Gettintg tired of all the "lucky team" talk

#1
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tnprogrammer

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#1
I really hope we beat A&M this saturday if for no other reason than to shut up all the talk out there about this team just being lucky. If this team wasn't pretty darned good right now they would be 2-3, not 5-0. A game is 60 minutes long, not 30. It doesn't matter how many points you score in the first half, or the second half. The winner is the team that has the most points when that clock hits 00:00. I don't care if you score all your points in the last ten minutes of the game (or the last 4 seconds :) ). If the other team can't stop you from outscoring them in a total of 60 minutes, then guess what...you win! If we were scoring all of our points in the first half, but scoring nothing in the second half, but still outscored our opponents, would we be "lucky" then? Probably, the talk then would be that we jump out quickly on teams and then shut them down in the second half. The narrative seems to be framed totally on WHEN your points are scored not how many you score.
Again, all I care about is that we have more than the other team at 00:00. If that keeps happening they can call it whatever they want, but we will still be undefeated.
 
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#3
#3
Don't get me wrong. I'll take a certain amount of luck. Like you say, in a championship run there is always a little bit of luck. But I also believe good team tends to make their own luck.
 
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#5
#5
I think we've just wanted it more than our opponents so far this year. Might seem like luck but in the words of Two-Face, "You make your own luck."
 
#6
#6
I haven't really heard anybody talk about us being lucky. I've heard plenty of talk about us needing to play a full 60 minutes and they're right.
 
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#7
#7
tnprogrammer said:
Don't get me wrong. I'll take a certain amount of luck. Like you say, in a championship run there is always a little bit of luck. But I also believe good team tends to make their own luck.
Click to expand...

I agree - but a fumble recovery in the end zone and a successful Hail Mary aren't exactly cases of "making your own luck." If the ball bounces the other direction in the App State game, it either goes out of bounds or is recovered by them, and we very likely lose that game.

Making your own luck is something like Auburn's Kick Six - they knew that the FG coming up short was a possibility so they put Davis back there and Alabama had no personnel on their field goal unit to stop a return. A blatantly lucky break with no real explanation would be like their Hail Mary to beat Georgia that year.
 
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#8
#8
Until we lost two fumbles against the Dogs, just how many had we lost through 4 games? How many have our opponents dropped and we recovered?

Call it what you want, but good fortune, luck, voodoo magic, the football gods, etc, come into play when the ball bounces where you can recover it, every time, until Sat.
 
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#9
#9
tnprogrammer said:
I really hope we beat A&M this saturday if for no other reason than to shut up all the talk out there about this team just being lucky. If this team wasn't pretty darned good right now they would be 2-3, not 5-0. A game is 60 minutes long, not 30. It doesn't matter how many points you score in the first half, or the second half. The winner is the team that has the most points when that clock hits 00:00. I don't care if you score all your points in the last ten minutes of the game (or the last 4 seconds :) ). If the other team can't stop you from outscoring them in a total of 60 minutes, then guess what...you win! If we were scoring all of our points in the first half, but scoring nothing in the second half, but still outscored our opponents, would we be "lucky" then? Probably, the talk then would be that we jump out quickly on teams and then shut them down in the second half. The narrative seems to be framed totally on WHEN your points are scored not how many you score.
Again, all I care about is that we have more than the other team at 00:00. If that keeps happening they can call it whatever they want, but we will still be undefeated.
Click to expand...


Dude--Dobbs even said on ESPN last night that he didn't expect the ball to be caught after he threw it up into the end zone....

When you win a game on a wing and a prayer--it is LUCK that we are 5-0.

I wouldn't call our wins against ASU, VT, Ohio, or Fla LUCK.....

but NO WAY you can refuse to acknowledge that we were lucky to come out of Athens with a win....
 
#10
#10
Who cares? Others can call this team whatever they want (and they will regardless of how we play). As long as we are undefeated, you can't take that away! GO VOLS!
 
#11
#11
Sutton, Kirkland, Maybin.

Yeah, some more kind of lucky.

The lucky fumble bounces struggle to offset the above.

AV
 
#12
#12
You may be tired of it but it's true. We've been fortunate and I'll take that over the alternative.
 
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#14
#14
05_never_again said:
I agree - but a fumble recovery in the end zone and a successful Hail Mary aren't exactly cases of "making your own luck." If the ball bounces the other direction in the App State game, it either goes out of bounds or is recovered by them, and we very likely lose that game.
Click to expand...

Actually the fumble in the end zone was "making your own luck". It started with a great punt. Then the defense stripped the ball from the QB. Luck would have been the QB fumbling with no help from the defense.

As for the Hail Mary - while some say luck and maybe that is the case - but luck would have been tipped ball caught by one of the "clean up" receivers. Turns out it was a direct pass to one receiver who caught it. From taking the kickoff to re-aligning the WR's on the call to protecting Dobbs so that he had time to really target the pass - there was a lot of planning in that sequence of plays. Should that all work out a high percentage of the time - no - but it was obvious that the team had practiced this and it showed.
 
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#15
#15
We've been fortunate no doubt.

But I can bet you the team is sure tired of hearing it! Let's hope it shows on Saturday.
 
#17
#17
I dont call the catch luck i call it a player making a play. It wasn't like it got tip around and fell in his hands Jennings went up and got the ball.
 
#18
#18
I have a friend that always says, "I would rather be lucky than good".

The Vols are a good team, and it is very apparent that teams are having a hard time keeping a lead on them... that isn't luck per se. Every team that wins a NC had some key situation where the ball bounced their way. Call it what you want, but the Vols are a good team.
 
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#19
#19
volfan102455 said:
Actually the fumble in the end zone was "making your own luck". It started with a great punt. Then the defense stripped the ball from the QB. Luck would have been the QB fumbling with no help from the defense.

As for the Hail Mary - while some say luck and maybe that is the case - but luck would have been tipped ball caught by one of the "clean up" receivers. Turns out it was a direct pass to one receiver who caught it. From taking the kickoff to re-aligning the WR's on the call to protecting Dobbs so that he had time to really target the pass - there was a lot of planning in that sequence of plays. Should that all work out a high percentage of the time - no - but it was obvious that the team had practiced this and it showed.
Click to expand...

To be clear, the fumble recovery in the end zone I was referring to was in OT of the App State game. Not the sack/fumble in the Georgia game.
 
#20
#20
cough, cough.... Clint Stoerner... cough, cough

I can't think of a championship team that didn't have some sort of "luck" or whatever you want to call it. I'll take it 7 days a week!
Scoreboard, baby!
 
#21
#21
05_never_again said:
Making your own luck is something like Auburn's Kick Six - they knew that the FG coming up short was a possibility so they put Davis back there and Alabama had no personnel on their field goal unit to stop a return. A blatantly lucky break with no real explanation would be like their Hail Mary to beat Georgia that year.
Click to expand...

Actually the Auburn's Kick Six was completely luck.

And if you don't call that luck then you can't say the Hail Mary, which was is something they practice lucky.

Both were plays that the respective coaches called in a situation where something needed to happen for their team to win.

Bama kicker makes the field goal or shanks the kick to the side out of bounds, the run back doesn't happen. It was a gamble just like attempting the Hail Mary was a gamble.
 
#25
#25
If Tennessee doesn't want the national media and other fan bases to look at them as overrated or incredibly lucky then the solution is quite simple. Play a full 4 quarters. And this Saturday is a chance for a statement win. If they go out, play a full 4 quarters of football, don't turn the ball over, and play solid fundamental football with few mistakes then this team will get a lot more respect.

On the flip side, if they show up sleep walking in the first half again and go down 17-0 3 weeks in a row, I don't see us making a 2nd half comeback. Then, the media will be all over us about how we were finally exposed for the lucky team we are and we'll probably drop 7 spots in the polls because lol they hate us.

TL;DR You earn respect by playing a complete game.
 
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