How do we fire our scheduler?

[ABINGDON VOL FAN]

No.

Name one quality win on Bama’s schedule. A 6-3 Texas A&M is it.

Bama didn’t have a single snap in the second half of LSU game where they had a chance to take the lead. The last minute TD was more LSU breakdown than Bama beating them.

Moreover, Bama at #5 is comical. The committee wants them in. Bama wins out and LSU beats GA, which is very likely, and Bama is now first in.

Ridiculous.

They are among the best 4 teams in the country as of today. They outscored LSU 28 to 13 in the 2nd half and the Tua fumble was a lucky break for LSU.

 

[johnboyhunter]

No.

Name one quality win on Bama’s schedule. A 6-3 Texas A&M is it.

Bama didn’t have a single snap in the second half of LSU game where they had a chance to take the lead. The last minute TD was more LSU breakdown than Bama beating them.

Moreover, Bama at #5 is comical. The committee wants them in. Bama wins out and LSU beats GA, which is very likely, and Bama is now first in.

Ridiculous.

Problem is Alabama hasn’t beat a ranked team this year. Now going down to the wire with the current #1 should count for something but the SOS is going to hurt them.

 

[ABINGDON VOL FAN]

Problem is Alabama hasn’t beat a ranked team this year. Now going down to the wire with the current #1 should count for something but the SOS is going to hurt them.

What ranked teams do they play the rest of the year?

 

[rjd970]

They are among the best 4 teams in the country as of today. They outscored LSU 28 to 13 in the 2nd half and the Tua fumble was a lucky break for LSU.

Quality wins should count more than quality losses. Bottom line, Bama, nor Clemson for that matter, have beaten a good team this year. The problem with Bama is all they have shown is they can beat up little guys and lose to the biggest. We have no idea how they do on the middle teams.

Objectively looking at this, Minnesota has more quality wins than Bama or Clemson as of today.

A good loss is still a loss and an ugly win is still a win.

 

[Ten_Titans]

We aren't competing for a title next year, and I don't think we are going to struggle to make a bowl game, so I don't think it really matters.

 

[ABINGDON VOL FAN]

Quality wins should count more than quality losses. Bottom line, Bama, nor Clemson for that matter, have beaten a good team this year. The problem with Bama is all they have shown is they can beat up little guys and lose to the biggest. We have no idea how they do on the middle teams.

Objectively looking at this, Minnesota has more quality wins than Bama or Clemson as of today.

A good loss is still a loss and an ugly win is still a win.

Actually I have to step back my comments earlier. Quality wins and SOS should be key to eligibility for the 4 team playoff. If the combination of wins and SOS is less than say a Baylor or Minnesota then Alabama should not get in because people perceive they are better because of talent and recent playoff history or title history.

 

[livefaith]

OP, zat chu in the middle?

 

[Glocker_Alum_2005]

How's about we play UCLA or Cal? We usually take AZ turn with ACC in Chick-fil-a kickoff game every so often. I think we ard dojng the battle of Bristol again , just not against VT this time.

 

[Glocker_Alum_2005]

No.

Name one quality win on Bama’s schedule. A 6-3 Texas A&M is it.

Bama didn’t have a single snap in the second half of LSU game where they had a chance to take the lead. The last minute TD was more LSU breakdown than Bama beating them.

Moreover, Bama at #5 is comical. The committee wants them in. Bama wins out and LSU beats GA, which is very likely, and Bama is now first in.

Ridiculous.

My thought as well. However, if Auburn loses badly to Ga, then Bama will have no quality wins. I say all that, but I believe Bama gets in...unless Baylor is undefeated (having beaten OU twice). They would be more deserving than Bama.

 

[volbound1700]

Yall do know these games have be scheduled for years lol. It's not like they schedule year by year . Only way Tenn will ever get back to the top is playing these games . And showing kids Tenn ain't scared to play in the big games .

Tennessee wasn't good when we scheduled this game. Why not play North Carolina or Virginia Tech? They are still a solid matchup but are more our level. Nebraska and UCLA are two other great options.

 

[volbound1700]

Like dumping water on a drowning person? Tennessee has enough of a challenge with in-conference teams. Getting blown out by 50+ by Oregon (Twice) did little to booster our recruiting efforts or team confidence. I agree 100% with the OP. Mid-major OOC competition should suffice.

I’ll take it a step further. We should dump the yearly AL game also. It benefits us little with the current state of our program. At some point we have to make our own history. Let’s replace AL with Ole Miss or Arkansas.

To be clear, I am not saying play Mid-Majors, I am saying play teams more our level and not National Title contenders. There are a ton of Power 5 teams that are not National Title contenders. North Carolina, Virginia Tech, Duke, UCLA, Cal, Arizona, Miami, Nebraska, and NC State all are great options. We should be scheduling them instead of Oklahoma. I say buy-out Oklahoma and schedule UNC again.

 

[volbound1700]

Alabama should absolutely be removed as UT's permanent cross division opponent. The entire permanent opponent thing needs to be scrapped. Not just for competitive reasons. With so many additional teams in the conference now, the permanent opponent concept magnifies the fact that teams can go a really long time and never play any particular cross division opponent. Get rid of it I say.

I want to do the opposite. I say scrap the division and only keep 4 permanent opponents. For us, it would be Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, and Vandy based on history.

 

[BanditVol]

Why are we playing Oklahoma next year? Why are we scheduling Oregon and Ohio State but dumping North Carolina?

Honestly!!! Alabama plays Duke and we play Oklahoma. It should be swapped.

We should play other struggling programs like us such as Nebraska, UCLA, Miami, Duke, Virginia Tech again, etc. I am tired of seeing us play teams that are going to drill us. Let Alabama, LSU, and Georgia schedule them.

I had misgivings about OU, but then I realized that their defense still sux arse and that Jalen will be gone next year. Of our four "tough" games, I like this one the best for an upset. We owe them for 2015 that's for sure.

 

[volbound1700]

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the O.P. hasn't responded once to our posts to his click bait.

It is called, I have a life. I am responding now.

People are misreading my post. I am going to respond to every argument in this post instead of piece meal like I was doing before:

1. We want to be in prime-time to get recruits: If we played another Power 5 team more our level like UNC, Va Tech, UCLA, Miami, Nebraska, etc, we would still be on ESPN prime-time (probably same channel, time, etc. as Oklahoma game). The difference is that we would have a far better chance of actually winning the game.

2. Oklahoma scheduled Tennessee to get an easy Power 5 win. They know that they are going to beat us prime-time. We are stupid enough to agree. Notice that Oklahoma isn't scheduling Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, Florida, or LSU. Oklahoma schedules teams that they can beat. We should take a similar strategy (at least play teams that are a toss-up for us). I partially blame Oklahoma too for not having the guts to play one of the SEC Playoff contenders like Alabama and instead trying to pick on a weaker SEC program that has struggled in recent history

3. Tennessee shouldn't back down from games: Again dumb strategy. Let's just keep making our all-time series against Oklahoma trash and embarrass the SEC OOC. We already did it the first two games this year. We were 1-1 against Oklahoma until the recent series. Now we are 1-3. Sounds like we will be 1-5 soon. THIS IS WHY THIS MATTERS. WE KEEP RUINING OUR GREAT HISTORY. We get these terrible records now against good programs. Look at the Alabama and Florida all-time series. Our recent history hasn't helped our all-time records against both teams.

4. OP would rather us play mid-majors: I NEVER SAID THAT. I agree that we need to play Power 5 teams but there are over 50 teams out there besides Oklahoma, Ohio State, and Oregon. WE SHOULD SCHEDULE POWER 5 TEAMS THAT ARE MORE OUR LEVEL AND THAT WE CAN COMPETE WITH. I WANT TO WATCH COMPETITIVE SERIES THAT WE CAN WIN. (In fact, there are 9 other teams in the Big12 that I would rather play than Oklahoma).

5. If we win, we gain confidence: That is a big IF. Meanwhile if we beat a decent North Carolina or Virginia Tech team like the Va Tech game in Bristol in 2016, does that not give us confidence, help with recruiting, and help with national respect? Notice we beat NC State, Cincinnati, Va Tech, and Georgia Tech in recent history. Those games helped our confidence. While the ugly Oregon series did NOT. It was just an embarrassment on the national stage. The game in Norman wasn't that great either.

 

[DoyleMcOrange]

Or maybe you can nut up and actually challenge yourself in the non-conference.

Why? We perennially play three top ten teams each year, at least.

We don't NEED to schedule an Oklahoma in order to 'nut up', as you put it.

Until the Oklahomas of the world start scheduling like us, I see no reason why we should make our schedule even harder. We have nothing to prove schedule-wise.

 

[Rickyvol77]

It is called, I have a life. I am responding now.

People are misreading my post. I am going to respond to every argument in this post instead of piece meal like I was doing before:

1. We want to be in prime-time to get recruits: If we played another Power 5 team more our level like UNC, Va Tech, UCLA, Miami, Nebraska, etc, we would still be on ESPN prime-time (probably same channel, time, etc. as Oklahoma game). The difference is that we would have a far better chance of actually winning the game.

2. Oklahoma scheduled Tennessee to get an easy Power 5 win. They know that they are going to beat us prime-time. We are stupid enough to agree. Notice that Oklahoma isn't scheduling Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, Florida, or LSU. Oklahoma schedules teams that they can beat. We should take a similar strategy (at least play teams that are a toss-up for us). I partially blame Oklahoma too for not having the guts to play one of the SEC Playoff contenders like Alabama and instead trying to pick on a weaker SEC program that has struggled in recent history

3. Tennessee shouldn't back down from games: Again dumb strategy. Let's just keep making our all-time series against Oklahoma trash and embarrass the SEC OOC. We already did it the first two games this year. We were 1-1 against Oklahoma until the recent series. Now we are 1-3. Sounds like we will be 1-5 soon. THIS IS WHY THIS MATTERS. WE KEEP RUINING OUR GREAT HISTORY. We get these terrible records now against good programs. Look at the Alabama and Florida all-time series. Our recent history hasn't helped our all-time records against both teams.

4. OP would rather us play mid-majors: I NEVER SAID THAT. I agree that we need to play Power 5 teams but there are over 50 teams out there besides Oklahoma, Ohio State, and Oregon. WE SHOULD SCHEDULE POWER 5 TEAMS THAT ARE MORE OUR LEVEL AND THAT WE CAN COMPETE WITH. I WANT TO WATCH COMPETITIVE SERIES THAT WE CAN WIN. (In fact, there are 9 other teams in the Big12 that I would rather play than Oklahoma).

5. If we win, we gain confidence: That is a big IF. Meanwhile if we beat a decent North Carolina or Virginia Tech team like the Va Tech game in Bristol in 2016, does that not give us confidence, help with recruiting, and help with national respect? Notice we beat NC State, Cincinnati, Va Tech, and Georgia Tech in recent history. Those games helped our confidence. While the ugly Oregon series did NOT. It was just an embarrassment on the national stage. The game in Norman wasn't that great either.

Tennessee should schedule 2 cupcakes, 1 decent midmajor and 1 P5 team. The problem is the weaker power 5 teams like Duke or Indiana or Arizona will require an away trip and UT would lose money playing in a 40k seat stadium in middle of nowhere

It’s just the way teams schedule now. Back in the 70s and 80s UT would have 4-5 “power” conference teams in OOC bc they didn’t play a lot of 1-AA teams but they still scheduled tough games.

The other issue is that the SEC schedule for UT has gotten harder than it used to. Now they always seem to play the 4-5 toughest SEC teams in a row which wears the team down especially while trying to rebuild

We will be fine with our scheduling. Don’t overschedule and don’t avoid the big boys. We will beat them again

 

[EZE]

Why are we playing Oklahoma next year? Why are we scheduling Oregon and Ohio State but dumping North Carolina?

Honestly!!! Alabama plays Duke and we play Oklahoma. It should be swapped.

We should play other struggling programs like us such as Nebraska, UCLA, Miami, Duke, Virginia Tech again, etc. I am tired of seeing us play teams that are going to drill us. Let Alabama, LSU, and Georgia schedule them.

Can’t complain about the schedule this year. Nine very mediocre opponents.

 

[volbound1700]

Watching UGA-Auburn game on mute while listening to Tennessee basketball against # 20 Washington. If we can hold on, this will be a HUGE early win.

 

[99Vol]

I'm actually excited to play UGA, Bama, and Oklahoma next year.
UGA minus Fromm
Bama minus Tua (not sure if he comes back after serious injury, but if he does that injury may knock him out for a year)
Oklahoma has no defense, is getting housed by Baylor, and loses Hurts next year....

 

[I40flyer]

I'm actually excited to play UGA, Bama, and Oklahoma next year.
UGA minus Fromm
Bama minus Tua (not sure if he comes back after serious injury, but if he does that injury may knock him out for a year)
Oklahoma has no defense, is getting housed by Baylor, and loses Hurts next year....

I don't know, it would be nice to beat any one or all of these teams; however, what if we don't? We'd be better off playing as many cupcake games as we can get, Furman, then on to Northeast-Southwest Coal Mining College, stay away from the BYU's and GaS "cupcakes teams", they are trouble. With enough cupcakes we can boast about our winning average/games won/bowls going to etc. and avoid those conversation that start out with, "When do you think Tennessee will be a power in the SEC again..."
Every year for over a Decade, we hear, "Just wait until next season...", so much so, that we are starting it earlier and earlier each year. I wouldn't be surprised to see a thread, "2021-2022 season, what Big changes do you see coming..." Before Christmas-this year!

 

[TNnative]

I used to disagree with this but now I agree. There is zero benefit to scheduling tough OOC competition. Ohio State was the number one team in the playoff rankings coming into this week while having played Noone to this point. We have Georgia and Bama on our schedule, no need to make it more difficult.

Whatever, man. I know this; If they play Oklahoma, I will watch. I might even show up. If they play a cupcake, I got better things to do. When Dooley announced a few years back they were dropping North Carolina, and scheduling Buffalo because they were "up and coming" I ask now; Where are they?

When they play weak teams, the stands are less full. As they should be until they change that. You want to go see games like that? Have at it.

 

[Orangeslice13]

Whatever, man. I know this; If they play Oklahoma, I will watch. I might even show up. If they play a cupcake, I got better things to do. When Dooley announced a few years back they were dropping North Carolina, and scheduling Buffalo because they were "up and coming" I ask now; Where are they?

When they play weak teams, the stands are less full. As they should be until they change that. You want to go see games like that? Have at it.

I’d love to see the conference championship games be the first round of the playoffs. Then we’d see more of these games from everyone and less of the UTEPs

 

[GoVols#18]

We can't be whiny babies. You get better by playing good teams. You can't improve by playing cupcakes.

 

[butchna]

It is called, I have a life. I am responding now.

People are misreading my post. I am going to respond to every argument in this post instead of piece meal like I was doing before:

1. We want to be in prime-time to get recruits: If we played another Power 5 team more our level like UNC, Va Tech, UCLA, Miami, Nebraska, etc, we would still be on ESPN prime-time (probably same channel, time, etc. as Oklahoma game). The difference is that we would have a far better chance of actually winning the game.

2. Oklahoma scheduled Tennessee to get an easy Power 5 win. They know that they are going to beat us prime-time. We are stupid enough to agree. Notice that Oklahoma isn't scheduling Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, Florida, or LSU. Oklahoma schedules teams that they can beat. We should take a similar strategy (at least play teams that are a toss-up for us). I partially blame Oklahoma too for not having the guts to play one of the SEC Playoff contenders like Alabama and instead trying to pick on a weaker SEC program that has struggled in recent history

3. Tennessee shouldn't back down from games: Again dumb strategy. Let's just keep making our all-time series against Oklahoma trash and embarrass the SEC OOC. We already did it the first two games this year. We were 1-1 against Oklahoma until the recent series. Now we are 1-3. Sounds like we will be 1-5 soon. THIS IS WHY THIS MATTERS. WE KEEP RUINING OUR GREAT HISTORY. We get these terrible records now against good programs. Look at the Alabama and Florida all-time series. Our recent history hasn't helped our all-time records against both teams.

4. OP would rather us play mid-majors: I NEVER SAID THAT. I agree that we need to play Power 5 teams but there are over 50 teams out there besides Oklahoma, Ohio State, and Oregon. WE SHOULD SCHEDULE POWER 5 TEAMS THAT ARE MORE OUR LEVEL AND THAT WE CAN COMPETE WITH. I WANT TO WATCH COMPETITIVE SERIES THAT WE CAN WIN. (In fact, there are 9 other teams in the Big12 that I would rather play than Oklahoma).

5. If we win, we gain confidence: That is a big IF. Meanwhile if we beat a decent North Carolina or Virginia Tech team like the Va Tech game in Bristol in 2016, does that not give us confidence, help with recruiting, and help with national respect? Notice we beat NC State, Cincinnati, Va Tech, and Georgia Tech in recent history. Those games helped our confidence. While the ugly Oregon series did NOT. It was just an embarrassment on the national stage. The game in Norman wasn't that great either.

Already scheduled...we’re playing it.

 

[ksgovols]

I want to do the opposite. I say scrap the division and only keep 4 permanent opponents. For us, it would be Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, and Vandy based on history.

Based on history, it would be Alabama, Kentucky, Vandy, Auburn and Ole Miss. If you really are basing it on history, we rarely played Florida or Georgia until 1992.

Also based on history, the Vols have played a tough non conference schedule that included Notre Dame, UCLA, USC, Pitt, Cal, etc. These games are scheduled years in advance and neither team knows what the strength of the other will be at the time they are scheduled. Win or lose they help recruiting. Better than directional schools and paying for wins (maybe) against lower tiered schools.