Does anyone remember when Tennessee was respected/feared?

#51
#51
temptn said:
When was this? General Neyland? 3-4 years in the 90s? Even when we won the NC they were sure we would lose. Remember the announcers after the game. I do remember in the 60s when we played pretty good but no NC. Today you have a LOT more talent to go around, even to the small schools.
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I agree that there is a lot more parity in college football today.
 
#53
#53
lovavol said:
Takes time to build. DA fans want now results, more than long term and stablity. Glad you don't make decisions for UT. Lets look.at your resume, why should we care what you think?
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Who rustled your Jimmies?


I didn't say I knew how to fix it... just stating what I observed. What I can see is how long it takes a top tier coach to bring a program back to prominence. It took Saban exactly 2 years.. Harbaugh 2 years.. Meyer 2 years. After 2 seasons of installing their system they were a team that was respected and no one looks forward to playing. They all share another trait. Consistency. Lose a player.. plug in another one. Meyer won a National championship with his 3rd string QB. He didn't let injuries stop him.

This wasn't about starting an arguement. It was about how we were one of those teams that people dreaded playing. Do you think we are feared right now? Respected? And I know we didn't win every game. And I also know there aren't a lot of coaches out there like those 3 I mentioned. But I also know that not 1 of Butcher teams have been consistent. Good in all 3 phases of the game which is what it takes. There has been glimpses of it but that has been rare.

Show me 3 games where we have dominated the LOS in an year CBJ had been here. 4 years isn't enough time to build depth and coach someone up at a position? By year 4 you should start getting a good idea what a coach will produce and put on the field. Are you happy with CBJ's results on the field after year 4?

If you read my first post I said I didn't know how to fix it but I can form opinions from watching the product on the field.. and the results from the coaching the players receive and the final score at the end of the day.

Now let's go back to my earlier question... how many of those traits does CBJ posess that those other coaches do. I think he is a good coach but not the one to take us to that level. The man can't even take responsibility and answer a straightforward question without coach speak. I think he a micro manager and it hampers our growth as a team. There has to be some flexibility.. allow your assistants to do their job.. not conform blindly to 1 system. Bama made changes this year to better utilize the skills of their freshman QB after being a pocket passing pro style offense for years. Thats because Saban is smart enough to realize that sometimes change is inevitable. You have to adapt or suffer the consequences. We will have a different QB next year. Let's see how Jones adapts.
 
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#55
#55
molsen81 said:
I remember when we used to know how to tackle
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Agreed. We used to play a physical brand of football. Think Al Wilson, Inky Johnson, Eric Berry, John Henderson. Offensively we routinely produced NFL quality lineman. I just think a measure of toughness and physicality is missing from this team.
 
#56
#56
We, as fans, have been infuriated over the years for not going to the SEC Champ Game every year, beating Alabama and Florida, etc... So infuriated, we called for Phil Fulmer's job. We got it. We were completely dissatisfied with Dooley, we wanted him gone, we got it. We thought Lane Kiffen was the answer to our prayers, he bolted when a better opportunity came along a year later. He didn't wait for us to get tired of him. The point-we've gotten what we asked for and now we want to complain about where we are presently.
 
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#57
#57
Lets face it, there were two teams in the SEC that could consistently win the LOS, Bama and LSU. Everyone else, looked like some PAC/WAC or middle of the road Big XII team. I guess that is the new offensive system, with no defense to go along with it. Maybe it is what Bama has done to the SEC. Since we can't outcoach Saban or out recruit him, we've tried to get cute and out scheme him. Bama has sucked all the air out of the SEC from a LOS talent level. When you can't win the LOS game (and impose your will) you are apt to get beat by the Vandys of the world. When your running a 3rd and 2 from the shot-gun, you are apt to get beat. Look that Iron Bowl, Saban said enough of this playing patty cake, "we are going to tote the rock and win." That is why we have to hold our breadth for just about every game. We don't have the philosophy or the "hoss's" to push people around.
 
#61
#61
VOLNSCAL said:
We, as fans, have been infuriated over the years for not going to the SEC Champ Game every year, beating Alabama and Florida, etc... So infuriated, we called for Phil Fulmer's job. We got it. We were completely dissatisfied with Dooley, we wanted him gone, we got it. We thought Lane Kiffen was the answer to our prayers, he bolted when a better opportunity came along a year later. He didn't wait for us to get tired of him. The point-we've gotten what we asked for and now we want to complain about where we are presently.
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I can't speak for everyone but it's not that I'm not expecting to go to the championship every year but I do expect us to compete for it ... not rely on other teams to do it for us. We had it... right there.. and let Muschamp and Mason steal it from us.

And I didn't WANT Fulmer fired.. but he needed to make changes and he was reluctant to do so. When he did it was too late. I think part of the problem was that the AD let us down instead of doing their job by being not being selective enough and willing to pony up the money for that type of hire.
 
#62
#62
I remember those days. Seems like a different lifetime and a totally different program.

I remember about 10 years ago me and my buddy were watching a Clemson game and there was this old fan raising hell with a 1982 National Championship hat on. We made fun him because it was so long since they won a title. Little did we know at the time that would be us with 1998 Natinal Championship gear.
 
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#63
#63
the CBS Sports writer respects TN, the following is what he wrote concerning TN

. Tennessee: The Vols lost at Vandy to end the season, but those Life Championship trophies will help soothe the pain.

Now that's funny sh##!
 
#64
#64
I honestly thought that CBJ was going to be the guy who brought UT back. The losses you had least year were close and I figured, with everything you had coming back, UT would be a top 10 team at least. I think it all points to leadership, or lack thereof, in the program. The Vols just don't seem to have the "step up guys" on the roster. And I think that starts at the very top. Now I don't think there's any way that CBJ gets it done.
 
#65
#65
buckfama said:
Just curious. I remember the days when, even when we lost, teams would say we were the most physical team they had played all year. When we imposed our will on teams. When we were the only team in the SEC that didn't schedule cupcakes for our OOC games. When we lined it up and said "this is what we are gonna do today", and usually did it.

We don't impose our will on anyone anymore. We have forgotten what it's like to have a defense that intimidates the other team. Can't believe I'm saying this but Bama does it. Feel like I need a shower after saying that but it's true.

Butch doesn't recruit to that level because I feel he doesn't KNOW what it takes to field a team like that because he has never had it. And it's not always a matter of stars but more of an attitude. We lost our swag... our attitude. Offering up cliches and deflecting responsibility for what's going on with and within your team is no way to build it either.

I'm not saying that I know how to fix any of this.. not gonna pretend I do. But I can say that I haven't seen that "attitude" in a Tennessee team in a long time.. and I don't think CBJ is the one to bring that back. He has done a good job fixing all the other problems but he has peaked... jmo
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Kirby Smart said that about our physicality *this year*.
 
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#66
#66
djohnnyg said:
"It is NEVER ok to lose a football game"-Nick Saban (today). THIS...THIS is what is missing with Tennessee. No excuses...no BS. That is why Bama is where they are and we are "life champions". Yes we had injuries...bad ones...but where was the depth? Isn't that recruiting? "You can't expect Butch to_____(fill in the blank)". Is all we hear. "Butch has done so much to pull us out of the gutter...were lucky to have him". BS. Butch is lucky to coach at a legendary top 10 all time program in the best conference in football.

Expect better. Demand better. "It is NEVER ok to lose a game" Saban says. THAT is why they are where they are. This is the world of big time college football. If Butch or any fans only care that we have good kids who go on to have happy lives and a great experience at school then Butch needs to go to Austin Peay and coach em up. If THAT is what defines success in his world then go do it somewhere else where losing football games doesn't matter cuz there's way too many people who care about winning at UT. If that is too much pressure "on the kids" and Butch himself? Then he needs to get out and find a school that really needs his benevolent assistance in building more life champs.
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Yes, yes, yes and yes! This right here is what I have been thinking for awhile now! Well said sir...well said!!!:salute::salute:
 
#67
#67
Back when peyton played and in 1998, 2001, until that SEC title game choke against lsu
 
#68
#68
Butch is lucky to coach at a legendary top 10 all time program in the best conference in football.



.
Rank Teams Points
1 Oklahoma 1116
2 Alabama 989
3 Ohio State 988
4 Michigan 957
5 Notre Dame 939
6 USC 795
7 Nebraska 783
8 Texas 772
9 Tennessee 682
10 Penn State 648
11 LSU 612
12 Auburn 554
13 Georgia 548
14 Florida State 544
15 Miami 511
16 UCLA 503
17 Florida 487
18 Michigan State 443
19 Arkansas 439
20 Texas A&M 365
21 Clemson 352
22 Ole Miss 347
23 Georgia Tech 343
24 Washington 331
25 Wisconsin 327
 
#70
#70
Volstylexx said:
2007: 10-4
2008: 5-7
2009: 7-6
2010: 6-7
2011: 5-7
2012: 5-7
2013: 5-7
2014: 7-6
2015: 9-4
2016 : 8-4

Butch is a victim of his own success. How quickly we forget how down TN was before he arrived.
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The sad thing to me is that thinking losing 4 games a year is the measure of success!!!

CBJ coached a 10-2 team to 8-4 last year....
CBJ coached a 11-1 team to 8-4 this year....in his 4th year....with a SR. record-setting QB...

You may call that success, but I do not....it only proves that CBJ has sold a bunch of good players on his ability to coach and get them to Atlanta....

but now EVERYONE is beginning to see that CBJ is nothing more than an exuberant "snake-oil" salesman who cannot perform on game day....

I hate it because I wanted so desperately to believe....but he has to get us to Atlanta and go undefeated in the East in 2017--or his azz should be gone....5 years is more than enough for him to prove he can win the SEC East--especially when the teams in this division are in the worst shape since around 1990....
 
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#71
#71
Yes I can remember when Tennessee teams were respected and feared and they were all coached by Johnny Majors and Phil Fulmer (I cant remember Neyland). Both of these great coaches were fired before they needed to be. What did both of these coaches have in common? They gave lots of blood and sweat on the field for Tennessee and took pride and had a vested interest in Tennessee. This is something people like Jones, Kiffin, and Dooley would never understand.
 
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#73
#73
I remember getting ready to watch a game without a shred of doubt that we'd win. Didn't matter who we were playing. We were gonna win OR damn sure put another team on their ass. Teams like U.K., Vandy, etc would NEVER EVER UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE be a toss up. Nowadays can't say that. Hell theyre all toss ups. Up 21-7 vs Vandy and all I can think of is we've gotta be up by 4 TD by half.
So yeah I remember UT being respected. At one time our program was the one other teams would talk chit about through the week but come Saturday they knew an ass beating of epic proportions was coming.
 
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#74
#74
56vol said:
They gave lots of blood and sweat on the field for Tennessee and took pride and had a vested interest in Tennessee. This is something people like Jones, Kiffin, and Dooley would never understand.
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I don't know anyone who legitimately claims Jones isn't invested and sweating blood, but rather that he lacks the necessary skillset.

Using the same measuring stick applied to Jones, Majors would have been fired no later than his fourth year.
 
#75
#75
CMcEver said:
I do recall that last year was the first time, in a decade, that we won more than 7 games, and did it for the second straight year this year. Also, there was that whole 11-year streak to Florida that we broke this year.
I think we need to calm down. Another year won't hurt. If anything, we need some stability after the whole Dooley/Kiffin debacle, and develop 5 quality years of depth and then maybe we won't just be throwing bodies in for injuries. Butch was having to over recruit to fill the huge voids, and in a lot of cases, those guys were and are just warm bodies, as we saw the effects of injuries. Don't get me wrong, we have quality talent, but only about 3 years worth.
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hey don't bring logic into this :) I do think CBJ needs a couple of more years,he does have the program turned around,now he needs better quality depth and and keep headed in the right direction
 
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