjustments in the secondary was downright depressing. Golding has improved a lot the last few years, but I don’t understand how he didn’t make any adjustments tonight.
Bad clock management at the end also killed us. We should have gotten Reichard a few yards closer rather than throwing for first downs. Gibbs should have caught the pass, and we likely win if he does. But you can’t throw a struggling kicker out there, on the road, at the edge of his range. That was awful play calling and execution when it mattered most.
Lastly, the officiating was downright dirty. The number of high hits Bryce took was reprehensible. Anderson was held on the edge all day. We made so many mistakes tonight, and we got called for every single one of them. I don’t blame the officials for the loss. But it was lopsided enough to give the Vols an edge all night, and I hope I never see one of them calling another Bama game for the rest of my life.
The good news is that we still control our own destiny. But I’m tired of saying that “this will be our wake up call.” Every game the last half of last season was a wake up call. Texas, Arkansas, and A&M were all “wake up calls.” We’re at the point now where there’s enough parity across the SEC that the field of teams we can out-talent is diminishing. If we don’t start executing like a championship team, then I’m afraid we won’t get the chance to be a championship team. And what a monumental waste that would be.
This was not a good day, but let the countdown begin to starting a new streak next year. RTR
