Tennessee Twins

#27
#27
Glocker_Alum_2005 said:
Yep first one that popped in my head. Many say Nebraska, but their recruiting environment is much different than TN or Michigan. How about Penn St or Washington?
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Washington's stadium is on a river, which is unusual in college football. Other than that I'm not familiar with their program. I think we have an edge with recruiting just from being in the South.
 
#29
#29
Alabama. Great SEC program. Went through a decade of bad hires and losing.

Nebraska will never be great again. Same with Michigan and Penn State. We can rise to NC level. I don' think the others can.
 
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#30
#30
TrueOrange said:
If we have to also use program histories in this comparison, though, I’m not sure we were quite at their level. We were really good, but what they consistently did in the 70s, 80s and then took up even a notch further in the 90s was pretty insane.
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So did Tennessee. If we could have got by Florida we should of had a few more championship in the 90's Nebraska had a easier conference but Nebraska was great talent and ran the option to perfection .
 
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#31
#31
rocytop2624 said:
So did Tennessee. If we could have got by Florida we should of had a few more championship in the 90's Nebraska had a easier conference but Nebraska was great talent and ran the option to perfection .
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We were very good - great even - and I understand and somewhat agree with the idea that without Spurrier-level Florida TN sees a few more SEC Championships and possibly a shot at another NC (possibly in 1993...in 1995 though we would have played pretty much the exact same Nebraska team that wrecked us in 1997), but the amount of dominance that Nebraska had both in conference and when it played other teams? It just doesn’t realistically compare.

Just look at the Tom Osborne era alone (and even the Bob Devaney period before that).
 
#37
#37
k-town_king said:
Alabama. Great SEC program. Went through a decade of bad hires and losing.

Nebraska will never be great again. Same with Michigan and Penn State. We can rise to NC level. I don' think the others can.
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PSU can. Same conference but much better in state talent and often can cherry pick the Jersey and New England area. Imhotep outta Philly is becoming a hot bed for talent. And they actually have a good coach now.
 
#38
#38
volfanbill said:
I think we're side by side with Nebraska. Time for both schools to finally rise from the ashes though.

College football is cyclical though. Every major program has been mired in misery and on top of the world. Some of the more poetic posters can probably compare us to just about any top program you want.
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Suwanee Football used to use that "it's all cyclical" excuse too. :biggrin:
 
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#39
#39
Glocker_Alum_2005 said:
Looking at our current struggles, our rich history, and the current conference and national competition levels, which other program in cfb (in recent history) do you see as most like TN? Did such program rise from the ashes, like the proverbial phoenix?
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Go back to Oklahoma before Stoops or bama before saban or usc before carroll. A "football school" like Tennessee is only one hire away from becoming a national power again.
 
#40
#40
The difference between us and Michigan and Nebraska is our state is producing more blue chip recruits while there states are declining. The growth of the Nashville market and overall explosion in the state population has resulted in Tennessee consistently now being ranked in the top 10 for talent produced. Even though I agree our past is very similar to those two programs I see our future being dramatically more optimistic.
 
#42
#42
vols4evah said:
Tom Osbourne's run at Nebraska had more to do with steroids than anything else.
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This, as well as the ridiculous “walk on” program. The NCAA basically developed scholarship limits because of Nebraska. In answer to this the Huskers fielded rosters of more than 150 players with so called walk ons outnumbering the scholarship players. I say “so called walk ons” because it was pretty much understood that boosters and local yokels were responsible for sponsoring kids by paying their way.
In 1983 the Huskers finished ranked #2. That team had 6 starters who were walk ons. Not guys who used to be walkons and earned a scholly, but starters on a great team who were still walkons.
Osborne said in a book about him that the most difficult thing about the program was recognizing talent since they had a 10-deep roster at every position. A few future NFL players came through and never played a down because they got lost in the river of talent.
 
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#43
#43
Elhanan said:
And our coach is going to leave us and eventually become Alabama’s historically great coach....

J/K... maybe.... idk 😐
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Has happened to us before. Had Dickey stayed, TN in the 70's would have been dominant and Bear likely would have retired sooner. That and passing on Johnny for Battle changed the trajectory of this program for the next 20yrs. Mucking up the transition from Fulmer has cost us 10yrs and it will be another 5yrs before (if he succeeds) TN can be firmly planted on the elite level again. So 35yrs of average to below average football because of 2 decisions.
 
#44
#44
I've always said our program mirrors Nebraska. Hopefully both programs are on the rise again together!
 
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