Tennessee Football vs. N.C. State: What excites Vols fans the MOST?

okay your only goal should be burying Inc State I think people are getting a little sidetracked on some other things so your choices on the poll question are going to be this and be honest uh if you believe that NC State's going to get blown out there's no doubt about it you can pick seeing Nico Light It Up versus a power five school it would be another one after he did so again Iowa but uh certainly a different scenario here James Pierce going off for multiple sacks or watching newcomers like bu Carter have a Breakout game or just a blowout you don't care no matter how it happens Caleb it's got to be the latter and the last one right yeah you want the blowout the most um and here's the biggest reason why it's funny you brought up Iowa in state has a similar philosophy to Iowa we talked um with Noah fleshman on Wednesday and I did a little more digging they run a 335 their philosophy is make you work the field to score well what that means is as much as you want to see Nico light it up he may just have to take what's given to him in this game and if he takes what's and and if he takes what's given him to him in this game that may mean 175 yards two touchdowns no interceptions or even one touchdown no interception and it may look very pedestrian but it's very similar to the Iowa game it'll be so extremely efficient that then I would have to come back and say will West who we spoke to yesterday was right and his Heisman odds won't increase at all in fact they would decrease because a deeper dive into this NC State Defense is it is it's very much we'll let you get whatever you want between the hash marks 20 to 20 but we think that if we make you work the field and move the ball you're bound to make a mistake at some point and I think that that's going to require again a level of patience from Niko malava that could prevent him from being able to light it up new poll question I just posted what do you most want to see against NC State and the choices are not the blowout I moved on with that uh Nico goes off pierce with multiple sacks or breakout players uh or a strong running game actually I put a strong running game as a third choice it's a strong running game and here's why because after talking to Cooper and and getting insight for some other people yesterday this NC State defensive front isn't bad and I make my picks on Thursday and I might have altered it based off what I was told by multiple people yesterday so if Tennessee comes out and runs the ball for 200 yards and we're going to get into the stats they were top 25 by the way NC State last year and stopping the run and some uh statistics ICS so if they run the ball for 200 yards I think it's more significant for Tennessee moving forward than Nico throwing for 350 yards am I crazy Caleb no it's not and it's particularly because of what I just talked about too with the way NC State plays Nico may not get the chance to throw for 350 yards and you got to be able to see and this is the most I think it's the opposite I think they're going to force Nico to beat him because as good as I think he's looked and you think he's looked still as a coach and Dave Doran looks about as old school coach as they come right okay I'm gonna say I'm gonna make that freshman beat me I've been around a lot of Old School coaches buddy and I'm just telling you that is his that that at least started his mindset last week he may have seen Nico against chattan n and altered it a little bit but I guarantee on that Friday after they got away with that win against Western Carolina he said well we got a freshman quarterback next week I'm going make him beat me I guarantee you if uh if that's how he thinks by the way that was almost a buzz that was almost a buzz Peterson acccident you did for him um is that your stere is that your stereotypical ball coach you know um so uh all right I'm just gonna have to say this if that's what he's thinking then no you don't need to I disagree you don't need to worry about running it you want to see Nico light it up every time Nico gets the chance to light it up you want to see it because he will have the chance and I'm telling you I think Nico I I don't think you can afford to give him the chance to light it up I'm telling you guys he is incredibly good by the way Heath Schuler and I both said the same thing yesterday Heath said don't throw Aiden White's way he coached Aiden white in uh High School right and I I listed Aiden white as one of the top five wolf pack to watch for so we do think of the same wavelink but where I might disagree with Heath a little bit is I think if NOCO is going to be the Heisman Contender he needs to be he's got to Target team's best quarterback and not be afraid to throw their away I don't think he's oh I don't think he's going to be um that that's a good player and I and I still I think that it's going to be and I this is different from yesterday I think it's going to be much more I think it's GNA be tougher to run the football than I thought earlier in the week and I think it's going to be easier to throw I think they may make a change at safety and I handed at that earlier in the week that's from my football sources I think they're unsure of safety position so if it's tough to run the football Caleb and you've got an unsure safety position who does that favor on Tennessee's football team if it's tough to run the football and you've got a unsure safety position you're talking about NC State right yes well that obviously would favor Nico very very much so and I I think it will it would favor they did have an injured safety that's true yep um and so I I don't know that there's that chemistry back there it would favor you you if you joined hooker corner and we would greatly appreciate that hooker corner just for $9.98 cents a month you get increased recruiting coverage more interaction with me and Caleb Calhoun and also an opportunity to win a we a monthly grand prize thanks to our friends at Sports Treasures Sports Treasures over five million sports treasures and we absolutely love them so much more sports memorabilia every everywhere daily updates go to Facebook or use that QR code and you can follow them on Facebook if if if what I believe is to be true that Tennessee is going to have to throw the ball well often and for a lot of yardage to win and Nico's as good as I think he is then yes I believe that Nico's odds will increase significantly because he could throw for 350 or 400 yards let's not forget what this offense could do in 2022 The Benchmark for most quarterbacks and most offenses where you say he had a great game is what 300 yards passing Caleb yes that was well that's almost another day at the office in Josh Hy's offense I agree um and also depends on the era too because there's only like a certain window where a 300 yard game was great because Dave let's let's call it what it is in 19 1995 if a quarterback threw for 300 yards what you really thought was well they got behind and they were desperately trying to throw it to get back in the game like this like when pton Manning threw 466 yards against Florida that one year and that was a record yeah well they fell behind 35 to nothing so all they did was throw it to try to get back into the game no agreed all right so go ahead and vote on our poll question now what do you want to see against NC State what do you most want to see Nico goes off pierced with multiple sacks a strong running game so this could be one where I'm not gonna say Tennessee can't run the football because I can't remember a time that they just how many times have they just all out been stonewalled at the line and haven't been able to run the football under Josh hyp in the past three years when he had most of his guys is there a game you can recall that it just didn't happen no um not well yes Alabama they couldn't run the ball against Alabama they they got they got Stonewall consist L last year against Alabama and that's why a lot of people thought that Tennessee choked away that game at the rest the truth of the matter is Alabama was going to come back and win because Tennessee could not buy a yard running when they were running the football all right so we get ask on the message board how does NC State's defense compared to Iowa in your opinion I'll give you my thoughts much faster I don't think they're going to be as conservative in dropping people back I think they're kind of worried about Joe Milton um but Joe Milton was never going to play as we told you and um I just don't think they wanted to get blown out 69 to three in a bowl game but that 35 35 to nothing looks so much better it does look a I mean it looks like you didn't show up but I mean 69 to3 when you've got a month to prepare would have looked awful and Tennessee could have done that with their lack of speed so I think giny state has more speed and it's better athletically I think they're better up front for sure and after talking to Cooper I believe that even more he has a lot of respect for their front and he said it's not just their toughness and you can watch that on the B report brought to you by City heating and air conditioning over 50 years in East Tennessee Integrity matters but if you can you can watch that and he said it's not only their toughness it's not only their players it's also their scheme now they lost uh that one of their better linebackers uh you can read about that on off the hookpa19061 [Music] they are are still pretty darn good