Should we be SEC East favorites?

[OrangeFrog]

Fixed your post.

Thanks. I am fully optimistic about our chances...I just wouldn't normally expect a team who struggled to make it to .500 for a few years to all the sudden be favs to win the SEC East. But i think we have a great shot.

 

[Remy]

The team with the new QB that plays us in Neyland Stadium and faces a tougher SEC West opponent? I don't see it.

along with a new never having taken an SEC snap QB and a D that has yet to stop anybody of consequence in years including a Worley led 118? Dawgs have lots of problems this year, it may take all of us to get behind Richt so they keep him by seasons end.

 

[Dobbs 4 Heisman]

I think we have a chance to be great but a key injury or two could set us back

you could say that about any team. unless we get hit with a ridiculous rash of injuries, we should be favorites. player for player we're as good as anyone in the East. its time for Butch to deliver. he's got the horses this year.

 

[Dobbs 4 Heisman]

No, Not yet.

I think Mizzou and Georgia are co-favorites. Mizzou because somehow they seem to have done it 2 years in a row and Georgia because they have the best/deepest roster.

We should be a dark horse and at least in the conversation which we haven't been in the past few years.

Missouri's lucky run ends this year. They won the East the last two years mostly because of how weak the East has been. Tennessee and Florida (the 2 traditional powers) were both down. And Georgia who had the most talent found a way to screw up as usual.

Just look at how easily Missouri was dipatched in the SEC title games by the winner of the West. I wouldn't put too much stock on them continuing their run. Its difficult to win year in year out by trying to turn 3 star prospects into SEC superstars. I think this year they'll be more like they were during their first year in the East.

 

[joevol33]

I agree!

 

[volroadwarrior]

We have improved but so has Georgia. I HOPE we win the east but an injury to Dobbs, a running back or 2 could put us on the skids real fast. Lack of experienced depth is a concern. We have some depth, but it is inexperienced. I believe 2016 is our year. Hope I am pleasantly surprised, but no sunshine pumping here.

 

[orangeluvr]

THe east doesn't appear to be any stronger than last year so I agree with the OP. Why not us! :good!:

 

[golfballs]

Thank You Fellow Vol Nationites!

18 Yes
33 No

Reality LIVES!!!!

disgraceful :disappointed:

 

[KBVol]

Even when UT dominated the series for years, Vandy found ways to "get up" and keep games close. I wouldn't worry about that this fall however.
The guys who hurt UT most from Mizzou's DL are gone now. UT's OL should improve even if it is no more than natural maturation from one season to the next when EVERYONE returns minus one player. I personally believe it is going to improve considerably more than that.

Can you maybe define being taken to the woodshed? UT lost to MU by 8. They lost on some big, Hail Mary types of plays to players who are no longer on their roster and who will be replaced with a group whose leader returns with 5 career receptions.

Yeah? Everyone lost good players... but UT lost fewer of its best players than most. AJ will be replaced this fall by a very good player. And with the development of the other returning players and additions... the Vol D will be less of a one man wrecking crew. Returning 19 of the 22 players in your defensive two deep is a coach's dream... not a nightmare. It only gets better when you look at the young returnees and new players that are ready to make contributions.

Thomas didn't play well last year. He's a good looking prospect but the OL is by no stretch dependent on him. Again, returning your whole OL roster minus one player with an extra year of conditioning and possibly the addition of Richmond as a Fr... is a DREAM, not a nightmare. They're talented, deep, developed, experienced... if the coaching and playcalling are good then they should be good.


UT will have one of the 3 most talented teams in the East. Teams 4-7 aren't all that close in terms of pure, raw "talent". UF is roughly equal to UT in overall talent and just went through a coaching change. UGA is more talented but break in a new QB while losing 3 of their top 4 WR's. They lose their top two LB's and top two DL's... plus they have Richt.

I don't know if Jones and UT can take advantage but the door is standing wide open waiting for them to walk through it.

Spot on. Your last sentence is both correct and what concerns me most. SECe is ripe for the taking....whether or not Butch can actually take it is my biggest concern, not whether or not our team is talented and/or experienced enough, because I fully believe it is especially in relation to where the other SECe teams currently stand.

 

[orangeluvr]

38 negateers and counting.

 

[GAVol]

THe east doesn't appear to be any stronger than last year so I agree with the OP. Why not us! :good!:

I disagree. We're definitely better. Florida can't be any worse. UGA will be the same or better. The SC defense can't possibly be that bad again. And I'm done predicting anything about Mizzou.

 

[Vol_is_Lyfe18]

I don't know about outright favorites, but we should be one of the top three in consideration.

 

[DERELICK_MY_VOLS]

Why not? You have to believe your a champion to play like a champion. I certainly hope the football team's mentality is not like some of the posters on this board. If it is not then we are going to be fine.

 

[VFL-82-JP]

First off, AboveAllNations, I'm with you in thinking we have a good chance to win the East in 2015. But I do feel the need to point out that you're missing a little bit of balance in a few of your points:

Consider:

• We return the most starters in the SEC (18), and have had the best recruiting classes in the SEC East over the past two years.

Agreed.

Consider:

• We have the best QB in the SEC East (Dobbs), and more mobile backups who fit our offense (Dormady, Jennings & Jones) than we've ever had since Butch took over.

The mobile backups are all true freshmen. So this is actually a point of relative weakness, should Dobbs get hurt. Let's hope he doesn't.

Consider:

• We have the best and deepest WR corp in the SEC East (North, Pearson, Howard, Malone, Smith, Croom, and Williams).

Agreed.

Consider:

• We have two NFL-caliber RBs for the first time since the late 90s.

Agreed. But it takes two RBs to play a full game these days, as they rotate out to stay fresh ... if one of these fellows goes down with injury, we're gonna see a significantly less capable backup fill in while the starter is healing.

Consider:

• We're returning almost all of our offensive linemen from last year while adding several blue-chip tackles (Blair, Richmond, and Jones).

I wouldn't call Blair blue-chip, at this point. Let's see how his development plays out. We're all hopeful that the OLine gels and becomes, if not a strength, at least not a weakness in 2015. It's not yet a done deal.

Consider:

• We probably have the best defensive line in the entire SEC, especially for rushing the passer (Barnett, Maggitt, Weatherd, and Phillips)

This is the rare case where I'm going to say you didn't even give our boys enough credit...they're even better than you say, once you add the DTs in!

Consider:

• We have more speed and depth at linebacker than we've had in years.

Yes...some of it is growing into the job, but good chance we'll get there on time. A lot keys on who picks up the MLB "defensive QB" duties, and how well.

Consider:

• We probably have the best and most-experienced secondary in the SEC East, which was already among the best 3rd down defenses in the nation last year.

Agreed.

Consider:

• We have talent (Medley) and speed (Berry, Sutton) on special teams.

Agreed.

Consider:

• We've probably upgraded at offensive coordinator (Debord for Bajakian) while managing to maintain the chemistry and continuity of our coaching staff.

Agreed, though can't wait to see how CMD calls a game.

Consider:

• We indisputably have more returning talent, experience, and coaching continuity than Florida, South Carolina, Missouri, Kentucky and Vanderbilt this year.

Talent, largely agree (though Florida is our rough equal). Experience, roughly agree, it's complicated, but with so many starters back, you could make a good case for it. Coaching continuity, agreed we're at least as good as any team in the East, which is a remarkable thing to be able to say when we just replaced our OC.

Consider:

• We host Georgia and their inexperienced QB early in the season, and their SEC West opponents (Alabama and Auburn) are tougher than ours (Alabama and Arkansas).

Agreed.

So, all in all, it still comes down to:
(1) can OLine gel as a cohesive unit (seeing some good things early in Spring camp, though potential loss of Coleman Thomas doesn't help),
(2) can Josh improve his throwing accuracy (seeing VERY good things so far),
(3) can we stay healthy--esp. at QB and RB, where our experienced talent is thinnest, and
(4) how will Mike DeBord do calling games?

I personally think we'll be fine in all those areas (knock on wood for injury avoidance), but we do need to be realistic about our circumstances.

Cheers and Go Vols!

p.s. I voted "no" on the poll...while I think we can win the SEC-East, I personally believe that to be the pre-season favorites, we have to have earned it on the field. We haven't done that, not yet. For now, let Georgia or Mizzou be the favorites. Then we can upset 'em.

 

[GAVol]

Why not? You have to believe your a champion to play like a champion. I certainly hope the football team's mentality is not like some of the posters on this board. If it is not then we are going to be fine.

There's zero correlation between what I think and the performance on the field.

 

[sjt18]

It is and I believe they will take advantage. We still have players that lost to GA. twice in heartbreaking defeats (especially Pig Howard). TN has GA at home this year and everyone on team 119 will be fired and ready to go. I for one expect to be in Atlanta for the SECCG. I believe team 119 has the opportunity to be Auburn of 2 years ago. Can't wait to get the season going.

I think there is incredible potential for this team. Many will bring up injuries. But few teams can endure extraordinary injuries. Maybe Bama and tOSU. Virtually everyone else has a handful of players who if lost would ruin their season.

Barring that level of injuries and assuming that the OL makes progress to at least "average" in their third year under Jones and Mahoney... the O should be deadly. One of the SEC's best QB's. Very good TE's. Two of the SEC's most talented RB's. Perhaps one of the talent deep WR groups in the country... they should be very, very good.

It is worrisome to be here "hoping" that a couple of true Fr give you the boost at DT that you need. That said and as much as I love what J Williams gave of himself... I think what they have at DT this fall is better than last year. In fact, I don't see a single position group on D that doesn't get overall better and deeper than last year.

I think the floor is 8. Anything under that would be a disappointment and underperformance imo. The potential if the Vols finally get some "karma" balance on injuries... is very, very high.

 

[BigOrangeFanatic]

As down as the east Is and has been, there is no reason not to expect us to win the east.

 

[montanatenn]

We will be 1-1 with bama this year.

 

[Volfreak1964]

I was at the gator bowl and it was like the good ole days I think we're gonna show were back in a big way this year!

 

[BigOrangeTrain]

I think we have a chance to be great but a key injury or two could set us back

Name a team that wouldn't be set back if key injuries didn't happen.

 

[joevol33]

We will be 1-1 with bama this year.

Yep

 

[Other_Guy]

The team with the new QB that plays us in Neyland Stadium and faces a tougher SEC West opponent? I don't see it.

If it comes down to tie breakers, new QBs always have us beat. Pun intended.

 

[VFL34]

Eric Sallee, the lead SEC writer for Bleacher Report, just predicted yesterday that Tennessee will go 10-2 this year and win the SEC East. Although Butch Jones keeps trying to temper expectations and a not-insignificant number of fans here on Volnation think we're still "one year away" and would be "fine" with just 7 wins, why shouldn't we be favored in the SEC East this year? Consider:

• We return the most starters in the SEC (18), and have had the best recruiting classes in the SEC East over the past two years.

• We have the best QB in the SEC East (Dobbs), and more mobile backups who fit our offense (Dormady, Jennings & Jones) than we've ever had since Butch took over.

• We have the best and deepest WR corp in the SEC East (North, Pearson, Howard, Malone, Smith, Croom, and Williams).

• We have two NFL-caliber RBs for the first time since the late 90s.

• We're returning almost all of our offensive linemen from last year while adding several blue-chip tackles (Blair, Richmond, and Jones).

• We probably have the best defensive line in the entire SEC, especially for rushing the passer (Barnett, Maggitt, Weatherd, and Phillips)

• We have more speed and depth at linebacker than we've had in years.

• We probably have the best and most-experienced secondary in the SEC East, which was already among the best 3rd down defenses in the nation last year.

• We have talent (Medley) and speed (Berry, Sutton) on special teams.

• We've probably upgraded at offensive coordinator (Debord for Bajakian) while managing to maintain the chemistry and continuity of our coaching staff.

• We indisputably have more returning talent, experience, and coaching continuity than Florida, South Carolina, Missouri, Kentucky and Vanderbilt this year.

• We host Georgia and their inexperienced QB early in the season, and their SEC West opponents (Alabama and Auburn) are tougher than ours (Alabama and Arkansas).

Regardless of what our overall record might be (anywhere from 11-1 to 8-4), why shouldn't we be favored to win the SEC East this year?

Keep in mind, everything is based off potential. We have the potential to be very good. It will come down to dobbs passing the ball. If he can be above 60% we will have a good shot.

 

[golfballs]

Mods, please ban every person that voted no. TIA :hi:

 

[Dooby15]

I think we need to pump the brakes a bit. When's the last time we beat Ga and Fla in the same year? We also have Ark and Bama to play. If we win 2 of those 4 then we have a shot. That's assuming we can take care of Missouri, on the road.