Ep. 2 Vandy Week, Vols #10 In New CFP Rankings

The transcription is a conversation between friends discussing college football and their team, Tennessee. They talk about starting a podcast, the possibility of Tennessee making the playoffs, the rankings, their recent loss to South Carolina, the performance of their running backs, and their hopes for upcoming games. They express their support for Michigan to lose and also mention rooting for Kansas State and Iowa State. Boom. All right. Episode two, Talking Tennessee. What's up, Jay? What's up, man? I'm excited to finally do it. We've been talking about this for, what, forever, probably, but we talk about Tennessee football all the time. Why not start a podcast and talk about it? Why not do it, man? Everybody else does it, so yeah, man, why not do it? Once again, we got John Luke with us tonight. What's up, John Luke? What's up, man? What's up, Jay? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, Jay? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, Jay? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, Jay? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, man? What's up, man? I really, I saw some things on Twitter today. I will mention him. I think it's EdzakTNT, Z-A-C-H-T-N-T, on Twitter today. He posted an article saying that, you know, of course it's not likely, but it is possible. Like, it is in the stars out there that Tennessee could still make the playoffs somehow. And I know, like, I know I sound as stupid as, you know, any Tennessee has ever sounded saying something like that. But, like, that would mean, like, pure chaos would have to happen. Yeah, the odds on that, like if you were to parlay the scenario, would be about plus 50,000. Yeah, there's, I mean, it's not impossible. Who would all have to lose? You would have to have Michigan, TCU would have to lose twice. Right. Well, that can't happen because Michigan would lose once, then they wouldn't get another opportunity to lose. Yeah. I'm saying TCU only would have to lose twice. No, TCU would only have to lose once. TCU is probably not going to lose again, dude. They're going to win out. They're just one of those teams that they just win games. If they were going to lose a game, it should have been last week when they literally did a run on, a run off, not a walk off, it was a fucking run off kick. Like, they're probably not going to lose another game. And, I mean, even if we won Saturday, dude, it still would have been a nail biter in my opinion. Like, whether we would have got that fourth spot or not, man, because people are so high on these other teams that don't play anybody. That play like Lauderdale Middle and teams like that. And an LSU team that we beat 40-13 in Death Valley is taking our spot at number five. Now, my point is with TCU, now that Tennessee is practically completely out of the conversation, I'm a big TCU fan. I hope they make it into the college football playoff and I hope they upset somebody. Hopefully, they can get in there and play Ohio State because I don't see them beating Georgia. I really don't see them beating Ohio State, but I just want to see some parody in there. I'm tired of Ohio State, Alabama. Yeah, like, what I saw, from what I saw, what would have to happen in order for us to have a shot was Georgia would have to pretty much win in like a nail biter in the SEC championship game, which I could see happening, man. Georgia is not an outstanding, I mean, they're a great football team, don't get me wrong. They've got athletes on both sides of the ball. They have a ferocious defense. They're well-coached. They do win games. I mean, you have to give them credit where it's due. But Georgia is not like 2009 Alabama or, you know what I'm saying, they're not 2019 LSU. They're not beating people to sleep, you know what I mean? They're beating teams soundly and they're beating teams fundamentally, and that's what makes them look so good, and that's because they're very well-coached. They do not lose. Yeah, and that's why they're number one right now. That's why, in my opinion, they are the best team in college football because they've proven that. I mean, up until, you know, things fell apart. I don't want to say fell apart, but shit hit the fan for us. That's when it started. And then Georgia doesn't look so good with wins like that because teams are going to say, or excuse me, people are going to say, you know, well, Tennessee's fraudulent. Tennessee's really not that good of a team, blah, blah, blah, so that doesn't make Georgia look as good. But, well, I'll tell you what, guys, I'll tell you what would fix this whole scenario for me, and maybe not patch it completely to, you know, with what happened this past weekend, but if we can get into a New Year's Six and we can win a New Year's Six and specifically get in against, like, Clemson in the Orange Bowl and beat them, that's big for recruiting. I think you could look back on this season and still feel pretty – like, that would wipe a lot of this taste out of our mouths. I mean, I just want to get to this Saturday and see us beat the hell out of Vanderbilt. I mean, I say before we start talking about a New Year's Six bowl, let's hope we can beat Vandy. I mean, and I'm not just saying that as a nega-bowl. Obviously, last week was disappointing. But with a backup quarterback, Joe Milton, and the way that Vanderbilt's playing right now, can't believe I would have said that before the beginning of the year, but they're not playing bad football. Dude, if we don't beat the hell out of Vanderbilt, then you can kind of, you know, have a few concerns here and there because, once again, we've got to play a bounce-back game. You know, we've got to come out and then still show that we're still an elite team, that we're still dominant. You know, teams do have games like we had Saturday. You know, we're not the only team in the history of college football to lose a game like that, you know, believe it or not. But, you know, before we get any further, like I was saying a while ago, I want to go back to the shit-hitting-the-fan simulation with us having a shot. Georgia wins that nail-biter. Clemson would have to lose the North Carolina and then possibly have to lose that ACC championship game. Not likely, but like I said, in the stars. TCU would have to lose the Kansas State and then also probably lose the Big 12 championship game. Not likely, but once again, in the stars. That would just put us, you know, at a two-loss with – oh, also USC. USC would have to lose – I'm not sure whether he said they would have to lose the next game or their – either one, it doesn't matter because they'd be a two-loss team. They're already in the Pac-12 championship. Yeah, so they would have to lose either their next game or the Pac-12 championship game, and then Ohio State would have to beat, you know, Michigan into oblivion. And then we could – you know, then things would be like crazy interesting, but like I said, that's like a – We'd still need Alabama to lose iron balls. Yeah, and we'd also need – Likely. And that's kind of what I wanted to talk about a little bit was I understand that we got absolutely – Don't sleep on Auburn. Don't sleep on Auburn Saturday either. I'm just saying. Once again, this part lays up the pluses. They've got nothing to lose. Auburn has nothing to fucking lose right now. I'm telling you right now, they have nothing to lose. Why not go in and – Like the South Carolina guy said, drop your nuts and beat the Alabama team. Drop your nuts. I've done it before. Bad Auburn teams have beaten this Nick Saban-Bama team. Cadillac's got the boys believing. He does. He does. And then Lane Kiffin's going to come in there. Dude, how about that guy? He's freaking trolling the media on Twitter. Lane Kiffin is – That guy's different. Lane Kiffin is my – Lane Kiffin on Twitter is my soul animal. That guy on Twitter is one of the main reasons I get on the feed every day and scroll a little bit to see what Lane's talking about. He's almost like a Mike Leach in a way, you know what I'm saying? I almost feel like guys like that probably shouldn't have social medias. Lane definitely must see TV and he's not scared to tweet at anybody, especially Tennessee fans. Not because he loves us, dude. He fucking loves us. Yeah, I agree. His son's name's Knox. I also think that he doesn't love it at Ole Miss. So, I know he's saying that he's not really looking into the Auburn job, but I find that hard to believe. He was having to beg students to come to the game halfway through the season if they were ranked in the top ten. Yeah. He doesn't like that. That's Ole Miss, dude. That's just Ole Miss. They have no money coming in from NIL. I mean, they're just – to be honest with you, they're a poverty program. If they didn't have an offensive genius as their head coach, then they're pretty much a poverty program. I know they've had good years, but I just don't see the hype with Ole Miss. Like, there's – I mean, there's – that's just Ole Miss for you though. I mean. It's so funny because I love that comparison and saying how they're – or that label of them being a poverty program. But when you think of Ole Miss fans, like these are like the rich Southern class people. It's just hilarious. I mean, they've got money though. I mean, they've won their programs. I mean, at least their baseball. You know, they've won national championships in baseball. But they're not good college football. They're an attractive – but they're attractive though. They're an attractive program. I mean, I can see why people go there to go hang out at Sardis Lake and drink Bush Light. I mean, that's fun, dude. They're good college football tailgaters. Yeah, I guess. The Grove. They played football Thursday and that's all that matters. Lane said that's all that matters, 3-0. It's all that matters. That's where Ole Miss stands now. Ole Miss was looking at playoff contentions about six weeks ago and then now all that matters to them is that they, you know, is that Lane Kiffin keeps his perfect record against Mississippi State. That and that they can keep their coach. But going back to the college football playoff rankings, we're kind of – I know that that was a scenario you heard, Brandon, but they've kind of blocked us out. So you got Oregon in front of us, which I do not agree with. I think they should be at nine. And it just hurts to see Alabama rank three spots ahead of us at number seven and five spots ahead of us is LSU. Obviously we've beaten both of those teams. It's just – I mean, it is bullshit. Like, it's a really shitty thing that, you know, that once again we're dropping like this over teams. We deserve it. But that was a terrible loss Saturday, dude. That was one of the worst losses. I mean, it couldn't have gotten any – that was probably the worst way imaginable that things could have happened and it happened. I got a question for y'all. Do y'all think that college football will ever get away from the fact that – and this might be changed with a potential 12-team expansion. But, like, the deal – the issue with the BCS was you could lose, but you could only lose one and you better have done it early. Like, if you're in Tennessee's scenario, your only loss should have been to Florida, you know, in a hypothetical way. Only been to Florida and it should have been early in the year because that's the Florida game. And then maybe you could get in on the back end. We're kind of suffering from that right now. Like, LSU is in a two-loss spot. Alabama is in a two-loss spot. Now, Alabama is not going to make the playoffs and LSU is likely not either. But they're in a better scenario to make it than we were. It's because – now, don't get me wrong, we got hosed by South Carolina. But we also lost late. Yeah, and, no, I completely agree with your point there. I mean, if you look at – just take LSU, for example. They lost to a – I mean, a middle-of-the-pack Florida State team. I know they're in the rankings, but they're not a good team. They're bad. They're bad. Florida State's not a good team. But they lost – right. But they lost week one. So, that loss really has not hurt them at all. They still had the opportunity to beat Ole Miss. They had the opportunity to beat Alabama. They did that and they are playing Georgia in the SEC Championship. So, naturally they have a better shot. But it's just – oh, my gosh. It creates a scenario where it's like not all games are created equal. Yeah, exactly. Why play the games in the beginning of the year if they're not going to matter to the team? The thing is, is I don't know how to fix it. Because to start a season you got to play the beginning of the year. Yeah, and maybe it's a valid point. That Tennessee team that I saw on Saturday wouldn't hold a candle to any fucking body that's going to be in the playoffs. No. No, that's true. And, you know, that Tennessee that showed up Saturday, I mean, they get housed by LSU, especially these past four weeks. Yeah. Agreed. So, I mean, that's a sass. I hate to say it, but that's sass. John, Luke, let me ask you because you – just, I guess, one last thing on South Carolina because – and we can just get rid of that. Yeah, because I'm so sick of listening and talking about them. So, you were at the game. The main thing I saw when Brandon and I were watching it, we weren't blitzing. We've been blitzing all year. Our defensive identity is being aggressive. We brought six, seven all year. We did that against LSU. It's why we were successful. It didn't seem like we did it any on Saturday. Is that what you saw? I didn't see anything. It looked like we were not aggressive at all. And I think that might have been because Banks was out. And Banks kind of has been our best pass rusher all year. Dude, Spencer Rattler, dude, I saw a stat that was like – it blew my mind. Spencer Rattler was 22 of 22 with like – it was in between 200 and 300 yards, I'm pretty sure, with balls that were thrown 10 yards or less in the air. Wow. Yeah. I mean, the deep shots were killers. I mean, the deep shots were deep shots. But he sliced and diced the middle of our defense, and that's because guess what? Jeremy Banks wasn't out there. And we just – we looked like a bunch of morons all night long, and we looked like Clemson too with the helmets. I love the orange helmets, but damn, we looked like Clemson. I thought that I would like them a lot more. The orange helmets probably would have made it look better, but I'm not sure. Their fans were talking about it to us too. They were like, I hate y'all's uniforms, y'all look like Clemson. And they hate Clemson. Like those people live there. And then we played like them. So, I mean, the orange helmets are beautiful. If I can ever get my hands on one and put it up in my room, I'll definitely do so. But I also think Saturday – I think I mentioned this on our last episode. I think Saturday we kind of abandoned the run on offense, which I'm not blaming the offense for that loss by any means. But I thought we kind of abandoned the run. Which is funny that you say that, and we did mention that, and I think we spoke on that a little bit in the last episode. But we abandoned the hell out of it, J.L. I mean, dude, we were running the ball very well at the beginning of the game. Smallest run. Jaylon Wright ran the ball pretty well early on. I mean, I think he finished with like – it was small that it finished with 86 yards. How good is Samson yet? Dude, Dylan Samson is so good and he's so fast. He hits the hole like running backs that – like how a running back is supposed to do it, man. And I feel like that guy needs to be incorporated into this offense a lot more than he is. Am I wrong? No, no. He definitely has more – he has a wiggle that none of our running backs have. I love small, I love Wright, but small, if you blow too hard, he'll fall down. He can't break any tackles. He has one move in the open field if that doesn't work. And he doesn't have breakaway speed either. We don't have that guy. We don't have that Tyon Evans or that Eric Gray, somebody that can plant their foot in the ground and then burn people, man. I'm talking about just burn guys. And they were – it showed Saturday night, man, that we abandoned it. We got away from what's worked for us all year. The defense was on the field every other seven minutes in real time because, you know, we weren't moving the ball. I think their issue with Samson – Samson, by the way, had four jerries for two yards. I think their issue with Samson is – so, y'all remember that play against LSU where Hooker got absolutely obliterated? Yeah, off the corner blitz. Yeah, it was a – they have the weak side corner blitz. Yep. Samson cannot pass. Right. He doesn't understand pass protection yet, I don't think. I think that's a thing of youth. I think that's a young kid. They can sell it on the run when he's in a package. Yeah. A lot of guys in – but, you know, in high school, you don't see guys flying off the edge like that. You know, those guys are playing in the middle of the field. Well, that's just – that's exactly why you're not seeing Samson right now. But I think, like Brandon said, that's obviously something that can be learned. I think next year he learns the offense a little better. That guy will be on the field a lot more. It's definitely a film session thing. It's definitely just film, man. He's got what it takes to be a really good running back, man. And, you know, he's in the best, you know, offensive scheme in college football. Yeah. So, you know, he's got all the potential in the world. I just – with his speed and his athleticism, man, I just wish we would have saw a lot more, you know, of him this year. But I think we will in the future. Yeah. Hey, I was going to ask you all – and I'm going to get off pretty soon because I've got a long drive tomorrow. But I want to hear your thoughts on in the way that it affects Tennessee and just for like chaos in the area in general. Who are you all rooting for this weekend? And what games? Just all over the college football play. Because, I mean, I still think that what's going to happen is a lot of these games are still going to affect how – where we get put in a bowl. I mean – I definitely want Michigan to lose by 90. And I think that might happen too. I think Ohio State's a lot better than they are. Which – dude, those – but those Big Ten teams, man, they're just – they're very – they're unpredictable, man. One week they look good and the next week you're like, I don't know how they would look against, you know, a really good SEC team or, you know, the strongest Big 12 team or something like that. But I think my biggest team outside of – well, you know, of course I'm rooting for Tennessee this weekend. But my biggest team that I'm rooting for, I'm probably a Kansas State fan. I don't like the fact that TCU's probably going to go 12-0. So I would like for them to go ahead and take that L because people are just so high on them. Also wouldn't mind seeing South Carolina or Southern Cal lose too. Kansas State I believe played Kansas this week. They do. Or – I'm sorry, who does TCU have? I'm sorry. Iowa State. I'm sorry, Iowa State. That's who I meant. Iowa State is – yeah, I'm a Cyclones fan this weekend. Yeah, and Kansas State – if Kansas State loses to Kansas, that's going to put Texas in the Big 12 championship assuming Texas does share business. Wow. What a weird – what do – I mean. Texas has some ups and downs. You talk about how weird things got this year for college football. Dude, Brian Kelly was – they were – people were talking about firing that man after we beat them. And he wins the West in the SEC. He comes back and he's going to Atlanta. I mean, just college football is – there's nothing like it, man. I'm telling you what. I know we've ridden the high notes for a long time now for this season. But obviously until this Saturday. But I'll say this, this has been the most entertaining season. And I think fans outside of our fan base have seen that. Yeah, 100%. 100%. It's been great. And you know what it is? It's the fact that freaking Alabama and Clemson really haven't been in the mix. And Oklahoma. And Oklahoma. Which Oklahoma is just so far from the mix that it's not even funny. And when you have college game day three times a year too, that's pretty cool. I mean, you know, a lot of teams don't really – it's like when we're good, dude, teams love Tennessee. I mean, people love Tennessee. I mean, they hate us. But at the same time, when we're good, it's like all eyes are on Tennessee. I was thinking about that earlier. Because, you know, a lot of like fans outside of our fan base are really rooting for us this year because nobody expected us to do anything. I'm wondering now that like especially if we get into a New Year's Six, say we take care of business Saturday, get into a New Year's Six, and then we win a high-profile game, now we're preseason ranked in the top ten, now the thought is going to be if we come out hot next year, which next year is a whole other discussion, but if we come out hot next year, fans might look at us and be like, oh, that's fraudulent Tennessee, and they might kind of hate on us a little bit. Which is fine with me. I mean, if people care about us, you know, to hate us, then that means we're relevant. But I just think that it will kind of turn – like tables will turn a little bit on Tennessee as far as like fans are concerned. Not our fan base, but other opposing fan bases. You know, people outside of the area, outside of the South watching us. And you've kind of already seen that in just this year. I mean, there were Georgia fans rooting for us to beat Alabama. But by the time, you know, the Tennessee and Georgia game came, I think the Georgia fans were pretty pissed off. And you can attest to that. John Luke, I think they felt a little disrespected. And they gave Tennessee their full attention and whooped our ass. And I will say on that topic. They're obsessed with us. They are. But on your topic, John Luke, I think that that perception will definitely change next year, especially if we can show that Joe Milton will be a decent quarterback, that he can show a little bit of promise. Yeah, and I would say that maybe I'm worried that they're right, to be honest with you, because I know Joe Milton has a lot of talent. But it worries me if he can run the offense. Hinton Hooker was so good at making quick decisions, the right decisions, and not turning the ball over. Right. You're right. We saw really good things from Joe Milton this year, and that's because he came in and he had the green light to do that type of stuff. He had – they kind of, you know, hey, we're up 45. You can go in and play backyard football. Like you can go throw it to somebody that runs a go route, you know, 60 yards down the field. Yeah, he's going to run a pressure situation. You're right. Yeah, so – and, you know, the last time we saw him in pressure, actually, you know, Jay and I were there in person, man. We watched the guy overthrow, you know, I think we ran – you know, you ever – you know, you play Madden, you know, the four verticals. That's what – I think we ran that play like six times in a row. You only get four down. So, we ran it three times in a row and he overthrew, you know, the first one he overthrew him five yards, the second one he overthrew him nine yards, and then the third one it damn near went to the stand. So, but, yeah, so like stuff like that does worry me. Credit to Josh Heifel because I remember – I know you all were at that game and I was watching it. I was thinking, man, these guys are wide open. Dude, JC called his dad after that game. Dude, JC was hammered. We were talking, we left that game, it was an 11 o'clock kickoff, we were hammered drunk. He calls his dad on the way home. I mean, it was a 45, 50-minute ride back to our hotel. And he just – we're never going to be there again. We're always going to be that fucking team that loses that game, that can't finish games, that just disappoints, man. But it is funny, you know, 365 days later, you know, we – you know, the tables turn and, you know, we won – we're going to go 10-2 this year and that's – I think that's – I hope so. I probably would have said, you know, if somebody would have told me that at the beginning of the year, I probably would have been like, eh, I appreciate the, you know, the enthusiasm. But I'm thinking like 8-4, 9-3. But it is what it is. I agree. And, you know, I do – that's why I do think these next two games are very important because it has been such a fun season. We beat Alabama. We beat LSU. But if you turn around and you lose to South Carolina and Vanderbilt, then it pretty much loses every bit of that great feeling we had all throughout the season. Yeah, 2016 all over again. Exactly. Don't let it be that, guys. Don't let it be that. That's a Vietnam flashback. This team's different, man. This team's just a little bit different. We don't have Butchie Boy Jones wearing his girdle on the sidelines, Josh Eiffel there. Is Jeremy Pruitt going to come back and be our DC? Please, God, no. Fuck that guy. Can you imagine that PR move? Can you imagine that? Oh, man, I mean, he needs to sign an NIL deal with McDonald's, I guess. You'd have those texts coming out. That's good. You'd have these texts coming out of, you know, Danny White saying, hey, I'm going to need a little bit of help from the media on this one. Like, that would be rough. Look, man, I think that we have some better options at DC. Spencer Ryder threw for 450 yards against us. Anything's possible at this point. Oh, man. You don't think Banks is gone for sure? No, I don't. I think that Willie Moe, Willie Martinez is gone. I really think they're going to give Banks another year. I don't know if it's the right move, but I think they will. Well, somebody has to get fired. I mean, there's no way. You know, and they'll probably only have to fire me. Well, fire Bob Kessling. How about that? Fire his boring ass, dude. I'm so glad that it's 2022 and you can stream and watch games on, like, you know, on your toilet and stuff like that now. Like, so why is he even still commentating games for Tennessee? That makes no sense to me. And I'm not the only one either that hates him. But if we have to fire somebody, let's fire Bob Kessling. Fuck the coaches. Did y'all know that Mike Heath is a UT grad? Yeah. Am I the only person that didn't know that until like three weeks ago? I didn't know that was me up until now. Go pay the guy some money. I didn't know that you were the UT grad. Yeah, I didn't either. We could use him, though. Let's go just give him the bag. Did y'all see the video of the Bills radio commentator up in the press box? Like the final two minutes of the game when they were playing. Not the Bills. It was the Vikings. Yeah, it was the Vikings commentator up in, yeah, when they played the Bills. I mean, somebody like that, dude. I think I watched that like five times just because it was so cool to watch, man. He just looks like he loves what he does. He looks like he loves the team that he calls for. Yeah, that's the problem with Kessling. He comes off as a dud, but also he doesn't even come off as a Tennessee lean. Like he's very down the middle, and I don't feel like it should be that way. Go back and listen to John Ward. Tell me that guy wasn't a Tennessee fan. I don't feel that with Kessling. Yeah, Kessling does his job like it's a 9-5. All right, guys, I'm going to get off here. I appreciate you all having me on. This is fun. Love you guys. Appreciate you, John. Have a good one, buddy. See you, buddy. Take it easy, Go Vols. Hey, I'll say this real quick. Any year you beat freaking Florida and Alabama is a good year. Go Big Orange. It's a damn good year. Go Big Orange. I love that guy, man. He's a good guy. Knows a lot about Tennessee football. Love him. But, yeah, man, we got a lot of things coming up for Tennessee Athletics. There's some question marks going around. Some questions definitely are going to get answered here in the next month. Vandy Saturday, I think 14 is what we opened up as. 14. 14 points. Are you going to hit that? I might bet my entire paycheck on that. I haven't worked all week, actually. But I think 14 points is a slap in the face. And then Kirk Herbstreet, I don't know if you saw that tonight on the playoff show where he said, after Vandy beats Tennessee Saturday, you won't have to worry about that. Somebody threw a scenario at him, and Kirk Herbstreet literally backhanded Tennessee yet again. I don't know what his deal is. But it's getting disrespectful at this point, this Vandy game. I mean, it was supposed to be like, you know, it's their senior day. It's, you know, whatever, blah, blah, blah. Let's checker that mother fucker and let's beat them by 65 points. Yeah, I agree. And, I mean, obviously that line got shot way down from our performance against South Carolina. And Joe Milton is now the starting quarterback. But I just, in what world should we not beat Vanderbilt by two touchdowns? Two touchdowns. Two touchdowns. I agree. But the question is, can our defense show up a little bit? And that's kind of what I wanted to talk to John Luke about while he brought up the point of somebody's got to be fired. And I agree. But before the South Carolina game, I don't think anyone would have said that. So can that defense show up? No, no. We looked like we were putting things together, you know, up until the South Carolina game. You know, Kentucky looked like – after the Kentucky game, I thought we were – and, of course, we were. The playoff came out the week – you know, a couple days after. I mean, we were number one. But I literally, you know, I called you right after it happened. And I think we, you know, we laughed for a second because, you know, we're saying, dude, it's real. You know, it's hard to believe. But at that point in time, we were, you know, the best team in college football. Yeah. Our defense was playing football. Our offense was rolling, you know, like it has been all year. We weren't making mistakes. And then, you know, Georgia got that upper hand on us. You know, they did their thing against us. It wasn't a bad performance by the – I know they got shredded in the first half, but that team fought in the second half. They caused a couple turnovers. They never gave up. They played hard. And they didn't do that on Saturday. And the thing is, is that we're pretty healthy. You know what I mean? I mean, of course, you know, we had guys that weren't there that didn't make the trip. You know, Banks was, you know, missing. And who else wasn't there? Well, we had three or four people go down. I know Haddon was there, but he wasn't there. Yeah. I mean, he might as well have been just a shoe on the field. He was just running his mouth. Yeah, and then he had the balls to run his mouth to the sideline. And if you're going to talk to anybody, like you're already getting burnt. You're not supposed to be talking shit, you know, as bad as he was playing. But then he turns around and he says something with the ugliest coach of all time right there in front of him. He said something to Beamer. Exactly. I mean, that's the last part. I don't want to hear Beamer say anything because I know it was a smart-ass comment. I couldn't – I tried to – I played it back several times and tried to lip read, you know, what Beamer said. But I know it was a smart-ass comment. You know, he was probably saying look at this scoreboard or something, you know, some stupid shit like that. But, yeah. But the point is, I mean, I do think our defense can rebound. And I heard you guys talk a little bit about it last night. I think there might have been something to the conflict with Banks and Hooker. I mean, there were rumors that a lot of the defensive players didn't agree with the coaching staff's decision to not bring Banks. Right. And to me, I mean, I think that can definitely cause an impact on a game. We hadn't seen a defense play like that all year, and I think it's no coincidence that there seemed to be some friction. I mean, it's not like, you know, Saturday's the only game that we've given up plays. You know, we gave up touchdowns to Alabama, to Florida, to Pittsburgh. I mean, I went to Pittsburgh and, you know, they busted a 67-yard touchdown run, you know, on their fourth offensive play of the game or something like that. Missouri put up points on us in the first half. Missouri took some strikes down the field on us in the first half that game. You know, we weren't the most sound defense all year, but we were consistent with what we did. And we were scrappy. And we had the offense to back up whatever we let up. You know, you let up 49 points to Alabama, you lose. It doesn't matter who you are. It doesn't matter if you're the Pittsburgh Steelers or the New York Yankees or whoever you want, whoever. If you let up 49 points to a Bama, Nick Saban team, you lose that game. But we had the firepower to back it up, and here lately that firepower has been done. It just looks like we're confused in ways. And for the first time ever, we were watching Hindenhoeker overthrow receivers. Georgia, he overthrew a couple guys that would have been six. Both of them, you know, if they were throwing on the money, those were touchdowns. But this defensive thing, man, something's got to give because it's been an ongoing issue. And you're not going to win national championships. You're not going to win SEC championships until you have a good defense. Teams like Georgia have good defenses. Teams like LSU have a defense that have started to come around and started to play well. And you're just not going to get anywhere with what we're doing. With the style of defense we're playing right now, something's got to give. And I think Heifel's alluded to that some, definitely. He said on the college football playoff ranking show when we initially were number one, and he said we don't have the best defense, but we will. So they've addressed some needs in recruiting. They have guys coming in. There are guys coming in. There are. And the secondary we're playing with this year, it's a miracle that that team got to 10-1 and should have been 11-1. It's unreal. It's unreal. Teams that anybody else in the country with Tennessee's defense does not win nine games. Nobody. I mean, teams like Ohio State, TCU with firepower maybe, you know, they're up there. But a lot of teams struggle with defenses like we have. We were just lucky that, you know, that we have a coach that knows how to use, you know, his weapons on offense to his advantage. And, you know, we're the best offense in the country. Yeah. And the truth is, I mean, that defense, they were good at two things. They were good against the rush. I think they had a top ten rush defense for the majority of the season. They probably don't after that South Carolina game. And the other thing was they bucked up in the red zone. Yeah. But they just absolutely did not do that on Saturday, and that's why I'm really excited to see how they respond against Vanderbilt and Nashville. Fourteen points is a disgrace. Agreed. And if anybody listens to this this week, I said stupid shit in my life before, plenty of it, but put all of your money on Tennessee minus 14, minus 13 and a half, whatever it is right now. I think you're going to see a pissed off Tennessee team. It's going to be a home game for Tennessee pretty much. Other than the layout of the stadium and the turf, that's going to be the only difference. So put your money on Tennessee minus 14 this week. We're also going to be just getting off of college football for a minute. I've been on a little heater with college basketball, haven't I, Jay? You have. I don't know what it is lately. I was like this last year with college basketball, and then I just got too invested into watching Tennessee, so I stopped betting. But I'm on a heater this week in college basketball. We're actually going to start releasing picks a couple of days prior to games because our podcasts are not live, so they get posted after we record them. So we will start coming out with, like, some picks for college basketball, NFL, you know, the rest of college football, you know, and the ball season and whatnot. But people stay tuned for that. And let's go ahead and talk about Milton really quick. Let's just go ahead and end it up with Milton leading our offense Saturday. I know John Luke ended up with how is he going to lead our offense under pressure. And for some reason I could see, like, Vandy scoring first. For some stupid reason I could see Vandy getting the ball or us getting the ball and going like three and out, and then Vandy jumping ahead seven up, and then we're in panic mode all, you know. I could see something like that happening. That's definitely something I think we want to avoid just because, really, Milton's unknown. We know what he was last year. He wasn't very good. But he's had a year to sit. We've heard a lot of good things about him in practice. He can throw the ball 80 yards. That's what I know about him. Yeah, that man can throw the ball unlike anybody else in college football, maybe in the pros as well. And it's a flick of the wrist. It's not like he rears back and throws it like these bigger quarterbacks do. This guy throws off of his back foot. That ball that he threw to Squirrel – I believe it was Squirrel White, you know, at the end of the South Carolina game Saturday night. I believe he threw the ball off of his back foot at our own 25-yard line, and the ball landed at their 25-yard line. So that's 50 yards off his back foot. I mean – He can throw the football, but can he operate an offense and can he lead his team, you know, to victories and get quality drives? That's my biggest question, and I think I brought this up maybe to you earlier. But Hindenhoeker is so proficient in making quick decisions. He was a Peyton Manning. Hindenhoeker was a Peyton Manning brain on the football field. And he operated just great in our offense. I mean, he made quick decisions. He didn't make mistakes. Never turned the ball over. He was very accurate. Can Milton be that? You know, I think that the team likes Milton. I think that he's going to be fine as an emotional leader. Can he get out there, like you said, if they punch us in the mouth, go up 7-0? Can he lead us on a drive? We can still run the ball. Can he operate the offense efficiently enough? I think he can. I don't think you're going to get what you got with Hooker. Obviously, he was a Heisman candidate. But this is a good audition for Milton. Yeah, it's a perfect test for Milton to go out there and showcase, you know, that he is capable of running this offense. And, like, one thing we talked about earlier this year that Hinden was so good at is not only being a really good pocket quarterback, but his quick decision making, his – he looks – it's like he makes, you know, one or two, one, two, three. It's like he's looking downfield, nothing's there, nothing's there. He gets out of the pocket and goes. He doesn't try to elude and then look back downfield to try to, you know. Once he eludes the pocket, Hinden took off. Hinden got positive yards, and that's what separated him from, you know, from a lot of quarterbacks that we've had and a lot of quarterbacks that are in the league right now. That's what makes Hinden so good. He's a smart quarterback. His ball placement was better than anybody I've ever watched. I mean, I know I've seen good quarterbacks play. I'm 27. At Tennessee, for sure. No doubt at Tennessee. I mean, there was – I don't think there was anybody that I felt as comfortable as watching, you know, when they threw the ball, as I did watching Hinden Hooker. When he was getting ready to deliver a ball, I was just thinking somebody's wide open, he's going to hit him right in the hands. And most of the time he did that. So, I don't know. We'll see what Milton has to offer, man. It's going to be a, like you said, it's a good opportunity for him to go out there and kind of give the Vol Nation, you know, some more life. Because a lot of people are just down right now. And we have a lot of reason to be down right now. Yeah, and I think he'll have an opportunity to make some plays, and I think that he will. And if you beat Vanderbilt, especially soundly, you're going to be square in the mix for a New Year's Six Bowl. I think you're pretty much a lock if you win that game, whether that's the Cotton Bowl or the Orange Bowl. So, he would have a pretty big stage to have another audition, you know, another chance to let the nation see what he's going to be and Tennessee fans to see what he's going to be next year. So, definitely excited. I mean, it sucks the way we lost to South Carolina with the playoffs right at our fingertips. But, you know, I guess my message to Vols fans is just try to stay positive. It's been a good year. What we saw Saturday was inexcusable. But we still have a chance to win a New Year's Six Bowl, so let's show up and show out for that. I just don't want to get blown out in a ball game. I want to go to a good ball game, and I don't want to get blown out by some Big 12 team that, you know, or some Big Ten team or whoever we end up playing. Let's just not lose our ball game. Let's end the season, you know, like we wanted to. I'm trying to find – I wish I could find the tweet earlier about what Kirk Herbstre said. It was very backhanded. So, you know what, speaking of bowls. He's done that all year, though. How about we go to the Orange Bowl and play Clemson because, speaking of comments, did you hear what Dabo Sweeney was talking about? I did not. I did not hear. So, he was – I guess he was being asked about Tennessee since they're playing South Carolina this week. And this is the one that bugged me. He says, they're like, okay, we beat South Carolina and we beat Vandy and we're in the playoffs. Looking burgers at the house, having a cold drink, watching championship weekend. So, I mean, he's throwing these backhanded comments to Tennessee. He says – he goes on to say after that, what are we? Are we number three? Are we number four? Are we in Arizona? Are we in Atlanta? Next thing you know, you forget you've got to play. Man, I think you've got to give all the credit to South Carolina, end quote. So, you know, he's basically saying that Tennessee didn't show up in a big game. They thought that we were – that they were comfortably in the playoffs and he didn't show up. I mean, what – didn't Dabo just lose 35-14 to Notre Dame? Why in the hell – This was – I'm just fixing to say this is the same guy that was losing 28-0 at halftime to a Notre Dame team that is one of their worst teams in a long, long time. And this is not the first time Dabo's done this. He did this with Ohio State and Ohio State beat them, you know, by like 30 or something like that. But, dude, let's get a Clemson matchup, dude. Fuck Clemson. Yeah. Let's get a Clemson – what, would it be Citrus Bowl? Would it be Citrus Bowl? No, it would be the Orange Bowl. Orange Bowl. Let's get a Orange Bowl. Let's see who the real orange is in the Orange Bowl. Let's beat the dog shit out of Dabo and Clemson. Clemson's fraud. Clemson's always been fraud. I don't know why he talks the way he does, but I would love a Clemson matchup. I would love it. I think that's probably our best case scenario because I don't think we end up in the Sugar Bowl anymore. I think that'll probably be LSU, maybe Alabama. Like I was so ready for – I was so ready to have that moment with everybody for like a big-time game because, you know, like Bama was – the Bama atmosphere was so cool and we all watched that together. You know, the Kentucky game was really cool to watch it together and celebrate winning like that. Like I was so looking forward to just us meeting up and watching a playoff game together, you know, the biggest game in Tennessee history and even an SEC championship. Man, we were going to go to Atlanta. We were going to go to Atlanta, watch that. Maybe if we could somehow empty our bank accounts out, dump all of our piggy banks upside down and go to Arizona or wherever we landed. But I just want a bowl game that's going to matter. You know what I mean? I want a bowl game that's going to feel like if we win that game, it feels like, okay, we won on a good note on the end of the year. That's my concern because I think the most likely scenario for us right now would be the Cotton Bowl and the Cotton Bowl. Which is the Big 12. No, I think the Cotton Bowl actually has no tie-ins. The Big 12 is the Sugar Bowl. Did that used to be Big 12? I think it did used to be. I remember playing A&M a long time ago. But now I think it really does. It really does. But I think that right now that would be projected. It would be the best group of five teams. So it would be Tulane or Cincinnati. It doesn't really excite me, and I think that's probably what we're going to end up with. That's exactly what I don't want. Because then we would fuck around and lose to somebody like that. Well, here's my question. Would you almost rather play them and, you know, you have a better chance to win? So would you rather go play Tulane and win by 17 points, or would you rather go play Clemson and lose by three in a really good game? I mean, I would take the close loss. I don't – I mean, a win's a win. I get that. You know, you can take that title home if you win the bowl game. But it would be a very – it just doesn't seem – I don't feel like I would be, like, excited and looking forward to playing somebody like that versus a Clemson or, you know, like a Penn State. I would love to play Penn State and beat the shit out of a Big Ten team because the Big Ten apparently, excuse me, on Twitter, has a lot to say about the SEC. My brother is a huge Ohio State fan. He won't say it in front of me. Corey's going to listen to this. I know you're going to listen to this, Corey, you little dick. But Corey is not a huge fan of the SEC. He – I have seen several times where he has posted on social media, and I've heard him say that SEC teams are fraud. SEC teams are not what people say that they are. And he thinks that the Big Ten is right there with the SEC, if not better. And we have this argument, you know, all the time. It's, you know, it's getting less and less now, the older we get, because lately I haven't had much to run my mouth about. But this year it's been different. So that combo came up a lot more. But I would love to play a Big Ten team and just wipe the floor with them and then say, hey, you know, check that out. I remember what you said about the SEC. Because the reason I say this is what started this was when Michigan put us out in the NCAA tournament last year, and they were a 10 seed. I think they were a 10 seed and we were a 2 seed. Yeah, I think they were a 10. Yeah, so that's what started it. That's what started it with the Big Ten SEC talk with me and my brother. But, so, Corey, if you're listening to this, I really do hope that we play Penn State. And we're not going to lose to them like y'all lost to them. We're not going to give up that many points to them, and we're going to score a hell of a lot more. Hey, Corey, you're wrong. The Big Ten and the SEC are not the same. I went over there earlier, and him and Nick were watching the college football playoff show. And I just shook my head and all of them looked at me and were like, I'm sorry, blah, blah, blah. And, yeah, I was just – I said, you know what, I hope you all have a good rest of y'all's season. But at the same time, I hope, you know, World War III is about to happen. So, maybe things will get shut down and they'll just cancel the season. Yeah, I understand that. After Saturday, I haven't been able to watch football. Yeah, so, basketball, baby, basketball. We'll be doing a lot of basketball talk this year, too. Got a lot of things to look forward to in basketball, and then especially when baseball rolls around, we'll be talking a lot of baseball. That's right. Your boys here, Jay and I, were studs on the diamond in high school and growing up. So, we got some knowledge in that field, and we got a little knowledge in football and basketball, and we'll give you what you know. And we appreciate everybody listening. All right, man, we're going to go ahead and wrap things up here on episode number two of the Talking Tennessee podcast. It's me, Brandon Young. You can follow me on Twitter at TNBrando, T-N-B-R-A-N-D-O. And my boy, JC, you can follow him on Twitter. It's at JTRO with underscore 20. That's it. So, until next time, appreciate you having us, appreciate you being on, Jay. We'll catch y'all next time, man. Go Vols. Bye.