2020 Oklahoma: Most important game in Tennessee history?

#101
#101
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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How old are you buddy this has a chance to be really good but i remember a day when we had 2 top 10 tackles taken in the first round in the first 10 picks pump the brakes this group has a chance to be elite but pump the brakes on best ever.
 
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#103
#103
chrismc1000 said:
How is JG going to ruine this team for the decade to come?
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I with you some on here think a freshmen like Bailey can come in and pull a Lawrence or they seen Auburn QB this past season which i didnt think he was that special he had a elite defense to depend on you dont just throw a freshmen in there for the wolfs from day 1 i got a feeling we go as far as JG can carry us this year and get Bailey ready for the 21 season.
 
#107
#107
terrypedigo said:
How old are you buddy this has a chance to be really good but i remember a day when we had 2 top 10 tackles taken in the first round in the first 10 picks pump the brakes this group has a chance to be elite but pump the brakes on best ever.
Click to expand...

Why are you anti-Vol? What is wrong with you?
 
#110
#110
It's a big game and would be a huge win for us, but no it's not the most important game in history. Our team has to cherish everytime it steps out on the field, if your not ready every week you can get beat. GBO!!!!!
 
#111
#111
It's an important game but not the biggest game ever or next season. It will tell us how good we really are. OU is losing a bunch of talent and are starting a new QB which is perfect time for us to upset them.

We have to play bigger than we are because UT always has this knack for playing to the level of competition and nothing more. I wanna see the fight and spirit to murder them.
 
#112
#112
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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Huh?'
 
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#113
#113
It's time to win a game that means something nationally. It's time to kick the Sooners ass.
 
#114
#114
terrypedigo said:
I with you some on here think a freshmen like Bailey can come in and pull a Lawrence or they seen Auburn QB this past season which i didnt think he was that special he had a elite defense to depend on you dont just throw a freshmen in there for the wolfs from day 1 i got a feeling we go as far as JG can carry us this year and get Bailey ready for the 21 season.
Click to expand...
1579403787930.gif
 
#115
#115
Not the most important. A 10-2 would be huge for the program. Win 2 of 4 with OK, UF, UGA, and Bama is more important. A 9-3 and 10-3 season after bowl would be a huge step and bigger than an OK win.

We finally have the depth to compete in those games. I am not going to bash JG right now, but with good QB play we will compete for the East.
 
#116
#116
I'm going to buck the trend and agree with the OP up to a point. The Oklahoma game is extremely important not to our past history but to the history of our future with a win giving us a start to our respectability once again. That's something we haven't had in the past 10 years and I for one want it back. I want the University of Tennessee to be a feared game to all of our competitors as it once was in our past history. There's far too many teams marking us as an automatic win on this upcoming schedule but a win over Oklahoma would put the swagger back in our players and our fan base and put us back on the road to the respectability that we once enjoyed. I also agree with the OP that with JG at the helm a win is very unlikely to happen. He just flat doesn't have the "it" factor and never will and any reasonable fan can see that in his past performance. Will he get better, maybe, but good enough to lead us to the SEC East or a win over Oklahoma, doubtful. Our respectability begins with a thorough butt kicking of Oklahoma. Our future history begins with a win against Oklahoma.
 
#117
#117
CJP has the team on an unstoppable role, our players have all bought into the system, our recruiting is out of sight, not only do we have JG, but huge depth in the QB dept., Norman OK is just going to be one more W going into CJP's third year-I'm smelling a NATY.
 
#118
#118
Vol524 said:
OP don't panic. It comes in cycles. Tennessee made some major hiring mistakes. We have a staff now that knows football and can coach up players. Every win is important and no single loss is going to condemn us to a lifetime of losing.
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Well said, but it is also true, no win is going to thrust us back to being UT of old. We need a full season of winning, and winning big. I'm smelling a NATY.
 
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#122
#122
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.
Click to expand...
Lmao “best offensive line in Tennessee history”...

Just so you know back in the 90s through the mid 2000s Phillip Fulmer had 4 and five star lineman stacked 3 deep every season. This line is nowhere near the best in program history, maybe they will be the best in the last ten years if we are lucky.
 
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