Finishing 8-4, 2nd in East (season reflection)

#76
#76
Next year is the year.With the line we have coming back we'll be able to close out some of games we lost this year.I'm happy with 9-4.
 
#77
#77
BTS said:
im not saying anything negative about last nights game . Two games everyone think we should have won were the Oklahoma game and Florida . In the Ok game we had the ball 6 times in the second half not counting OT of those 6 possessions we went 3 and out 3 times . In the Fla game we had the ball 6 times in the second half. We went 3 and out 2 times. We also went and fumbled on 2nd down and gave them a short field . How can you say that the defense was the reason we lost both those games.
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One stop in either of those games and we win. Really that simple.
 
#78
#78
ajvol01 said:
The OL is the problem. 2012 recruiting class (zero OL) is still a huge disadvantage this team has to overcome.
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This team had 2 additional wins all but locked up this year late in the 4th with this OL. We've now had 3 recruiting classes since 2012....it's nearly 2016, I don't think what Dooley did nearly 4 years ago is still the primary problem.
 
#79
#79
True but one more long time consuming drive that ends with a score and we also win .
 
#80
#80
champyvol said:
sounds average to me. a year that the sec east is down we go 8-4. no big wins and 2 big games flushed down the toilet by our great OC. sounds like Tennessee football to me. average, sounds right. a win more I would have said it was a good season. 2 wins more would have made it great. the way we lost the games make it just a average year.
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I still wonder how DeBord caused out defense to fail at the critical moment in those games. Seems to me 27 points should have beaten UF, and OU couldn't move the ball until suddenly it could.
 
#81
#81
Yes and the offense stops scoring points in the second half. Now tell me that's not true !
 
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#83
#83
KBVol said:
This team had 2 additional wins all but locked up this year late in the 4th with this OL. We've now had 3 recruiting classes since 2012....it's nearly 2016, I don't think what Dooley did nearly 4 years ago is still the primary problem.
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Then you don't understand how important a dominant OL heavily manned by upperclassmen is in SEC football.

All of our most talented OL are true Fr and So. It is a fact. That is not a recipe for success in the SEC.
 
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#84
#84
8-4 would be good. Just need to win that bowl game. 9-4 this year and 10-3 next year
 
#85
#85
8-4 was my expectation for this year so I am satisfied, but it could have been much better.

I'm a glass half full guy though, so I take that to mean the Vols are a bit ahead of where I thought they would be.

But looking around the SEC, SOS and Pinkel are out, and we have recruited better than anyone in the East the last three years. McIllwain is really struggling down the stretch this season and Richt is still Richt.

Next season is looking pretty bright at the moment.

Are there reasons to be concerned about our passing game and whether the coaching staff choked away a couple games earlier this season?

Yes, but being 8-4 is still much, much better than losing to UK and being in the cellar of the East, which is where Drools left us in 2011. :banghead2:
 
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#86
#86
LordBolton said:
I still wonder how DeBord caused out defense to fail at the critical moment in those games. Seems to me 27 points should have beaten UF, and OU couldn't move the ball until suddenly it could.
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So many want to hang the losses on DeBord and, IMHO, it's just not so. It was a total team effort, offensively and defensively, fueled primarily by Jones' philosophy which sure seemed to be "get out to a quick start, an early lead and hang on" rather than continue with what got you the lead for a full 4 quarters. While it's true that we suffered late game defensive collapses that cost us vs both Okla and Fla, the offense folded similarly rather than continue to get first downs and points so we could salt those games away.
 
#87
#87
ajvol01 said:
Then you don't understand how important a dominant OL heavily manned by upperclassmen is in SEC football.

All of our most talented OL are true Fr and So. It is a fact. That is not a recipe for success in the SEC.
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Come on dude. Our OL did their part to get us 4th quarter 2 TD leads vs both Oklahoma and Florida. You wanna look back to Dooley's 2012 recruiting failures and put the blame there?

I'm not saying the point about no OLs in the 2012 class isn't valid. Of course it is. It set this program back, I'm not arguing otherwise. I'm just saying that 3 years later we've gotten past that and the evidence is in our offensive performances that I mentioned above. Those games were not lost each time late in the 4th quarters because our OL was bad.
 
#88
#88
KBVol said:
Come on dude. Our OL did their part to get us 4th quarter 2 TD leads vs both Oklahoma and Florida. You wanna look back to Dooley's 2012 recruiting failures and put the blame there?

I'm not saying the point about no OLs in the 2012 class isn't valid. Of course it is. It set this program back, I'm not arguing otherwise. I'm just saying that 3 years later we've gotten past that and the evidence is in our offensive performances that I mentioned above. Those games were not lost each time late in the 4th quarters because our OL was bad.
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2012 recruits would be true seniors and RS juniors this year. 3-4 yrs of strength & conditioning matters, but apparently not to you.

Probably wouldn't have mattered anyway with the caliber of OLs recruited by Dooley.

Our OL depth is ridiculously bad.
 
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#90
#90
I will take 8-4. I look at it this way, we were two 1st downs away from 10-2. A first down at end of OK and a first down at end of UF and we would have run out the clock.

Realistically, in the course of a year we would have loss to two team that we will in college football playoff and we led in 4th quarter. Iowa has a chance to make it too. a year ago we werent even close to either OK or Alabama now we can match up with them.

I would have liked 10-2 or 9-3, but happy with 8-4. This team will be favorites in SECe next year.
 
#91
#91
:8 and 4 is progress some will say should have been 10-and 2, the OKLAHOMA and Gator game the some will fire back SC and the Dawgs should have beat us and then we would be 6 and 6 just win out and go 10 and 2 next year and then some will not be happy because we should have won them all.:whistling: All i can say it beats the DD days.:yes:
 
#92
#92
champyvol said:
I disagree I don't remember on either of the last drives where we just need a first down or a couple that we threw down field. I do remember a couple of conservative screen passes. in the UF game I don't even remember that.
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Why throw downfield with an inaccurate QB? You would complain about that too. This team runs the ball. That's what they do. If they are goin to their strength and thy lose that battle, then they lost the battle. I would hate to have to rely on Josh Dobbs to win us the game by throwing the ball.
 
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#93
#93
ajvol01 said:
2012 recruits would be true seniors and RS juniors this year. 3-4 yrs of strength & conditioning matters, but apparently not to you.

Probably wouldn't have mattered anyway with the caliber of OLs recruited by Dooley.

Our OL depth is ridiculously bad.
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And yet we have rushed for more yards than any Tennessee team since 2004.....with 2 games to play. You can keep saying our OL sucks and that we have zero depth til you're blue in the face....and it still won't be true. Could this OL be in better shape had we signed 2 or 3 OLs in 2012? Sure. But again, the OL is neither a major liability like last year, nor is it the reason we lost to both OKlahoma and Florida this year.
 
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#94
#94
titansvolsfaninga said:
Why throw downfield with an inaccurate QB? You would complain about that too. This team runs the ball. That's what they do. If they are goin to their strength and thy lose that battle, then they lost the battle. I would hate to have to rely on Josh Dobbs to win us the game by throwing the ball.
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Like he did against Georgia? He is not a consistently accurate passer, but when actually given opportunities to throw more than horizontal bubble screens, he has shown that he can be effective throwing the ball, especially to the middle of the field.

Also, you're clearly a negavol with this very negative post. Go pull for Florida.
 
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#95
#95
BTS said:
No people that don't understand football always blame the defense! People don't understand that when the offense goes three and out multiple times and runs a hurry up offense that it fatigues your defense. It is up to your offense to keep the ball out of the opposing teams hands . If you give the opposing team the ball enough times they will beat your defense. Not scoring points in the second half is what lost us three of those four games nothing else.
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People who don't understand football are the ones who disagree with me.
 
#96
#96
As I've said before with a healthy Maggitt and Gaulden, along with better O line play we win at least two more games. Folks we are close.
 
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#97
#97
It is what it is, this Vols squad (along with it's coach) has had to learn how to win this year, with all the youth it's no surprise, however.

Expectations will probably be through the roof come 2016 and rightly should be.
 
#98
#98
You know, I was as heartbroken as the rest after each of the four losses, but in hindsight I'm not sure how folks can take the close losses as a negative. We should end up with nine wins. That's a great improvement from two years ago. Add to that that we could have easily been undefeated with some luck, and it's outstanding.

I guess it comes down to if you see the glass as half full, half empty, or just full of urine.
 
#99
#99
Beaten SC three yrs in a row
Beat GA this year with being close the last two years
One point games the last two years with Gators, should of won this year, more talent
Double OT loss to Oklahoma we should of won as well, based on their season not bad
Five point loss to Alabama who normally names the score
Arkansas better than people thought.
Over all, 17 points from perfect record, 7th ranked schedule, with two losses to in all likelihood final four teams.
Comparing to recent years, we are definitely improved. We finally can have the argument that we are frustrated that we are not in the SEC championship game, pretty good situation IMO
 
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#100
#100
Nothing from Maggitt, Gaulden, North, Williams and Jackson and I would have told you 8-4 was about tops.

There's a good chance Tennessee plays two teams in the CFP. If you'd told me that, I wouldn't have expected wins vs those teams.

Florida game is what sucks. They really think they are good.
 
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