2020 Oklahoma: Most important game in Tennessee history?

#26
#26
Seattle Hillbilly said:
Well, we just have to disagree on this one. History is not made or redefined in a short 10 year period and while the Oklahoma game would be a really nice win in no way would it rate with historic wins of the past.
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I’m not talking about the game as an individual game. I’m talking big picture. What a win against a successful national power would mean to a young team and building momentum for the rest of the season.

I’m saying this win is pivotal.

Look at what Oklahoma achieved the year they beat us. Baker Mayfield leverages that win in Knoxville to a Heisman trophy. Sports is so mental. Especially when it comes to college kids and an unproven coach.
 
#30
#30
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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#31
#31
TennesseeVol2006 said:
We’re going to experience another decade of irrelevance and misery if Guarantano is our starter
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I had no idea JG had ten years of eligibility remaining.

We cannot achieve Burrow-like success at the QB position unless we had Burrow-like talent on the roster. Even with the addition of Bailey, I do not see that level of QB talent on our team. Perhaps Bailey can develop into a great QB, but one cannot expect a true freshman to play like a Heisman trophy winning, national championship winning, and NCAA record setting QB.
 
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#32
#32
Regarding the QB selection for the 2020 season, I leave that up to the coaches. Pruitt stated several times that Guarantano was the best and most ready QB we had. Guarantano had some off games, but he also pulled us out of the fire in a few games. I think with another year of Chaney's influence, he will show improvement. I believe the coaching staff desires to put the best team on the field, that's their job. I trust them to do that, therefore I will not bash any player. It doesn't serve any positive purpose!
 
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#33
#33
Volumnus 2011 said:
About 80% of OPs posts strongly reference JG. Like, come on, man. Be original.

Also, no, it's not the most important game ever.

Also, no, don't start a thread next time.
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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.
 
#37
#37
TennesseeVol2006 said:
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.
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.500 in a decade is bad by our standards but not “at the bottom”. We had two seasons where we truly were at the bottom of the SEC but we were a top 30-50 team most years. Yes bad for us, but no where near the bottom
 
#38
#38
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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We could have put up with him a little better if he was winning and it would have been justifiable to keep him if he's winning those types of games. But in hindsight he did not win big games and he was super annoying, so it just didn't work out.
 
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#39
#39
TennesseeVol2006 said:
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.
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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.
 
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#40
#40
OP, Baker Mayfield wasn't an unknown in '15. He was the Big XII FR Offensive POY in '13 at TTU...as a walk-on.
 
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#41
#41
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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I just gotta put this out there. We won our last 7/8 against some scrub opponents, and barely won at that. The back half of our schedule featured opponents with a lot less talent who managed to keep the game close with a chance to win at the end in most cases. What we did was impressive in terms of the way we started the season, but not impressive even remotely when talking about national and sec championship conversations. Now, people actually think that 2020 is the year the vols get it done? And Oklahoma is our most important game in the history of our program? Pump the brakes a little.
 
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#42
#42
Johnnyreb#VFL said:
I just gotta put this out there. We won our last 7/8 against some scrub opponents, and barely won at that. The back half of our schedule featured opponents with a lot less talent who managed to keep the game close with a chance to win at the end in most cases. What we did was impressive in terms of the way we started the season, but not impressive even remotely when talking about national and sec championship conversations. Now, people actually think that 2020 is the year the vols get it done? And Oklahoma is our most important game in the history of our program? Pump the brakes a little.
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And why were these games close? QB play.

This is called logic. Please apply it.
 
#43
#43
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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Every single conference game is more important than the Oklahoma game.
 
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#44
#44
rikberry31 said:
Every single conference game is more important than the Oklahoma game.
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And you don’t think a young team will be better poised and more confident to win those conference games by beating a national power in their home stadium?

People. Please. Breathe through your nose, and think before replying and posting.
 
#47
#47
TennesseeVol2006 said:
I’m not talking about the game as an individual game. I’m talking big picture. What a win against a successful national power would mean to a young team and building momentum for the rest of the season.

I’m saying this win is pivotal.

Look at what Oklahoma achieved the year they beat us. Baker Mayfield leverages that win in Knoxville to a Heisman trophy. Sports is so mental. Especially when it comes to college kids and an unproven coach.
Click to expand...

What you say here is debatable but reasonable. What you said in your original post was not, You suggested a win at Oklahoma might be the biggest in Vol history. That was WAY over the top, sort of troll like, hence all the blow back.
 
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#50
#50
TennesseeVol2006 said:
And you don’t think a young team will be better poised and more confident to win those conference games by beating a national power in their home stadium?

People. Please. Breathe through your nose, and think before replying and posting.
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What happens in any one game has absolutely nothing to do what happens in future games. One play at a time is the mentality of players and coaches. Momentum is insignificant to winning ballgames, preparation and execution are everything.
 
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