If Tennessee were in the SEC West this year...

#1
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pharmDvol11

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#1
would your expectations or predictions for this year change? I'm sure this question will offend somebody. Just wondering since we're still killing time until the football season starts :p
 
#2
#2
I would think we'd be a close second, with Bama #1, UT and LSU as 2a and 2b.
 
#3
#3
coffeevol said:
I would think we'd be a close second, with Bama #1, UT and LSU as 2a and 2b.
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I agree. And don't get me wrong... I would rather have to play Kentucky and Vandy every year than whoever is picked to be the worst in the West- MSU and A&M, maybe? Those are 2 solid teams when you compare them to the bottom of the East IMO.

Edit: I forgot about Arkansas. They would probably be at the bottom. Man, I hate those guys... Because of last year's game! Makes me want to pull the rest of my hair out!
 
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#4
#4
I think a lot of people including myself are hoping for a magical season this year. We are gonna face he best the West has to offer in Bama and play aTm away. I know we miss LSU, but everyone else in the west I believe, honestly we could beat this year. So to answer the question, no our expectations wouldn't change. I expect us to compete against the best in the nation.
 
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#5
#5
jonnon111 said:
I think a lot of people including myself are hoping for a magical season this year. We are gonna face the best the West has to offer in Bama and play aTm away. I know we miss LSU, but everyone else in the west I believe, honestly we could beat this year. So to answer the question, no our expectations wouldn't change. I expect us to compete against the best in the nation.
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THIS^^^ (thanks for saving me typing)
 
#6
#6
Yeah, it would change, just don't know to what extent. But rather than play Vandie, SCar and Mizzou, we'd have to play LSU, OleMiss and Arkansas. As it stands right now, our season essentially hinges on 4 games....Florida, Georgia, Bama and TAM. If we were in the West we'd have a more difficult road because of the much better depth of competition in the West.
 
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#8
#8
If we were in the West I could see grabbing the Pepto during each conference game. They have at least 2 legitimate contenders in my mind- Bama and LSU. And the bottom of the West is at least solid. I guess we're fortunate that the East has some significant drop off from top to bottom. And I know it's been a long time since we've been at the top of this conversation, too.
 
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#9
#9
I think most talking heads expect the East to be ours to lose. The East is as down as it gets or at least going into the year seems that way so the Vols are the overwhelming favorites.

In the west that just wouldn't be the case. Be a toss up at best between Vols, Bama, and Lsu. IMO Bama would still be the fav with Lsu and TN going either way.

Goals would be the same but expectations would be a little different IMO. Top competition is stronger and there would be no automatic sec wins like Vandy/KY.(unless they were our East draws)

So the final record predictions would be diff and so many people thinking we waltz into Atlanta would not be there as they are now. All IMHO.

Good thread/topic 👍
 
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#11
#11
jonnon111 said:
I think a lot of people including myself are hoping for a magical season this year. We are gonna face he best the West has to offer in Bama and play aTm away. I know we miss LSU, but everyone else in the west I believe, honestly we could beat this year. So to answer the question, no our expectations wouldn't change. I expect us to compete against the best in the nation.
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You're absolutely right in describing it as a magical season. It's almost as if finally the stars are going to align for us. And yeah I'm not meaning to overlook the schedule we already have. I think Bama and aTm will be a tough games, no question. As will Florida and Georgia. Man, I really want that Florida W this year, too! I'd trade a Bama or aTm loss for it.


Topical question: would you trade Florida or Georgia on our schedule for any other team in the West?
 
#13
#13
If Tennessee was in the SEC West, we'd have to play Alabama every single year and...

...What?

Oh...


Never mind.
 
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#17
#17
Tennessee is 2-18 against the SEC West since 2008.

Beat Mississippi State in 2008. Beat Mississippi in 2010. In both cases, these teams finished last in the division for those seasons.

Before someone figures it out.....that's 2-10 against schools not named Alabama.

Yeah, it would be a tad different.

That's not a knock on Tennessee either. It would different for every school in the SEC East.
 
#18
#18
KBVol said:
This is the easiest and most accurate way to put it. We'd go from favorites in the East to 3rd place prediction in the West.
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This^

Not that the Vols cant beat any team in the SEC becausd they can but its the difference from being outright nobody is even close to us favorites in the east to 3rd or even 4th in the west.

That says it all
 
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#19
#19
I'm not sure it would be a LOT different in Wins and Losses than our current situation.

The big difference would be in our chances of getting to Atlanta. They'd be much worse.

Here's how I figured it. I just randomly grabbed one of the West teams' schedules (Auburn). I kept our current OOC games, because we're still Tennessee and would still look for the Battle at Bristol and in-state FBS charity games (Tn Tech) as we do today. Then I plugged those OOC games into what was Auburn's schedule, with all their SEC games unchanged. Then I made one other shift: I moved Bama to the 3rd Week in October, and shifted all the other games back a week to accomodate it.

Here's how it came out:

Sep 1 - Appy State (W)
Sep 10 - Va Tech, Battle at Bristol (W)
Sep 17 - A&M (W)
Sep 24 - LSU (push--could go either way)
Oct 1 - Ohio (W)
Oct 8 - Miss St (W)
Oct 15 - Bama (push--could go either way)
Oct 22 - Bye
Oct 29 - Arkansas (W)
Nov 5 - Ole Miss (push--could go either way)
Nov 12 - Vandy (W)
Nov 19 - Georgia (push--could go either way)
Nov 26 - Tennessee Tech (W)​

So that's 8 wins and 4 challenges. Just like today, with the Florida-UGa-A&M-Bama gauntlet.

The good news: those 4 tough games are spread out much better, following Auburn's SEC slate. One is Sep (LSU), one in Oct (Bama), one in early Nov (Ole Miss), and one in late Nov (Georgia).

It's actually a somewhat easier schedule, in the spacing of the hard games. Except that Miss St and Arkansas are tougher than Kentucky and Mizzou (we still get Vandy, because Auburn plays them this year, heh).

So if we go 3-1 in our current Gauntlet, we go to Atlanta (esp. if that one loss is against Bama or A&M). But if we go 3-1 in those four games following Auburn's schedule, there's a good chance Bama or LSU beat us to the SEC CG.

The tolerances for error are just smaller in the West.

That's the big difference.

But we would still be hoping for a 10-2 or 11-1 outcome, either way.

Interesting question, PharmD, thanks for it!

Go Vols!
 
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#22
#22
Overall I think it's:

Bama
LSU
Tennessee
Georgia
Ole Miss
Florida
Texas AM
Arkansas
Mississippi state
Auburn
South Carolina
Kentucky
Missouri
Vandy
 
#23
#23
That's a good point, Cat. The team from the West that we're most balanced with is probably LSU. So rather than take Auburn's schedule at random, let's put ourselves more accurately in LSU's shoes. How would we do with their schedule? [same methodology as above]:

Sep 1 - Appy St (W)
Sep 10 - Va Tech, Battle at Bristol (W)
Sep 17 - Miss St (W)
Sep 24 - @ Auburn (W)
Oct 1 - Mizzou (W)
Oct 8 - @ Florida (push--could go either way)
Oct 15 - Bama (push--could go either way)
Oct 22 - Ohio (W)
Oct 29 - bye
Nov 5 - Ole Miss (push--could go either way...but we have them at home after a bye!)
Nov 12 - @ Arky (W)
Nov 19 - Tn Tech (W)
Nov 24 - @ A&M (push--could go either way)

This is actually looking even better, except for the fact that we have to play @Gators and Bama (in Neyland) back-to-back. Our 2nd-toughest game, Ole Miss at home, after a bye week, actually looks very manageable because of those advantages. And getting A&M at the very tail end of the year doesn't look too bad, as long as winter storms don't move early into Texas this year.

So I could definitely see us splitting the Florida and Bama games, then winning out to end up 11-1 with LSU's SEC slate of games. That gives us a roughly 50/50 chance of getting to Atlanta...out of the West...not bad, not bad at all.

Go Vols!
 
#24
#24
VFL-82-JP said:
That's a good point, Cat. The team from the West that we're most balanced with is probably LSU. So rather than take Auburn's schedule at random, let's put ourselves more accurately in LSU's shoes. How would we do with their schedule? [same methodology as above]:

Sep 1 - Appy St (W)
Sep 10 - Va Tech, Battle at Bristol (W)
Sep 17 - Miss St (W)
Sep 24 - @ Auburn (W)
Oct 1 - Mizzou (W)
Oct 8 - @ Florida (push--could go either way)
Oct 15 - Bama (push--could go either way)
Oct 22 - Ohio (W)
Oct 29 - bye
Nov 5 - Ole Miss (push--could go either way...but we have them at home after a bye!)
Nov 12 - @ Arky (W)
Nov 19 - Tn Tech (W)
Nov 24 - @ A&M (push--could go either way)

This is actually looking even better, except for the fact that we have to play @Gators and Bama (in Neyland) back-to-back. Our 2nd-toughest game, Ole Miss at home, after a bye week, actually looks very manageable because of those advantages. And getting A&M at the very tail end of the year doesn't look too bad, as long as winter storms don't move early into Texas this year.

So I could definitely see us splitting the Florida and Bama games, then winning out to end up 11-1 with LSU's SEC slate of games. That gives us a roughly 50/50 chance of getting to Atlanta...out of the West...not bad, not bad at all.

Go Vols!
Click to expand...

Way, way, way too cavalier with those games where there's that whole little "@" in front of the name of the school.

@ Auburn and @ Arkansas aren't automatics by a long shot.
 
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