Bleacher Report Says Tennessee is 10-2 in 2015

[sjt18]

Well said sir! But don't forget Georgia either!

I should clarify that that was a horrendous year of injuries for georgia, with most of them happening before missouri and georgia met! They weren't particularly in a slump, but got help from all the injuries!

I'm not sure how to fix it without rearranging the divisions or dropping the rivalry games... but there's nothing equitable about UGA playing Bama and Aub this fall while Mizzou gets Ark and MSU.

Due to player losses, MSU will probably drop to the bottom of the West. Arkansas will do well to become middling due to the strength and talent of the West. Once again, Mizzou will draw two of the worst teams from the West.

 

[mudhen]

Two options which is better for Jones' long term acceptance by the TN fanbase IYO?

8-4 with L's to Oklahoma, Arkansas, South Carolina and @Missouri

or 10-2 with losses @Bama and @UF

That's like asking if you want cyanide or rat poison in your coffee.

 

[LittleCat]

Patrick Towles and Drew Barker are embroiled in a heated quarterback controversy

BR...

 

[TheGrove68]

Honestly, from my experience... yes. That's a stretch. Give the coaches major credit if they even equal last year's "bad" production. TE mitigates it some but Mizzou's O seems to be pretty dependent on stretching the field vertically and horizontally. Much of that has been heavily dependent on timing and "feel" between the QB and WR's. That's already a challenge with how inconsistent your QB is.... now you have WR's with little to no experience.


Chemistry can only be developed so far in practice or 7 on 7. It takes live action against an opponent who does things you do not expect and, frankly, are often more athletic and talented than the DB's they face in practice.

You lost all of your WR production from a team that avg'd only 163 ypg passing vs the SEC... and you played the weakest West slate of any East team. It would have been much worse if you'd played say... Bama and Ole Miss.

In the run game, you do not appear to have anyone who can replace Murphy's production but more importantly the threat he presents to opponents with his big play ability.

Maybe Pinkel turns water into wine again... but purely from looking at the available parts... it looks like it will get worse before getting better.

One thing that could make it better would be if he went to a more reliable passer than Mauk but Pinkel's affinity for him seems to be ironclad.

I agree Mauk has comp.%% issues but his big play and running ability has offset that to a degree, I suspect he will improve his Comp.%% this coming year. He is just a JR.

The offense will mimic the Rucker/Coffman days with our TE in the slot much more this year as opposed to a WR. This IMO will help our offensive production. And while I agree only so much chemistry can be built in the Spring and 7-7 our early season schedule is conducive to allowing the WR/TE/QB to build that rapport.

Wingo will IMO to some degree replace Murphy,he is much faster and more skilled in all the measurables. And what is great about this offense is it's flexibility so replacing Murphy isn't a must we had success without that type of player before....we have been a 4-5 wide pseudo run and shoot squad, we have been a TE&WR play action squad, we have been a Zone Read/invert Veer team, and last year we where a deep throw counter trey/zone running squad. Our OC will find our nitch.

And while I do agree that UT and UF have been down.. SC has been at a all time high, Vandy under JF has been up and UGA has been about the Same. So while Mizzou might have caught the East down from it's glory days it ain't chopped liver either.

I agree with the Bama statement we have ducked them since year one.....but We played Ole Miss on the road in 2013 and handled them well enough and in 2014 really wasn't Ole Miss a bit of a hype squad sure they beat Bama but then got handled easily by Ark. a squad we beat and then got rolled by TCU. I'm not buying that we ducked them. And A&M has been solid the 3 years we have played them from the West.. bowl winners each year.

 

[sjt18]

I agree Mauk has comp.%% issues but his big play and running ability has offset that to a degree, I suspect he will improve his Comp.%% this coming year. He is just a JR.

He could develop even better than normal and still struggle to see better results due to the WR issues.

The offense will mimic the Rucker/Coffman days with our TE in the slot much more this year as opposed to a WR. This IMO will help our offensive production. And while I agree only so much chemistry can be built in the Spring and 7-7 our early season schedule is conducive to allowing the WR/TE/QB to build that rapport.

Could be but your O was heavily dependent on the big play last year and the year before. Going from there to a dominant "grind it out" O while losing that much production at the skill positions would be quite a feat. This is especially true considering you haven't had to make an O like that work in the SEC previously. Hats off to Pinkel if he gets that done.

Wingo will IMO to some degree replace Murphy,he is much faster and more skilled in all the measurables. And what is great about this offense is it's flexibility so replacing Murphy isn't a must we had success without that type of player before....we have been a 4-5 wide pseudo run and shoot squad, we have been a TE&WR play action squad, we have been a Zone Read/invert Veer team, and last year we where a deep throw counter trey/zone running squad. Our OC will find our nitch.

I appreciate that you are trying to give possible solutions to problems but an undersized Fr doesn't seem to be much of a replacement for Murphy.... at least not this fall.

And while I do agree that UT and UF have been down.. SC has been at a all time high, Vandy under JF has been up and UGA has been about the Same. So while Mizzou might have caught the East down from it's glory days it ain't chopped liver either.

Not trying to hammer you on this... but USCe's peak in terms of real talent was still well below what UF/UT considered the "norm" not that long ago. Vandy similarly had a nice "coincidence" with a pretty good coach passing through while also having the East generally down. When UT, UF, and UGA are "themselves"... there is relative parity with the West without the West being weaker than it is.

That should be your concern. On the rare occasion that you have faced an elite team from the West, it hasn't been good. UGA has been "themselves" for the most part with regard to talent since MU came to the SEC. UGA has won 2 of 3 in not very competitive fashion.

FWIW, you can always count on gifts from UGA from time to time due to Richt. Nice guy off the field... but he has a habit of losing to inferior rosters.

I agree with the Bama statement we have ducked them since year one.....but We played Ole Miss on the road in 2013 and handled them well enough and in 2014 really wasn't Ole Miss a bit of a hype squad sure they beat Bama but then got handled easily by Ark. a squad we beat and then got rolled by TCU. I'm not buying that we ducked them. And A&M has been solid the 3 years we have played them from the West.. bowl winners each year.

Never claimed you ducked anyone in conference. The SEC assigns the rivalry games based on the historic strength of the teams. UT and Bama are the top two in SEC history in wins. UF/LSU and UGA/Aub are based on the historic strength of those teams. Historically, those are the top 6 teams by a good margin.

Ole Miss was significantly worse after the loss of Treadwell. People here have similar concerns about UT this fall but this Vol team is deeper than last year's Ole Miss team. Ole Miss' O was literally one player away from going from dangerous to anemic.

Unless teams become willing to give up some rivalries like Bama v UT. The problem can't be solved. It is an intentional effort to create some parity for historically weaker programs.

The rotating games? Just consider yourself charmed. Eventually it will run out but hard to say when.


If I were going to accuse you of "ducking", it would be in your EXTREMELY soft OOC games. Those games are usually scheduled a few years out and I am not aware of who MU is trying to schedule now... but the pattern of the last 6 years in scheduling "BCS level" opponents is pretty pathetic. Each year MU has scheduled one. The combined records of those 6 teams is 34-42. During those same 6 years, UT's major OOC opponents have a combined record of 55-23. In short, you guys have a habit of scheduling chumps.

 

[TheGrove68]

He could develop even better than normal and still struggle to see better results due to the WR issues.

Could be but your O was heavily dependent on the big play last year and the year before. Going from there to a dominant "grind it out" O while losing that much production at the skill positions would be quite a feat. Hats off to Pinkel if he gets that done.

I appreciate that you are trying to give possible solutions to problems but an undersized Fr doesn't seem to be much of a replacement for Murphy.... at least not this fall.

Not trying to hammer you on this... but USCe's peak in terms of real talent was still well below what UF/UT considered the "norm" not that long ago. When UT, UF, and UGA are "themselves"... there is relative parity with the West without the West being weaker than it is.

Never claimed you ducked anyone in conference. The SEC assigns the rivalry games based on the historic strength of the teams. UT and Bama are the top two in SEC history in wins. UF/LSU and UGA/Aub are based on the historic strength of those teams. Historically, those are the top 6 teams by a good margin.

Ole Miss was significantly worse after the loss of Treadwell. People here have similar concerns about UT this fall but this Vol team is deeper than last year's Ole Miss team. Ole Miss' O was literally one player away from going from dangerous to anemic.

Unless teams become willing to give up some rivalries like Bama v UT. The problem can't be solved. It is an intentional effort to create some parity for historically weaker programs.

The rotating games? Just consider yourself charmed. Eventually it will run out but hard to say when.


If I were going to accuse you of "ducking", it would be in your EXTREMELY soft OOC games. Those games are usually scheduled a few years out and I am not aware of who MU is trying to schedule now... but the pattern of the last 6 years in scheduling "BCS level" opponents is pretty pathetic. Each year MU has scheduled one. The combined records of those 6 teams is 34-42. During those same 6 years, UT's major OOC opponents have a combined record of 55-23. In short, you guys have a habit of scheduling chumps.

I don't think we are going to a grind it out Offense at all, but I do think we will be able to make the more mundane play at a higher average to compliment the big play. This should help the offense as a whole.

I'm not sure Wingo at 6'0 180 is undersized compared to Murphy so much 5'9 190. Does Wingo need to add some weight yeah but he will between now and Aug. and his speed far surpasses Murphy's. Now I don't think he will even reach close to Murphy's production but he will contribute and with the other pieces of the puzzle we can improve on offense.

I do think you are under selling our WR a bit.

As far as scheduling it is a system that allows the type of players we recruit to adjust and to be coached up early in the season to take on the uber talented teams we will face in conference. We have a system that allows us to compete and beat teams with rosters full of the Stars.

As far as Ole Miss goes I agree the Loss of Treadwell was huge for their Offense but as I said we handled them well the year before when they Had Treadwell and Moncrief both. Let's not blow Ole Miss up into some powerhouse in the West.