How pivotal is UK this week?

How pivotal is UK game?

  • UK game not pivotal at all

    Votes: 23 9.2%

  • UK win very pivotal or season will tank

    Votes: 147 58.8%

  • Big pivotal measuring stick for Pruitt

    Votes: 89 35.6%

  • I hate winning and just love Pruitt no matter what

    Votes: 8 3.2%
  • Total voters
    250
#78
#78
Kentucky is a very good football team,, they very easy could be 3 and 0, but if we are going to take the next step in closing the gap on the Gators we must win, there is a huge gap between us and Georgia but not the Gators and the rest of the East, we got to win games likes this at home, we can't lose a game like this and say we are rising to the top.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Devo182, SpookyAction and hog88
#79
#79
Devo182 said:
"Pivotal" is a bit strong. No reason to think anything will tank over 1 game. This was always a weird season very unlikely getting to Atl...so what are we fighting to achieve?

What is the pivot differentiating one path from another?

This is more of an incrementally or marginally different season over a couple games...but nothing huge. We could lose to uk, beat auburn. Or vice versa. However it goes, between 4-6 and 7-3 was 90% of the range for the season outcomes and UK won't change much either way.

A lot of this is in the minds of fans imo.
Click to expand...

So scrap the season? We are in an unprecedented situation where UT is playing all conference games and we aren't supposed to measure their success based on only playing their rivals? This game is pivotal in many ways. Doors were blown off last week. Bama coming soon. If they drop the UK game, that's 3 straight Ls. Everything could completely unravel. As far as Pruitt, he is measured (or should be) by beating UK every year and competing with the big dogs.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Doberman
#80
#80
hog88 said:
That was a few good years.
Click to expand...
I remember in the 90's at halftime i would feel sorry for the Dawgs fans and tell them to keep there head up that it would get better, but if i just knew what i know today i would have poured it on, if i just can live long enough if we every can get the Dawgs down i will keep kicking that Dawg down till i can't kick no more.
 
  • Like
Reactions: hog88
#81
#81
terrypedigo said:
I remember in the 90's at halftime i would feel sorry for the Dawgs fans and tell them to keep there head up that it would get better, but if i just knew what i know today i would have poured it on, if i just can live long enough if we every can get the Dawgs down i will keep kicking that Dawg down till i can't kick no more.
Click to expand...

Nothing worse than having your opponents fans consoling you.
 
#82
#82
tnutater said:
I never believed the leadership cliché bullshoot.
If the coaches cannot " push the younger players along" a teammate sure as heck can't.
Cheerleaders are in the stands this year. RAH-RAH!!!
When asked about leaders of the team....CJP said he was.
Players look at older team members as competitors for playing time. Not as leaders.
This line is best left for the talking heads.... everyone knows they are idiots.
Click to expand...
I always saw leadership as a scaffold with coaches at the top and senior player at the top. Then underclassmen and either step up or get out of the way. I truly believe Pruitt is the leader and an active one. Coaches are officers and team leaders are NCOs. You have to have peer enforcers on the roster to keep the soldiers in line. They do it because everyone loses when some are following the gameplan.

Competition has to be healthy and I think Pruitt knows exactly how to do it. You never hear of problem players at BAMA for long, since 2007.

We have had our share in the meantime, though not at the moment, AFAIK.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: tnutater
#83
#83
sjt18 said:
This is a test for Pruitt. He has chosen to stay with JG. That either pays off or leaves him looking like a fool.
Click to expand...
I think Pruitt's position on JG is more informative of his opinion of Shrout and Maurer than how much he is committed to JG.
 
  • Like
Reactions: GoVols64
#84
#84
SpookyAction said:
I think Pruitt's position on JG is more informative of his opinion of Shrout and Maurer than how much he is committed to JG.
Click to expand...
Could be. I have no way of knowing that. Both showed some signs last year of being good QB's. Both did things well that JG does poorly.

His handling of the QB position is still a test. I gave them a ton of credit for how they managed the QB situation last year. But Pruitt appears to have closed his mind now. That's not good.
 
#85
#85
madbamahater said:
The 3rd season as head coach. Lots of players with lots of playing time in his system. 5th year senior starting QB. Improved OL with more depth. 2 very capable RBs. Solid defensive backfield. Upgraded talent overall than previous seasons. How important and pivotal is this game for you as a UT fan for your thoughts on Pruitt? Many are all in. Many are not all in at all and are still skeptical. Many are on the fence. With UT getting boat-raced by UGA and Vols needing to get in the W column, what does this UK game mean? I think it's a must win. UT can't lose to UK. It's not what UT does. It's a measuring stick. Losing to UK should put any UT coach on notice.
Click to expand...
We were a defensive stop from losing the game last year. They didn’t even have a QB. I think if we win three in a row over Kentucky it means we are established as at least the third best team in the country. I won’t say that’s the entire season if we play a decent game and still lose though. I will say, signing the extension was very premature. I have the feeling we did that for recruiting purposes.
 
#87
#87
tnutater said:
I first heard the expression from Coach Fulmer.
Jimmy and Joe are diminutives of the Biblical forenames James and Joseph.
Such type names are out of favor in certain modern cultures due to slave name implication.
If I offended any Vol fan, I apologize and will retire the saying from my vocabulary.
(Joseph, eleventh son of Jacob, by Rachel, was sold into slavery by his brothers to the Midianites for twenty pieces of silver)
Click to expand...
No I was for real..I hope our Jamaris and Deondres are better.
 
#88
#88
sjt18 said:
Could be. I have no way of knowing that. Both showed some signs last year of being good QB's. Both did things well that JG does poorly.

His handling of the QB position is still a test. I gave them a ton of credit for how they managed the QB situation last year. But Pruitt appears to have closed his mind now. That's not good.
Click to expand...

(I apologize a bit. This post rambles a bit, but I am not rewriting it.)

If they were that good in practice, I think he would play them. I don't believe Pruitt is ever going to put the 2nd best option in as QB unless the best QB is injured. A lot of people (I catch myself doing it) overcomplicate what they see happening.

The JG saga plays like a conspiracy theory in the forums. CJP is not going to start JG if he is not the best on the team. I have never read a credible report of the players disagreeing that JG should start. UT players let too much hang out online. If it was true there would be rumblings from the Sports Coplex. No one around this part of the internet knows anything the coaches don't know. I clench my jaw often watching JG play. Not all problems are his fault, but he seems to miss a lot of the action before and during the play. He is both efficient and deficient.

BUT it is the biggest failing of Coach Pruitt that has not brought a man onto the team that could beat JG for that starting QB position. I know they have tried. I see it like this. Butch Jones sold Josh Dobbs on the Vols. Best thing he ever did as head coach. I see Henry T as the QB of the defense. Maybe Pruitt's biggest recruiting accomplishment so far. There is no Henry T on the offense. Outside of the OLine, the players on the offense are not elite. Or maybe elite enough.

We started a complete tier below UGA, UF, BAMA, and LSU when CJP arrived. Now we are there on defense IMO. The offense is still 2nd tier at the skill positions. Thus we are still a 2nd tier team. LSU has fallen this season. UF has an elite offense and 2nd tier defense this season and we have a shot at them. UGA and BAMA are still out of reach, for the most part. I think we can beat BAMA, on our best day. I think we are close to UF, if the staff ever has the team ready for that game. We can pass them with a couple of wins and make it some kind of rivalry again.
*****************************************************************************************************************************************
I remember Jalen Hurts played us as a freshman. That BAMA team was stacked and he was the vulnerability as a freshman starting in the SEC. His freshman game against us, he was practically flawless. He was barely a legal adult and was in command of the game. He came to Neyland and managed the dismantling of a fading, but still talented Tennessee team.

Pruitt has not found that QB. The one good enough to get it done and keep the team rolling. The one who doesn't beat himself. The man that stands over the other team at the end of the game. When Pruitt gets that guy on the field, we will owe him a lot more money.

Is Harrison Bailey that player? No, or he would be starting Saturday. I don't care if it is because of lack of practice or quarantine. It does not matter. In October, 2020, he is not only not near the level of elite, he is not the best QB on the team that seems to have such limited QB options. So, he is still raw. This leads to Chris Weinke. He is a good coach, or would have been fired by now. But he is not good enough. The QB development has been pathetic. No advancement is failure and our QBs, outside of Bray and Dobbs, never seem to grow as they should this decade, but specifically under this coaching staff.
Chris Weinke get it done or get lost.

As an aside, I have the same criticism of the RBs. We have two nice slash runners, but neither is going to take control of the game. Travis Stephens, Travis Henry, Jamal Lewis, Hardesty, Foster; those guys could take control of a game and physically wear down a defense. I know they don't succeed without a line, but we have the line. We just lack a punishing runner. Add that to an elite QB and we will be a contender.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: lifeVol, GoVols64 and Big Al Orange
#92
#92
Nick Saban has COVID-19. Let's see how pivotal it will be next week when he's not on the sideline. If we win, will it be the 1st time one of his assistants beat him or will it not count cause he won't be there to get his whoopin?
 
#93
#93
madbamahater said:
The 3rd season as head coach. Lots of players with lots of playing time in his system. 5th year senior starting QB. Improved OL with more depth. 2 very capable RBs. Solid defensive backfield. Upgraded talent overall than previous seasons. How important and pivotal is this game for you as a UT fan for your thoughts on Pruitt? Many are all in. Many are not all in at all and are still skeptical. Many are on the fence. With UT getting boat-raced by UGA and Vols needing to get in the W column, what does this UK game mean? I think it's a must win. UT can't lose to UK. It's not what UT does. It's a measuring stick. Losing to UK should put any UT coach on notice.
Click to expand...

Agree KY is always a must-win for us. Many of us expect a 5-5 season, with 6-4 being best-case scenario. KY must be a W in either case.

That said, this team is not losing to KY Saturday.
 
#94
#94
This is a must win, not only for the season as far as games won, but also for recruiting. The loss to Georgia may have cost us any shot we had at getting Mims or Mondon, but a loss to Kentucky could have guys like Terrance Lewis and Dylan brooks rethinking their verbal commitments.
 
#96
#96
tnutater said:
Every locker room that i was in had cliques.
The Stars had little time for anything other than reading their own press clippings and showing their action photos.
The Players loved the game. I do my best, you do yours... it is a game lets have fun.
The Benchwarmers were there for whatever reason, but had little talent or skill.
Very little trust or respect between groups.
Out of any group of 100 people only a small percentage, call them jock-sniffers, respond well to the Alpha male team enforcer types that you think so much of.
Modern players are very much the individual. Humans are that way.
Click to expand...

We had very different experiences. There were definitely separate groups but nothing as bleak as what you describe. Guess I wouldn’t recognize a “modern player.”
 
#97
#97
This is a must win game period. TN is already stuck in a loop of mediocrity. 0-34 against top 10 teams. Didn't come close to covering the spread last week. While most weren't expecting a win, a closer game would've been a positive sign that this team is closer to competing for the east. Lose this game, then we've got ourselves a mountain to climb in relevancy.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Doberman, Big Al Orange and PlanetVolunteer
#99
#99
madbamahater said:
So scrap the season? We are in an unprecedented situation where UT is playing all conference games and we aren't supposed to measure their success based on only playing their rivals? This game is pivotal in many ways. Doors were blown off last week. Bama coming soon. If they drop the UK game, that's 3 straight Ls. Everything could completely unravel. As far as Pruitt, he is measured (or should be) by beating UK every year and competing with the big dogs.
Click to expand...
Never said all that, just that 1 game isn't keeping us from Atlanta or NY6 bowl. There is no "we lost and the season is over" moment. Team won't unravel imo because we are veteran in the right spots and have good leadership. Look at what the group did last year. We'll stick together and finish 2nd half out either way.

We have a handful of ~40-60% games, already won one of them in usc. We have uk, auburn, tamu left. Point is with 4 of them, odds are we win 2 and lose 2. They can mix and match in different ways and it doesn't really matter how it plays out.

What if we win this and lose to tamu, going 5-5?

What if instead we lose this and beat tamu, going 5-5?
 
Last edited:
#100
#100
Another loss in the first part of the season won't tank the season. We weren't much better than kentucky last year.
JG is a head case. He might throw for 400 yards or he might not.....
 
New posts
You must log in or register to reply here.
Advertisement



Back
Top