Memphis Football has us SKEERED?

#52
#52
A few years ago this fanbase was excited to compete. We had a "bring it" attitude. Now we are so careful to not play someone in a certain place in case we lose.

Makes me sick.

I understand that Fulmer has a really bad memory of Memphis (State at the time) beating us with Peyton at the helm, but that was a long time ago. He doesn't have to schedule a series if he's scared for us, but I really wish he just wouldn't ACT like he's scared for us. It would look so much better if he'd say "We have a lot of quality programs interested in playing us and we take all of those interests seriously. We'll have to see how the schedules work out in the future".

Makes us look scared. Actually, I think we ARE scared.
Post is idiotic. Scared of Memphis? We’re playing Oklahoma in 2020! As I said earlier this debate about Memphis has been going on for at least 50 years. Playing them just builds their program. TN gets zero out of the deal. It’s totally a one way street.
 
#54
#54
I said that's the ONLY reason to consider a game there. I probably wouldn't even play Memphis and make it look like UT considers them that much of an equal. If Bama wouldn't give Memphis a home and home... neither should UT- And Memphis ain't gettin a home and home with Bama.
Bama does not have to play in Memphis to pull talent from there.
 
#55
#55
Post is idiotic. Scared of Memphis? We’re playing Oklahoma in 2020! As I said earlier this debate about Memphis has been going on for at least 50 years. Playing them just builds their program. TN gets zero out of the deal. It’s totally a one way street.
Ignoring West Tennessee is one reason we get very little from there.
 
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#58
#58
Post is idiotic. Scared of Memphis? We’re playing Oklahoma in 2020! As I said earlier this debate about Memphis has been going on for at least 50 years. Playing them just builds their program. TN gets zero out of the deal. It’s totally a one way street.

Hate to break it to you but Oklahoma feels the same about us as you believe about Memphis. John Adams (dude from newspaper) went so far as to say we should cancel the game.
 
#60
#60
Hate to break it to you but Oklahoma feels the same about us as you believe about Memphis. John Adams (dude from newspaper) went so far as to say we should cancel the game.

Some fans think we should cancel the Oklahoma game next year too. They don't want to play Memphis or Oklahoma. But they ain't Skeert.
 
#61
#61
The premise is pretty simple. We could benefit our recruiting with a stronger presence in Memphis.

As UT returns to form we should have a virtual lock on the top talent coming out of Memphis area like we did in the late 90's and early 2000's.

We're not referring to Memphis managing to throw a recruiting punch above their weight and snag a recruit we might have been after every few years. We're referring to recruits schools like OlePi$$ and Cowbell-U are after.

Giving Memphis a home and home isn't worth that as even at their best and us at our worst, Memphis isn't beating us out of any noteworthy recruiting.

Fullmer's just saying if we we're to schedule Memphis we're dealing down and not dealing even. Scheduling a neutral site cupcake in Memphis would give us the same recruiting benefit and area presence as playing UofM without having to payback a home game.

OP-Where do you get scared from?
 
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#63
#63
The premise is pretty simple. We could benefit our recruiting with a stronger presence in Memphis.

As UT returns to form we should have a virtual lock on the top talent coming out of Memphis area like we did in the late 90's and early 2000's.

We're not referring to Memphis managing to throw a recruiting punch above their weight and snag a recruit we might have been after every few years. We're referring to recruits schools like OlePi$$ and Cowbell-U are after.

Giving Memphis a home and home isn't worth that as even at their best and us at our worst, Memphis isn't beating us out of any noteworthy recruiting.

Fullmer's just saying if we we're to schedule Memphis we're dealing down and not dealing even. Scheduling a neutral site cupcake in Memphis would give us the same recruiting benefit and area presence as playing UofM without having to payback a home game.

OP-Where do you get scared from?

Eastern West Tennessee
 
#64
#64
DeAngelo Williams

I was there too. He had death threats that day and got pulled. We would have gotten tooled had he played. Barely won anyway.
He had a streak going. Rushing for over 100 yards for so many starts in a row. He told VFL Tiger HC Tommy West that he could play but didn’t want to start(He didn’t want to jeopardize his streak.). He was battling some sort of injury, so West pulled him from the game. If you can’t start then you can’t play.

I wonder if him being a VFL had anything to do with his decision to pull Williams from playing.
 
#65
#65
He had a streak going. Rushing for over 100 yards for so many starts in a row. He told VFL Tiger HC Tommy West that he could play but didn’t want to start(He didn’t want to jeopardize his streak.). He was battling some sort of injury, so West pulled him from the game. If you can’t start then you can’t play.

I wonder if him being a VFL had anything to do with his decision to pull Williams from playing.

Never heard that rendition.
 
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#66
#66
The premise is pretty simple. We could benefit our recruiting with a stronger presence in Memphis.

As UT returns to form we should have a virtual lock on the top talent coming out of Memphis area like we did in the late 90's and early 2000's.

We're not referring to Memphis managing to throw a recruiting punch above their weight and snag a recruit we might have been after every few years. We're referring to recruits schools like OlePi$$ and Cowbell-U are after.

Giving Memphis a home and home isn't worth that as even at their best and us at our worst, Memphis isn't beating us out of any noteworthy recruiting.

Fullmer's just saying if we we're to schedule Memphis we're dealing down and not dealing even. Scheduling a neutral site cupcake in Memphis would give us the same recruiting benefit and area presence as playing UofM without having to payback a home game.

OP-Where do you get scared from?

You make a more thoughtful argument than most.

I just don't see Memphis as being so substandard that we can't even consider them worthy of a game. They have been ranked in the top 25 at some point in 3 of the last 4 seasons, as high as 13th once. I predict a top 20 finish this year. They have beaten ranked teams when given the opportunity (Ole Mrs., UCLA, Navy) and have lost heartbreakers to very capable teams (double overtime loss to undefeated UCF and to Houston when they were competitive). They are regularly turning out valid NFL prospects. I agree they are no Alabama or Florida, but they are more pertinent than Kentucky or Vanderbilt (and Tennessee the past 5 years) and are on par with the best of non Power 5 conference teams. They won't compete well with Oklahoma but I see them as a quality non-conference opponent for Tennessee if being scared to lose is removed from the equation.
 
#67
#67
This tells me that the confidence in Knoxville of rebuilding in the next 4 years is questionable at best.

If I were Alabama, the Mississippi schools, Memphis, or Missouri I would plaster this all over my recruiting boards to let the kids in West Tennessee know that UT is no longer a significant program.

But we're not and haven't been for over 10 years now. I remember the days of being up and a little down, but respected. I also remember the '90's, which I'm sure you do as well.

I want this program to be a powerhouse again, but UT is not going to get any respect until they once again prove they are a force to be reckoned with. Unfortunately, there's an entire generation (nearing a second) that have only known the Vols as a mediocre, bottom-feeder in SEC---sad, but true. Until that narrative changes, that's the reputation that the college/team I love has created for itself due to the rampant idiocracy in leadership that's gone on "up on the hill" since the mid 2000's.

I still believe it's going to take a lot longer to fix this mess then some of the others on this board have promoted in their posts.
 
#69
#69
Exactly!

Why are we afraid of them?

Because they'll probably try to rob us as we leave the stadium.

Some fans think we should cancel the Oklahoma game next year too. They don't want to play Memphis or Oklahoma. But they ain't Skeert.

I think I made a post about that the first time we played them, and I was ridiculed for it. I deserved it too. If you want to be the man you have to beat the man.
 
#70
#70
You make a more thoughtful argument than most.

I just don't see Memphis as being so substandard that we can't even consider them worthy of a game. They have been ranked in the top 25 at some point in 3 of the last 4 seasons, as high as 13th once. I predict a top 20 finish this year. They have beaten ranked teams when given the opportunity (Ole Mrs., UCLA, Navy) and have lost heartbreakers to very capable teams (double overtime loss to undefeated UCF and to Houston when they were competitive). They are regularly turning out valid NFL prospects. I agree they are no Alabama or Florida, but they are more pertinent than Kentucky or Vanderbilt (and Tennessee the past 5 years) and are on par with the best of non Power 5 conference teams. They won't compete well with Oklahoma but I see them as a quality non-conference opponent for Tennessee if being scared to lose is removed from the equation.
I assure you I'd like nothing more than to see us schedule them. See my user name....

I agree almost completely with you that they'd presently be a great matchup given the state of our programs.

The reason I don't agree completely, or why I see where Fulmer's coming from is.....
Tiger high has a 30+ year history suggesting they can't sustain their recent success.
They experience moderate success then succumb to laughing stock.
From stupidly firing Chuck Stobart (those 3 6-5 teams would have been bowl teams in today's landscape) and replacing him with D-AA joke Rip Scherer to replacing Tommy West with Larry Porter, not making bowls as an independent, playing 2nd - 3rd fiddle to East Carolina & Louisville in C- USA, to today's standing in the AAC; Memphis has about a 30 year history of having enough short term success to be considered good and then falling into oblivion. Going back more than 30 years it was pretty much just oblivion....
Memphis lucked into a good hire with Mike Norvell after Fuentes let for V-Tech, two good coaches is virtually unprecedented for Tiger High. I'd love it for the hometown team but wouldn't bet on three in a row. If the Tigers win 10 games this year it might be Norvell's last year and I assure you if 2019 & 2020 are good they'll be searching for a new coach in Memphis by 2021.
Fulmers looking at the possibility of a mediocre sub .500 Lesser5 team on the schedule.

The cold hard facts is that CPF is afraid we will lose bc we would.
Aasinine. Their offense lives and dies on the spread with allot of 4-5 receiver sets. With the talent in our back seven on D they'd be a great matchup for us.

Because they'll probably try to rob us as we leave the stadium.
Just you.
 
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#71
#71
Bama does not have to play in Memphis to pull talent from there.
Alabama has played at neutral sites like ATL to help recruiting. Their stadium is bigger than Mercedes and they usually split revenues when they do it.


That said, you seem to miss my point.
 
#72
#72
I'm not following you.
You said they had been better than UT. If UT were playing their schedule then that would not be the appearance at all. They are not at UT's level. Agreeing to a home and home would not really elevate them... it would just render UT second tier. You don't agree to home and home series with inferior programs unless you want to be viewed as their equal.
 
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#74
#74
You said they had been better than UT. If UT were playing their schedule then that would not be the appearance at all. They are not at UT's level. Agreeing to a home and home would not really elevate them... it would just render UT second tier. You don't agree to home and home series with inferior programs unless you want to be viewed as their equal.

UT didn't have a problem playing them 4-6 times per decade from the 70's through the 00's.
 
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