It's really unfortunate to have to open the year in 2014 against them. They are a good football team that knocked off NIU last night and pretty much shut down Lynch. Win, and it will be no big deal to anyone outside of Knoxville - you're supposed to win your home opener against a non conference team. Lose, and there will be a chernobyl like meltdown on VN and BJ will lose much of the fan base before the season even gets started.
Thoughts?
And Vandy vs a woeful Wake Forest team.... needed a miracle catch by Matthews in double coverage that converted 4th and 12 or so to come back and win that game late....at home.
Will Utah State turn the ball over 6 or 7 times? The Western KY receiver that had the ball bounce of his face and UT take it to the house was something to behold.
Several factors have to be considered here:
1. Same thing was said going against WKU and we know how that one turned out.
2. Mid-major teams have a history of coming into Neyland and literally being overwhelmed by the size of the confines and wilting shortly there after.
They have shown up to play against better teams than TN the last few years.
at Oklahoma Sooners -lost 31-24
at Auburn Tigers -lost 42-38
at Wisconsin Badgers -lost 16-14
at USC Trojans -lost 17-14
I think the fact that UT had 4 qbs on the roster, and when they made the trip to either Oregon or Florida, that when they only took 3 of the 4 on the trip.... and the 1 QB that didn't make the trip was Dobbs..... the math wasn't difficult to do at that point - Dobbs was the 4th string QB.
Not sure why some refuse to acknowledge it. Did we really need Butch to make an announcement about it when it was very clear? Why would they go to a road game and leave their 3rd string QB at home while bringing their 4th string? Makes no sense.
In my opinion, a rush to judgement on "coaching ability" is at play here also. Past failure to properly develop talent into SEC caliber skills is readily apparent. Sorry, there is no instant "mix with water" and stand back fix.
Will Utah State turn the ball over 6 or 7 times? The Western KY receiver that had the ball bounce of his face and UT take it to the house was something to behold.
4. Even with ZERO experience, the gap in talent should be enough to win by 7 points on head to head match-up.
.
