On a freakout scale, just where are we

#78
#78
Vols aren't very good but then other than Bama, Auburn, and Georgia neither is anyone else they play. Beat the 4 non-conf teams split the other 5 conference games you get 6 or 7 wins. We all know this but it's off season so let's keep evaluating :)
 
#80
#80
1974Vol said:
Vols aren't very good but then other than Bama, Auburn, and Georgia neither is anyone else they play. Beat the 4 non-conf teams split the other 5 conference games you get 6 or 7 wins. We all know this but it's off season so let's keep evaluating :)
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'74, based on what you just wrote, I wouldn't be so quick to conclude that "we all know" the same things.

For instance: you race right past any consideration of West Virginia being a peer competitor when you say "beat the 4 non-conf teams." We don't all "know" that as a given. Certainly worthy of discussion.

I think there is room for honest debate on where we stand today. Way too many unknowns, room for hope, and reason for doubt, all three jumbled together. Anything from a 3-9 prediction to a 9-3, anything in that wide variance could end up being the right answer.

It's just a really fluid situation, more fluid than any other year in the past few decades (say some time early in Johnny's tenure). Maybe the Kiffin season comes close, because we had no idea what he would or could do with what Phil left behind.

So yep, let's keep evaluating. :good!:
 
#83
#83
arkansasvol3 said:
What exactly are you worried about in the kicking game? Is it our 2 UA All-American punters or the number 6 Kohl’s rated PK (2017)?
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Impressive hardware.

How many SEC games in front of 100000+ have those guys punted in again?

May also wanna try to improve on the 83rd ranking on kickoff returns and 72nd ranking in punt returns from last year as well.
 
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#84
#84
Expecting us to not be very good this year, but no freakout.
I do expect us to shock a lot of people in 2019.
I just don't think we can overcome the lack of development and skills coaching in a single spring.
 
#85
#85
BigOrangeTrain said:
Not worried about JG at all. Dude has the skills. The biggest concern is the OL. If the OL doesnt vastly improve, then JG will suffer badly. We can only hope they are better.
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Holding the ball that long to take a sack definitely could be called a skill....
Not to hate on him, but then no QB really showed much skill at all last year, imo.
 
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#86
#86
BigOrangeTrain said:
Not worried about JG at all. Dude has the skills. The biggest concern is the OL. If the OL doesnt vastly improve, then JG will suffer badly. We can only hope they are better.
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I tend to agree. Not even Tom Brady could perform behind our $h!t offensive line.

**I would put the defensive line as more of a concern than CB. If I am not mistaken everyone ran the ball down our throats last year and that is more on the defensive line. Also why would you ever throw the ball if you are averaging over 5 yards a carry and running for 300+ yards a game.
 
#89
#89
Going to be another rough season but after the past decade i'm kinda numb to it. Hopefully we don't lose our 3rd straight to Vandy and our 2nd straight to Kentucky but it wouldn't shock me if we go winless again in the SEC. Pruitt is stepping into a similar first year as Butch did in 2013. Hopefully Pruitt is the right guy to turn it around.
 
#90
#90
Wow. I prefer to be optimistic until I see reason on the field to not be. I think we have way more talent than you guys give us credit for...and I think coaching is absolutely HUGE in college football. There's a chance if Pruitt is a really good coach that we surprise the heck out of everyone. We'll see....but there is a ton of gloom and doom here.
 
#91
#91
Special Ed said:
I feel less insecure and pessimistic in Pruitt's first year than I did in Butch's 5th year.
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I agree, Pruitt is the real deal. He's a winner and he's done it on the biggest stage being at Alabama, FSU and Georgia. This job won't be too big for him like it was for Butch and some of his assistants.

But, unfortunately Pruitt has Butch's players to work with, and most of them were hardly developed.
 
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#92
#92
VFL-82-JP said:
'74, based on what you just wrote, I wouldn't be so quick to conclude that "we all know" the same things.

For instance: you race right past any consideration of West Virginia being a peer competitor when you say "beat the 4 non-conf teams." We don't all "know" that as a given. Certainly worthy of discussion.

I think there is room for honest debate on where we stand today. Way too many unknowns, room for hope, and reason for doubt, all three jumbled together. Anything from a 3-9 prediction to a 9-3, anything in that wide variance could end up being the right answer.

It's just a really fluid situation, more fluid than any other year in the past few decades (say some time early in Johnny's tenure). Maybe the Kiffin season comes close, because we had no idea what he would or could do with what Phil left behind.

So yep, let's keep evaluating. :good!:
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While most would agree that the range for wins is 3 to 9, regardless of how you get there (3-1 non-conference; 3-5 conference or some combination thereof) most would also agree that 6-6 is at the top of the Bell Curve for this team. While nothing is for sure in this world the most likely scenarios involve winning at least 3 of the non-conference games and losing the 3 tougher conference games. That leaves 6 relatively even contests. The season will turn and this team and CJP will be judged on how well the Vols perform in those six games - FL, SC,KY, Vandy, Missou,and W VA.

Until we are 3-4 games into the 2018 season we won't have a gauge of how good these 6 are and how the Vols may stack up to them. So at this point the best analysis or most common opinion would be the Vols go 3-3.

My point was until we get some on the field data points to use all we have is relatively unfounded opinions...but since it is the off-season we will continue to discuss how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. :thumbsup:
 
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#93
#93
1974Vol said:
Until we are 3-4 games into the 2018 season we won't have a gauge of how good these 6 [FL, SC,KY, Vandy, Missou,and W VA] are and how the Vols may stack up to them. So at this point the best analysis or most common opinion would be the Vols go 3-3.

My point was until we get some on the field data points to use all we have is relatively unfounded opinions...but since it is the off-season we will continue to discuss how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. :thumbsup:
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Yep, I agree with the first part entirely. Watching how we're able to hold up against W Va and Florida will tell us a whole lot about some of the big unknowns. Most especially: are this group of lads really as talented as we thought when they were recruited? were CJP and crew able to reground them in solid fundamentals and develop them significantly in a single off-season? and how are the new offensive and defensive schemes shaping up?

The funny thing about your second point is that even AFTER we have those data points, we will continue to, most of us, have unfounded opinions of what we saw and what it means. Heh. Most of us here are really good football fans...but very few of us (I do NOT count myself among those few, btw) truly understand the chess match that's going on behind the plays, or the details that bring about success or failure in each block, pass, run, cover, or tackle.

So we'll do what fans do: have fun talking football and appreciating our lads, because they're our lads.

I'm good with that, whether it's dancing on the head of a pin or not. :hi:
 
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#94
#94
it was like the 2016 seasons. the slow starts. and there were two factions...those that while acknowledging it as an issue, it's also something that could be fixed, and we'd get better as a result, and run rough shot thru the East on the way to ATL.

then there were others that said no, that's what we are, and it will be the reason we don't go to ATL.

so i think you're both right. we need to see what this team looks like before we're really know. but even then, there'll be something unaccounted for....the level of improvement, or not, that we see as the season progresses.

none of which will prevent the debate of what will or won't happen at season's end.
 
#97
#97
Heard some guy on the radio, who supposedly goes to practice, say if we could find one more serviceable olineman and one cornerback that this team could be competitive with most teams on our schedule.
 
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#98
#98
Vfl2407 said:
Heard some guy on the radio, who supposedly goes to practice, say if we could find one more serviceable olineman and one cornerback that this team could be competitive with most teams on our schedule.
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hm. not sure 1 really helps the depth out, but, i don't think anyone would really disagree with that.

probably why you're seeing two DL moved to OL and WR's moved to DB and vice versa.

they're looking....
 
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#100
#100
TN_Transplant said:
Don't get me wrong, I think Pruitt is going to do well, but we are literally the worst we have ever been. It's going to take him a few years to get us built back up.
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No, we aren't. We are improving from a point that was the worst we have ever been. That was the day after Vandy last year. We have gotten better, how much is yet to be seen.
 
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