Expectations for the 2025 Season and ESPN direspect.

#51
#51
You don't think it's disrespectful to drop a playoff team returning its QB to 19?

We're losing one good player on offense and one good player on defense, and the positions those players played (RB and DE) has been our deepest positions under Heupel.
We won't actually start next year at 19 in the AP or Coaches poll. Probably more in the 8-12 range.
 
#52
#52
Well if anyone knows anything about not inspiring confidence, I’m glad the expert chimed in .
Okay let me try to reframe in a way you can understand. If we were playing a team that struggles tremendously on the road next season, and one of their fans told you they thought they could win in Neyland next year because they won a couple road games back in 2022, what would your response be? Would it be, “Oh good point, I hadn’t thought of those two wins you had several years ago with a totally different roster,” or would it be, “WTF are you talking about? That was years and several horrible road losses ago.”
 
#54
#54
Well a lot of what you are saying is just objectively wrong. We are losing more than 2 good players total. Hell, we are losing two All Americans on offense alone.

Also returning a mediocre QB doesn’t mean that mediocre QB will ever be better than mediocre. Frankly DJ U showed more as a true freshman than Nico did as a redshirt freshman. And DJ U just got worse from there. Improvement is neither automatic, nor guaranteed.
Is there anything you find promising into next year? Are we doomed for mediocrity, or even worse, failure? So you believe Nico has no chance of improving?

Let's see how it plays out before trying to cement negative discourse about the team. Your takes are never "discussion" as you claim. We're simply not good enough in your eyes. Sadly, it's a recurring theme for you
 
#55
#55
Okay let me try to reframe in a way you can understand. If we were playing a team that struggles tremendously on the road next season, and one of their fans told you they thought they could win in Neyland next year because they won a couple road games back in 2022, what would your response be? Would it be, “Oh good point, I hadn’t thought of those two wins you had several years ago with a totally different roster,” or would it be, “WTF are you talking about? That was years and several horrible road losses ago.”
I believe I was discussing the overall road history of the staff and was just pointing out that not every time we’ve taken the field against a decent opponent on the road we had lost. I’m well aware of the wins and losses and who was on team and who wasn’t, but by all means, please continue w/ your condescending bull$hit that everyone on here enjoys so much .
 
#56
#56
I believe I was discussing the overall road history of the staff and was just pointing out that not every time we’ve taken the field against a decent opponent on the road we had lost. I’m well aware of the wins and losses and who was on team and who wasn’t, but by all means, please continue w/ your condescending bull$hit that everyone on here enjoys so much .
Overall the road history says we lose one we shouldn’t. Even in the year we beat Pitt and LSU, we had the all timer at South Carolina.
 
#57
#57
That comment is a complete failure. Plenty of reasons we could only win 8 games. To make such an absolute statement is ridiculous.

Does you attitude change if Nico gets hurt in game #1? Would 8 wins then be a failure?
Let’s examine the 2025 schedule.

Syracuse- McCord is gone. Win
ETSU- regardless of who is QB, win
UGA- likely loss regardless of QB
UAB- win regardless of QB
MISS ST- win
Arkansas- home game. Sun.
Bama- on the road. Toss up.
UK- win
OU- home game win
NMSU- ein
UF- at the swamp, likely loss
Vandy- win

Where do you see 4 losses? Also you asked if Nico got hurt. Merklinger would be the one to step in. He has been in the system for over a year. If Merk is not able to step in and at least be a serviceable QB then that’s a problem. Our run game will be strong again. Also if Nico got hurt and we lost to Bama, UGA, UF and OU or MSST then maybe you could say that’s excusable. I don’t.

So no there aren’t a ton of excuses for losing 4 games. It’s year 5 and we have recruited pretty good. Now if we have many injuries to skill positions then that’s different. But that’s extreme examples. I don’t care if you don’t expect more from our program. I do. Heupel has done an excellent job at getting us back into the national spotlight.
 
#58
#58
Let’s examine the 2025 schedule.

Syracuse- McCord is gone. Win
ETSU- regardless of who is QB, win
UGA- likely loss regardless of QB
UAB- win regardless of QB
MISS ST- win
Arkansas- home game. Sun.
Bama- on the road. Toss up.
UK- win
OU- home game win
NMSU- ein
UF- at the swamp, likely loss
Vandy- win

Where do you see 4 losses? Also you asked if Nico got hurt. Merklinger would be the one to step in. He has been in the system for over a year. If Merk is not able to step in and at least be a serviceable QB then that’s a problem. Our run game will be strong again. Also if Nico got hurt and we lost to Bama, UGA, UF and OU or MSST then maybe you could say that’s excusable. I don’t.

So no there aren’t a ton of excuses for losing 4 games. It’s year 5 and we have recruited pretty good. Now if we have many injuries to skill positions then that’s different. But that’s extreme examples. I don’t care if you don’t expect more from our program. I do. Heupel has done an excellent job at getting us back into the national spotlight.
If Nico got hurt and we are back to a simplified offense without Sampson....Oklahoma, Bama, Arkansas all become difficult wins. With Pavia back at Vandy, that could be tough...

All of that is based on if Nico got hurt. Merk would step in but just as last year this would be his first real reps. What if we lose 3 OL in fall camp?

I do expect more from our program but you said 8 wins would be a failure on the coaching staff. I was simply stating that comment is a failure because things can happen that cause seasons to collapse. Let the season play out before you determine if 8 wins is a failure or not.
 
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#59
#59
I think 9 wins next year would be an excellent job by this staff with what we’ve got.
25 is the building year - 26 it’s back to the playoffs with a much better chance than we had this year- I’m predicting 8-4 next year and 10-2 is of course a possibility if Nico becomes HIM and the OL somehow grows into an elite unit.
D is going to give up more points - so we will have to score a lot more.

By August, I’ll have us at 11-1 with a win in the swamp 🤣
 
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#60
#60
We have a pretty decent sample size since Heupel has been here. In most (not all), but most road games we have struggled, especially against teams of equal or more talent. Which to me means you can just about automatically mark Bama and UF in the loss column.

We get UGA at home this year, but JH hasn't beaten them yet. Even with an unproven QB they're gonna be hard to beat. They still have more talent than we do, I have hard time seeing a win there.

And then there is the unexplainable Akry (2024), USCe (2022) UF (2023) game that might happen somewhere. Who knows which game that might be this year.

All the above together with replacing several veteran OL, paired with an OL coach whose hardly developed anybody since being here...a WR group that is unproven, and also coached poorly...lost an NFL RB, and several DL...and I'm still not 100% sold that Nico is a great QB. He's got a lot to prove this year....all these things together make it hard for me see us not taking a step back. I think 8 wins is where we land.
Reasonable
 
#62
#62
Let’s examine the 2025 schedule.

Syracuse- McCord is gone. Win
ETSU- regardless of who is QB, win
UGA- likely loss regardless of QB
UAB- win regardless of QB
MISS ST- win
Arkansas- home game. Sun.
Bama- on the road. Toss up.
UK- win
OU- home game win
NMSU- ein
UF- at the swamp, likely loss
Vandy- win

Where do you see 4 losses? Also you asked if Nico got hurt. Merklinger would be the one to step in. He has been in the system for over a year. If Merk is not able to step in and at least be a serviceable QB then that’s a problem. Our run game will be strong again. Also if Nico got hurt and we lost to Bama, UGA, UF and OU or MSST then maybe you could say that’s excusable. I don’t.

So no there aren’t a ton of excuses for losing 4 games. It’s year 5 and we have recruited pretty good. Now if we have many injuries to skill positions then that’s different. But that’s extreme examples. I don’t care if you don’t expect more from our program. I do. Heupel has done an excellent job at getting us back into the national spotlight.
Bama, UF, and UGA I think are greater than 50% chance we lose, based on history of how we have performed against those teams and 2 out of those 3 are on the road. Could we win one of those? Sure, but I think it's unlikely.

Then take your pick between OU, Syracuse and Arky for the 4th loss. We have just about always had an unexplainable loss under JH every year.

Could this team win 10 games? Sure but they are going to have to be better than expected in several positions groups to get there.

I think 8 wins is more likely than 10. I think Nico would have to have a Hooker like, '22 season performance for us to have 10 wins.

I don't see the defense being as good as it was last year either so the offense will have to pick up the slack like it did in '22.

Your comment about there being no excuse to win 8 games in year 5 is reasonable. We'll see if Elarbee or Pope can develop anyone this off-season.
 
#63
#63
I have low expectations for 2025 after what we saw this year combined with what we’ve lost and added to this point in recruiting and portal.

Feels like the talent gap between us and teams like GA and OSU is widening instead of closing.
Offensive strategy and play calling were really bad this year. Teams knew what we were gonna run. They could have helped Nico and struggling o-line with quick passing game, misdirection, screens, etc, but they ran the same crap all year.

Lack of development, especially on the o-line, is a concern. Big change at center next year and tackles have to get a lot better. Hopefully the portal adds can help on the inside.

Likely will be a 9 win season and just out of playoffs which is not where we should be at this point with Heupel.

We’ve also missed on a lot of recruits in the portal. Still need a lot of help just to replace what we’ve lost in some areas (WR, Dline).
Yes. To all of this. And what I don't get from Heupel, which surprises me, is a sense of urgency.

Heupel is a very likable guy, and when he is clicking his offense cooks, but I don't get the sense that he is as concerned about all the points you raise as he should be. Maybe having made generational wealth at this point, he just doesn't have the same drive? I wonder about a lot of coaches in this high $$$ era. Sabans, who want to win no matter what, are rare.
 
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#65
#65
Have not beaten UF in the swamp or the Tide in T-Town in a long time. I'm thinking GA at Neyland may be the best shot. I would like that even though beating the Tide makes my life great for another yr.
 
#66
#66
The new norm until further notice imo is 9+ competing for sec and cfp.

Scoffers say anything short of a natty is a disappointment. Will Heupel be the one to get it done? Both valid thoughts for our program.

But I’m just glad we’ve moved past the hope we make a bowl game days. Can I get a witness
 
#68
#68
Nico did not live up to the hype and Tenn didn't even make the SECCG with a weak schedule then got blown out after running out shirtless and planning the Ohio takeover.
This is after a disappointing season last year, which was after blowing a playoff chance at SC in 22.
This is the country's perspective. Tenn hasn't done a dang thing in 25 years to earn ESPNs respect.
We trash the media and harsher critics of people in the state that cover the Vols, only for them to be closer to being correct more often than us who are optimistic.
 
#69
#69
Hopefully, I am not jinxing anything, but I am excited about the 2025 season and do not think that it will be a transitional year. Yes, we are losing many key players, but they can be replaced. We are losing Sampson, but our RBS are good every year. I think we will do what we did in 2023 and use Star Thomas, DeSean Bishop, and Peyton Lewis. I think our o-line will be better through development and transfers. Nico will be much better. I saw his improvement throughout the season. He looked good in the second half of Alabama, great vs. Kentucky, and would have had 400 yards if not for drops, looked great vs Mississippi State, looked good vs Georgia, and looked great vs Vandy. He didn't even look bad vs OSU. The O-line just could not block, so they could just put 7 in coverage. If Nico improves his deep ball, he could become elite next season. Our receiving core has gotten worse just from looking at it, but I think our receiving core has high potential, just not much experience.
ESPN put us behind Illinois, Indiana, Kansas State, Iowa State, and BYU are the big ones. I think we should be above Florida and other teams like them, but I am not that mad about that.
Your descriptions had a lot of ifs, could be and should be. Its all about how your QB does in this league if he's a game manager like this year, 9 wins would be top tier & could be lower with bad breaks. If he becomes dynamic and get the ball out quick or steps up in the pocket or scrambles and runs when appropriate it could be a great year. A lot of ppl that had seen him play in HS told me when we bought him he is a 6' 6" Bryce Young. Even though we beat Bama in 2022 we should have had 6 or 7 sacks but Young who had a bad O-Line was Houdini, dynamic QBs just make things happen, no excuses. So that's what type of play I was expecting but Nico is still young and Bryce did all that in his last year. I hope Nico can be that this year, if so we could win the SEC. College football is a QB driven league, Vandy without Pavia in 2024 would have been a 2 or 3 win team yet they won 7 it matters a lot.
 
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#70
#70
Gonna take more than Nico. He can be the list elite QB in the nation but if the OL can’t protect him and the WRs can’t catch, then it won’t matter.
Both the Oline and WRs will be new. They will either be better or worse. Nico will play a part in both of those.
 
#71
#71
ESPN never has a clue what they’re talking about. The betting markets have us 3rd in the SEC in terms of odds to win it all

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#72
#72
If we only win 8 games then that’s a complete failure for this staff.
Nope. 6-6 would be a disappointment. 7 seems right to me with 8 being a really solid year under the circumstances and in light of this roster. Larry is pretty logical in the record prediction. I'm a bit more negative in my outlook.
 
#73
#73
Gonna take more than Nico. He can be the list elite QB in the nation but if the OL can’t protect him and the WRs can’t catch, then it won’t matter.
The question though...is Nico elite and he just didn't have the talent around him or does he lack the ability to process what we're doing fast enough? I'm honestly not sure. Might be both?
 
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#74
#74
Lord help this guy. Amen
Yep, he contradicts himself in about an instant.
National Champions or bust. Bust means blow up the whole program & fire all the coaches. (NC means you are the 1)
Then in next line, he says playoffs or Heupel is on the Hotseat.
(playoffs mean you're 1 of 12 & have to win 3 more games to be the 1) some of our fans 🤔
 
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#75
#75
The question though...is Nico elite and he just didn't have the talent around him or does he lack the ability to process what we're doing fast enough? I'm honestly not sure. Might be both?
I don’t think Nico could do much with our WRs not being able to get open a whole lot and then dropping passes when they were.
And reality: he was a RS Freshman.
He will most likely look like a far different dude this year….
 
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