A View from Big Ben: Napoleon and Hooker, Oklahoma's turn, Cincinnati no thanks

#28
#28
London Vol said:
Thank you for asking, It was at the battle of Waterloo 1815 that we beat that little French upstart.
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CAREFUL!!!
The American frogs will not let you have any "French fries" when you get to Knoxville. You will have to eat "chittlins" a southern delicacy. Or maybe pork rinds.:)
 
#29
#29
The Bearcats have entered the realm of:
Stranger-Things-Season-4-1-680x420.png
 
#30
#30
Everyone knew what was going to happen in the sec. We all told you. There was no reason to watch the game (and i didn't). You know who i watched? The only undefeated team left. If you think cinci had an easy schedule you should take a look at georgias. Cinci is a good a team, and has the record to prove it. I'm sorry you're sad. šŸ˜”
 
#31
#31
If my memory serves me correctly, in 1998-99 an undefeated Tennessee could've been left out of the national title game. Going into into the SEC Championship game week against Mississippi State, the final BCS rankings would've still not been settled with a win because of strength of schedule.

The 4 teams in the running were #1 Tennessee, #2 UCLA, #3 Kansas State, #4 Florida State.

Florida State's season was over and they were awaiting the outcomes of the games since the ACC did not have a championship game at the time.

Undefeated UCLA was upset by Miami on that Thursday to get taken out of the discussion.

So could an undefeated Kansas State jump Tennessee since they were playing #8 Texas A&M? Could a one-loss Florida State leap Tennessee because the media darling sentiment and the perception.

Texas A&M upset an undefeated Kansas State team in the Big 12 championship to put an end the discussion.

Of course the rest is history.

It doesn't matter what our personal feelings are about the teams. Cincinnati beat every team on their schedule including Notre Dame in South Bend who is right on the cusp of being included.

The bowl game against UGA last January was a toss up and UGA was on the ropes.

Personally, I'm hoping that Cincinnati wins the whole thing looking at the list of other team however unlikely.
 
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#32
#32
savannahfan said:
CAREFUL!!!
The American frogs will not let you have any "French fries" when you get to Knoxville. You will have to eat "chittlins" a southern delicacy. Or maybe pork rinds.:)
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I have absolutely no idea what ā€œchittlinsā€ are but Iā€™m up for it, however knowing how brave Marino is she will probably go first
 
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#35
#35
Oh about 700 years of war from Agincourt 1415 to World War II when they helped the Nazis more than they admit (we would have got hammered without the help of the Americans) and even now they are causing us all sorts of trouble because we had the cheek to want our independence by leaving the EU. Rant over sorry
 
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#36
#36
Firebirdparts said:
I like the idea of Cincy.

Thereā€™s never been a need for all 4 teams in the playoff, and everybody knew that going back 50 years thereā€™s never been a need. But somebody has to take that slot. They will have a chance to win out and if they do, weā€™ll call them the champion no matter strength of schedule.

that 4th slot is all in good fun. It really does not matter who takes it, and honestly I donā€™t understand why people blubber so much about it.
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The 4 seed has won just as often as the 1 seed (twice), while the 3 seed has never won. So yes, it matters who takes the 4 spot.
 
#37
#37
Regarding Oklahomas current state. Is there anything in the NCAA rule book keeping an entire team from following a world class coach to his new school. First, the coach could revoke every scholarship on the new team for the next season, since they are yearly scholarships. Then every player on his old team could enter the transfer portal and go to that school with all the unused scholarships. Is that all correct? If so, canā€™t wait until it happens for the first time.
 
#38
#38
Disagree on the Cincy part. We won't know until we see them play against another playoff team if they can compete. GA beat them by 3 in a bowl game last yr. Was GA just cruising or did Cincy give them all they could handle. Find out real soon. I think letting in a non-power 5 team is needed. Somehow the ice needed to be broken from the field always being the elite 5-6 teams. That was getting old and boring. And BTW, not all of the playoff games have been great. There have been some snoozers even with the elite 6.
 
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#45
#45
London Vol said:
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE WOULD LIKE HENDON HOOKER

A man was being recommended for promotion to Napoleon, who was quoted as saying ā€œI know he is a good General, but is he lucky?ā€ The French General knew the importance of luck.

At the end of Spring Camp Harrison Bailey was anointed as the leader in the quarterback stable. Then throughout Fall Camp it was widely reported that Joe Milton was the No 1 quarterback and it actually wasnā€™t even close.

Fast forward to early in the 2nd quarter of the second game of the season which was against Pittsburgh, Milton was first sacked then fumbled but more importantly he suffered a lower leg injury. Without that, when if at all, would Josh Heupel have turned to Hendon Hooker? The injury forced Heupelā€™s hand and as they say ā€œthe rest is historyā€.

Now Coach Heupel may have made the switch soon after this moment but the truth is we will never know. But what we do know is that, this time Josh Heupel was lucky



WHAT GOES ROUND COMES ROUND - OKLAHOMA

12 months ago, Tennessee was in free fall with players tripping over himself rushing to the door marked ā€œEXITā€. Like any good buzzard circling the dying carcass Oklahoma swooped in and helped themselves to the best meat, or to be exact Morris, Gray and Lawrence. Well 12 months later Oklahoma find themselves with their franchise quarterback and projected No1 pick in the 2022 drafts in the transfer portal. The head coach fleas to USC who also hope to cherry pick the best coaches at OU to go with him. Now reports suggest a mass exodus of players is about happen and all this at the worst time as the First National Signing Day is only less than 2 weeks away. Oh, and Tennessee who are riding a new wave of optimism after an impressive season are now well placed to ā€œreturn the complimentā€ and exercise the old adage ā€œwhat goes round comes roundā€ and swoop in for the players we fancy.



CINCINNATI IN THE PLAY OFFS IS NOT GOOD FOR FOOTBALL

I guess today Cincinnati will be awarded a place in the Play Offs, whilst congratulations to them, it is not good for the fans or many Universities in my opinion.

Football is at its best when the teams are evenly matched and basically you donā€™t know who will win until maybe the last play. This is proven by the groans every year when Big 5 teams announce 3 cupcake games. These games are usually poorly attended (not good for the University coffers) These games do not draw big TV audiences (not good for the TV companies and then it will affect how much they pay for the TV rights) These games are not good for the fans attending as they are normally nothing more than a glorified scrimmage (Forgetting the result, what was more of a spectacle this season Ole Miss or South Alabama?)

Now back to the title, Cincinnati had the 96th strongest schedule this season before yesterday, Tennesseeā€™s was 5th by the way. Now that schedule is like The Vols playing 10 cupcake games as well as Vanderbilt (Indiana) and Ole Miss (Notre Dame). The only toss up game on that schedule would be Ole Miss hence that be only chance to stop us posting a perfect season and then, thanks to the current system, a play-off place.

Now look at Ohio State (I really donā€™t like them for some reason but I will not allow this to cloud my judgement) They went 10ā€“2 this season. They lost to possibly the No1 team in the rankings in Michigan as well as Oregon who reached their own championship. If OSU had scheduled say Savannah State instead of Oregon, they would have been 11-1 and most probably been selected above The Bearcats for the play offs (I also believe they would are a much better team than Cincinnati). They must be kicking themselves for providing a great match against Oregon and this will no doubt be reflected in their future scheduling this will be to the detriment of football.

Back to Tennessee,this week could be very interesting who will commit, both from High School as well as the Portal.

I always enjoy your comments and observations


GO VOLS
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How did you become a Vol. Are you from Tennessee or England? Random comment, but I had a friend from Birmingham on my Soccer team a few years ago. He was a Villa fan and I turned him into a Tennessee fan. Told him that Villa and Tennessee were basically carbon copies of each other in different sports. Anyway I love reading your posts, ironically given the distance you seem to be one of the better informed fans on this board
 
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#46
#46
London Vol said:
I have and they sound interesting

see post #35, I should add though Paris and Normandy (the American cemetery at Omaha is spectacular) are great places to visit
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When prepared correctly, they are just fine.

They hail from the days when you needed to maximize the animal and not waste edible parts. Every culture has similar. From head cheese to misc sausages.
 
#47
#47
lukeneyland said:
How did you become a Vol. Are you from Tennessee or England? Random comment, but I had a friend from Birmingham on my Soccer team a few years ago. He was a Villa fan and I turned him into a Tennessee fan. Told him that Villa and Tennessee were basically carbon copies of each other in different sports. Anyway I love reading your posts, ironically given the distance you seem to be one of the better informed fans on this board
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Thank you for your kind words, itā€™s actually fun writing the posts. Iā€™m English based 50 miles east of The real Big Ben but I visit Tennessee metaphorically speaking 12 (and hopefully) 13 times a year. The Vols and their fans are as Tina Turner (Iā€™m reliabily informed is a Tennessean lass) would say ā€œSimply the Bestā€
 
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#48
#48
London Vol said:
Thank you for your kind words, itā€™s actually fun writing the posts. Iā€™m English based 50 miles east of The real Big Ben but I visit Tennessee metaphorically speaking 12 (and hopefully) 13 times a year. The Vols and their fans are as Tina Turner (Iā€™m reliabily informed is a Tennessean lass) would say ā€œSimply the Bestā€
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Awesome. How did you get introduced to VOLS football?
 
#49
#49
BreatheUT said:
If my memory serves me correctly, in 1998-99 an undefeated Tennessee could've been left out of the national title game. Going into into the SEC Championship game week against Mississippi State, the final BCS rankings would've still not been settled with a win because of strength of schedule.

The 4 teams in the running were #1 Tennessee, #2 UCLA, #3 Kansas State, #4 Florida State.

Florida State's season was over and they were awaiting the outcomes of the games since the ACC did not have a championship game at the time.

Undefeated UCLA was upset by Miami on that Thursday to get taken out of the discussion.

So could an undefeated Kansas State jump Tennessee since they were playing #8 Texas A&M? Could a one-loss Florida State leap Tennessee because the media darling sentiment and the perception.

Texas A&M upset an undefeated Kansas State team in the Big 12 championship to put an end the discussion.

Of course the rest is history.

It doesn't matter what our personal feelings are about the teams. Cincinnati beat every team on their schedule including Notre Dame in South Bend who is right on the cusp of being included.

The bowl game against UGA last January was a toss up and UGA was on the ropes.

Personally, I'm hoping that Cincinnati wins the whole thing looking at the list of other team however unlikely.
Click to expand...

From perception at the time, Tennessee was ahead of Kansas State and UCLA in most polls, even the media. The one that was in the running but didn't get in was Ohio State. The media was very high on Ohio State in 1998 and I have heard comments that they could have beaten Tennessee.

Kansas State and UCLA were not getting a lot of love and FSU had a loss so we were pretty safe at #1 even if both Kansas State and UCLA had won. The main team that could have supplanted us was Ohio State if they didn't lose.

If things had held pat, it would have been Kansas State vs. Tennessee.
 
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