Rucker: Reality-check yourself after Vols' rough opener

#52
#52
Power T-Rev said:
The grade school insults are a little unwarranted. The guy has a more optimistic view than you do and that's ok. Not all fans enjoy wallowing in the pit of misery with you.
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Pit of misery? Dilly dilly, I guess.
 
#54
#54
Long term Butch Jones effect with some of these players. To give WV credit, they looked huge compared to our line. The first play of the game pretty much summed up the rest of the game. We got blown up at the line. There's no other way to explain the reason that our upperclassmen look like freshmen out there. Pruitt knew it too. He never sugar coated it, he knew it was going to be tough to be successful if he couldn't change the mindset of the players brought here by Lyle, it was going to be a struggle. It seemed to me that they had bought in, and maybe they had, but they didn't play with confidence. I thought the secondary would look better since Pruitt was coaching that area of the game, but I guess, new system and young talent will never beat a stable of tried and true receivers and an NFL qb.
 
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#55
#55
McDad said:
Will be ignored by many. I have a problem with comparing year 1 head coach records. CJP is a cornbread lovin' southerner, he's had incredible talent at previous jobs, but he neither looked like our answer nor did he look like the defensive specialist we were sold.
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What a GREAT analysis after ONE game. If this were year 4, you might have a case. But Geeeeez, could you give it a rest for a few. Orange colored glassed combined with the idiots posting here how BAD WVU was. Your expectations will be back after beating down ETSU next week!!
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#56
#56
Advol said:
What a GREAT analysis after ONE game. If this were year 4, you might have a case. But Geeeeez, could you give it a rest for a few. Orange colored glassed combined with the idiots posting here how BAD WVU was. Your expectations will be back after beating down ETSU next week!!
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My expectations of 4-8 are unaltered. Thanks for the encouragement. It really helped.
 
#59
#59
I think I might take his advice. Teach the kiddo how to fish or go hiking. Maybe work on my golf game (lord knows that needs a lot of work)
 
#60
#60
Other_Guy said:
I will make sure to let CJP know he should publicly apologize for the freshmen CBs not looking like Darrell Revis against those NFL WRs.
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Could you also let him know his center should block the d lineman? Tia.
 
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#62
#62
VFL-82-JP said:
Yep, I still think so.

I think Bama, UGa, and Auburn would be miraculous. So set them aside.

I think FL and USCe will be uphill battles, but we might win one of the two.

I think Mizzou, Vandy and Kentucky are well within our capability, but we might lose one of the three.

And then there are the three cupcakes.

So that puts us in the 6-6 to 7-5 range, depending on how we do against peer or near-peer competition.

This season ain't over, brother.
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The way you are phrasing things is a lot different than most before the season.

“Mizzou, Vandy, and Kentucky are well within our capability, but we might lose one of the three”

That’s a lot different than just chalking the up as automatic wins.

This game was seen by many as a toss up. Several believed Tennessee was flat out better than West Virginia and took offense to many in the media and the spread.

So, yeah, I think there has been an attitude adjustment to a more realistic view that every d1 game is going to be tough
 
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#63
#63
Good article, but most Vols fans refuse to be real for the most part.

Maybe all those people who say we should win 8 this year can remember the coaching records listed in that article in year 1.
 
#64
#64
The difference between a 4-3 defense and a 3-4 is really big. It goes from having every player needing to do a bunch of different things pretty well, to a defense where almost every player has to do a few things amazingly. In 4-3, corners probably have more help in coverage, but they'll also be expected to help in the run. In 3-4, corners are there to lock down their opponents with little help and you need at least some pressure from your front 3 alone. 3-4 is more of a role playing defense. I'd say we have a solid front 3 as far as filling the lanes and stopping runs, but besides a play or two, we have no one on the line who can put pressure on the qb.

Dooley switched from a 4-3 to a 3-4 one season and it went on to be one of our worst defenses. Doesn't mean 3-4 can't work. It just takes a while and you definitely need the right players. Having one or 2 weak spots in a 3-4 is worse than a few weak spots in the 4-3. But once we get players who can play the 3-4, it's the better defense in football currently, at least in my opinion.
 
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#65
#65
99gator said:
The way you are phrasing things is a lot different than most before the season.

“Mizzou, Vandy, and Kentucky are well within our capability, but we might lose one of the three”

That’s a lot different than just chalking the up as automatic wins.

This game was seen by many as a toss up. Several believed Tennessee was flat out better than West Virginia and took offense to many in the media and the spread.

So, yeah, I think there has been an attitude adjustment to a more realistic view that every d1 game is going to be tough
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100% spot on.
 
#66
#66
vol_in_ar said:
The DB's got torched, and that's suppose to be Pruitt's strength, and the defense in general was horrid
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the DB s got torched because a couple months ago they were in high school and they were facing one of the best passing attacks in college football.

I have no clue why the DL sucked so bad, but my working theory is that Butch Jones poisoned the minds of all these players. They are no longer serviceable football players and this team isnt getting better until all of Butch Jones players have been wiped from the team.
 
#67
#67
Man I can't wait till Pruitt gets his players in. CBJ recruits consistently looked lost and confused. A lot of those players were 4 and 5 stars. I just don't get how for 10 years players come to UT highly regarded and get here and just turn into DII players. Nigel Warrior is the best player we have and even he leaves a lot to be desired.

I really hope Pruitt isn't only selling an easy path to playing time to these recruits because good football players are confident in their ability and want to compete. The guys we have now had a quick path to play time and haven't developed one bit since.
 
#68
#68
VFL-82-JP said:
I haven't seen that.

I've seen a board full of folks who mostly recognized that we have to rebuild, and this is the first year of it. Folks who mostly acknowledged that anything from 3-9 to 9-3 is in the realm of the possible.

Sure, there were a couple of folks who thought we could challenge for a trip to Atlanta in December (or even more), but they really were a small minority. Far more than that said in recent weeks that 6-6 or 7-5 is about all we can expect this season.

And I say that readily admitting that I let the excitement of the buildup to Game 1 nudge me away from 7-5 toward 8-4 (I'm back down now, heh). That's a natural part of being a fan before the first game is played, I think. But even then, I'm on the optimistic side of the crowd.

I think most folks here have been pretty realistic about what's possible this year.
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All I saw was "We gonna whip dey ass" and how Pruitt was going to be a miracle worker because "we have talent just not coaches"..
 
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#69
#69
MWAVolfan said:
the DB s got torched because a couple months ago they were in high school and they were facing one of the best passing attacks in college football.

I have no clue why the DL sucked so bad, but my working theory is that Butch Jones poisoned the minds of all these players. They are no longer serviceable football players and this team isnt getting better until all of Butch Jones players have been wiped from the team.
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His recruiting was suspect. His development non existent. His cliches were tiresome...but poisoned the minds???
This performance is on our current coaches. They saw what they had in practice.
 
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#70
#70
Folks who doubt Pruitt as head coach have some validity in their concerns. The defense did not look much better than last year at all. I was actually surprised how bad we looked on D in the second half.
Folks who are still optomistic about Pruitt have validity as well. We were a terrible team and that takes longer than a single off season to fix. I thought the offense looked ok, and even the OL looked improved, after the initial few series. Guarantano looks like a different player. Jordon looked pretty good as well for being an unknown a year ago.
I do not think anyone will know who is right until next year. I will stay quietly optimistic that as the year grinds on, we will get better. Next year I will expect to beat one of UF, UGA, or Alabama.
 
#72
#72
Rucker trying to curry favor with the staff by lecturing the fan base.

I gave up reading at the 70th I or ME in the article.

No one expected an SEC title this season and not many that I have seen expected more than 7 wins.

Staying within shouting distance of a mediocre bottom tier Big 12 team shouldnt have been too tall of an order though.

If Wes wants to blame everything on last season and being a 4-8 team then the same reasoning should be applied to WVU.

Instead they have been built up to be an unstoppable offensive juggernaut with a great defense.

They might be the 5th best team the Vols face this year in reality. Probably closer to the 7th best depending on FL and Missouri.
 
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#74
#74
99gator said:
Thought it was spot on myself.
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Then you overlooked a lot, too. But you're a reptile. Vision isn't your strong suit.

Here, I'll give you and _79 a challenge, to prove the point:

Go look through my post history of the past two weeks, ending just before game start time yesterday. I think I'm fairly typical among Vols fans, if anything a bit more optimistic than the average. So it's a fair representation for this purpose. See if my posts were insanely overboard, or balanced.

Fact is, these boards have been mixed all along, from the ultra-negative MWAs of the world, through the Eeyorish KBs, to the middle ground, to the somewhat optimistic (me included), to the Nationdom-level Pollyannas.

If all you're seeing is one extreme of that spectrum, you need better glasses.
 
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#75
#75
VFL-82-JP said:
Then you overlooked a lot, too. But you're a reptile. Vision isn't your strong suit.
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The general consensus was that Tennessee had issues, however.....

Florida, mizzou, SC, KY, Vandy, WVU ain’t that great either and have their own issues.

Therefore a good staff can and will beat those teams if he can fix Tennessee’s issues before they do.

And one of the issues was not thought to be talent
 
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