Tennessee a Cinder-fing-rella Pick for the Playoff?

[ClearwaterVol]

ESPN

Tennessee: As one SEC coach told me recently, "Tennessee, where were they two years ago?" The answer, of course, was nowhere. Phillip Fulmer was long gone. The ghost of Lane Kiffin still hung somewhere over Rocky Top. And Derek Dooley was still a favorite punching bag. Butch Jones was only getting started and in 2013 he and the Vols finished with an unspectacular 5-7 record. Now, they're on the cusp. They're still young, granted, but after reaching and winning a bowl game with almost no experience on either the offensive or defensive lines last season, you have to recognize there's potential there. In a lackluster SEC East, the road to Atlanta isn't exactly treacherous. Win there and you're likely in the playoff. From there, it's all about the roll of the dice.

 

[VFL-82-JP]

I would agree...if we get to the NC playoffs, that'll be pretty Cinderella-ish ... one year off a 7-6 season. I'm all for it, let's do it.

 

[Dave1967]

It's awesome to see Tennessee getting talked about again! I think Tennessee gets the 2014 Ole Miss-Mississippi State treatment by ESPN and CBS.

 

[jasonvol18]

It's awesome to see Tennessee getting talked about again! I think Tennessee gets the 2014 Ole Miss-Mississippi State treatment by ESPN and CBS.

If we start the season like they did then we definitely will. But if we lose to OU and UF again then we will be seeing a lot of SEC Network early games on TV.

 

[Dave1967]

If we start the season like they did then we definitely will. But if we lose to OU and UF again then we will be seeing a lot of SEC Network early games on TV.

I would think an 8-4 team would get games on ESPN and CBS.

 

[92volalum]

I would think an 8-4 team would get games on ESPN and CBS.

It depends if you lose to ou,fla,ga and bama.. U pretty much beat no one except mizzu who is no one in reality from a national standpoint.

Ou n fla have to be wins to get a lot of love from the networks. Imo

 

[Dave1967]

It depends if you lose to ou,fla,ga and bama.. U pretty much beat no one except mizzu who is no one in reality from a national standpoint.

Ou n fla have to be wins to get a lot of love from the networks. Imo

I think UT beats UGA and loses to Mizzou

 

[Vol_is_Lyfe18]

in b4 pump the "breaks"

 

[MFL]

10-2 and I'm elated and then the other will follow:cool2:

 

[JonGrudensAgent]

Sounds good to me except the little hassle of still having to win the SEC title even if they navigate the SEC East unscathed.

 

[volroadwarrior]

We should win 7 or 8 games, but it really gets scary if Dobbs gets hurt.

 

[ainge10heisman]

Hey, why not, let's do this. Vols to the playoffs sounds great to me.

 

[bigsteve13]

How about we beat Florida and then we talk about the rest of the season

 

[Catbone]

We should win 7 or 8 games, but it really gets scary if Dobbs gets hurt.

This. Same at RB. 8 wins ceiling, then next year 9+

 

[KnoxRealtorVOL]

How about we beat Florida and then we talk about the rest of the season

Ain't gonna happen

 

[Nationdom]

We should win 7 or 8 games, but it really gets scary if Dobbs gets hurt.

If Dobbs goes down, we've got 3 highly touted 4 stars behind them. At least one of them should be able to get the job done with the amount of talent and depth we have. Running back I'm more worried about.

 

[joevol33]

I see no reason we can't win the east. Blah, blah all you want about uga or Missouri, but we can beat them both.

 

[Shades]

We all know of a couple other SEC teams that have done 1-year turn arounds from worse previous-year records than we just posted.

Auburn:
2012: 3-9 (0-8)
2013: 12-2 (7-1) Lost Nat Champ Game

Missouri:
2012: 5-7 (2-6)
2013: 12-2 (7-1)

Butch Stones. Top 5 recruiting seasons. Lots of returning talent. Positive team atmosphere. Injured playmakers getting healed up. Kick-ass defense in the making. O-line starting to meld.

Why the h*ll not?

 

[ruger1234]

I've been drinking a little vodka this evening so my orange tinted glasses may be a little darker than normal. We will thrash the gators in the swamp, steam roll the dawgs in Neyland, and squeak by Missouri. Spurriers bantam cocks don't stand a chance. The mighty power T WILL be represented in Atlanta. I don't really care who we face from the west in Atlanta, they gonna get slapped around like a redheaded step child

 

[montanatenn]

We all know of a couple other SEC teams that have done 1-year turn arounds from worse previous-year records than we just posted.

Auburn:
2012: 3-9 (0-8)
2013: 12-2 (7-1) Lost Nat Champ Game

Missouri:
2012: 5-7 (2-6)
2013: 12-2 (7-1)

Butch Stones. Top 5 recruiting seasons. Lots of returning talent. Positive team atmosphere. Injured playmakers getting healed up. Kick-ass defense in the making. O-line starting to meld.

Why the h*ll not?

We will crack the top 10 after the bama win at 7-0.

 

[1985Vols]

We should win 7 or 8 games, but it really gets scary if Dobbs gets hurt.

If Dobbs gets hurt, all bets are off. Hopefully we will have a defense that can win games if our offense struggles ( minus Dobbs)

 

[TNVOLFN]

Catch 22. Great fan expectations, but reality indicates our depth isn't 44 deep, yet.

 

[Vol_is_Lyfe18]

Catch 22. Great fan expectations, but reality indicates our depth isn't 44 deep, yet.

I'm pretty sure we return 39(?) of our 44 deep, so it's not unreasonable to believe we could win the east.

 

[HuntlandVolinColo]

ESPN

Tennessee: As one SEC coach told me recently, "Tennessee, where were they two years ago?" The answer, of course, was nowhere. Phillip Fulmer was long gone. The ghost of Lane Kiffin still hung somewhere over Rocky Top. And Derek Dooley was still a favorite punching bag. Butch Jones was only getting started and in 2013 he and the Vols finished with an unspectacular 5-7 record. Now, they're on the cusp. They're still young, granted, but after reaching and winning a bowl game with almost no experience on either the offensive or defensive lines last season, you have to recognize there's potential there. In a lackluster SEC East, the road to Atlanta isn't exactly treacherous. Win there and you're likely in the playoff. From there, it's all about the roll of the dice.

If we can beat Geo, Arky and o-bama, we can beat anyone!

 

[JohnMcA60]

We better hope we do because expectations will rise through the year more and more (as usual). People will start by saying 8-4 and we are fine but then we lose one or two games close and we could've been 10-2 but yet we are back to where we said he was safe at 8-4. Anything is possible but I'd look more towards 2016 as that year. 2015 will be a Ole Miss type breakout season but idk if we can go 11-1 or 12-0 plus win SECCG