2020 Oklahoma: Most important game in Tennessee history?

[CrybabyVol]

There's far too many teams marking us as an automatic win on this upcoming schedule

I have to disagree with this statement. While I'm sure the coaches will say that to play up the "disrespect" angle, I don't think it's true. I listen to a lot of Sports Talk radio. I'm not saying that from a pride standpoint lol. But anyway. When UT is mentioned, they are almost universally viewed in a positive light for what CJP is building. What I'm saying is that most hosts I have heard don't qualify UT the way you described. I wonder if you asked any of the resident Gator posters what their toughest game next year outside of Georgia would be if they'd say Tennessee at Neyland.

 

[AllforTenn]

Ridiculous post!

 

[sechamp2012]

I value history, and more than most—but do you consider Vanderbilt a football power? How about Army? Minnesota?

Neither do most people.

These programs had HUGE WINS and success in the past. And it stopped. And now they are generally bottom dwellers and assumed wins.

Things change. And we have been dwelling at the bottom for over 10 years. Were not even included in the discussions for all time great programs due to our recent woes.

We need this win and this season to get back on track for the sake of those historic Tennessee wins to have any sort of meaning in the future. Because as it stands right now, our entire history doesn’t matter to anyone that isn’t a Vols fan or alum.

Good try but we won 9 in back to back years less than 5 years ago
a decade is 10 years.
Vanderbilt Army etal have not won 9 back to back in over 50 years

 

[Only_1_OK]

I doubt very seriously OU is going to take this game lightly. The last two times we took the field against what we considered an "inferior" foe, we got beat by Kansas State and almost got beat by Army. Overall, the second half of your last season showed how dangerous you can be. Even when you're down, you're still fighting. That, in my opinion, is dangerous to any opponent you might face.

The stage is set for another playoff run by the Sooners and we don't need an out of conference team casting doubt on whether or not we deserve to be there.

 

[BigOrangeTrain]

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.

Please explain how an 8-5 season is the worst year in school history. We are a blue blood program. UF, UGA and Bama are WAY more important than OU.

 

[CrybabyVol]

The stage is set for another playoff run by the Sooners and we don't need an out of conference team casting doubt on whether or not we deserve to be there.

No it's not, and you aren't going to the playoffs irrespective of what happens against Tennessee. OU is getting at least a one-year timeout due to the shameful performance in last year's playoffs.

 

[Only_1_OK]

No it's not, and you aren't going to the playoffs irrespective of what happens against Tennessee. OU is getting at least a one-year timeout due to the shameful performance in last year's playoffs.

Do Clemson and OSU get that same timeout? They didn't do very well either.

 

[CrybabyVol]

Do Clemson and OSU get that same timeout? They didn't do very well either.

You're delusional. Ohio State probably should have won its semi-final matchup and Clemson was competitive. You were an absolute joke and are in an absolute joke conference. The pathetic performance won't be forgotten by the playoff committee.

 

[Only_1_OK]

You're delusional. Ohio State probably should have won its semi-final matchup and Clemson was competitive. You were an absolute joke and are in an absolute joke conference. The pathetic performance won't be forgotten by the playoff committee.

Okay, buddy. Regardless of the "joke" conference, we were still 12-1 and earned that spot. Of course, next year it'll be 13-0 so enjoy watching the Sooners in the Rose or Sugar Bowl from the comfy confines of your couch.

 

[EZE]

(First game of any season) <<< (playing for a championship)

Only way you can say this is the most important game ever is if your mantra is that the NEXT GAME (no matter what it is) is the most important game ever.

 

[kbear01]

To promote a victory over Oklahoma, is to elevate Oklahoma, significantly over UT, in All-time status. I still believe, despite our decade+ of impotence, we are in the same sentence, with storied programs. When you are a "Storied" program, all victories are important.

UT fans should not be tearing down goalposts, for ANY other program. Including BAMA and The Gators!

 

[kbear01]

Okay, buddy. Regardless of the "joke" conference, we were still 12-1 and earned that spot. Of course, next year it'll be 13-0 so enjoy watching the Sooners in the Rose or Sugar Bowl from the comfy confines of your couch.

You were 12-2, and have nothing to be ashamed of. LSU ran roughshod over most of the SEC defenses, it faced. I mean, look at what they did to Clemson's defense! You earned that 4th spot.
You'll get no disrespect, as a program, from me.
As far as The Sooners being in the mix, season's end........I am sure you'll be there, knocking at the door, at the very least.
This Vols fan will be happy to improve, once again. 9-10 wins, and figure into the SEC East equation. Trusting the process.

 

[wmcovol]

No.

 

[GetYouSomeofThat]

Sounds like another Guarantano bashing thread.

It is another thread.

But ya gotta admit the haters are getting creative.


An who amongst us think Burrows or anyone would have been uber successful playing behid the UT olines of 2017 amd 2018? If you fimd someone who says JB would have lit it up you can discount/ignore their football opinioms going forward.


JG isnt a great QB..i think no one would argue that. However he is miles better than the JG hater club would have us believe.

But i suppose if it makes them feel good about themselves...

 

[MemphisVol77]

I wonder if you asked any of the resident Gator posters what their toughest game next year outside of Georgia would be if they'd say Tennessee at Neyland.

Doubtful. They won't put us above LSU.

 

[KBVol]

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.

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.

While I agree you about your Guarantano points, I don’t think the Oklahoma game is even the most important game next year, much less in program history.

 

[GetYouSomeofThat]

It’s called logic and reason. Do you want Tennessee to be a good program or not?

Actually its called an agenda/kicking a dead horse/not knowing when to stfu/having little to offer other than bashing a VFl. Any of those would rank well ahead of logic and reason regarding your OP.

 

[GetYouSomeofThat]

It’s almost like our entire success as a program rests on QB PLAY.

I am actually a Tennessee fan and want our program to be relevant. What about you? Do you just want us to be bottom feeders forever? Did you actually watch Tennesee football?

Are you satisfied about our win streak against:

UAB
Mizzou
Kentucky
Vanderbilt.

Did you watch the Alabama game where poor decision making on a selfish QB sneak causes a 14 point swing? What about the Kentucky win was Guarantano? Or Mizzou? Did you watch the Florida game where are defense put up a Spartans at Thermopylae like effort for a QB that fumbled, threw interceptions, and gave Florida the ball on our side of the field the ENTIRE first half, and yet our D STILL HUNG IN THERE!?!?! Come on. DID YOU WATCH TENNESSEE FOOTBALL???

Please, use your brain. And maybe you’ll understand what I am saying.

I think we all understand what you're saying..you hate JG..

That is fairly evident.

 

[USMC-TNVOL]

If you were an LSU fan you would have been wanting Burrow replaced before the year. Him and JG had the exact same Jr year.

Sit back and let the coaches do their job.

Had the same year in terms of what? It certainly wasn’t touchdowns. Burrow: 16 Passing/7 Rushing and Guarantano: 12 Passing/0 Rushing. It wasn’t in passing and rushing yards either.

 

[JOEY'S ALL VOL !!!]

I doubt very seriously OU is going to take this game lightly. The last two times we took the field against what we considered an "inferior" foe, we got beat by Kansas State and almost got beat by Army. Overall, the second half of your last season showed how dangerous you can be. Even when you're down, you're still fighting. That, in my opinion, is dangerous to any opponent you might face.

The stage is set for another playoff run by the Sooners and we don't need an out of conference team casting doubt on whether or not we deserve to be there.

No need to worry about an out of conference opponent to cast the doubt of worthiness, OU is plenty capable of that on their own. The Sooners had absolutely no business being in the playoff this season and anybody with a football IQ above a 1 knew it. The Big 12 sucks period, it's just that simple.

 

[LWSVOL]

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.

not even close... playing for championships always more important than any regular season game IMO

 

[CR-vol]

It's gonna be sad if no-one can rise to the occasion and beat out JG this off season. A lot of fans will be crushed lol.

 

[Only_1_OK]

No need to worry about an out of conference opponent to cast the doubt of worthiness, OU is plenty capable of that on their own. The Sooners had absolutely no business being in the playoff this season and anybody with a football IQ above a 1 knew it. The Big 12 sucks period, it's just that simple.

Okay, so who else should have gone instead of Oklahoma?

2 loss, but Pac-12 champion Oregon? The same "your conference sucks" rationale would apply.

2 loss SEC runner up Georgia?

2 loss, no SEC championship bid Alabama?

2 loss no Big 10 championship game Penn State?

Who else except a 1 loss Oklahoma should have gotten the nod?

1 loss Memphis?

Perhaps your Vols should have gone and showed everyone how to play LSU better than we did.

 

[Power T-Rev]

I feel like I see one of these threads every year

 

[JOEY'S ALL VOL !!!]

Okay, so who else should have gone instead of Oklahoma?

2 loss, but Pac-12 champion Oregon? The same "your conference sucks" rationale would apply.

2 loss SEC runner up Georgia?

2 loss, no SEC championship bid Alabama?

2 loss no Big 10 championship game Penn State?

Who else except a 1 loss Oklahoma should have gotten the nod?

1 loss Memphis?

Perhaps your Vols should have gone and showed everyone how to play LSU better than we did.

The playoff committee didn't have a whole lot of choice, but to put Oklahoma in with one loss, and yes the PAC 10 sucks too, but Oregon was a better football team and would have fared better than the Sooners. Every team you mentioned would have fared better than OU and yes that includes Memphis.
TN wouldn't have had much of a chance either, but we damn sure wouldn't have given up 7 TD passes in one half of football. There is no debating that OU got there by default not because they were the best and belonged. The Big 12 stinks right now and that's just the fact of the matter ! There is a reason that the Big 12s bowl record was what it was.