a word of caution

#1
99gator

99gator

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#1
i have seen many people put a lot of faith in monte kiffin and the tennessee defense this coming season.

i, personnally, believed that all defenses (including florida's) in the SEC were overrated last season. the offenses in the league were horrible.

here are the rankings for the offenses tennessee faced last season.....

UCLA 111
UAB 56
Florida 15
Auburn 104
Northern Ill. 83
Georgia 22
Mississippi St. 113
Alabama 63
South Carolina 97
Wyoming 108
Vanderbilt 117
Kentucky 106

if you notice, six of those schools ranked #100 or worse. south carolina came in at a whopping #97. that's over half the schedule. only two of those offenses were ranked in the top 50, florida and georgia.

florida did not turn the ball over and punted once. georgia put up 458 total yards. both converted over 50% on third down.

i don't think it's the kind of unit that most people here believe.

monte, as well as lane, is going to need some time to get a higher level of talent to tennessee.

i would be careful about putting too much faith on that defense to be "great" this season.
 
#6
#6
Whats your point? I think we are all aware of this already man!The offence thing who really cares its last season there's a new coach now and I think we don't need to worry about this at all intil Sep. 5 when we kick some ass!
 
#7
#7
I learned not to be too overconfident of any Tennessee D sometime after tackling was replaced with "try and knock em down with your shoulder" technique (perfected by Hefney) and proliferated around the D until Berry showed us all what a knockout really looks like.

That being said, the fact is having Monte Kiffin coach D is like resurrecting Bill Walsh to come run the Offense. Sure he didn't invent football but he sure understands it better than most. The stats you post are useful in analyzing last years season but I just dont think there is a stat that can accurately predict the impact of 20yrs of experience at the highest possible levels. Your point is well taken and appreciated but I think this years D improves. And I think the level of confidence and expectations on this board are generally realistic and cautiously optimistic. You have to remember we've all been hurt before.
 
#9
#9
I dont think the defenses in the SEC were overrated last year. Florida clearly showed that by dominating Oklahoma in the title and supposedly Oklahoma had the best offense in the country. And remember the SEC offenses were up against the best defeneses (the SEC) in the country week in and week out. We cant help the BIG 12 threw the ball every down and played against sorry defenses. Thats why when Oklahoma played Florida, it showed just how good the SEC defenses were and how bad the BIG 12 were. You should list the rankings of the defenses Oklahoma went up against. So using the rankings of the teams offeneses in the SEC is misleading because of there beastly defenses.
 
#10
#10
I hate to agree with a Gator but he is right. Some of us have stated similar things in posts. There's a certain journalist that will hate to see those numbers...
 
#11
#11
Of course the SEC offenses are ranked pretty low. They play SEC defenses.

And of course we're going to give up quite a bit of yards to Florida and Georgia. Our defense was on the field 57 minutes of the game.
 
#12
#12
You also have to remember that these sec schools go against great defenses week in and week out. That in itself will make sec offenses look worse statistically.
 
#13
#13
99gator said:
i have seen many people put a lot of faith in monte kiffin and the tennessee defense this coming season.

i, personnally, believed that all defenses (including florida's) in the SEC were overrated last season. the offenses in the league were horrible.

here are the rankings for the offenses tennessee faced last season.....

UCLA 111
UAB 56
Florida 15
Auburn 104
Northern Ill. 83
Georgia 22
Mississippi St. 113
Alabama 63
South Carolina 97
Wyoming 108
Vanderbilt 117
Kentucky 106

if you notice, six of those schools ranked #100 or worse. south carolina came in at a whopping #97. that's over half the schedule. only two of those offenses were ranked in the top 50, florida and georgia.

florida did not turn the ball over and punted once. georgia put up 458 total yards. both converted over 50% on third down.

i don't think it's the kind of unit that most people here believe.

monte, as well as lane, is going to need some time to get a higher level of talent to tennessee.

i would be careful about putting too much faith on that defense to be "great" this season.
Click to expand...



Gee, maybe this is a great leap............. but WHAT IF the offensive stats don't look good because the defenses are so good in the SEC? Mind-blowing, right? Maybe that's why the "great offensive teams" like OU and TT couldn't do much against SEC defenses in the bowls. I'm just grasping at straws here and formulating a theory as I go.

Edit* it appears two other people formulated the same theory as I was writing mine.


But, I don't think UT's defense is going to be all-world in their first season under new coaches. Solid, probably, but not great, especially since the offense will likely keep the defense on the field a lot.
 
#14
#14
I think he makes a very valid point. However, we will be facing most of those same teams. So unless we see a drastic improvement on those teams, the numbers should be the same.
 
#16
#16
btrotter said:
I dont think the defenses in the SEC were overrated last year. Florida clearly showed that by dominating Oklahoma in the title and supposedly Oklahoma had the best offense in the country. And remember the SEC offenses were up against the best defeneses (the SEC) in the country week in and week out. We cant help the BIG 12 threw the ball every down and played against sorry defenses. Thats why when Oklahoma played Florida, it showed just how good the SEC defenses were and how bad the BIG 12 were. You should list the rankings of the defenses Oklahoma went up against. So using the rankings of the teams offeneses in the SEC is misleading because of there beastly defenses.
Click to expand...

i agree nicely put
 
#18
#18
Teague said:
Gee, maybe this is a great leap............. but WHAT IF the offensive stats don't look good because the defenses are so good in the SEC? Mind-blowing, right? Maybe that's why the "great offensive teams" like OU and TT couldn't do much against SEC defenses in the bowls. I'm just grasping at straws here and formulating a theory as I go.

Edit* it appears two other people formulated the same theory as I was writing mine.


But, I don't think UT's defense is going to be all-world in their first season under new coaches. Solid, probably, but not great, especially since the offense will likely keep the defense on the field a lot.
Click to expand...

i've been watching games a long time.

last year, wasn't about SEC defenses.

florida had the fortune of having a month to prepare for oklahoma.

auburn and miss state played a 3-2 football game. seriously.

tennessee couldn't put up more than 13 points against northern illinois or wyoming.

teams played multiple qb's praying to find someone who was at least competent and failed.

auburn, south carolina, tennessee, vanderbilt couldn't figure out from week to week which qb was least horrible.

lsu's qb threw a td pass to the other team almost every freakin week.

i never saw anything like it. tennessee couldn't execute a handoff without potential disaster.
 
Last edited:
#20
#20
99gator said:
i've been watching games a long time.

last year, wasn't about SEC defenses.

florida had the fortune of having a month to prepare for oklahoma.

auburn and miss state played a 3-2 football game. seriously.

tennessee couldn't put up more than 13 points against northern illinois or wyoming.

teams played multiple qb's praying to find someone who was at least competent and failed.

auburn, south carolina, tennessee, vanderbilt couldn't figure out from week to week which qb was least horrible.

lsu's qb threw a td pass to the other team almost every freakin week.

i never saw anything like it. tennessee couldn't execute a handoff without potential disaster.
Click to expand...


Oh, there were definitely some inept offenses in the league, but the SEC is still far and away the best defensive league in the country. And again, inept offenses will look even worse against good defenses.

And if you really have been watching football so long, you'll know that offenses are no worse than they've ever been historically. There used to be a lot of 7-0 wins in the SEC and around the country for that matter.
 
#21
#21
99gator said:
i've been watching games a long time.

last year, wasn't about SEC defenses.

florida had the fortune of having a month to prepare for oklahoma.

auburn and miss state played a 3-2 football game. seriously.

tennessee couldn't put up more than 13 points against northern illinois or wyoming.

teams played multiple qb's praying to find someone who was at least competent and failed.

auburn, south carolina, tennessee, vanderbilt couldn't figure out from week to week which qb was least horrible.

lsu's qb threw a td pass to the other team almost every freakin week.

i never saw anything like it. tennessee couldn't execute a handoff without potential disaster.
Click to expand...

I'm not a particular fan of "rankings" of offense and defense because there are just too many factors to consider. No offense to you 99gator, but I'm sure Florida fans everywhere were glad to use UT's ranking in defense to prove that their offense was good last year.

How many games did the defense cost us last year? Stats are entertaining and easily manipulated to suit any argument. Did you mention that UGA also had a 42:04 to 17:56 time of possession advantage because of our inept offense? I don't think that many people are sitting here calling for a shut-out every game next year. Obviously you recognize that our offense was piss-poor last year. We just believe that with a decent offense, our defense could again keep us in games.
 
#22
#22
BigHenry07 said:
I'm not a particular fan of "rankings" of offense and defense because there are just too many factors to consider. No offense to you 99gator, but I'm sure Florida fans everywhere were glad to use UT's ranking in defense to prove that their offense was good last year.

How many games did the defense cost us last year? Stats are entertaining and easily manipulated to suit any argument. Did you mention that UGA also had a 42:04 to 17:56 time of possession advantage because of our inept offense? I don't think that many people are sitting here calling for a shut-out every game next year. Obviously you recognize that our offense was piss-poor last year. We just believe that with a decent offense, our defense could again keep us in games.
Click to expand...

and i would agree with that.

i just get the feeling like some expect the '09 tennessee defense to be what the super bowl buccaneer defense was. that's all.
 
#23
#23
btrotter said:
I dont think the defenses in the SEC were overrated last year. Florida clearly showed that by dominating Oklahoma in the title and supposedly Oklahoma had the best offense in the country.
Click to expand...

I think is the answer and 99 makes a bad conclusion. You cannot judge the SEC offenses against other conferences last year as the the SW was scoring at will as were other conferences.
 
#24
#24
99gator said:
and i would agree with that.

i just get the feeling like some expect the '09 tennessee defense to be what the super bowl buccaneer defense was. that's all.
Click to expand...

I don't think many at think this way. I think many of us believe that given a few years our defense could certainly resemble the wrecking crew you mentioned, as I said though we certainly expect it to take some time. Our defense was solid last year, considering they had to play opposite an inept offense.
 
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