Half-ish way through the year thoughts

[TacomaJPP]

Looking at the big picture of CBJ's job and where we are, here are my thoughts:

1. Four years into it and we've finally beaten Florida, thank Jeebus.

2. We have a real shot at going 10-2 and winning the SECE and playing in the SECCG.

3. We have a real shot at a Top 10 in the NCAA.

4. He's done dang good in the bowls we've made it to in hai tenure.

5. 5-7, 6-6, 8-4, and however we finish this year - it definitely shows marked improvement.

Mind you, I'm still not a CBJ fan. I know, "cake and eat it too," but, here are the things that still worry me:

6. Debord. DEBORD. DE-FREAKING-BORD!

7. In Butch's 4th year we have won UF, UGA, and VT, but it was down to the wire and UF and UGA are both not very good. We won, but they aren't good, but we won, but they aren't good....but we won.

8. There is a huge stinch emanating from our first half performances. HUGE! What does it mean when you literally stink it up the first half against Appy State and Ohio and everyone else you play? Frankly, I think it is because Butch is being conservative and not encouraging Dobbs to run in the first half and then when the train jumps the rails by halftime, we drop the conservative BS and open it up by encouraging him to run it, which opens up everything else on offense. Additionally. I think he also allows Shoop to bring the heat in the 2nd half out of desperation and considering that 85% of the QBs we've played this year are young, it has worked.

The big concern to me is the alleged strangle-hold I feel CBJ has on the coordinators. Just my opinion, but it reminds me of the ultra-conservatism of CFP and I hated seeing that.

All in all, the players stand behind Butch, our program is moving in the right direction, things are incrementally getting better, there is real discipline in CBJ's program and that can't be denied. I do feel in-game management is quite questionable more often than I prefer it, but more and more "L's" have turned into "W's." Given that the SEC East is complete garbage, I would say that Butch shouldn't get an extension unless we win the SECCG. Otherwise lay a nice cash bonus on him and see what next year brings. I don't think CBJ will ever be a Saban, but to sustain us a high level of national prominence he must make some sound changes in a few assistant positions at the end of this year.

GBO

 

[BigOrangeTrain]

Yeah Fulmer's ultra conservative play really sucked. Man did he lose a TON of games. Debord and Jones are fine as long as we are winning. They deserved to be fired after every loss. Put up almost 700 yards against TAMU. Nothing wrong with playcalling. Get dominated by a team with NFL players while being down a ton of players and its time he goes.

Wait so Butch will never be a Saban? You mean he wont ever be the greatest coach in college football history? Man I am shocked.

 

[TacomaJPP]

Yeah Fulmer's ultra conservative play really sucked. Man did he lose a TON of games. Debord and Jones are fine as long as we are winning. They deserved to be fired after every loss. Put up almost 700 yards against TAMU. Nothing wrong with playcalling. Get dominated by a team with NFL players while being down a ton of players and its time he goes.

Wait so Butch will never be a Saban? You mean he wont ever be the greatest coach in college football history? Man I am shocked.

No need to be an asshat, but whatever.

I think Fulmer could have been more successful but his conservatism got in the way.

Yes, Debord has had some decent games, and yes, our OL is really compounding the play calling situation, for sure. Out of the gate this year our OL wasn't good. I find that concerning in year 4.

 

[cwbytruckers]

No need to be an asshat, but whatever.

I think Fulmer could have been more successful but his conservatism got in the way.

Yes, Debord has had some decent games, and yes, our OL is really compounding the play calling situation, for sure. Out of the gate this year our OL wasn't good. I find that concerning in year 4.

I think we're supposed to still blame Dooley for the OL problems. CBJ gets an 8 year pass on OL play.

 

[Dustin4Vols]

So if we finish 10-2 this year does that mean we go 12-0 next year?

 

[TacomaJPP]

So if we finish 10-2 this year does that mean we go 12-0 next year?

One could only hope...

 

[tnvols72]

So if we finish 10-2 this year does that mean we go 12-0 next year?

wrong......11-1 , Butch has to take baby steps. Its a process.

 

[volfanvfl]

wrong......11-1 , Butch has to take baby steps. Its a process.

Football is like life but just sped up...

 

[VFLJONES]

wrong......11-1 , Butch has to take baby steps. Its a process.

11-1 next year and 12-0 the year after with Guarantano leading the way

 

[BeardedVol]

Yeah Fulmer's ultra conservative play really sucked. Man did he lose a TON of games. Debord and Jones are fine as long as we are winning. They deserved to be fired after every loss. Put up almost 700 yards against TAMU. Nothing wrong with playcalling. Get dominated by a team with NFL players while being down a ton of players and its time he goes.

Wait so Butch will never be a Saban? You mean he wont ever be the greatest coach in college football history? Man I am shocked.

 

[IndianaVolunteer]

No need to be an asshat, but whatever.

I think Fulmer could have been more successful but his conservatism got in the way.

Yes, Debord has had some decent games, and yes, our OL is really compounding the play calling situation, for sure. Out of the gate this year our OL wasn't good. I find that concerning in year 4.

Asshat is being too nice. BOT is like that wife that complains when times are rough but won't show a peep of appreciation when things are going great. Tool.

 

[Crazy Ivan]

6. Debord. DEBORD. DE-FREAKING-BORD!

I'm not sure why we are blaming Debord for the loss. Coming into the Bama game the offense was averaging 37 pts per game in the 3 SEC games, and 2 of those defenses, UF and TAMU, are solid defenses.

As far as the Bama game, it's kind of hard to scheme against the best front 7 in CFB with 3 starting OLinemen out of the game.

Dobbs had about 1-1.5 seconds to get his throws away, which meant Bama could crowd the box and play man-to-man because they knew we didn't have time to let pass routes develop.

But hey, if we are throwing Debord under the bus we might as well throw Shoops under the bus too for not being able to stop Bama's offense. No matter that he had 5 starters out.

 

[LittleDTO]

Everyone with half a brain and very small working knowledge of football, can see this team has major flaws. It all starts with the coaches too. DeBord is horrible. Name a top 25 team that would hire him.

Shoop is good and will get better

Position coaches are an killing us too. Thig and coach RG are the only ones that are good.

 

[KBVol]

Everyone with half a brain and very small working knowledge of football, can see this team has major flaws. It all starts with the coaches too. DeBord is horrible. Name a top 25 team that would hire him.

Shoop is good and will get better

Position coaches are an killing us too. Thig and coach RG are the only ones that are good.

Thig is a good position coach? How are our linebackers coming along? He can recruit and he's a helluva guy, but how in the world do we look at other position coaches and say they're bad because of how their players are playing/being coached and developed and not do the same with Thig?

 

[Biopsyman]

some of preseason predictions did not happen..

1 Croom. Will be a beast at. TE... complete non factor
2. our OL will be better..
3. Dobbs would be better at being a pocket passer

 

[FlyFishnVol]

All I know is, I need a Bye Week.........I can't make sense of the Offense and I need a break from my own negativity.

Go Vols!

 

[LittleDTO]

Thig is a good position coach? How are our linebackers coming along? He can recruit and he's a helluva guy, but how in the world do we look at other position coaches and say they're bad because of how their players are playing/being coached and developed and not do the same with Thig?

Despite all the injuries, the LBs have done a pretty decent job. Not saying Thig is Jon Tenuta good but he has done well so far.

 

[RCKYT0P]

We are much better off than we were from 2008-2012 without a doubt.

I like Shoop and think he has done a pretty good job. Debord is pretty bi-polar, that or the players just can’t execute some games.

I think Bama will roll A&M this weekend. They are just
flat out dominate.

This season we have beat Florida and Georgia…UF is sitting at one loss at this point in the season. I don’t really care if these 2 teams are “down” they are still our biggest road blocks in the east year in and year out. You think they cared if we were down when they were stomping mud holes in us? Butch has owned South Carolina since he’s been here, I know they’re not a traditional power but they have been good in the last few years.

Right now, we are sitting right where most thought we would be sitting at this point in the season. 5-2 with a chance to finish 10-2 or hopefully 9-3 at worst. When was the last time we had a chance for 10 wins this late in the year? I would probably been when Fulmer was still here.

From my experiences in the 90’s and early 2000’s don’t take having a pretty good football team for granted…the last few years have shown that it can suck.

Enjoy the ride, no need to be miserable.

Go Vols!!

 

[TennVols423]

I'm not sure why we are blaming Debord for the loss. Coming into the Bama game the offense was averaging 37 pts per game in the 3 SEC games, and 2 of those defenses, UF and TAMU, are solid defenses.

As far as the Bama game, it's kind of hard to scheme against the best front 7 in CFB with 3 starting OLinemen out of the game.

Dobbs had about 1-1.5 seconds to get his throws away, which meant Bama could crowd the box and play man-to-man because they knew we didn't have time to let pass routes develop.

But hey, if we are throwing Debord under the bus we might as well throw Shoops under the bus too for not being able to stop Bama's offense. No matter that he had 5 starters out.

TAMU was not a good defense, prior to our game statistically they were not even the top 50.

I'm not sure what some of y'all are seeing but we had to recover a fumble in the End Zone to beat Appy State, Ohio made us look like a MAC team, needed a Hail Mary to beat a very weak UGA team and got throttled by Bama. This is year 4 for Butch Jones and while things are a little better we are still not at a level of competeing for titles. If UGA and UF weren't so weak compared to most years we wouldn't even be a contender for the East, I mean hell we need UF to lose out to get in. We need to accept that Butch is a 8-9 win kind of coach and with some luck possibly 10.

I will always root for Tennessee, I'm a VFL but I've come to accept the fact that our administration is not willing to pay a top tier coach like Bama, tOSU, Michigan, Washington have. It's certainly has paid off for all of those programs.

 

[Crazy Ivan]

TAMU was not a good defense, prior to our game statistically they were not even the top 50.

I'm not sure what some of y'all are seeing but we had to recover a fumble in the End Zone to beat Appy State, Ohio made us look like a MAC team, needed a Hail Mary to beat a very weak UGA team and got throttled by Bama. This is year 4 for Butch Jones and while things are a little better we are still not at a level of competeing for titles. If UGA and UF weren't so weak compared to most years we wouldn't even be a contender for the East, I mean hell we need UF to lose out to get in. We need to accept that Butch is a 8-9 win kind of coach and with some luck possibly 10.

I will always root for Tennessee, I'm a VFL but I've come to accept the fact that our administration is not willing to pay a top tier coach like Bama, tOSU, Michigan, Washington have. It's certainly has paid off for all of those programs.

We are 5-2, with losses against #1 & #6. And that is with a nightmarish amount of injuries.

Last season we were 3-4 after week 7.

So what if we no longer control our own destiny? So far, besides our head-to-head game we have played UGA, #6TAMU, and #1 Bama. UF has played Mizzou, Vandy, and UK. They still have to play #17 Ark and #25 LSU, both on the road in a stretch that includes UGA, @Ark, SC, @LSU. If they go 7-1 then I suppose they deserve the East.

 

[rocketskates]

I'm pretty happy. Ended the Florida streak, have a good shot at winning the east. You can't dwell on Bama too much. With injuries and the fact that we had just played a stretch of great teams it was bound to catch up to us. Remember in 2007 we got mopped by Florida and darn near won the SEC. If we are healthy and meet Bama again in Atlanta if we don't win it will be a close game.

 

[savannahfan]

I'm not sure why we are blaming Debord for the loss. Coming into the Bama game the offense was averaging 37 pts per game in the 3 SEC games, and 2 of those defenses, UF and TAMU, are solid defenses.

As far as the Bama game, it's kind of hard to scheme against the best front 7 in CFB with 3 starting OLinemen out of the game.

Dobbs had about 1-1.5 seconds to get his throws away, which meant Bama could crowd the box and play man-to-man because they knew we didn't have time to let pass routes develop.

But hey, if we are throwing Debord under the bus we might as well throw Shoops under the bus too for not being able to stop Bama's offense. No matter that he had 5 starters out.

"Bama could crowd the box" There were times I counted 9 guys within 4-5 yds of the line of scrim.

 

[savannahfan]

We are 5-2, with losses against #1 & #6. And that is with a nightmarish amount of injuries.

Last season we were 3-4 after week 7.

So what if we no longer control our own destiny? So far, besides our head-to-head game we have played UGA, #6TAMU, and #1 Bama. UF has played Mizzou, Vandy, and UK. They still have to play #17 Ark and #25 LSU, both on the road in a stretch that includes UGA, @Ark, SC, @LSU. If they go 7-1 then I suppose they deserve the East.

Laugh at me if you must. But we need to stop worrying about UF and pay attn. to the teams we must play. The one that worries me the most right now is a Vandy team that is getting better every game. Coaching staff is teaching that team more every week (not like us?) and their defense can stop the run we seem to enjoy(two yds up the middle). May be a tough team to beat by season end.

 

[kohlrums]

7. In Butch's 4th year we have won UF, UGA, and VT, but it was down to the wire and UF and UGA are both not very good. We won, but they aren't good, but we won, but they aren't good....but we won.



GBO

The FL game was not down to the wire. I don't know if pundit BS has seeped into people's brains or something, but I don't understand the sentiment that that game was close. Yeah-they came back. But them came back by scoring 38 straight points. They absolutely embarrassed FL in the second half.

 

[Crazy Ivan]

Laugh at me if you must. But we need to stop worrying about UF and pay attn. to the teams we must play.

I'm not worried about UF. I thought my post suggested as much.

The one that worries me the most right now is a Vandy team that is getting better every game. Coaching staff is teaching that team more every week (not like us?) and their defense can stop the run we seem to enjoy(two yds up the middle). May be a tough team to beat by season end.

So you are suggesting that our staff is not teaching the team? No offense, but it is hard to take that statement seriously. And everyone said Vandy would be a tough out for us last season because of their defense. And then we hung 53 on them.