2022: Game-by-game Predictions

#52
#52
RockyTop140 said:
If we ever want to compete for championships we gotta start beating Florida. It’s not that hard to understand. Losing to them this year would be brutal.
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But not everything revolves around any one game. What if we’re 11-1 and Florida is the only loss? Yes it’s highly unlikely but putting a coach on the hot seat for one game in his second season is ludicrous.
 
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#53
#53
hUTch2002 said:
You added that last part after I responded. In the future, you should put that as an edit underneath your original post because you’re changing your statement, not just correcting a spelling error. Where did I say anything about counting UF as an automatic loss? I agree we shouldn’t do that but you’re putting too much on one game this upcoming season in my opinion.
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I can understand where you're coming from but I think too many lose track of time. Time is not the friend of a new coach. Fans and recruits determine a coach's future. A HC has to establish and maintain support and interest from both in his first 3 or at most 4 years or else fans turn on the coach which compounds the doubts recruits have.

Sorry I snapped at you. The post was part of a mult-post banter with someone else. Not your fault for not seeing it.
 
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#54
#54
RDU VOL#14 said:
I think South Carolina will be better than a lot of you think. I’m not saying they’re going to be world beaters, but I do think Rattler is a very capable QB who brought along a good player at tight end Stogner. We’re better than they are, we were better last year, but probably not 35-0 in the first half better. We play them while they’re in the middle of a tough stretch , but they’ll be ready to go for us.
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A lot of people on here dismiss teams like Pitt, UK, SC, FL and LSU but those aren’t bad teams. Some people even downplay the level of talent at UGA. To each their own but automatically counting any of those teams as wins is unrealistic. We shouldn’t count anyone as losses either but the reality is that UGA and Bama have significant talent advantages. The other teams I mentioned don’t have a massive talent advantage but they’re all going to be decent to good teams. 4-3 against Pitt, UF, LSU, SC, UK, Bama and UGA would be an incredible job.
 
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#55
#55
sjt18 said:
I can understand where you're coming from but I think too many lose track of time. Time is not the friend of a new coach. Fans and recruits determine a coach's future. A HC has to establish and maintain support and interest from both in his first 3 or at most 4 years or else fans turn on the coach which compounds the doubts recruits have.

Sorry I snapped at you. The post was part of a mult-post banter with someone else. Not your fault for not seeing it.
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No worries man. I jumped out of the gate saying your take was stupid when I could’ve said I didn’t agree. We don’t see things that differently after all.
 
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#56
#56
hUTch2002 said:
Anything is possible. As someone posted earlier, we beat UF and UGA and lost to SC and Vandy under Butch. Florida almost beat Bama last year and struggled mightily with Samford. Surely you’ve watched enough football to know how wacky it can be at times. I didn’t take anything out of context. You flat out said if we lose to UF then Heupel is “on the clock”. I would be disappointed for sure, as I always am, but I’m no way should we start looking at heating his seat up until we know more. Now if we are healthy and we go backwards from last year’s record, then I could agree. Things happen in single games though.
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BTW, yes. If this UT team beats that UGA team this year then to a limited extent it mitigates a loss in one of the swing games like UF. If they beat UGA then lose to Vandy and Mizzou which are comparable to the above then... be prepared for a rough ride.

These hypothetical conversations about losing certain games aren't all that comfortable for me. I get UGA and Bama just because they're loaded with talent. Even if they weren't well coached, the talent gap is hard to overcome.

My last HS FB game years ago was in the semi-finals of the state playoff. I ran into a guy from that school later in college. He told me that their coach's "pep talk" was that they would have to play way over their heads, catch some breaks, and hope we had a bad game. That's pretty much what happened. We lost 7-6 to a team would should have handled pretty easily. The sickening part is they won the state in a blowout that year. I think that's where UT is with UGA and Bama. They have to be healthy, play a flawless game, catch the breaks, and hope that they're somehow off that day.

However I just don't see writing off teams like UF or LSU this year.

IMO, it is Bama and UGA on UT's schedule then about 4 or 5 games where Heupel has a chance to prove what kind of coach he is. There won't be huge talent gaps. It will come down to coaching. That's why I think beating UF after the years of frustration and breaking the psychological barrier that some here have bought into... is vital to his future success.
 
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#57
#57
sjt18 said:
BTW, yes. If this UT team beats that UGA team this year then to a limited extent it mitigates a loss in one of the swing games like UF. If they beat UGA then lose to Vandy and Mizzou which are comparable to the above then... be prepared for a rough ride.

These hypothetical conversations about losing certain games aren't all that comfortable for me. I get UGA and Bama just because they're loaded with talent. Even if they weren't well coached, the talent gap is hard to overcome.

My last HS FB game years ago was in the semi-finals of the state playoff. I ran into a guy from that school later in college. He told me that their coach's "pep talk" was that they would have to play way over their heads, catch some breaks, and hope we had a bad game. That's pretty much what happened. We lost 7-6 to a team would should have handled pretty easily. The sickening part is they won the state in a blowout that year. I think that's where UT is with UGA and Bama. They have to be healthy, play a flawless game, catch the breaks, and hope that they're somehow off that day.

However I just don't see writing off teams like UF or LSU this year.

IMO, it is Bama and UGA on UT's schedule then about 4 or 5 games where Heupel has a chance to prove what kind of coach he is. There won't be huge talent gaps. It will come down to coaching. That's why I think beating UF after the years of frustration and breaking the psychological barrier that some here have bought into... is vital to his future success.
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I agree with all of that. Thanks for resetting the conversation. Have a great day!
 
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#58
#58
RDU VOL#14 said:
I think South Carolina will be better than a lot of you think. I’m not saying they’re going to be world beaters, but I do think Rattler is a very capable QB who brought along a good player at tight end Stogner. We’re better than they are, we were better last year, but probably not 35-0 in the first half better. We play them while they’re in the middle of a tough stretch , but they’ll be ready to go for us.
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The only reason it wasn't worse is that Heupel went into a clock running O. UT may improve but they weren't good at it last year.

Rattler was surrounded by great skill players at OU... playing against overmatched teams almost every week. He is physically talented. I'm not sure we can say how capable he is... but he won't have the weapons he had at OU.
 
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#59
#59
RockyTop140 said:
If we ever want to compete for championships we gotta start beating Florida. It’s not that hard to understand. Losing to them this year would be brutal.
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UF in part because of the mental block but really the whole East. UGA is somewhat out of range right now. Everyone in the East is trying to close range. To get there... UT needs to beat the rest of the East.

Rathers don't play into it... but if I had my rathers and had to pick another loss apart from UGA and Bama... that's definitely LSU.
 
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#62
#62
UF has no chance at Neyland this year. Josh will run it up. He’s had this game circled. He knows this game is the most important on the schedule this year.
 
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#63
#63
NeverWe'llSever said:
Every position group on defense will improve except corner
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Pretty critical. However UT will have athletes physically able to play corner better than a lot of teams that were much better on D last year.

The key as many have pointed out is getting a pass rush with 4. Do that and you cover a lot of sins in the secondary.


PS- I have watched the recruiting with interest this year. If there's anything to be read into it... they're not recruiting for a defense that will depend on lockdown corners. They seem to be recruiting more safety type players and stars. Maybe their evaluations show some of those guys becoming CB's but they don't really look like it as recruits.
 
#65
#65
sjt18 said:
The only reason it wasn't worse is that Heupel went into a clock running O. UT may improve but they weren't good at it last year.

Rattler was surrounded by great skill players at OU... playing against overmatched teams almost every week. He is physically talented. I'm not sure we can say how capable he is... but he won't have the weapons he had at OU.
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I agree that it could’ve been worse in that moment and time, but I don’t expect it to go that way this time around . They made some really bad mistakes, including a terrible HB option pass inside the 5 that got picked and then a bad fumble exchange to start a drive that pretty much completed the avalanche. I think we’re going to win, but i think the game will be more difficult than a lot seem to think it will be. We'll see how much they’re improved and also how much the timing of the game affects both teams. We’re sandwiched between Florida and Clemson, and we could be playing for a NY6 game.
 
#70
#70
LittleVol said:
Why?
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They aren't as talented. They're probably deeper with guys ready to play than UF but the quality especially at the top won't be as good.

If the recruiting rankings mean anything... and they do have some relative meaning... then Pitt really isn't a very talented team. Amazingly Pickett accounted for 4560 yds of their 6812 in total O. They were hurt by the portal at WR. Their best WR will probably be a transfer from Akron. They lose pieces that they likely can't replace on O. They'll depend on a D with lots of experience.

As for last year, Milton spotted them at least 3 or 4 TD's by missing wide open throws. Pitt played about as good as they could. The next week they came back to earth with a loss to W Michigan.

They won't be complete pushovers... but I don't expect it to be close at the end.

But ultimately both games come down more to the progress of UT's D more than anything else. Both will struggle to stop UT's O. Just don't know what the D can do this year to slow good teams down.
 
#72
#72
RDU VOL#14 said:
I think South Carolina will be better than a lot of you think. I’m not saying they’re going to be world beaters, but I do think Rattler is a very capable QB who brought along a good player at tight end Stogner. We’re better than they are, we were better last year, but probably not 35-0 in the first half better. We play them while they’re in the middle of a tough stretch , but they’ll be ready to go for us.
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Do you think UT will be better than a lot of people think?
 
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#73
#73
sjt18 said:
UF in part because of the mental block but really the whole East. UGA is somewhat out of range right now. Everyone in the East is trying to close range. To get there... UT needs to beat the rest of the East.

Rathers don't play into it... but if I had my rathers and had to pick another loss apart from UGA and Bama... that's definitely LSU.
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Rathers???

It's "druthers" where I'm from.
 
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