For those who like analytics - Why did Tennessee win 11 games?

#4
#4
It's funny, I subconsciously knew almost all of these before reading this content. The offense this year was so predictably good, and consistent, that its tendencies became almost expected. I was used to Tennessee blowing up with big plays on first down; how many times did we see a first down followed by a shot deep? Lots. lots. And if we got within 20-30 yards of the endzone, it was like blood in the water for our offense. It just felt like we were always itching to take - and make - shots.

And I've had faith all year that our run defense was very, very tough; teams running up the middle on us seemed to get stuffed very frequently. We'd give up lots in the air, yeah, but our defensive line was not messing around out there. All of this led to teams (1) getting behind and (2) becoming more and more focused on passing to try and get back into the game. Which only helped Tennessee, because we were comfortable outscoring teams in a points race. If you couldn't consistently make pass plays against Tennessee this year, you were gonna have a bad time.

Anyway, not to discount the story or the data, I just feel blessed that we had a team with such offensive consistency. After decades of sputtering around, it was refreshing to see a competent and hungry scoring mentality out there.
 
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#5
#5
I think of it even simpler- we're a quick-scoring team aimed at getting players into big-play positions. Less time to think + less plays = less opportunities for a group of college kids to make mistakes. This is the main reason I don't think this offense is a "gimmick".
 
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#7
#7
Why 11?
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#10
#10
I wonder some if we should not look closer at Georgia's defense. The 4-2-5 is nice and Brent Venables ran it like a pro at Clemson but I really like the aggressiveness of Georgia's defense with the weird hybrid 3-4 scheme they do with the one, hybrid edge player and the use of a creeper. If you haven't heard that term a creeper, by design, is using a player at the second level (slot corner, inside or outside linebackers) to be the fourth rusher by blitzing from “depth.” In some designs and out of certain fronts, a traditional-looking rusher can drop out into coverage. I don't want to pretend I understand it all but it always seems Georgia is attacking where I feel like we are defending. A bend don't break more attitude. In all fairness Banks did get more aggressive after the South Carolina fiasco and Klubnick spent the Orange Bowl on his heels. Hopefully he saw how successful that was and works on it during spring and fall camp.
 
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#12
#12
BigOrangeTrain said:
But stars don’t matter according to experts like @sjt18 and some others.
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Sjt18 is very knowledgeable, he knows football pretty well. I think it’s pretty common that stars do matter majority of the time to be elite. You can win 10-11 games with top 10 but most of the time you need top 5 talent to bring it home.
 
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#13
#13
BigOrangeTrain said:
But stars don’t matter according to experts like @sjt18 and some others.
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Correct. Recruit better (does not =) more stars. Recruit better = Better talent.

Some folks, like you, lack the ability to distinguish one from the other. Your evasion didn't go unnoticed btw. According to your belief, the recent signees were on whole a step in the wrong direction. Players like Luttrell, Conyer, Slaughter, Telander, Lang, Keith, Duncan, etc simply aren't talented enough for UT to build a championship roster with them on it.

Just show some ba...s and say it. Either you are wrong about stars being the be all, end all in talent or this class sucks.
 
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#15
#15
Nationdom said:
Sjt18 is very knowledgeable, he knows football pretty well. I think it’s pretty common that stars do matter majority of the time to be elite. You can win 10-11 games with top 10 but most of the time you need top 5 talent to bring it home.
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It takes talent. In any year there are as many kids who were worthy of 4/5* ratings as get them. So to get talent... a program like UT can go head to head with OSU, Bama, and UGA and convince players they want to sign with UT instead. Or... you can go find your own which probably WON'T get as much love from the recruiting sites. Clemson broke into the elite ranks with a roster that averaged 11th. @BigOrangeTrain and a few others cannot accept that truth. They also lend credibility to the recruiting sites which doesn't belong to them. 247's top 10 roster talent composite list is- Bama, UGA, OSU, TAM, Clem, Texas, Oreg, LSU, OU, and ND. The four in bold clearly weren't top 10.

The rankings are not predictive. I'm not impressed that they can identify the 3 most successful programs in recent years as the most talented. You and I could do that. Accuracy or lack thereof is proven by how well they do beyond that handful of teams... and it isn't great. That leaves all kinds of room for an up and coming program to assemble a very talented roster and not finish in the "top 10" according to the recruiting sites.

Also, I would argue that a kid like Keith or Duncan or maybe others would have been rated 4* if they'd signed with Bama, UGA, OSU, or Clemson. If Heupel keeps winning then the recruiting sites will give his targets the benefit of the doubt too. As of now though, UT signed guys who appear to be very talented that the recruiting sites just didn't think that much of.

You and I have been around a little while. We've celebrated many "great recruiting classes" at UT. Classes with numerous 4/5* players.... who in time prove to be overrated. It is nice to have that "affirmation"... but FAR better to have a coaching staff that can evaluate talent for themselves.
 
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