Is it now OK to.......

#78
#78
volsportsfan said:
To all in this thread.... If our passing game doesn't improve you can forget about ever winning an SEC championship under CBJ.

Take that to the bank every day of the week.
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one caveat. If our defense can only give up 10 points a game, we can win with the bad passing game. doubtful it improves much.
 
#79
#79
MWAVolfan said:
Not sure how many bama, Ohio state, or Clemson fans expect to win only 9 games. I'm pretty sure that would be considered a massive failure.

If bama lost 3 games how many articles wound be written about how maybe it's time that saban moved on and maybe he has run out of steam. You can guarantee that much is true.
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Those three have all played for The National Championsip within the last two years. Can you remember the last time we even won the conference?

Therefore, our current 'expectations' are indeed different than Bama.
 
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#80
#80
LWSVOL said:
one caveat. If our defense can only give up 10 points a game, we can win with the bad passing game. doubtful it improves much.
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That would be one hellacious defense. Denver has the best defense in the NFL and they lost 5 games. Obviously in college football you can't afford to lose that many games. Denver has benefitted from the NFL playoff structure. UT won't have that benefit. If we are gonna win with our run game, special teams, and defense, it's gonna take a special season from those phases. I know out run game is top notch and our special teams isn't too shabby either. So, can our defense shut down some of the good offenses we face and keep us from losing more than 2 games? That's a tall order.

It kind of bothers me lws to hear YOU say it's doubtful our passing game improves much. You are one of the few who seem to be privy to the inner workings of the program. I was banking my hopes on an SEC championship around our passing game finally getting over the hump and helping our offense move the chains.
 
#82
#82
volsportsfan said:
That would be one hellacious defense. Denver has the best defense in the NFL and they lost 5 games. Obviously in college football you can't afford to lose that many games. Denver has benefitted from the NFL playoff structure. UT won't have that benefit. If we are gonna win with our run game, special teams, and defense, it's gonna take a special season from those phases. I know out run game is top notch and our special teams isn't too shabby either. So, can our defense shut down some of the good offenses we face and keep us from losing more than 2 games? That's a tall order.

It kind of bothers me lws to hear YOU say it's doubtful our passing game improves much. You are one of the few who seem to be privy to the inner workings of the program. I was banking my hopes on an SEC championship around our passing game finally getting over the hump and helping our offense move the chains.
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This makes him privy to the fact that Dobbs is what he is at throwing the football. Contrary to all of the VN coaches, there is only so much coaching you can do with footwork, etc. to improve it.

I would suspect a slight improvement due to a better ability to read and understand defenses and maybe a slight improvement in accuracy. But, by a player's senior season, they pretty much who they are.

Dobbs is still a very good QB. The coaches just have to continue to feature his strengths while minimizing plays that expose his weaknesses. We might throw it downfield a little bit more next season, but I would expect more of the same from this past season.
 
#83
#83
LWSVOL said:
if we don't beat Florida we won't win 10 IMO. that is why it is so important. sets up the rest of the schedule. Did you notice how we played Arkansas after losing to Florida this season? Florida is the key game to getting to Atlanta. JMO
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Ladies and Gentleman,
LWS is an insider. What he says you should listen.
#nojoke
 
#85
#85
EZE said:
HISTORY disagrees with you. The All-Time Record is 819-374-53. A .679 win percentage, which equates to 8.1 wins over a 12 game schedule.

So, an average season is 8-4.

This leaves room for above average seasons of 10-12 wins. But, when you look at a conference where history in the SEC Championship Game shows that Florida and Georgia in the East, and Alabama, Auburn and LSU in the West, are absolutely peer programs (with Ole Miss a newcomer to these ranks), you cannot expect to dominate the conference unless you get on a historically unusual run like Alabama over the past several years (which, by the way, coincides with our nosedive). And, if you start firing coaches for not measuring up to the Saban standard, you are going to have a revolving door because that expectation is unrealistic.

The expectation should be to field a program that has a solid chance of getting to Atlanta every season. You will make it some and miss it some.

You cannot hold Butch responsible for the 9-year drought.
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I am not holding Butch responsible. He is pulling us out of it. Eight wins is the average and we have averaged about six wins since 2008 so we should average ten for the next seven years to balance it out.
 
#86
#86
PEPPERJAX said:
Explain then. Better roster? Yes we have had better rosters certain years. But coaching has not been in our favor in those losses.
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Is Hugh Freeze a better coach than Nick Saban? Ole Miss has beat Alabama 2 years in a row. No that doesn't make him a better coach than Saban. The best coach doesn't always win.
 
#87
#87
LWSVOL said:
one caveat. If our defense can only give up 10 points a game, we can win with the bad passing game. doubtful it improves much.
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The defense is the key. We will be able to run in most games but there will be a few where the defense will have to hold up. The passing game is what it is.
 
#88
#88
MarkVols said:
Ladies and Gentleman,
LWS is an insider. What he says you should listen.
#nojoke
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An insider, unless they are a former coach or player, can't give any insight into how next season will play out on the field. I'm sure a lot of " insiders " only have a general knowledge of football. Ole Miss beat Alabama twice and did not make it to Atlanta. Saying we won't win 10 games unless we beat UF is not true.
 
#89
#89
DeerPark12 said:
I don't recall Tennessee being embarrassed on national TV once last season. Our losses came by a combined 17 points.

In fact, the only two times you could actually say we were "embarrassed" in the last two seasons would be losses to Ole Miss and Alabama in 2014.

Unpopular opinion coming: I believe the most a fanbase, even one like Alabama, can EXPECT in a season is 9. Stay with me on this before calling me names.

A good team with superior talent should be able to handle 9 teams on their schedule, even in the SEC. But in a league like this, those other three games require a lot of intangibles and bounces of the ball to go a team's way. Very rarely does a team steamroll through a schedule.

Look at the seasons Alabama, Oklahoma and Ohio State had this year. Each of the three had at least three games where they either should have lost or the difference in the game was one or two big plays by a big player or a key turnover. Any of those teams could have easily gone 9-3.

If you're in a position where 9 wins is your floor, then you can be in the conversation to win 10, 11, 12 games. We are in that position. On our schedule, there are 9 teams that we are better than. There are two teams that I would say have equal or superior talent (Alabama and Georgia). Then there is Florida, who we are clearly better than, but they have had our number even in games where we should have won going away.

But walking in and "expecting" to win 11 or 12 games is not realistic.
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Well-thought out posts Iike this one are why I don't even usually try to respond to posts like the OP. I agree 100%.
 
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#90
#90
Yes it is OK to expect great things this season.

Team #120, will be better than Team#119. How much better? Who really knows?

What we all know is that we were so close to winning every game last year, with a little here and there we could have.

Call it throwing the coaches under the bus or the players under the bus, it don't even matter at this point. It's not gonna be about what didn't happen, this year is about does happen.

Team #119, had lapses of aggressive coaching, proper execution, and bad breaks. Throw everybody under the bus, my self included.

We are all fans here wanting the Vols to win every game, expecting the best, from all involved. To tell the truth, I want Florida to bounce back from their 3 game losing streak(that's a lie, just to make the point),so when we beat them, it won't be considered cheap since they suck. And by the way they do suck until they prove different. Yes I know they have our number or there is a jinx(I don't believe in jinxes), that's all out the window.

The maxims actually apply to competitive games:

1) The team that makes the fewest mistakes will win.

2) Play for and make the breaks and when one comes your way - SCORE.

3) If at first the game - or the breaks - go against you, don't let up...put on more steam.

4) Protect our kickers, our QB, our lead and our ball game.

5) Ball, oskie , cover, block, cut and slice, pursue and gang tackle... for this is the WINNING EDGE.

6) Press the kicking game. Here is where the breaks are made.

7) Carry the fight to our opponent and keep it there for 60 minutes(entire game).

I've made a lot of clown posts on Volnation, but to say "I expect to win every game", that is not out of line and is not a joke.

Does it mean we will? No, don't be silly.

Does it mean we can? Sure we can.

Look at the schedule:

App. W

VT should win ,new coach and lesser recruiting class(I won't worry about VT, it's about the Vols).

Ohio gimme game

Florida we should win, the gators are reeling since loseing their juiced QB, McElwain will have to pull another rabbit out of the hat.

Georgia we should win, new coach. They will mean business, but we will too.

A&M we should win, they are reeling due to QB situation. It's late enough it the schedule we will be tested by fire and walk all over them.

Bama they just won a NC, they won't be as hungry as the Vols and I believe we will work harder leading into that game and punch them in the face all day long.

The rest need no comment other than I expect to win.

As usual our season is the 4 in the middle Florida , Georgia, A&M, and Bama.

Our defense will bring the pain. So for those that are coming to Knoxville, you better get to work, because our boys are about to jump higher( reference to the video from the recruiting celebration).

As for the games played else where, "have pain will travel".

Go Vols!
 
#91
#91
9 wins, 10 wins, SEC East title pfffft, if we beat Florida, everything else will be OK. If we beat everyone except Florida and bama, I will not be happy this season.
 
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#92
#92
Daloth said:
Sure, those losses were close, but if at any point you lead by 17 points, or by multiple possessions in the 4th, or by two TDs with less than 5 minutes to go against a bad offense, and you end out losing? That's embarrassing.
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Florida wasn't a bad offense with Grier (On Roids). Put 38up on the rebel black bear landsharks.
 
#93
#93
Not to long ago 90% of you making these "goals" an what have you was calling for the guys head lol makes sense
 
#96
#96
Lord knows i've been trumpeting the "pump the brakes" movement so far, and the realist in me will likely keep doing so

but i also recognize that in the 12 games we play we will likely be favorites in at least 10 of them.

as usual, this season will come down to FL, GA and Bama. and we have to slay some dragons again this season to realize these kinds of expectations. and i do feel like for the firs time in a long time (119 not withstanding), that this team does have a more realistic chance of doing so.
 
#99
#99
I for one expect to win every game this year.

No reason not to expect that. We SHOULD have been 11-2 last year.
 
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#100
#100
The Tall Gguy said:
I for one expect to win every game this year.

No reason not to expect that. We SHOULD have been 11-2 last year.
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What 2 should we have lost?

I think we could have won them all.

I expect excellence from our team.

If excellence is achieved we will be 15-0 NC.

Go Vols!
 
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