And the good news is:

#1
LibertyVolance

LibertyVolance

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#1
Not only are we 5-0, but we haven't really played that well yet. We've played well at times, mostly the 2nd half. But still haven't put an entire game together playing well from start to finish.

The truth is that nobody knows what the outcome will be when A&M/UT match up this coming weekend. That's part of the excitement of college football and the SEC. Many fans are echoing the same sentiments on both sides. They are commenting about whether their injured players will be back and at what percent of their effectiveness. Comments like "We will know what we have after this game" are pretty common.

Jimmy Hyams is living in the past. It's true that all teams used to get sky high for certain games and generally couldn't replicate those emotional peaks in successive weeks. But coaches work hard to avoid those emotional peaks and valleys with their team approach in weekly prep. In contrast to years past, the Florida and Georgia games this year didn't reflect the same pregame feverish emotion as a Florida game in the 90s or an Auburn or Alabama game of the 1980s.

Home field advantage was generally considered an average of 3 points, but it's always been speculative at best. At the end of the day, it's still about which team can make the winning plays playing the best fundamental football and avoiding turnovers that shift momentum.

Look forward to the game. Don't dread it. Have a fun weekend and most of all, Go Big Orange!
 
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#3
#3
The bad news.... is that what we've seen may be what this team really is. We're five games in. If something happens once or twice then you can write it off... but UT hasn't played a complete game yet.

How well they've played in spurts definitely tells us how good they could be.... good enough to beat anyone in the country.... but that's useless unless they play well consistently.



Here's my "prediction" for this week. If UT hits TAM a couple of times with the read option early plus some throws down the seams.... UT will score early and have a great shot of winning its toughest road game of the year. If the Vols sleepwalk out of the tunnel.... it will be over before it starts.

PS- UT really needs Kirkland to play.
 
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#4
#4
And let us not forget that while Team 120 is prepping for A&M, both physically and mentally, the kids have to attend and study for Chemistry, Finance, Economics, Physics, Statistics and so on. God Bless Team 120! Go Vols!
 
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#5
#5
That might be the good news....but that is also the bad news.

We haven't really played well yet. I love that we are 5-0 but this is now 5 games in a row we have started incredibly slow and had to use halftime adjustments to get us focused. We cannot beat A&M or Bama with slow starts.

I really do hope that not playing well yet is the "good news", but the only sliver of doubt left in me all centers on whether or not this team is good enough to put together 4 full quarters. Because it has to happen NOW. Not in 3 weeks. Our season is determined over the next two weeks. We need to play a complete game now.
 
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#6
#6
aTm is the most complete team UT has faced. Chavis has really made a difference in year two. The difference will be whether the offense can sustain first have drives and avoid lapses in concentration.

The defense is beat up, mainly because the offense has put them on the field way too often. my prediction is UT will lose by 12.

FWIW, I think Shoop will make a bigger difference next year. without Sutton, in don't think the Vols have the talent at corner to succeed in a blitz heavy playbook.
 
#7
#7
Chavis is still Chavis. Same weaknesses.

He can ALWAYS be beaten with a good game plan and playcalling.
 
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#8
#8
This is the first time all year we go into a game as underdogs instead of favored. Something tells me this will also be our first complete game of the year. Just a hunch or a feeling but that's the way I am looking at this game. I think we surprise everybody and come out on fire.
 
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#9
#9
Roustabout said:
aTm is the most complete team UT has faced. Chavis has really made a difference in year two. The difference will be whether the offense can sustain first have drives and avoid lapses in concentration.

The defense is beat up, mainly because the offense has put them on the field way too often. my prediction is UT will lose by 12.

FWIW, I think Shoop will make a bigger difference next year. without Sutton, in don't think the Vols have the talent at corner to succeed in a blitz heavy playbook.
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I agree with this. Offense needs to sustain drives. Our defense is depleted. And with most likely no DKJr or JRM they will be attacking our LB's.

The thing is, against UF AND UGA, we moved the ball well and set ourselves up for points and points often in the first half, but due to dumb mistakes (Hurd) and just general inconsistent play, we couldn't capitalize in either game. That cannot happen Saturday. We have to play our best game by far.
 
#10
#10
vols4evah said:
This is the first time all year we go into a game as underdogs instead of favored. Something tells me this will also be our first complete game of the year. Just a hunch or a feeling but that's the way I am looking at this game. I think we surprise everybody and come out on fire.
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I've felt like that the last 4 games
 
#11
#11
VersaceButch said:
That might be the good news....but that is also the bad news.

We haven't really played well yet. I love that we are 5-0 but this is now 5 games in a row we have started incredibly slow and had to use halftime adjustments to get us focused. We cannot beat A&M or Bama with slow starts.

I really do hope that not playing well yet is the "good news", but the only sliver of doubt left in me all centers on whether or not this team is good enough to put together 4 full quarters. Because it has to happen NOW. Not in 3 weeks. Our season is determined over the next two weeks. We need to play a complete game now.
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Everyone said we would not beat Virginia Tech, Florida, and Georgia with slow starts either, but here we are sitting at 5-0. Would I rather start strong and finish stronger? Of course. The point is, this team wins. We have a lot of veteran leadership and talent to carry us forward. People also forget that under Kevin Sumlin, A&M is known for starting strong, and folding in the middle of their schedule against good teams. We have a much better shot at winning this game than many of you are giving us credit for.
 
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#12
#12
LibertyVolance said:
Not only are we 5-0, but we haven't really played that well yet. We've played well at times, mostly the 2nd half. But still haven't put an entire game together playing well from start to finish.

The truth is that nobody knows what the outcome will be when A&M/UT match up this coming weekend. That's part of the excitement of college football and the SEC. Many fans are echoing the same sentiments on both sides. They are commenting about whether their injured players will be back and at what percent of their effectiveness. Comments like "We will know what we have after this game" are pretty common.

Jimmy Hyams is living in the past. It's true that all teams used to get sky high for certain games and generally couldn't replicate those emotional peaks in successive weeks. But coaches work hard to avoid those emotional peaks and valleys with their team approach in weekly prep. In contrast to years past, the Florida and Georgia games this year didn't reflect the same pregame feverish emotion as a Florida game in the 90s or an Auburn or Alabama game of the 1980s.

Home field advantage was generally considered an average of 3 points, but it's always been speculative at best. At the end of the day, it's still about which team can make the winning plays playing the best fundamental football and avoiding turnovers that shift momentum.

Look forward to the game. Don't dread it. Have a fun weekend and most of all, Go Big Orange!
Click to expand...

"...the best fundamental football and avoiding turnovers that shift momentum." See General Neyland's Maxims.
 
#13
#13
AllVolForLife_16 said:
Everyone said we would not beat Virginia Tech, Florida, and Georgia with slow starts either, but here we are sitting at 5-0. Would I rather start strong and finish stronger? Of course. The point is, this team wins. We have a lot of veteran leadership and talent to carry us forward. People also forget that under Kevin Sumlin, A&M is known for starting strong, and folding in the middle of their schedule against good teams. We have a much better shot at winning this game than many of you are giving us credit for.
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TAMU has also proven so far this year to be much better than Va Tech, Florida, and Georgia. Plus, this is a road game. Which makes it even worse.

Also, people keep acting like the past dictates the future. Sumlin teams folding in the 6th game of the year every year is not going to happen forever. If past performances were true, then we would not have beaten Florida or Georgia this year.

TAMU looks very good and we have yet to put a complete game together. People should be more worried about this one than they are. We cannot get down 17-0 against TAMU. They are not going to play conservative or take their foot off the pedal after seeing how resilient this team is.
 
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#14
#14
Volador said:
And let us not forget that while Team 120 is prepping for A&M, both physically and mentally, the kids have to attend and study for Chemistry, Finance, Economics, Physics, Statistics and so on. God Bless Team 120! Go Vols!
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Literally none of them are taking those classes fyi.
 
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#15
#15
VersaceButch said:
TAMU has also proven so far this year to be much better than Va Tech, Florida, and Georgia. Plus, this is a road game. Which makes it even worse.

Also, people keep acting like the past dictates the future. Sumlin teams folding in the 6th game of the year every year is not going to happen forever. If past performances were true, then we would not have beaten Florida or Georgia this year.

TAMU looks very good and we have yet to put a complete game together. People should be more worried about this one than they are. We cannot get down 17-0 against TAMU. They are not going to play conservative or take their foot off the pedal after seeing how resilient this team is.
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So you think beating a terrible South Carolina team 24-13 looks good? Just going by your logic here. We will be able to score some points this weekend, you can count on that. We need our defense to step up and make some plays in this one. One positive is against VT our defense was able to clamp down and contain Evans who poses similar threats as Knight. I think Knight is obviously the better and more proven QB, but it's good to know that we were able to contain a QB with dual threat capabilities coming into this game. Keeping Knight in the pocket and under pressure will be crucial in getting the W this weekend.
 
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#16
#16
I'm just enjoying the ride. It's been a long time since we can say that we have beaten FL & UGA in the same season. Let alone in back to back weeks. We still have 7 more regular season games and all 7 are winnable. Go Vols!
 
#17
#17
I think I may have posted this on another thread but we haven't played a complete game either, we've had some good quarters but have yet to put together even a good half. This game scares me because one of us is bound to have a 4 quarter game this weekend, I'm just hoping its not UT. This should be anther nail biter, not sure my heart can take these games.
 
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#18
#18
AllVolForLife_16 said:
Everyone said we would not beat Virginia Tech, Florida, and Georgia with slow starts either, but here we are sitting at 5-0. Would I rather start strong and finish stronger? Of course. The point is, this team wins. We have a lot of veteran leadership and talent to carry us forward. People also forget that under Kevin Sumlin, A&M is known for starting strong, and folding in the middle of their schedule against good teams. We have a much better shot at winning this game than many of you are giving us credit for.
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If you consistently pet a rattlesnake, eventually it will bite you.
 
#19
#19
AllVolForLife_16 said:
So you think beating a terrible South Carolina team 24-13 looks good? Just going by your logic here. We will be able to score some points this weekend, you can count on that. We need our defense to step up and make some plays in this one. One positive is against VT our defense was able to clamp down and contain Evans who poses similar threats as Knight. I think Knight is obviously the better and more proven QB, but it's good to know that we were able to contain a QB with dual threat capabilities coming into this game. Keeping Knight in the pocket and under pressure will be crucial in getting the W this weekend.
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I never said TAMU looked good against USCe, but every team can kind of slip up every now and then. The thing is TAMU never got down big against USCe, was in the game the whole time, and made some mistakes that hurt them.

Other than that, TAMU has looked pretty dominant so far, including a neutral field route of Arkansas by 21 who is a lot better this year than most think.

I'm not counting us out of this game, just trying to elaborate that this game is probably the toughest one on our schedule and a decent amount of fans seem to think it will be a win because "we haven't played a complete game yet."

We have no proof this is the week we put it all together. I sure hope we do! But it still remains to be seen.
 
#20
#20
Brave Volunteer said:
If you consistently pet a rattlesnake, eventually it will bite you.
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Trust me, I want to see a 4 quarter game from this team. Because if that happens, I'm not sure anyone can keep it close against us. I'm just simply saying, I've heard the same thing for the past 4 weeks and we're 5-0. Definitely need more consistency in all 4 quarters though I fully agree.
 
#21
#21
VersaceButch said:
I agree with this. Offense needs to sustain drives. Our defense is depleted. And with most likely no DKJr or JRM they will be attacking our LB's.

The thing is, against UF AND UGA, we moved the ball well and set ourselves up for points and points often in the first half, but due to dumb mistakes (Hurd) and just general inconsistent play, we couldn't capitalize in either game. That cannot happen Saturday. We have to play our best game by far.
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I absolutely agree. Knight is deceptively quick as well as experienced (with us). You know they will try their best to exploit our injured LB position with keepers. He is the 9th leading rusher in the sec and he's a QB. He has more rushing yardage than many of the league's running backs and is averaging nearly 80 yds per game besides being the 3rd leading passer in the sec.

So if Kirkland is not healthy enough to return (and I'm assuming he is not) for more than just a few plays if any, Shoop needs to do his best work of the season preparing Jumper and McDowell for all contingencies.

But Chavis hasn't done his best work against running QBs himself. Those monster DEs are going to overwhelm our OTs at times and Dobbs needs to pull it down quick and not waste an extra second heading for daylight. He can make our biggest plays performing a great escape.
 
#22
#22
LibertyVolance said:
I absolutely agree. Knight is deceptively quick as well as experienced (with us). You know they will try their best to exploit our injured LB position with keepers. He is the 9th leading rusher in the sec and he's a QB. He has more rushing yardage than many of the league's running backs and is averaging nearly 80 yds per game besides being the 3rd leading passer in the sec.

So if Kirkland is not healthy enough to return (and I'm assuming he is not) for more than just a few plays if any, Shoop needs to do his best work of the season preparing Jumper and McDowell for all contingencies.

But Chavis hasn't done his best work against running QBs himself. Those monster DEs are going to overwhelm our OTs at times and Dobbs needs to pull it down quick and not waste an extra second heading for daylight. He can make our biggest plays performing a great escape.
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The bottom line is quite simple, and most on Vol Nation, and across the country, see it. We have to play almost mistake free football this Saturday and have a quicker start. Limit drops, don't put the ball on the ground regardless of whether or not we recover it, no stupid penalties, and capitalize on field position and red zone. If we can come out on our opening drive and get even a field goal I would be happy. I just need to see us start more efficiently, and I would love for more variety in our play selection.

And for the love of god can we stop the pass 2-yards behind the line of scrimmage to Josh Smith? It rarely works and is almost a wasted play. That play killed our opening drive in the first quarter. Hurd runs up the middle for 10 yards to start the game, and then a few plays later we do that dumb swing pass and we are at 2nd and 13 in an instant.
 
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#23
#23
SanAntonioAggie said:
I think I may have posted this on another thread but we haven't played a complete game either, we've had some good quarters but have yet to put together even a good half. This game scares me because one of us is bound to have a 4 quarter game this weekend, I'm just hoping its not UT. This should be anther nail biter, not sure my heart can take these games.
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Welcome Aggie. Looking forward to a great game this weekend at College Station. This is what college football is all about, especially the SEC. Great to have A&M in the conference. I'm still not convinced Mizzou was a natural fit, but Texas A&M most certainly is. Like I said in my OP opinion, I don't have a clue how this game plays out. If we knew ahead of time, that would take the excitement and fun out of it.

Here's hoping for a good, cleanly played game without injury and the nation is tuned in for a terrific Gameday Saturday afternoon.
 
#24
#24
we had a better first half against Georgia than it looked..A couple of dumbass plays caused us 14 points early..we should have been down 3 at the half or had the lead...we need to stop making dumbass mistakes...GBO
 
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#25
#25
jctenn1 said:
we had a better first half against Georgia than it looked..A couple of dumbass plays caused us 14 points early..we should have been down 3 at the half or had the lead...we need to stop making dumbass mistakes...GBO
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That's pretty much the story of the season so far...
 
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