excuse or not but its pretty amazing that

#1
wmcovol

wmcovol

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#1
the travel roster will only include 12 players who were at the Swamp 2 yrs ago.....

I don't think Butch is using this as an excuse as much as he's trying to send a message just how much he has changed this program.

Frankly, the only team on the field Saturday that can beat the Vols are the Vols. Time to step up and make it happen.
 
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#2
#2
wmcovol said:
the travel roster will only include 12 players who were at the Swamp 2 yrs ago.....

I don't think Butch is using this as an excuse as much as he's trying to send a message just how much he has changed this program.

Frankly, the only team on the field Saturday that can beat the Vols are the Vols. Time to step up and make it happen.
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With all due respect, it's very much an excuse to tamp down expectations IMHO. Just like the "29 players who are flying down for their first SEC game", just like the "we're actually a younger team this year than last year", just like the "64% of our players have been in the program for 1 year or less", just like last year's "74% of our players have never been in an airplane before" in reference to the Oklahoma game, just like......
 
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#3
#3
Some fans need to have expectations lowered a bit. He's not talking to rational parts of the fanbase when he releases this info.
 
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#5
#5
The youth excuse is really getting old, especially considering that OU has a younger team than UT, and UF has a MUCH younger team than UT.
 
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#8
#8
jwells said:
Some fans need to have expectations lowered a bit. He's not talking to rational parts of the fanbase when he releases this info.
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So, I should lower my expectations from 8-4 to 7-5 or 6-6 because of all these painstaking statistics that he cites despite the fact that we returned as many starters as any other team in the SEC and have very good upperclassmen players/leaders all over the field?

When one looks at our first five opponents that matter this year (Georgia, Florida, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Alabama) we see that only Georgia and Bama have more seasoned rosters than ours, and not by much. Should I, rather than expect Tennessee to only go 2-4 versus the best 6 teams we play this year, just be good with 1-5 or 0-6 versus those teams? Does that really seem irrational to you?
 
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#9
#9
What? OU is younger than UT?? Where did that stat come from??

Bottomline: No one cares about how young or old the team is. They want a win @ UF this weekend. Period.

Butch and Co. have to make this happen. If not, people will be upset.
 
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#10
#10
KBVol said:
So, I should lower my expectations from 8-4 to 7-5 or 6-6 because of all these painstaking statistics that he cites despite the fact that we returned as many starters as any other team in the SEC and have very good upperclassmen players/leaders all over the field?

When one looks at our first five opponents that matter this year (Georgia, Florida, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Alabama) we see that only Georgia and Bama have more seasoned rosters than ours, and not by much. Should I, rather than expect Tennessee to only go 2-4 versus the best 6 teams we play this year, just be good with 1-5 or 0-6 versus those teams? Does that really seem irrational to you?
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Where is our youth, inexperience, and lack of talent? The offensive line. That group, alone, has and will hamper this team's opportunities.
 
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#12
#12
PC Jr. said:
What? OU is younger than UT?? Where did that stat come from??

Bottomline: No one cares about how young or old the team is. They want a win @ UF this weekend. Period.

Butch and Co. have to make this happen. If not, people will be upset.
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They have a higher percentage of freshmen and sophomores on their roster than we do. Started 2 freshmen on the OL vs us iirc.
 
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#14
#14
His teams are always going to be young if the attrition continues at the current pace. Too many players leaving or have left the program. Happens at every big school but his rate is much higher than the norm.
 
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#15
#15
tm3 said:
The youth excuse is really getting old, especially considering that OU has a younger team than UT, and UF has a MUCH younger team than UT.
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And you got these facts where??? That's what I thought. No UT still has a much younger team.:eek:k:
 
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#16
#16
I remember CBJ referencing our youth before the season. I remember thinking he's already making excuses. I think CBJ is starting to feel the pressure. It's year 3 and people expect great things to happen this year. If he pulls another coaching flop this weekend the fan base will be very critical of his ability.
 
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#17
#17
jwells said:
Where is our youth, inexperience, and lack of talent? The offensive line. That group, alone, has and will hamper this team's opportunities.
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Don't disagree. But how much did OUs younger and less experienced OL hamper them when we played. Apparently not too much.

Btw, we start a RSSr OT with a lot of experience, a soph returning freshman all-American LG with a decent amount of experience, a Soph center with a decent amount of experience, a Jr RG with a decent amount of experience and a RSSoph with a decent amount of experience. We all know that position group is the weak link of the team. Good and great coaches find ways to win despite some deficiencies as virtually no team is perfectly constructed. Meyer won a national title last year with a very young team comprised of mainly freshmen and sophomores who most said were a year away from truly competing. No one is asking Butch to win a national title this year....just go 2-4 vs the 6 best teams on the schedule and win 8 games. He still has plenty of time to do it, let's see if he can get there .... and let's also see if a large group of our fans can stop with the absurdly low expectations and excuses for why this team can't compete for the SEC east as it's currently constructed.
 
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#18
#18
Jeepkuntry said:
I remember CBJ referencing our youth before the season. I remember thinking he's already making excuses. I think CBJ is starting to feel the pressure. It's year 3 and people expect great things to happen this year. If he pulls another coaching flop this weekend the fan base will be very critical of his ability.
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And that goes to show that some of the fan base is psycho. For some reason a portion of our fan base refuse to accept the fact that Dooley left us in a world of $hit when he was fired. That portion of the fan base has this entitlement mentality..."We are Tennessee, we are suppose to win...we should never lose!" That is a sad mentality to have because CBJ has had to do a complete overhaul of the roster.
You've got people on here *****ing and moaning about attrition, but in this case, attrition is a good thing. I know everyone is tired of hearing about be patient, but you have to be patient. Look at the improvement in team speed and fight and play. The wins will come. Blowing this $hit up and starting over is not the answer.
 
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#19
#19
By the third year of a coach's tenure, he should know better than play the youth card. And, definitely by the fourth.

Butch must not believe in himself. If he did, he wouldn't be out there trying to buy himself more time. He would instead focus on winning ball games.
 
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#21
#21
Passively dropping these numbers week after week isn't leaving the right impression, IMO. I'd much rather CBJ spin it in an active, confident way-- "We may be young, but we're talented, we've worked hard and we're ready to play" or "This will be the first SEC road game for some of our new players, but we've played some tough teams, overcome some challenges and make no mistake, we've come to win."

If you're going to use coachspeak, use it to build confidence and rally the troops, instead of tempering expectations with meaningless numbers that add nothing positive. If McElwain, Richt or Saban did this, we'd be ridiculing them.
 
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#22
#22
Will Butch protect his young virgins on the road, or will he let them run wild and have funnnnnnnnnn?
How many return to Knoxville still pure, that does remain to be seen, no?
 
#23
#23
titansvolsfaninga said:
And that goes to show that some of the fan base is psycho. For some reason a portion of our fan base refuse to accept the fact that Dooley left us in a world of $hit when he was fired. That portion of the fan base has this entitlement mentality..."We are Tennessee, we are suppose to win...we should never lose!" That is a sad mentality to have because CBJ has had to do a complete overhaul of the roster.
You've got people on here *****ing and moaning about attrition, but in this case, attrition is a good thing. I know everyone is tired of hearing about be patient, but you have to be patient. Look at the improvement in team speed and fight and play. The wins will come. Blowing this $hit up and starting over is not the answer.
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Oh the beautiful irony of a poster going from thread to thread, day after day, to gripe and moan more himself about the posters he "thinks" are doing nothing but griping and moaning. Lol. Give it a rest man.

We all have our opinions....some of have more balance in those opinions than others. Some of us can and have, on many occasions, praised Butch and his staff for the great things they've done in their short time in Knoxville, while at the same time being able to question and even criticize some other things that they've not done very well yet.

We're all fans here, even though you and others have and continue to do your very best to condescendingly insist otherwise. Relax brother.
 
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#24
#24
Sometimes an eye-popping stat is only eye-popping because you don't think it through.

Take a typical, but fictional team. 70 on the 2013 travel roster. Those 70 are spread out like this:
  • 16 seniors, 22 juniors, 22 sophomores, and 10 freshmen
Two years later, the 2015 squad has the exact same travel team profile:
  • 16 seniors, 22 juniors, 22 sophomores, and 10 freshmen
Obviously, the 22 sophomores and 10 freshmen of the 2015 travel team didn't go to the game 2 years prior. And of the 22 juniors going, at most 10 of them (who were freshmen then) went two years ago.

That means, purely on the face of it, before you throw in any injuries, dismissals, transfers out or in, losses to the NFL, or any other turmoil of that nature, you have at MOST 16+10 = 26 players attending the same away game two years apart.

That's typical. That's pretty normal.

So to find out that we have 12 traveling to the Swamp who were in the Swamp two years ago, seems low but not shockingly so. When you add in injuries and red shirts among the players who COULD have gone to both, it becomes far less surprising still. Players like Mack Crowder, Max Arnold, Kenny Bynum, Malik Foreman, Johnathon Johnson, Joe Stocstill, Marcus Jackson, Trevarris Saulsberry, Austin Sanders, Matt Giampapa, Curt Maggitt, Alex Ellis, and so on. All of those fellows were on the team in 2013 and could've gone to the Swamp, but didn't. Most were red shirting or injured.

See? Given the typical turmoil of a college football team, it's not that unusual to have an overlap of only 12 players from one away game to the next.

Butch continues to use smoke and mirrors (and stats and numbers) to astound and amaze, folks. That's all it is, he's playing it up for the recruits and our opponents.


p.s. Ever wonder who the 12 are?

On offense: Kyler Kerbyson, Dylan Wiesman, Pig Howard, Marquez North & Josh Smith.

On defense: Danny O'Brien, Corey Vereen, LaTroy Lewis, Jalen Reeves-Maybin, Cam Sutton, LaDarrell McNeil & Brian Randolph.

And I wonder if they forgot to count Josh Dobbs. He didn't play against Florida, but I would be very surprised if he didn't travel; he was the 3rd string QB, normally you take at least 3.
 
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#25
#25
Fulmer had some young sqauds and still did well.
Butch knows that he has to win this game and is only throwing a layer of ice cubes on his seat in the event he craps the bed again.
I like Butch, I believe that given time he would produce constant winners, but as a UT fan I am tired of "time" being the case, and especially living in the state were Bamers literally poo themselves over one loss it makes "time" seem to last longer.
Butch needs to win, It's just that simple.
 
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