How are we still so delusional?

#76
#76
The last time we were in the SEC championship game was 16 years ago, 16 years!!! We need to be consistently winning first and we have done that.
 
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#80
#80
TitanUpOnRockyTop said:
Heupel started Milton over Hooker.

Says all you need to know.
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Yep, all I needed to know was: ranked number 1 since ever, beat bama, beat lsu on road in a blowout, was in talks for playoffs since ever in year two, turned hyatt into an elite wr when he had been blah, has tn fans in year 3 expecting nattys when 4 years ago we couldn't beat ky or Vanderbilt. All I needed to know.
 
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#81
#81
BigOrangeTrain said:
Did you honestly see us losing to UF and getting absolutely dismantled by Missouri this year? Did you see that coming? I know I didn’t. I thought 9-3 was a safe bet. After yesterday’s game, 8-4 is the best we can do. Gap year or not, that’s a disappointing season. Remember, zheupel git a big raise. With bigger money come higher expectations.
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I felt confident about beating FL but it’s FL so always ready for a loss. My guess for 3 losses would have been TAM, Bama, and UGA.

But MIZZ is way better than I thought they would be this year. The total beat down was the embarrassing part.
 
#82
#82
Volz4lif3 said:
I don’t see any fight with the team the lay down real easy, we’ve known this since Florida game.. they’re just soft and that what concerns me with CJH teams.
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It’s more about the players themselves that Heupel IMO. Last years team was very tough mentally, this year not so. We lost the mentally tough guys, the real leaders. Gotta hope the young guys develop that leadership.
 
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#85
#85
mayneland said:
I'm with the team win or lose! I don't put my heart into this anymore since I'm older. Looking forward to the Nico era, much as I had high hopes for Joe, he still plays with uncertainty & doubt in his confidence. Body language and penalties has been killing us. Hendon & the last group of receivers were just special. Not a knock on Joe and the current receiving Corp but I think QB composure and leadership is a must in this system. As for defense, I'm still trying to figure out why do our LB and secondary still plays out of position and have bad angles. Tennessee was always known to have great defenses but the past decade I've been disappointed for the most part. We've come a long ways with Heupel.
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Everyone always brings up the loss of Hendon & Hyatt… and please don’t get me wrong they were phenomenal and I would love to still be seeing them in Orange… just want to throw out that I think what our offense has really missed this year are 2 other players no longer here: Darnell Wright and Jerome Carvin. They were solid, consistent & reliable. Wright dominated everyone last year and Carvin was in that LG spot that has been seeing a lot of false starts this year… just wanted to throw that out for a slightly different perspective.
 
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#87
#87
OrangeTsar said:
True, Heupel didn’t fumble three times or throw a pick six. You know what else he didn’t do? Make any adjustments.
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Can't make chicken salad out of chicken s***. He's doing the best he can with the cards he was dealt.
 
#88
#88
After the Florida loss, I was adamant that we’d finish 11-1, but not because I’m delusional. It’s because I try to balance out negativity by being positive. I knew this was likely an 8 or 9 win team before the season started but if everyone doubts the team publicly in the name of being a “realist”, our players aren’t going to have as good of a collegiate experience as I want them to have. Let the kids have fun. Be positive.
 
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#89
#89
Jaxon_Vol2017 said:
Can't make chicken salad out of chicken s***. He's doing the best he can with the cards he was dealt.
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Might be true, especially considering the number of bodies he is currently down on defense. But there is a reason running backs basically never get 200 yards rushing and 100 yards passing in a game; it’s because the opposing coach eventually does something to slow that down, even if that means another player beats you. It was apparent by halftime that Schrader was killing us. At some point you have to stop that threat even if it means packing the box and letting the QB destroy you. The definition of insanity is continuing to do the same thing over and over while expecting a different result. In both the SC game last year and the Missouri game this weekend, I saw a lot of „insanity“ on that Banks led defense and that eventually has to be the responsibility of the HC. Once a game plan is dialed in, there is no deviation allowed even when it is clear that the plan is failing
 
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#90
#90
in the off-season it’s easy to start flirting with hope. We all want to win and a new season is a fresh slate. Anything is possible game one. It just hurts when it all comes crashing down but that’s part of being a sports fan. Hey at least we not aTm fans lol
 
#92
#92
What the heck is a gap year. I can't find a gap year for Saban or Kirby. I see a bunch of reloading years
 
#93
#93
Mtnvol80 said:
What the heck is a gap year. I can't find a gap year for Saban or Kirby. I see a bunch of reloading years
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Apples to oranges.

Because Josh Heupel was hired in late January of 2021, and most of Tennessee's best 2021 commitments had already moved on ... Tennessee didn't have a Class of 2021 to speak of. Tennessee also lost more talent to transfer that year, than what Heupel had time to bring in. It made for a sizable gap in-between two classes. It makes sense that 2023 would be the season that we started to feel the effects of that gap.

Finally, Tennessee does not have the recruiting base of either Alabama or Georgia. We will have some down years, even in the midst of a successful stretch. See 1994 and 2000. That's just how it is.
 
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#94
#94
OrangeTsar said:
Might be true, especially considering the number of bodies he is currently down on defense. But there is a reason running backs basically never get 200 yards rushing and 100 yards passing in a game; it’s because the opposing coach eventually does something to slow that down, even if that means another player beats you. It was apparent by halftime that Schrader was killing us. At some point you have to stop that threat even if it means packing the box and letting the QB destroy you. The definition of insanity is continuing to do the same thing over and over while expecting a different result. In both the SC game last year and the Missouri game this weekend, I saw a lot of „insanity“ on that Banks led defense and that eventually has to be the responsibility of the HC. Once a game plan is dialed in, there is no deviation allowed even when it is clear that the plan is failing
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I think insanity is how the fanbase is always focusing on yards and missing the big picture. If you look around college football, just last Saturday to make it simple. There were several games that had 400, 500, and even 700 yards of offense and guess what?
Those offenses scored 40 and 50+ points.
Mizzou had 500 yards of offense in the 4th quarter with only 22 points. Do what you can to limit the points. Keeping a good team at 22pts into the 4th quarter would in most cases, be enough to give your team an opportunity to win. That's the basic job of the defense and just like last year, where the defense was #22 in stop rate, we were #28 stop rate last week. The defense is doing well enough to give us a chance to win some games.

So regardless of what it "LOOKS" like, the defense is doing a solid job considering what were working with. I get that people like to "blame" the losses and everything that goes wrong with Tennessee Football on Banks and Martinez, but at some point, being rational and choosing facts over personal bias should be priority.

Also, keep in mind, when you have a young defense or offense or just ones that you don't have great confidence in, it's best to try to stick to the basics in hopes of them making a play. You stick to the things that they've practiced on, with lots of repetition and what you, as their coach, see that they've done well or are doing well. This the the one thing that I see, that this staff has done, which has allowed us to overachieve.

Coming from 15 years+ of mediocrity isn't going to change in 2 or 3 years. It's gonna be some trial and error and mistakes made. But if we're moving in the right direction, which we are, we should happy about that as a fanbase.
 
#95
#95
Frosty said:
How can this fan base still be so delusional to believe that we should be winning the SEC East this year? We all knew coming in that this would be a gap year, yet mid season because of how well Heupel has had this team playing, we expected to finish 10-2 in the toughest division in all of CFB, with a roster still dealing with fallout from the Pruitt era.

We are recruiting better than ever, have the top QB waiting in the wings, and still a damn good coach. Heupel didn’t fumble 3 times yesterday, he didn’t throw a pick 6. Injuries have decimated our thin defense, and even still we have had a top group that after a murderers row of opponents have just been thinned out.

I get it, we are all ready for success after these past 20 years, especially being so close to Georgia, Alabama, etc. but firing Heupel or blowing up the team because of a bad loss is asinine. This team is well on its way back to the top, but have some perspective and don’t let the year Heupel and Hooker carried us to last year fog that.
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The fact that so many chose to be delusional is as much a statement to how far CJH has taken the program in such a short time as anything else.

It's the fools who can't accept that it's been such a short time period and believe that anything less than 10-11 wins is a failure when the roster is yet to be turned over and take every loss personally that make me laugh.
 
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#96
#96
BowlBrother85 said:
Apples to oranges.

Because Josh Heupel was hired in late January of 2021, and most of Tennessee's best 2021 commitments had already moved on ... Tennessee didn't have a Class of 2021 to speak of. Tennessee also lost more talent to transfer that year, than what Heupel had time to bring in. It made for a sizable gap in-between two classes. It makes sense that 2023 would be the season that we started to feel the effects of that gap.

Finally, Tennessee does not have the recruiting base of either Alabama or Georgia. We will have some down years, even in the midst of a successful stretch. See 1994 and 2000. That's just how it is.
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Careful, logic and reason are not things that many on here are very familiar with.
 
#98
#98
What we have to understand , since 98 other than a few seasons this program has been average..... Am I okay with that no, but it is the facts.
 
#100
#100
BigOrangeTrain said:
Did you honestly see us losing to UF and getting absolutely dismantled by Missouri this year? Did you see that coming? I know I didn’t. I thought 9-3 was a safe bet. After yesterday’s game, 8-4 is the best we can do. Gap year or not, that’s a disappointing season. Remember, zheupel git a big raise. With bigger money come higher expectations.
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Man, you have a short term memory. 8-4 is not bad with this roster, better than 5-7, especially playing two teams every year that are consistently in the CFP.

Some of y'all think this team is loaded like Bama or Georgia, 3 deep with 5 stars. If I am disappointed with 8-4, it's because UT has sustained the level of success and talent that Bama and Georgia has. This program is trending up with CJH.
 
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