Bias and consistency from pollsters? Fair drop for the Vols?

[Boca Vol]

You say facts matter yet you seemed to ignore the facts he listed. You are acting like all their turnovers were just them making mistakes. Thats erroneous. We turned those TOs into points and played better than they did when it counted.

Here are the facts: VT played much better than UT early. UT played much better than VT later and ended up winning the game. The scoreboard reflected who the better team was. Tennessee beat VT. VT did not beat themselves as you seem to be implying. Stats dont always tell a story. Last year against Alabama, we had more rushing yards, more first downs and fewer penalties. Yet we lost.

There was a brief "oh sh#t" moment with about 10 mins to go. VT had fumbled pretty deep in UT territory. VT forced a 3 and out and would have gotten the ball back around mid-field.

Thank goodness the returner fumbled, we recovered, and put the game away for good.

I can't recall a game where UT recovered so many fumbles. General Neyland would be proud.

 

[fester]

You say facts matter yet you seemed to ignore the facts he listed. You are acting like all their turnovers were just them making mistakes. Thats erroneous. We turned those TOs into points and played better than they did when it counted.

Here are the facts: VT played much better than UT early. UT played much better than VT later and ended up winning the game. The scoreboard reflected who the better team was. Tennessee beat VT. VT did not beat themselves as you seem to be implying. Stats dont always tell a story. Last year against Alabama, we had more rushing yards, more first downs and fewer penalties. Yet we lost.

Yes, facts matter. He presented no facts that contradicted anything of relevance, while ignoring the statistical facts that demonstrated VA Tech outperformed us - save the implosion via fumbles that nailed their coffin shut. Further, his stats were wrong. I just left that alone.

Excuses are not facts. Our opponent imploding away half the game with garbage turnovers is not dominance. VA Tech largely beat themselves with insurmountable turnovers and penalties, while gaining significantly more first downs and yardage than we did. When an opponent fumbles the football away for three quarters strait, it's easy to see why we 'outperformed' them for three quarters on the scoreboard. I'm afraid things would have been very different if VA Tech did not self-destruct.

I believe we can change things and pick up momentum, but pretending we outperformed VA Tech or App State is dubious at best.

 

[KBVol]

Are you ever positive?

Yep, absolutely. What specifically did you find negative about the post you responded to?

 

[paige_09]

Yes, facts matter. He presented no facts that contradicted anything of relevance, while ignoring the statistical facts that demonstrated VA Tech outperformed us - save the implosion via fumbles that nailed their coffin shut. Further, his stats were wrong. I just left that alone.

Excuses are not facts. Our opponent imploding away half the game with garbage turnovers is not dominance. VA Tech largely beat themselves with insurmountable turnovers and penalties, while gaining significantly more first downs and yardage than we did. When an opponent fumbles the football away for three quarters strait, it's easy to see why we 'outperformed' them for three quarters on the scoreboard. I'm afraid things would have been very different if VA Tech did not self-destruct.

I believe we can change things and pick up momentum, but pretending we outperformed VA Tech or App State is dubious at best.

We had less offensive yards because those turnovers put us in field position that did not require us to go very far to the end zone. We had a much shorter field to work with the whole game than they did. Therefore, I think arguing that they had more first downs is kind of irrelevant when we rarely even needed more than one to get the touchdown... Which, by the way, we had more touchdowns than they did. And that's the only relevant stat.

 

[VolForLife83]

This is also a reason why pre-season rankings are meaningless.

If pre-season rankings didn't exist and you only had to go by what you saw on the field in week 1, where would you have ranked UT? Was a 20-13 OT win, at home, vs. App. State worthy of a #9 ranking?

Regardless, it really doesn't matter unless you take care of business during the 4 game stretch.

This. Who cares what were ranked. Nothing matters unless we win the conference, get to a playoff game