The Tennessee Vols Are A LEGIT National Title Contender | Tennessee Football vs NC State Recap

welcome back to another episode of rock boys football deal sitting here Sunday morning and we said heading into Saturday the boys were really ready to kind of assert Tennessee as that upper echelon SEC team that can compete not only for an SEC Championship but a national championship but we wanted to see what we saw from NC State I'd say we saw enough this Tennessee team I think what stands out to me and I think a lot of Tennessee fans have pointed this out in the comment section as well it is more than just the quarterback like I don't even think Nico played an excellent football game against NC State and you still won 51- 10 the amount of different ways that this Tennessee team can control a football game and win a football game that's what kind of sets it apart yeah you have an elite quarterback like I am fully in on Nico being one of the top quarterbacks not only in the conference but in the country but The Supporting Cast around him not only on offense but defense that that's kind of what separates it for me and you saw that on full display on Saturday night you talk about out gaining a NC State team that's a top 25 team 460 to 143 that's a special complete performance from Tennessee want to get into what we saw both on the offense and defensive side of the football now before we get into it as always one the Tennessee fans it it's been a blast talk in this program many of you guys know there's not a person higher on Tennessee heading into 2024 than my brother the amount of support y'all have shown the fellas it's been amazing we appreciate you guys we' love to hear how you feel about the football game but more importantly if yall do enjoy the content consider subscribing to the channel and Dill I I'll give you the T Box open up the floor here which way do you want to go when we're talking about this Tennessee performance from last night I mean broadly speaking they really just beat NC State at their own game and and they're not just like a notch physically Superior to that NC State team which I I know people are down on them a little bit because the Western Carolina game I mean we see a lot of teams having those snaf Alabama playing a tight one with USF I mean big teams are playing bad teams if you will tight so I still think NC State's a very very complete team I think they're a very physical team and NC State didn't really feel like they belong physically in that football game with Tennessee on either side of the ball I mean their ability to run the ball really consistently move that NC State team off the ball get to the second level pick up lockers then on the defensive side I mean that was very obvious that onc State team was overwhelmed by that that was my biggest takeaway too like you as an ACC ACC guy myself like how has NC State had so much success in the ACC over the last 10 years team they bully teams Tennessee bullied the bully and I think I want to start on the defensive side of the football where D we've talked about this in the summer months as Tennessee has really ramped it up on the recruiting Trail look we know this offense is going to put up points the part that Tennessee needed to take the step was kind of I think for lack of better terms looking different on defense like having the guys that Georgia and Alabama have specifically in that front seven you watch that NC State team or that NC State game I should say they got legit dudes all over the front seven not only there like two three lines defense what I was gonna say yeah the linebackers I mean there were guys I didn't really know much about I mean coming out playing a really really good game they're rolling six linebackers in and they're not really missing a beat when they go and then obviously that defensive line can probably go almost three three units deep and they're really fresh they were physically dominant they don't get moved around in the ball and they make a lot of plays and I think the what what I love about their defensive line is they have a bunch of different guys who do a bunch of different things you got your physical space eaters like your Simmons your will you're like those type of guys and then you have guys like e and some of the others who are making plays get tfls they're just such a complete unit on that defensive line not to mention they have some Elite pass rush and Josh Joseph's he's coming around to be a star so you pair him up with James Pierce this defensive line I don't really see how they're not a problem for almost every team it's it's kind of the recipe that we kind of saw Michigan go to last year like be really really good against the Run create third and long situations and then there's just not many offensive lines that can hold up in pass protection against not only James Pierce and guys like Josh Joseph's on the outside side you talk about Norman lot and Amari Thomas on the inside the the the recipe for Tennessee on defense it's so clear but you said something really important that I want to talk about again the depth along the front seven that's what separates a lot of really good teams from great teams and again everybody wants to talk about James Pierce who's an elite football player one of the best football players in the country especially with the pace that Tennessee wants to run on offense your defense is going to have to play a lot of football and so you got to be deep you got to be keeping those bodies fresh on the defensive line they absolutely did that then you talk about the biggest question mark that I had about this Tennessee team going into 2024 was the secondary legitimate dudes for NC State right Kevin concep Jones one of the best wide receivers not only in the ACC but in the country NC stay through the football for 104 yards during that football game Tennessee was forcing turnovers the secondary is extremely impressive as well that was the one thing that stood out to me is they when they had guys in position to make plays like on some of those throws to the flat they'd come up and Tackle really consistently I think that was something you obviously wish Tennessee did better last year but again just the defensive intensity their ability to tackle their fundamentals are up and then I think you said it right like their talent in the secondary has kind of come up to meet I don't think it's it's the better unit if you will than that front seven hard to be better than the front seven but that unit is coming up closer to that front seven unit and again they do get a lot of help from that front seven because it's not easy to play quarterback against that group but at the end of the day their ability to take Kevin concepion out of that game for the most part not many teams have been able to do that you didn't go back to like a very good Clemson defense last year they couldn't take Kevin concepion out of the game so their ability to just shut down that playmaker for NC State and give him no space to operate for the most part in that football game I think kind of speaks to where they're getting to in that second we we talked about it heading in like the secondary on paper it's like you lose so much production starters all of that and what we kind of said was okay they might lose a lot of quote unquote experience like proven production we think the guys that are coming in whether it's jaman McCoy or whether it's some of the young cats I think they're more talented and you're starting to see that like these guys are dudes on the outside I I look at the Tennessee defense and say where do you attack this team it's hard to run the football at them it's hard to run the football in space at them because there's so much team speed that was another thing that jumped out not only is Tennessee bullying NC State from a physicality standpoint they're way faster than them too and so like how do you get after this Tennessee defense their effort level is extremely high I thought I was very impressed with their defensive lineman making plays in space like when NC State goes that kind of slip string kind of work yeah get I mean their defensive linemen are all chasing the ball they're making plays I was just very impressed with that again not only just the talent we kind of knew they had the talent obviously very impressed with that secondary talent but their defensive intensity as a unit I think is something I don't think we've seen that Tennessee yeah the crazy thing is I don't think enough people outside of the Tennessee fan base know how much talent on the defense because whenever you listen about how people think think and feel about this Tennessee team it goes to the offense it goes to Nico this defense is really really damn good now let's get into the offense still I think this this offensive line and we kind of said it it's a veteran group you add Lance her at left tackle that dude is an absolute rad grader in the Run game and yes Tennessee and kind of going back to how do you attack Tennessee on defense how do you stop Tennessee on offense because they can attack a defense in so many different ways too whether it's the Run game which I think is going to be aite for Tennesse really throughout the whole season they ran the football for 250 yards on an NC State Defense that has been very good stopping the Run they can also push the ball down vertically vertically down the field which you didn't really see that much against NC State because they didn't really need to go to it but they also can kind of get the quick game going into their Playmakers in space like they're just checking off so many boxes in terms of how they can attack opposing defenses and I think what you saw Saturday night was NC State rushing three dropping eight giving a lot of light boxes which gave n some problems at times in terms of being patient and kind of taking which there but at a certain point Josh hper was like all right you're just gonna put three down linean kind of give us light boxes we're just going to run the football all over you it's exactly what they did in the second half and you kind of talk about that ability to be patient against that NC State team that was something we talked about and there was really that one overthrow obviously that led to a pick where he's probably trying to do a little bit too much but aside from that you didn't really see any of those errors obviously the other pick was kind of like a tip or got his arm hit or whatever happened on it he didn't really make poor decisions against NC State team that again when we were talking about breaking this game down that's probably what NC State was going to try to do make him get like a little an if you will and not just take his check down try to get the ball down the field in tough spots he really again aside from that one play didn't do it so and his ability to be patient really impressive but also it does feel like he's giving Josh Hy much more leeway to open up this offense because that's a different that's a different game that was called against that NC State team than anything we saw last year where it felt like they'd run the ball and pretty much throw the ball to the boundary on hitches or Slants that was pretty much the extend of their offense you saw them go to a lot more you saw them use their tight ends I feel like and I don't know Nico's ability probably just to manipulate the pocket get himself moving outside and then be able to make plays I it just feels like they have more ways to beat or a lot more ways I should say to beat the beat these defenses than they did last year yeah and you talk about Dave Dorne Tony Gibson that NC State Defense like they've made a lot of at least in my opinion really good quarterbacks in the ACC and I think you said this before the game like look really pedestrian like Nico looked really composed yeah you you mentioned the one overthrow but outside of that like not really putting the ball In Harm's Way knowing when to get it done with his legs which again he is such an elite athlete and you don't really appreciate it until he gets out in space and starts legitimately running by defensive backs he's an elite athlete he looked really composed and I I think he's only getting better because again he's a Young quarterback that is still trying to kind of walk that line in terms of I'm A Difference Maker I have some dummy arm talent I can make a lot of different throws when to try to make those throws and when to just take what's there he's only going to get better in terms of kind of walking that line as he matures as a quarterback but you can tell this kid just checks all the boxes but when you give him a run game like you did on Saturday night and again that's an NC State rushing defense that I think is really good they're gonna be really hard to beat uh I don't know what they do with these Tennessee running backs how they develop them but I just the way they can run with patience and make guys miss in short areas and just pumped these guys out for the last three years it feels like I mean so impressive and Dylan Samson just another in the line of really good running backs he really knows how to run in that scheme their offensive line moves guys off the ball and it just it didn't feel like NC State had any answer to deal with that that rushing attack and they were really just running kind of Base power it felt like they were down blocking they were moving guys off the ball pulling around and they weren't really missing any blocks we kind of knew or Tennessee's offensive line was that type of unit I mean they're such a veteran group who played together for so long they just don't make a ton of mistakes they running backs when they have room they make it happen they make big plays it's a re I mean this is a really really complete team at the end of the day because there's just nothing they can't do I don't think and now that their secondary starts is starting to look the part I don't really know what's wrong with this team when you look at a like a Georgia Ohio state is this Tennessee team better than what we saw in 2022 with Hon hooker I think so because I think their offensive line is quite a bit better and they had a and their defense is way better than it was in 20 like I I look at this Tennessee team and say yeah that Tennessee team in 20122 was freaking sweet I think this Tennessee team you're right because this team doesn't necessarily need I don't think they'll need score points they can win games in all sorts of different ways like they can grind you down and win kind of a and that was probably the one thing that Tennessee like if you were able to slow down the football game make it a little bit more of a line of scrimmage game back in 2022 and not get into that track meet like Tennessee could always win those track meets in 2022 they couldn't win those ugly games and so if teams could kind of drag them into the mud a little bit they would struggle they can win the barro fight type of game they also can win a track me game there's a lot of different ways Tennessee can win a football game I think they are significantly more complete than what you saw in 2022 I I think Nico is going to continue to get better as a quarterback in this offense I think this is the best time of SE team we've seen under Josh hpel I am fired up in terms of of what they can do in the SEC we'll cut it there again appreciate you guys rocking with the fellas if you all do enjoy the content consider subscribing to the channel appreciate you guys and we'll talk to youall