2020 Oklahoma: Most important game in Tennessee history?

#151
#151
Matt2496 said:
All of the games we lost that year were within a touchdown. We even led Bama going into the 4th quarter. Just imagine if we could've won those games, we would've been in the playoff, and chances are, Butch Jones would still be our head coach.

Sigh...
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If we had a top kicker the Arkansas game would have been our only loss. Missed a FG against OU, missed a game winner against UF, missed 3 against Bama
 
#153
#153
TennesseeVol2006 said:
I don’t know how you can say that. We just had the worst year in Tennessee history. We’re kinda at the bottom of our illustrious history.

People don’t even consider us a blue blood program anymore. This game changes that if we carry this momentum into a successful 2020 campaign.

I think we can beat Florida and Bama at home this year. I think we can surprise people, but we’re not doing any of that with Guarantano as QB1.
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Don't think 8-5 is the worst year in Tennessee history...
 
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#155
#155
Q: "2020 Oklahoma: Most important game in Tennessee history?"

A: No. History did not begin in 2008, 1998, 1957, 1951, 1926, or, for that matter, 1891.

Next Question.

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#157
#157
TennesseeVol2006 said:
Rarely in life do you get a 2nd shot.

2015 Oklahoma was the most important game of Tennessee’s future. We were still figuring out who Butch Jones was. We had this recruiting class coming in full of talent that set out to restore Tennessee to greatness. We had a national power in Oklahoma coming to Knoxville with an unproven transfer QB leading their team. Checkerboard in Neyland. We all know what happened. Oklahoma won in stunning fashion. Baker Mayfield carried that momentum to go on to lead Oklahoma to the playoffs and won a Heisman. Trevor Lawrence and a host of other top talent was at that game and left Knoxville possibly deciding against Tennessee. Butch’s youthful recruits never really gelled and took the next step. 2016 was a year of promise that just resulted in the collapse that culminated in 2017 being the worst season in the history of Tennessee football and the firing of LARP band dork pretending to be an alpha SEC HC. (Restored band geek status by being a coffee boy at Bama).

Winston Churchill famously said: “Those who fail to acknowledge history are condemned to repeat it.”

Now, here we are going into the 2020 season with a similar situation. We have a team comprised of elite talent on the offensive line. Potentially the best offensive line in Tennessee history. Right there with the team in 2013(14?) with Tiny Richardson, Zach Fulton, etc. Gray has shown flashes of brilliance at RB. Our WR’s are definitely a question mark. Our defense has shown promise and development.

The biggest question mark—is QB play. I will flat out say it: Guarantano is not good. If he goes into this season as a starter and gets the reps, we will be repeating exactly what we did in 2015.

Guarantano is a great kid. But he’s not a talented QB. We want talent like Joe Burrow or Trevor Lawrence or Justin Fields.

Just a reminder for you....Joe Burrow threw nearly twice as many TD passes this year (60) in 15 games as Guarantano has thrown (32) in his 3 seasons (34 games) at Tennessee. Add to that his running abilities which would’ve put considerably more pressure on Bama’s D, which is something that Guarantano doesn’t have the ability to do.....Burrow 768 yards and 12 tds rushing in 2 years at LSU....Guarantano -79 yards and 1 TD rushing in 3 years at Tennessee.

We’re going to experience another decade of irrelevance and misery if Guarantano is our starter, and Pruitt’s regime will come to an end as a failure. That’s not what I want to happen, it’s just what will happen. A disaster campaign for the 2020 season means Pruitt starts being on the hot seat. That makes it even harder to recruit. And then you just don’t have the talent to compete.

Mark my words: if Guarantano gets the reps, we have a ceiling as an 8-9 win team for the next 10 years again. If ANYONE other than Guarantano gets the reps last season—we’re a 10 win team.

Before you comment—go through and look at the play by play drives on ESPN for any of the games we lost. You’ll notice some serious problems with our offense. It wasn’t our defense’s fault at any point this season.

Go Vols.
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If ANYONE other than Guarantano gets the reps last season—we’re a 10 win team.
 
#158
#158
TennesseeVol2006 said:
Rarely in life do you get a 2nd shot.

2015 Oklahoma was the most important game of Tennessee’s future. We were still figuring out who Butch Jones was. We had this recruiting class coming in full of talent that set out to restore Tennessee to greatness. We had a national power in Oklahoma coming to Knoxville with an unproven transfer QB leading their team. Checkerboard in Neyland. We all know what happened. Oklahoma won in stunning fashion. Baker Mayfield carried that momentum to go on to lead Oklahoma to the playoffs and won a Heisman. Trevor Lawrence and a host of other top talent was at that game and left Knoxville possibly deciding against Tennessee. Butch’s youthful recruits never really gelled and took the next step. 2016 was a year of promise that just resulted in the collapse that culminated in 2017 being the worst season in the history of Tennessee football and the firing of LARP band dork pretending to be an alpha SEC HC. (Restored band geek status by being a coffee boy at Bama).

Winston Churchill famously said: “Those who fail to acknowledge history are condemned to repeat it.”

Now, here we are going into the 2020 season with a similar situation. We have a team comprised of elite talent on the offensive line. Potentially the best offensive line in Tennessee history. Right there with the team in 2013(14?) with Tiny Richardson, Zach Fulton, etc. Gray has shown flashes of brilliance at RB. Our WR’s are definitely a question mark. Our defense has shown promise and development.

The biggest question mark—is QB play. I will flat out say it: Guarantano is not good. If he goes into this season as a starter and gets the reps, we will be repeating exactly what we did in 2015.

Guarantano is a great kid. But he’s not a talented QB. We want talent like Joe Burrow or Trevor Lawrence or Justin Fields.

Just a reminder for you....Joe Burrow threw nearly twice as many TD passes this year (60) in 15 games as Guarantano has thrown (32) in his 3 seasons (34 games) at Tennessee. Add to that his running abilities which would’ve put considerably more pressure on Bama’s D, which is something that Guarantano doesn’t have the ability to do.....Burrow 768 yards and 12 tds rushing in 2 years at LSU....Guarantano -79 yards and 1 TD rushing in 3 years at Tennessee.

We’re going to experience another decade of irrelevance and misery if Guarantano is our starter, and Pruitt’s regime will come to an end as a failure. That’s not what I want to happen, it’s just what will happen. A disaster campaign for the 2020 season means Pruitt starts being on the hot seat. That makes it even harder to recruit. And then you just don’t have the talent to compete.

Mark my words: if Guarantano gets the reps, we have a ceiling as an 8-9 win team for the next 10 years again. If ANYONE other than Guarantano gets the reps last season—we’re a 10 win team.

Before you comment—go through and look at the play by play drives on ESPN for any of the games we lost. You’ll notice some serious problems with our offense. It wasn’t our defense’s fault at any point this season.

Go Vols.
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JG came in at a time when UT had an awful o-line and got his arse repeatedly whipped for many, many games. Now that the kid is gun shy you can't just throw him to the curb. Your o-line may be improved this season and may give him a little more time, and your running game may pick up. That remains to be seen. But JG has given his all to UT. Be a shame if Pruitt turned his back on the kid.
 
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#159
#159
I think the Oklahoma game means more to the program from a national brand perspective. It’ll be prime time. Huge recruiting boost. We should be ranked then and it’ll really set the tone for our season. We win that game and head into Florida week undefeated then we’re talking about something different for these 2020 Vols
 
#161
#161
Bubbs said:
I think the Oklahoma game means more to the program from a national brand perspective. It’ll be prime time. Huge recruiting boost. We should be ranked then and it’ll really set the tone for our season. We win that game and head into Florida week undefeated then we’re talking about something different for these 2020 Vols
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It's a clash of two collegiate blue blood programs. I'd bet it's the prime time game on ESPN or Fox (hope it isn't Fox since they have 11 AM kickoffs for their "prime time" game)

Regardless of the ups and downs the Vols have been through in the past decade, you are still considered a credible program and a worthy opponent. Remember, they put this game on the schedule while you coming off a good season and nobody predicted the complete collapse of your football team just months later. But now all the sports writers talk about is that last half "miracle" you guys pulled off this year and there will be some good hype for this game.

Any true Oklahoma fan will tell you they'd rather see a great close game... which we'll win of course... between two strong teams rather than some dinky FCS school that gets blown out for a paycheck.
 
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#163
#163
Y’all are missing the point with the history pi$$ing match. The point is that we have sucked for an extremely long time according to our own standards. My son is 14 years old and he can’t remember when they were good. I’ll tell him about a past player and he will ask me if that’s when they were good. Take an f’n second to think about that. I know things are cyclical, but the down side feels like an eternity. If we don’t get this train rolling soon, we are certainly going to become irrelevant. No place for feelings on the field, play whoever is better. I don’t care if the qb has one leg, as long as he wins.
 
#164
#164
It’s a big game because of the national spotlight we get if we win and all the media bashing we would avoid.

Eventually we have to start winning some big games to get more and more talented recruits. Oklahoma is winnable. I think you’re right that QB play will determine how that game goes though.

If I was betting, I’d say Oklahoma pulls ahead early but we make it a game in the 4th. Hopefully it falls our way.
 
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