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

#54
#54
5-3 in the SEC, 3-1 OOC. 8-4, and a good bowl against a solid Top 25 opponent. Bowl games don't mean much anymore what with the opt-outs, but at least show up and play well.

Anything above that is a plus; anything less is "Well, maybe next year." Bonus for beating Florida, and finally breaking that streak. We're not ready to go toe-to-toe with Bama or UGA yet, but I'd love to see us put a serious scare into one of them. And who knows? Any given Saturday...

I do believe that Josh Heupel is (a) an offensive genius, and (b) the right guy to lead UT Football back to conference, and eventually national prominence. But he needs to give the defense its' due, and to that end pick the right DC, and then let that DC pick his recruits. Do that (and apparently he is) and the defense will come around. This season will be a vision of things yet to come for the UT defense.

We can't overlook any team on our schedule at this point, but (in order) the Pitt, UF, LSU, UK, and USCe games will tell the tale here. Win all 5, and it's a potential 10-win season. 3-2 gets us to 8 wins. 4-1 would be an accomplishment. But we lost winnable games last year because the defense was simply exhausted in the 2nd half. Gotta make progress there.

And then, of course, not get caught napping against the 5 we should win outright. So I'll set the bar at 8. 10 is not out of reach...9 is definitely in play...but so is 7...or even 6 if the defense doesn't improve significantly. If I had to put a house payment on the table, I'd look for a 9.5 o/u, and bet the under. Set it at 8.5, and I've gotta flip a coin.

I hope we shock the world this season. And if not this one, then next. Go Vols.
 
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#55
#55
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.
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I would like to see 9 wins, bowl included. Won't be mad if we end up winning 7 or 8. Just gotta keep showing improvement
 
#56
#56
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.
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Beat every team we should beat—including Pitt, Florida, S Carolina, and Kentucky—and get one unexpected win. That’d be another huge indicator this program is headed in the right direction.
 
#58
#58
I want to see us eliminate some of the recuring problems we had last year. Like not being able to convert on short yardage plays and not being able to get teams off the field on 3rd down. If we can do that consistently then some of those close losses we had last year - Pittsburg, Ole Miss and Purdue - might be wins this year. Some things that will make me smile:
1) Going into Pitt and just dominating them from the opening kickoff until the final whistle. Pitt is a very solid team and will likely be favored (depending on how they do against West Virginia) so a really strong performance on both sides of the ball will make me happy.
2) Destroying Florida - I'd like to see 4 quarters of the 1990 second half and if that means everyone sits through a monsoon then just bring your Pancho. Still remember laughing after that game that the gators couldn't swim!
3) Mistake free games against Bama and Georgia and let the score be what it is. I think Bama runs the table this year and battles Ohio State (or a surprise team) for the national championship.
4) No games where we are asleep at the wheel. We might lose some tough fought games, but I hope we show up from the first snap in everyone.
 
#59
#59
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.
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My satisfaction comes from watching the players play without making a ton of mental errors and playing efficiently most of the time. I learned long ago to not use wins and losses as a gauge to measure satisfaction. I know players do NOT execute correctly 100% of the time and I do not have that expectation. The other team's players win the match-ups at times.
 
#60
#60
9-3 with a prime bowl bid.

LSU is very tough to beat in a night game at Death Valley.

Alabama and Georgia have too much depth and talent for Tennessee to beat them this season.
 
#62
#62
1. Beat UF (at least this one), UGA, or Bama
2. Don't lose any games we shouldn't
3. Win bowl game


That should put us with at least 8 wins
Anything else is a bonus IMO
 
#63
#63
8 wins minimum before the bowl.

The only way I could palate 7 wins before the bowl would be if we still land a top 10 recruiting class.

If 8 regular season wins doesn't land us at least a fringe top-10 recruiting class, then Spyre isn't everything we've hoped it is.

9-3 before the bowl and I'm thrilled regardless.
 
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#64
#64
vegasvolfan said:
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.)

Maintain pressure on the QB (We had a ton of sacks last year. Toward the top of the SEC I think? Made our D 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.)

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.
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Don't abbreviate it. Tell us what you really think.

Kidding, I appreciate your thought out post. I wouldn't necessarily say the sky is falling with only 7 wins, but it would take allot of what you described for me to maintain strong optimism. It absolutely can't be multiple losses of +20 like Pruitt's 2019 season.
 
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#65
#65
My expectations remain the same. Beat the teams you're supposed to....compete with those who are favored. Eliminate the blowouts. Continue to improve. We are not "there" yet, but this staff has us on the right trajectory, and will likely surprise someone they are not supposed to. Our offense will keep us in every game. I'm honestly just enjoying not being shamed or embarrassed by our staff and team at this point. If I had to put a number on it, I'd like to see at least a game improvement in the regular season (8-4), and a bowl win. IF you get to 10 wins in any fashion, it's a COY type of season and a lot of (other) people will realize that we have the right guy.
 
#66
#66
brockytop said:
Beat every team we should beat—including Pitt, Florida, S Carolina, and Kentucky—and get one unexpected win. That’d be another huge indicator this program is headed in the right direction.
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Too many of you are selling Pitt short. They’re a defending P5 conference champion, they’re likely going to be in the top 15 when we play them, and it’s on the road. They also brought back their whole DL from last year that was 2nd in the nation in sacks.

Not saying we can’t or won’t win but it will be at least a minor upset if we do.
 
#67
#67
10-2 anything worse is a let down. We have the players to beat everyone except Bama and GA it's about time we play like it.
 
#69
#69
SGMVols said:
Too many of you are selling Pitt short. They’re a defending P5 conference champion, they’re likely going to be in the top 15 when we play them, and it’s on the road. They also brought back their whole DL from last year that was 2nd in the nation in sacks.

Not saying we can’t or won’t win but it will be at least a minor upset if we do.
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If Hooker had been the QB against them last year we’d won. Milton missed 2-3 easy TD passes last year.Plus, Pickett and stud WR gone this year as well.
 
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