I think many of us got sucked in with the decent recruiting, managing to beat UF/UGA, and that we seemed to have less off the field issues. Looking back the east was horrible during that period. I really hoped the App St game was a fluke. Unfortunately the A&M game really showed how non physical we were.
Heh, at the time we knew the East was horrible.
I started to have doubts that Butch was a big time coach during 2015 after the Oklahoma, Florida, and Arkansas losses. I was still optimistic - it had been a long time since Tennessee had flashed this potential so maybe they were still "learning how to win" - but I also had doubts.
After the South Carolina and Vandy losses in 2016, I knew there was a decent chance 2017 would be his last season. Butch was bringing back a less talented team in 2017 than 2016, but the expectations were pretty much the same (win the East).
Looking back on it, it's easy to poke holes even in the victories he had. He finished 2015 6-0, but those teams finished the season with a combined record of 28-45. We destroyed N'western in the bowl, who did finish the season 10-3, but they lost to the two best teams they played during the regular season that year by a combined score of 78-10 (Michigan and Iowa). That was a nice win for a program that was still on the rise, which Tennessee supposed to be, but I think Butch thought of that win as one you could rest your laurels on.
Then in 2016, we start 5-0, but even that is misleading. In the season opener against App, we were totally outplayed and should have lost. Totally dominated at the line of scrimmage and the offensive playcalling showed no creativity at all. We go on to beat Virginia Tech by 3 TDs in a highly publicized spot, but that was heavily aided by the fact that Tech fumbled the ball 5 times, losing each one. We had to come back from 21 down to beat a mediocre Florida team with a backup QB at home. We had to come from 17 down, including a Hail Mary as time expired, to beat a mediocre Georgia team. In the late season victories against Kentucky and Mizzou, we allowed 73 points and 1,375 yards of total offense. We beat a mediocre Nebraska team in the bowl who was missing several starters, including the QB, whose best regular season victory was over an Oregon team that finished 4-8 but was ranked #22 at the time they played, lost to Ohio St 62-3, lost to Iowa 40-10, and lost to basically every decent team they played.
