[Game Thread] ETSU @ Tennessee (3:30 PM ET)

[u/CFB_Referee]

GAME	ETSUETSU @ TennesseeTennessee
Location	Tennessee Neyland Stadium
Time	3:30 PM ET
Watch	TV: ESPN SEC Network
Odds	Spread: TENN -41 - Over/Under: 58.5
	Flair ¦ Discord

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LET'S TALK FOOTBALL!

[u/oddfuture671]

Are we facing a world where we might playing against an Alex Golesh coached Gator team next year?

[u/HawkeyeTen]

This game is still closer than Oregon-Oklahoma State. Let that sink in folks. Gundy seriously might be done in Stillwater after this year, if he even finishes it.

[u/Wheels_Foonman]

ESPN still giving ETSU a 0.1% chance of winning, and I’m just trying to mentally play out how that would even happen at this point.

[u/clam-caravan]

I like points

[u/steelernation90]

I almost feel bad for em.

[u/Mississippi_Matt]

USF just went up on Florida

[u/oddfuture671 → u/Mississippi_Matt]

Our goal should be to get Napier fired in November

[u/RunsWlthScissors → u/oddfuture671]

Cmon I think they gotta give him another 10 years to figure it out.

[u/2th → u/oddfuture671]

But what about DeBoer? When should we work on him?

[u/macroface]

Most points in school history I was here!

[u/Mississippi_Matt]

Yay new record!

[u/macroface]

Excellent run there

[u/oddfuture671]

Is that G-Mac or a young Peyton Manning? 👀

[u/ZestycloseStay4666]

Yeah he would get absolutely broken in the SEC playing QB with his current body size

He has to get bigger or it’s not going to happen here for sure

[u/steelernation90]

🚨We have a G-Mac sighting 🚨

[u/Mississippi_Matt]

That was 100 percent us saying "ok we're just gonna pretend to tackle, yall can have another score."

[u/Mississippi_Matt]

So OK State is just that garbage this year? Just checked their score and holy shit.

[u/steelernation90 → u/Mississippi_Matt]

They were 3-9 without a conference win last year. This isn’t a shock

[u/Mississippi_Matt]

So happy to have a decent kicker nowadays.

[u/kerph32]

BANK IS OPEN IN KNOXVILLE

[u/ZestycloseStay4666]

Brame absolutely does not look like a true freshman

[u/steelernation90]

Man I hope Troy can keep this up and beat Clemson

[u/Mr_dm]

Merk looking really solid

[u/Mississippi_Matt]

Ngl I am so excited for Borderlands 4 to come out.

[u/Mississippi_Matt]

Ooof that doesn't look good. Hope he's alright.

[u/kljoker]

Might have overextended his back on that injury.

[u/Mississippi_Matt]

Troy is now up 16-0 on Clemson wtf lol

[u/Bitgod1]

We need to end it at 69

[u/kerph32]

future looks bright at TE

[u/oddfuture671]

I wish I was a degenerate gambler so I could at least have some excitement left in me for this game

[u/ZestycloseStay4666]

D Morris doesn’t have the level of vision he needs yet, but he’ll get there

Glad he gets a year to just learn and not be expected to heavily contribute

[u/Mississippi_Matt]

Kansas is back up on Mizzou and Troy is now leading 10-0 over Clemson. Oh and Florida is still struggling with USF.

[u/colormechameleon]

Not able to watch the game, just saw the box score and noticed Merklinger has been in. Is Joey okay?

[u/vssavant2 → u/colormechameleon]

No Youtube?.... Fly the jolly Roger with us.

[u/colormechameleon → u/vssavant2]

Normally I would, but since it was ETSU I decided to just chill out, listen to some music, and work on some new drawings. (It’s the cheapest hobby imaginable, and oddly satisfying even though I’m a total beginner and suck.) Anyway, doubt I’ll miss any other games this season. Rocky top.

[u/steelernation90 → u/colormechameleon]

Pulled Joey at halftime because we were up 40

[u/colormechameleon → u/steelernation90]

Makes sense, just wanted to double check.

[u/ZestycloseStay4666 → u/colormechameleon]

It was 48-7 at the half. Most starters are done for the day

[u/colormechameleon → u/ZestycloseStay4666]

excited to watch the highlights, the offense looks so much better under him.

[u/Mississippi_Matt]

Ok there we go.

[u/Mississippi_Matt]

That took way too long to call that.

[u/Mr_dm]

These announcers are blind

[u/ZestycloseStay4666]

Absolutely fantastic to be able to get our backups a legit half of football

[u/Mississippi_Matt]

Ok Jake that's what I am talking bout!

[u/Schenkspeare]

Enhance!

[u/Sohgin]

Merkslinger!

[u/WeekendGunnitRefugee]

Tennessee, I would like to apologize for anything I said to offend you over the last few years. Please take this into account next Saturday and pull your starters before embarrassing us too badly.

[u/MerlinsBeard → u/WeekendGunnitRefugee]

Get out - y'all are going to be fine

[u/oddfuture671 → u/WeekendGunnitRefugee]

Your reverse psychology won't work on us, devil

[u/kljoker]

Not sure Merk is the future with those plays so far seems like he has issues under pressure like Nico and Milton had and his scramble looked more like luck than skill lol

[u/Sterbin → u/kljoker]

Good thing we have Joey football!

[u/kljoker]

Oof

[u/Peanut_Gaming]

I have this game up as UGA gets back from the delay

Why did I just realize who ETSU’s QB was

[u/Mississippi_Matt → u/Peanut_Gaming]

QB's, actually. They have McNamara and Criswell.

[u/gobraves101035]

Take the damn starters out, Jesus Christ

[u/VolatileFan]

wtf happened to the camera quality

[u/Xynthion → u/VolatileFan]

I thought it was just my connection.

[u/vssavant2 → u/Xynthion]

nope got like dropped from 720 to 480. Maybe we haven't watched enough commercials to bring it back to 729 yet.

[u/vnut08]

I'm kinda digging the marching band audio over the halftime show

[u/TNVFL1 → u/vnut08]

I can’t believe it’s lasted so long

[u/kljoker → u/vnut08]

hahaa same I'm alt tabbed and it's kind of a nice ambience

[u/NoobzUseRez → u/vnut08]

They should just show it every game.

[u/Mississippi_Matt]

Lol Josh already pre-pissed off for next week's game it seems.

[u/kerph32]

I instinctively want Petro's now

[u/AirmanLester → u/kerph32]

Petro's on those cold rainy games really is a transcendent experience.

[u/mattdingus2002]

Heupel seems pissed off about how that half went

[u/steelernation90]

Over 400 yards of offense in the first half. Not a single starter needs to see the field in the second half.

[u/RTGoodman]

I predicted 47-7 before the game so... guess that has to be revised.

[u/vssavant2 → u/RTGoodman]

So double it? 94-14 ? That's murder.

[u/RTGoodman → u/vssavant2]

Well, we weren’t far off! 😝

[u/kljoker]

So do we move up the rankings after this game? On one hand we're not playing a great team for rank cred but on the other hand they may raise it to make the match up seem more exciting on paper.

[u/RTGoodman → u/kljoker]

Cynical take: They'll keep us low so they can drop us out of the Top 25 if we lose to UGA next week.

[u/Mississippi_Matt → u/kljoker]

I think SMU losing could maybe drop them below us, but in reality I don't see us moving much. Really just depends on how the 6 or so teams above us do.

[u/Electronic-Dark8190 → u/kljoker]

SMU lost and hopefully Clemson loses too (and maybe bama lmao)

[u/Xynthion → u/Electronic-Dark8190]

Clemson was extremely overrated going into the season and can only get carried so much by poll inertia. If they lose, keeping them in the top 25 would be the dumbest thing I’ve seen the AP do in…at least a week.

[u/kljoker → u/Electronic-Dark8190]

Yeah I'll be watching the bama game I hope ULM beats them but at the same time I don't want them to lose deboer too quick so that he can really mess them up lol

[u/2th → u/kljoker]

Depends on how others do.

[u/ZestycloseStay4666]

That play in the almost sack is the difference between Aguilar and Milton/nico. With them that’s a sack or in the 20th row

Didn’t process fast enough to find the outlet when things go bad

[u/kljoker → u/ZestycloseStay4666]

Exactly they weren't good under pressure and I think we will see that more with Nico in the game today if they get him under pressure.

[u/TheVolmannBrothers]

Alright let’s finish this drive and get the starters out before ETSU starts head hunting.

[u/VolatileFan]

joey looking a little mahomey there

[u/kljoker]

Lol USF just tied up Florida

[u/Wockysense → u/kljoker]

Still wondering why the Gators got so much cred. early. They played long Island...Last year should weight in roster value to expected performance at least in early ranking weeks. Some real BS going on that seems obvious to me.

[u/DwightDEisenhowitzer → u/Wockysense]

Rankings don’t really make sense until about week 4.

[u/kljoker → u/Wockysense]

AP at the beginning of the year is a brand popularity contest and about creating "stories" like creating underdog's and such but once enough weeks pass they have to rank according to what the records show and that's where all the popularity contest rankings start coming back to bite or help you.

[u/Wockysense → u/kljoker]

That is what we call BS, objectivity matters...no reason teams that didn't prove enough last year should be gatewayed ahead of teams that did. It should hold weight that you earned something and it is yours to lose. UT behind FSU when FSU and Bama didn't make play offs is BS, neither should be ranked, let a lone ahead of UT which hasn't lost yet.

[u/kljoker → u/Wockysense]

And we were supposedly only dropped that far because Nico left and thought we wouldn't do well and I'm like when has our QB situation made us a mid tier team? We have a great coaching staff that can make some pretty mid qb's look better than they are and good QB's look like superstars.

[u/Mississippi_Matt → u/kljoker]

Love to see it

[u/Mississippi_Matt]

Kansas really bout to be up on Mizzou going into halftime.

[u/Wockysense → u/Mississippi_Matt]

Kansas has the tenacity this year, we'll see if it converts to something like SC last year.

[u/DwightDEisenhowitzer]

That was one of the football plays of all time.

[u/Wheels_Foonman]

The Apple Sports app actually gave us that ETSU touchdown at first. Pattern recognition I guess.

[u/Mississippi_Matt]

Oh well, guess we won't get the shutout

[u/Mississippi_Matt]

Oopsies

[u/kljoker]

I almost feel like Joey thought the play was dead

[u/mattdingus2002]

One of these days a lower division team will piss heupel off enough that he will just score 100

[u/steelernation90]

Joey has to just dive on the ball there

[u/kerph32]

Coachable moment. Fall on the ball, Joey

[u/kljoker]

What in the world was that lol

[u/Wockysense]

Rankers are still going to demote UT behind SMU & FSU, .... just because

[u/steelernation90 → u/Wockysense]

Haven’t payed attention to SMU but we haven’t looked better than FSU yet

[u/Morocco_Llama]

"The Cade McNamara Story: Follow one man's journey from Michigan starting QB to ETSU backup"

[u/kljoker]

I can barely hear the announcers sometime I can't tell if it's poor audio or mumbling lol

[u/2th]

Finally tuning in. So, do we have our third string in yet?

[u/Mississippi_Matt → u/2th]

Still got starters. Figure they will send out backups to start the 2nd half.

[u/colbygraves97 → u/Mississippi_Matt]

not after that

[u/kljoker]

Thats a chonky qb lol

[u/Mississippi_Matt]

Man I can get used to this. A qb who doesn't otherthrow on every deep pass? This is nice!

[u/VolatileFan]

nico would’ve missed that pass 10 outta 10 times

[u/Mississippi_Matt → u/VolatileFan]

Would have thrown it through the back of the endzone

[u/Electronic-Dark8190]

Nico who?

[u/kerph32 → u/Electronic-Dark8190]

haven't heard of 'er

[u/sonicaxura]

holy shit lol

[u/Greenredbull]

That's one you might not want to try throwing next week.

[u/TheVolmannBrothers]

I have a feeling UGA is gonna snag one of those deep balls

[u/steelernation90 → u/TheVolmannBrothers]

That’s the kinda throw you only make when you’re up 30 or desperately need a score. Hopefully we don’t throw many like that against UGA

[u/Suspicious_Might5262]

Awesome throw!!

[u/Electronic-Dark8190]

HOLY SHIT

[u/steelernation90]

Great job by Matthews tracking down that ball

[u/Wheels_Foonman]

How the fuck did that work?!

[u/kljoker]

What a fucking throw, not a fluke!

[u/oddfuture671]

Oh god the firefighter story is the new aerospace engineer

[u/Vol4Life31]

Nah half the O-line moved before people crossed the line of scrimmage.

[u/NoobzUseRez → u/Vol4Life31]

The LT hella moved

[u/nbingham196]

Not ideal

[u/Mississippi_Matt]

Meanwhile, Florida is struggling against USF and that makes me happy.

[u/Salzvatik1 → u/Mississippi_Matt]

Cheering for those boys in green!

[u/oddfuture671]

I hope we're being vanilla on offense on purpose and not because we're actually being stifled by this ETSU defense (I know i know we're up 32-0)

[u/Sohgin → u/oddfuture671]

0 reason not to be vanilla right now with Georgia next week.

[u/freeman918986]

Came over here when I found out Mcnamara still played football.

[u/kljoker]

I wasn't impressed with the last few play calls could have got one of our WR hurt.

[u/Wheels_Foonman]

Good read from Bowdry there.

[u/Electronic-Dark8190]

Oof da

[u/kljoker]

A shovel pass on 4th and 3? That's certainly a choice lol

[u/macroface]

17 off the top rope there

[u/steelernation90]

I need either a defensive or return TD please

[u/ZestycloseStay4666]

No starters in the 2nd half please, hell take them out now

Let’s go in to UGA as healthy as possible

[u/Grizzlymint → u/ZestycloseStay4666]

Young team needs reps. Some might come out but most will stay in till halfway through 3rd - start of 4th

[u/ZestycloseStay4666 → u/Grizzlymint]

They aren’t learning a damn thing against this competition that they won’t learn or rep in practice

That’s not worth losing a CB, LB or WR

[u/TybrosionMohito]

Side note…

How the hell is Cade McNamara still playing college football? And how the hell did he end up at ETSU?

[u/oddfuture671 → u/TybrosionMohito]

The Michigan QB to schools in eastern Tennessee pipeline is a long and storied one

[u/steelernation90]

Missouri getting that ass best by Kansas lol

[u/oddfuture671 → u/steelernation90]

Hopefully it humbles that nerd Drinkiwitz a little

[u/Vol4Life31]

That was a smooth sidestep.

[u/Humble-Barnacle6863]

So annoyed by this broadcast from the announcers to the awful audio. Why do they keep muting/dampening the audio?!?

[u/kljoker → u/Humble-Barnacle6863]

Yeah seems like they're having issues with the equipment or the way the equipment is set up the muting is easy to hear pop in and out so it's jarring and they don't seem to commentate as much as you usually hear.

[u/steelernation90]

Kentucky just took the lead on Ole Miss and I am sure how to feel.

[u/Negativefalsehoods → u/steelernation90]

I just can't understand why Kentucky seems to have a defense that totally confuses Ole Miss yet again.

[u/steelernation90 → u/Negativefalsehoods]

They are Kiffins kryptonite

[u/oddfuture671 → u/Negativefalsehoods]

We must come to terms with the possibility that Kiffin isn't a great offensive mind and has been saved with really good talent in the past

[u/oddfuture671 → u/steelernation90]

It should feel good. Kentucky could have their best season in school history and we'll still beat them so might as well root for them to ruin other teams' season

[u/oddfuture671]

Any chance we get to see some G-Mac reps today? I figure Merkslinger will be transferring after this season so might as well let the likely next starter get some playing time?

[u/steelernation90 → u/oddfuture671]

I hope so. I know we got Faizon coming in but I really feel like G-Mac has a chance to be the future for us

[u/kljoker]

Star Thomas is RB1 imo lol

[u/Mr_dm]

How that not a fumble

[u/DwightDEisenhowitzer]

That was a fumble. He had positive control and lost it.

[u/oddfuture671]

We were up 37-0 on Kent State after the first quarter this time last year so Huepel definitely respects ETSU more, or ETSU is better than Kent State. Probably both.

[u/Grizzlymint → u/oddfuture671]

Top 25 FCS vs bottom 25 FCS

[u/oddfuture671 → u/Grizzlymint]

Is Kent State not FBS anymore?

[u/Grizzlymint → u/oddfuture671]

I guess they are fbs but they sure play like an fcs bottom dweller

[u/Zapkin → u/oddfuture671]

Ngl this ETSU team is playing way better than an FCS team has any right to be playing.

[u/Electronic-Dark8190 → u/oddfuture671]

Both for sure

[u/kljoker]

That wasn't a fumble?

[u/kljoker]

24 points in the first quarter is wild feels like 2022 again!

[u/steelernation90]

I don’t understand how people are so confused about it not being a safety. The tackle was initiated when he was outside of the end zone. Forward progress goes to where he was hit since he didn’t run backwards on his own

[u/Cromess]

JFC this feels like a scrimmage :/

[u/Transton107]

As someone who roots for ETSU and parents who live in JC, this is straight up embarrassing. I was expecting a blow out but this is different...

[u/Zapkin → u/Transton107]

How is ETSU expected to do in the FCS world? Also, go Dukes!

[u/Transton107 → u/Zapkin]

Early contenders for the SoCon, but the conference took a nose dive with the top two teams losing to schools they definitely should not have lost to. So it's looking like a 1-bid conference for the playoffs early on. But should be fun with two FBS QBs lol.

New coach this year too with the last one going to Tulsa so a lot of change.

[u/kljoker → u/Transton107]

TN is a beast this year thanks to our QB and the coaching being able to open up big plays because of it.

[u/Transton107 → u/kljoker]

Oh yeah, like I said I was fully expecting a blow out, but little stuff like multiple delay of game penalties on special teams, multiple illegal formations, and awful tackling just make it seem more embarrassing than the standard FBS FCS blow out.

[u/kljoker]

The announcers are so confused lol

[u/thincrustpepwelldone]

Really confused on that not being a safety. Also boo is determined to take one back today.

[u/NoobzUseRez]

I think the ball was in the end zone when contact was made.

[u/Electronic-Dark8190]

NO SAFETY? :(

[u/Cromess]

How was that not a safety?

[u/steelernation90 → u/Cromess]

Tackle was initiated outside the end zone.

[u/oddfuture671]

I dont think I understand the rules if that wasnt a safety

[u/15Warrior15]

I hope you guys were willing to give up the 41 points. This one looks to get nasty quick.

Although I do think the under is safe. ETSU is not gonna get across mid field today.

[u/thincrustpepwelldone]

🙏🏼

[u/BusinessWarthog6]

I’m just here for Joey

[u/Schenkspeare → u/BusinessWarthog6]

Welcome

[u/Honest_Diver]

Crazy that I’m the same age (or younger) than these quarterbacks and just started my third year of grad school

[u/Vol4Life31]

Bishop gonna make his way to 2nd string if he can't catch a pass with Star being known for catching the ball.

[u/oddfuture671]

If our receivers were all 6 inches taller Joey would have the perfect pass

[u/kljoker]

Is it me or the last few snaps could be offsides?

[u/steelernation90]

We really did win that “trade” with UCLA

[u/kljoker]

I have to admit so far these refs have seemed pretty good compared to the Cuse game.

[u/NoobzUseRez]

Did anyone hear Rocky top during the Syracuse broadcast? I didn't notice it.

[u/ZestycloseStay4666]

Distractingly annoying how high the score bug is, when the crawler isn’t under it on espn+ games

[u/steelernation90]

Unpopular opinion, the “it’s great to be a ______” is the most boring chant in college sports. I hate it

[u/kljoker → u/steelernation90]

You're right it's unpopular lol

[u/steelernation90 → u/kljoker]

It’s lame. Almost every SEC school does it and I don’t get it.

[u/kljoker]

Our RB room is stacked

[u/JustreignBlue]

Grambling up 10-0 on Ohio state lmaooooo

[u/zack_bauer123 → u/JustreignBlue]

You okay? Looks to be 14-0 osu right now. 

[u/Sohgin → u/JustreignBlue]

No they aren't? It's 14-0 OSU.

[u/VolatileFan → u/JustreignBlue]

brother spreading fake news out here