Expectations...what would make you satisfied with this football season?

#26
#26
Enki_Amenra said:
8-4 is an outstanding season based on where we're coming from. This is the last year where 8-4 is very good. Next year will need to be a 9-3/10-2 type season. Playoffs in '24 or '25.
Click to expand...
At least you somewhat agree with me. 8-4 is not acceptable when we have top 10 offense numbers.
 
#27
#27
GetYouSomeofThat said:
Disagree

For this team and staff at this point in time, 8-4 would meet the expectations of most rational.fans and analysts.

Bama and Georgia are a very tall order just on talent alone.

LSU could very well be a game that doesnt go our way. They have talent and a proven coach, even though he is his first year in Baton Rouge.

The staff is still learning and adapting to SEC play. One more loss due to.coaching, while not desired,should not surprise anyone.

After this year though..if we have equal talent there is no reason not to expect a win.
Click to expand...
Enki_Amenra said:
8-4 is an outstanding season based on where we're coming from. This is the last year where 8-4 is very good. Next year will need to be a 9-3/10-2 type season. Playoffs in '24 or '25.
Click to expand...
Wrong mindset.. we have been **** and it’s because we let ourselves me ****. Last year was so much fun. The mindset of our fans needs to change. Expect to win… and win a lot in the coming future. Nico is going to rewrite Tennessee books under heupel
 
#32
#32
If we avoid major injuries to key players I'll be satisfied with 8-4. I would be thrilled with 9-3 and ecstatic with 10-2. If we get bit hard by the injury bug 6 or 7 wins would be acceptable. We still don't have the depth we need. Hopefully this upcoming class and another year of the portal will fix that.

One caveat BEAT FLORIDA. BEAT THE HELL OUT OF FLORIDA
 
  • Like
Reactions: Seattle Hillbilly, Woke, Vol in Buckeye Land and 1 other person
#39
#39
RockyTopTexas said:
Wrong mindset.. we have been **** and it’s because we let ourselves me ****. Last year was so much fun. The mindset of our fans needs to change. Expect to win… and win a lot in the coming future. Nico is going to rewrite Tennessee books under heupel
Click to expand...

As right as you are, unless you are a rational fanatic then keep your mouth shut about other’s expectations and how they handle adversity. Many fanatics these days are soft. Set the expectations too high and one little slip up and they have to hide and cry under their covers. When they settle for less they figure a loss won’t hurt as bad. Wrong. They will still have hurt feeling while they tell everyone how they were right about a loss wearing an orange badge of courage.

With the past 3 stooges that were the HCs of the Vols there were some red flags that were raised early in their tenure.

JH seems like the real deal and it is time to raise expectations for him and the team he puts together. As if we have a chance of putting greater expectations or pressure on him or his team compared to the amount they self inflict.
 
#40
#40
Play competitive at least in the games we are not supposed to win (Alabama, Georgia)
Win at least 1of the true toss up games (LSU, Florida)
Win the ones we should/can (SC, Ky, Miz, Pitt, Vandy)
 
#41
#41
NEWDAYVOL said:
For me 9-3/10-2 and at least 2nd in SEC East.

I expect us to snap the Alabama losing streak within the next 3 years if not this year. I expect an SEC East Championship in 3 years if not this year. I think this is the year to do big things...then maybe take a small step back with a new QB next year...then have a breakout season in 2024 or 2025.
Click to expand...
Satisfied would be 8-5, including a bowl win IF we see the following:

Playing close through all 4 quarters (which would indicate we are building depth),

No drop off in our best players' from last year's play. (This would indicate at the very least that our offense isn't a fluke that can be easily figured out and stopped )

Players filling the roles of those we lost this last year along with back up QB showing a lot promise for next year (We will be losing Hooker, Tillman, Banks, Wright among others next year, so seeing Velus, Mays being replaced from last year and some promising snaps for Milton or another QB will tell us a lot about what we will have next year.)

YOUNG stars emerging, (Tyon Evans was a pleasant surprise for us all last year. It reminded me of the days where we had players like Manning, Berry, Cam Sutton, Webb/Cobb, Stallworth and Washington explode onto the scene as young talents. Evans is gone. Who will be the young guys we look forward to watching play a lot of football at UT and building our game around on all sides of the ball?)

It would also be nice to see Bru McCoy and Dixon come in and do some special things as well as other guys stepping up like Keyton, LBs, DLs, OLs, DBs. (This along with everything else above will just leave me with a feeling that hey when we lose guys, we need not panick.)

Us improving drastically in getting off the field on 3rd down (I think this too will show we are building depth and that there isn't something wrong with our D. Does a 4-2-5 work? Lots of passes thrown where our 2 linebackers reside last year. Not sure if that"s what he ran on 3rd though. )

Maintaining if not improving offensive production (Shows that our Offense is here to stay. I have read some things surrounding other teams figuring out our offense and slowing us down this year, but I have also read we were running about half our offense last year. So, I am more excited than concerned and us maintaining that type of production of improving will answer a lot of those questions).

Drastic reduction in sacks allowed (Pleasant surprise to have a mobile QB once again who at times flashed like Dobbs, but threw as well as any QB we have had. Just imagine what he would have done without being sacked more than any other SEC QB *I think and had he started every game from day 1.)

Increase pressure on the QB (We had a decent amount of sacks last year. Bottom.of the top half of the SEC I think? Made our D a little more exciting to watch even though they would turn around and give up 3rd and long. That was more on our mid and back field. Garner is the man and I would like our guys to continue to prove that and improve to the top quarter of the SEC this year :).)

Stop the run (Lots of sacks are great, but I think we need to balance that out with stopping the run better. This is up to Garner to figure out.)

Smart personel decisions. (Huepel really had me concerned and it's still a bit of an asterisk on his personnel decision making that it took a Milton injury for him to begin starting what would be a record breaking QB.)

LBs and DBs improvements. (A lot of the play we have seen here has been a result of a lack of depth. Regardless of what it is, we can't have this gap in our D. I already discussed scheme, depth and stopping 3rd and long conversions. We saw parts of secondary and our LBs get picked on a LOT last year. If we see big strides here with really no stars behind our DL, that will say a LOT about our coaching of players in these areas as well as our scheme. With the number of tackles Banks put up last year, you could make a case for Banks being that star but you also have to consider he was on the field for nearly the entire game almost every game. I love that kid's grit and his story and hope he goes to the NFL after being a bit of a problem child, but we need to see a lot from others and huge steps back there. Kind of rambling here, but I think this is going to require many players showing up this year and a scheme that works.)

Locking in a top 10 recruiting class. (It will say a lot of we do something special with what we have and *I think with as few as we have on our roster still, but we still need to be pulling in top 10 recruiting classes if we want to compete for NCs. I may get exiled for saying this, but if KY was pulling in top 10 classes, the SEC would be in trouble. I can see Auburn going after Stoops HARD and soon. That would be good for Tennessee IMO. Even though we still own them almost every time. Did I save myself there?)

Little turnover off in staff. (I think if we demonstrate everything above and we can keep this staff together, that will be enormous.)

Solid WR play (I spoke about maintaining offensive production and that includes WRs. I am concerned about losing our Kodi Burns. Seeing some leaps here this year like we did at this position last year will satisfy those concerns. I remember thinking Burns was the least proven next to Tim Banks, but once I read his bio more closely I was actually excited. I think the WRs showed the greatest improvements last year. Now he is gone. We will see what Pope has!)

Being only 2 years removed from a 3 win season, a gutted and limited roster, and 2nd year into all new coaches leaves me with a lot more flexibility when it comes to being satisfied. We gave Huepel 5 years because of this and some of our fans need to come down to planet earth with lofty expectations. If we can make all of the above a reality AND keep our coaching staff together, repeat what was good from last year and tack on a bowl dub, we have a TON to be excited about the future. I am with a lot of people when thinking we could do much better than that this year, but to THINK we COULD is much different from thinking we SHOULD. COULD included a lot of luck when you look at the chips stacked against us. My satisfaction will continue to stem from what a program that has been through all we have been through SHOULD do. Frankly, what I now feel we should do stems from Huepel exceeding expectations in year 1. Nick Saban himself had the same record in year 1 at Bama and he inherited a much better program. In fact, I'm not sure anyone has ever inherited a s*** show of an SEC program like Huepel did. Well actually there is Sam Pittman at Arkansas and James Franklin at Vandy who inherited 2 win teams. To put that in perspective, Pittman went 3 and 7 in his first year. That team beat the Tennessee team Huepel inherited. Franklin got 6 wins at Vandy and I think got COY.

Both Jones, Pruitt, got 5 wins in year 1, Dooley got 6 in year 1. Sure Kiffin also posted 7 wins in year 1, but he inherited an immense amount of talent and a program that has one the SEC east 2 years prior. He also was able to compile an elite staff.

So, I hope we temper our expectations this year. For one it will make watching the games much more enjoyable.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: MemphisVol77 and VFL-82-JP
#43
#43
8-4 should be the minimum for CJH to keep his job going forward, barring NCAA infractions, we do have an easier schedule this year so 9-3 wouldn't surprise me and although not likely 10-2 is possible
 
  • Like
Reactions: vol_in_ga
#46
#46
Delivering absolute beat downs to the teams we’re supposed to, competitive in the others. Should be 8-4, but honestly, I’m just happy to not have that non-English speaking goon running our program.
 
#49
#49
8-4 should be the expectation at this point. Anything less is worriesome. Anything more is just icing on the cake.
 
#50
#50
dduncan4163 said:
If we avoid major injuries to key players I'll be satisfied with 8-4. I would be thrilled with 9-3 and ecstatic with 10-2. If we get bit hard by the injury bug 6 or 7 wins would be acceptable. We still don't have the depth we need. Hopefully this upcoming class and another year of the portal will fix that.

One caveat BEAT FLORIDA. BEAT THE HELL OUT OF FLORIDA
Click to expand...
Key word...Injuries. It's been the same issue for many years and ,as you stated, our depth is still an issue. Making predictions..at least for me...is a practice in futility. One or two crucial injuries (and obviously there will be some as we go) sway the expectations from week to week. I'm probably with you on the record expectation too.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Seattle Hillbilly, dduncan4163 and BigOrangeTrain
New posts
You must log in or register to reply here.

VN Store



Back
Top