How good are we, really? (Long, sorry)

#27
#27
We are very, very good. I think our players have shown resiliency and great mental toughness that is apart of playing Tennessee football.
 
#29
#29
Our season's success rests on health and how well unproven potential is realized. The unproven part (and hangover from the end of last season) explains the media's backlash this year.

We could be in for a special ride...or a bumpy one.
 
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#30
#30
Sorry OP, I'll have to assign you to the knee clacking hand wringing crowd here on VN. I suspect week in and week out to get another knee clacking "we skeered" report. UGA has SEVERE OL issues and may end up starting 4 true freshman on their OL. UF lost 7 starters on their defense, the strength of their team the past two years one of which they beat us last minute and the other we won. I can easily go through the SEC East and see weaknesses including ours. But if our QB play simply avoids the big mistakes and our defense shows up at all, we can beat UF & UGA without hand wringing and knees clacking.
 
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#33
#33
I think coaches are playing up competition and starters will start to appear more evident this week, because 1's need the elevated reps. There is POTENTIAL all over the field, granted, a lot unproven, which should, in theory mature as season progresses. We don't have time to wait for development, but is also why I feel better about the LSU game and Georgia game than I do about the Florida game.
 
#34
#34
sjt18, I gave you a like for taking the time to respond to my original post. I do think you are right on a good bit of what you say. I hope you are right about some of the rest.
 
#35
#35
Remy said:
Sorry OP, I'll have to assign you to the knee clacking hand wringing crowd here on VN. I suspect week in and week out to get another knee clacking "we skeered" report. UGA has SEVERE OL issues and may end up starting 4 true freshman on their OL. UF lost 7 starters on their defense, the strength of their team the past two years one of which they beat us last minute and the other we won. I can easily go through the SEC East and see weaknesses including ours. But if our QB play simply avoids the big mistakes and our defense shows up at all, we can beat UF & UGA without hand wringing and knees clacking.
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Nice post.I ain't scared of no one.When your depth on the Ol and Dl is upper classman I'd say let's dance.We can win or lose any game we play.If healthy last year would have been really good.Butch has been stock piling NFL type of talent for the last 4 years we fixing to lay the smack down.
 
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#36
#36
Remy said:
Sorry OP, I'll have to assign you to the knee clacking hand wringing crowd here on VN. I suspect week in and week out to get another knee clacking "we skeered" report. UGA has SEVERE OL issues and may end up starting 4 true freshman on their OL.
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I had not heard that. I thought they returned at least a few guys?
 
#38
#38
BigSteve09 said:
The optimist in me says that we shut Vandy and SC up, shock LSU, and beat UF and/or UGA on the way to Atlanta. 10-2

We have the roster to shock a few "better" teams on our schedule, and we are in a winnable division.

The pessimist in me says that lingering injuries and woes from 2016 bleed into 2017. The wheels fall off through Bama (our fourth loss) and we drop another on the back end of our season. 7-5

Realistically, I really CAN see 9 reg season wins, but I still don't trust Butch as a game day coach, and I don't know how this team can improve on last year's 8 regular season wins. 9 wins total including a bowl win or loss seem like feasible expectations.

This post won't get me any VN Likes but if this team weren't Tennessee I probably wouldn't expect much.
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I was a solid 9-3 in 2015, was a definite "we should win the East this year" guy and thought we'd reasonably go 10-2 last year. But you never know, a lot of things can happen during the course of a season you don't see coming, one way or the other, some for the reasons you listed above.

Prudent thing to do is to expect and average team this year until we see games that instruct us one way or the other imho. Fan in me wants to say 10-2 with a return trip to Atlanta....grown up in me says believe it when you see it, especially given the last two seasons under Jones.

Btw, gave you a like.
 
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#40
#40
If we stay focused and smart and pull a good win against Tech, then we win at least two of the three of GA, FL, LSU... Unless the injury bug hits us again, I don't think we let one of Mizz Vandy KY SC sneak up on us this year... lord knows Butch has made a ton of mistakes over the years, but it seems like he at least learns from them and he finally has a better supporting staff to keep those mistakes from happening.
 
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#41
#41
lawgator1 said:
From an outsider perspective I do believe you have the talent to compete for the east. But I think it not unreasonable to want to see you win a couple of games you shouldn't, rather than lose a couple you shouldn't, before deciding that you are firmly back.

I'd say no offense. But reality is that those fans who disagree with me would never care. Those that do agree I think outnumber the others.
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Honestly we don't know what we have. From WR to LB, and RB to QB, we just don't know yet. Does Butch know? I hope he's going to bed at night thinking "We're going to surprise everybody!" Or is he thinking we're in trouble?
You know, App St was a good revelation last year, and honestly we got what we saw in that first game. Tech will be the same.
If we lose to Tech then we will.know. If we struggle with Tech then there are a lot of teams on our schedule we will struggle with.
As you can tell, I'm nervous as heck!
 
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#42
#42
Oh, and lawgator, don't think you're fooling anybody on here. You're not really a fla fan! No arrogance, no northern accent, you ain't fooling anyone!
 
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#43
#43
KBVol said:
I was a solid 9-3 in 2015, was a definite "we should win the East this year" guy and thought we'd reasonably go 10-2 last year. But you never know, a lot of things can happen during the course of a season you don't see coming, one way or the other, some for the reasons you listed above.

Prudent thing to do is to expect and average team this year until we see games that instruct us one way or the other imho. Fan in me wants to say 10-2 with a return trip to Atlanta....grown up in me says believe it when you see it, especially given the last two seasons under Jones.

Btw, gave you a like.
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Interesting way to phrase it.

But, whatever. The "grown up" in me is always present, but I post mostly as a "fan", it's more fun and enjoyable. There's a hand full around here that should think about posting as a "fan" more often. It's possible to do both.

Jmo, and I wasn't insinuating you are in that hand full.

How good are we? I like my "fan" gut feeling more than my "grown up" gut feeling. :ermm:
 
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#44
#44
Behr said:
Interesting way to phrase it.

But, whatever. The "grown up" in me is always present, but I post mostly as a "fan", it's more fun and enjoyable. There's a hand full around here that should think about posting as a "fan" more often. It's possible to do both.

Jmo, and I wasn't insinuating you are in that hand full.

How good are we? I like my "fan" gut feeling more than my "grown up" gut feeling. :ermm:
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KB and SJT both are both inching more toward the fan side in the same thread no less...I can sense it...go ahead and do it...the feeling will set you free:clapping:
 
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#45
#45
KBVol said:
I was a solid 9-3 in 2015, was a definite "we should win the East this year" guy and thought we'd reasonably go 10-2 last year. But you never know, a lot of things can happen during the course of a season you don't see coming, one way or the other, some for the reasons you listed above.

Prudent thing to do is to expect and average team this year until we see games that instruct us one way or the other imho. Fan in me wants to say 10-2 with a return trip to Atlanta....grown up in me says believe it when you see it, especially given the last two seasons under Jones.

Btw, gave you a like.
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Totally agree. I was a 9-3 guy in 15 and a 10-2 guy last year, too.
 
#46
#46
Any team can be as good as it desires to be,if it has received good coaching. I21 has an opportunity to establish it's own identity. What do you want to be.
 
#47
#47
Volteacher said:
I too am optimistic that we can go 10-2 ( losing to UF and BAMA). Also a realist and that seems out of the reach of Butch for some reason feel he is going to fire a couple of blanks and lose a close games to LSU or UGA.

BUT.... if we come out and play as a TEAM, with a huge chop on their shoulder we could maybe just maybe win the EAST???????
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It really troubles me that every time we lose, "Butch fired a blank" and on the other hand, when we win "we won in spite of Butch". I just wonder how much wins or losses have to do with the "players". An old saying comes to mind; "you can drive a horse to water, but you can't make him drink".
I give you this, sometimes a coach any coach (remember the field goal try by Bama from a mile out against Auburn?) will make mistakes that may come from info from staff that he must trust to feed him the best options. But as some are learning the "buck" stops with the Captain of the ship. So I guess anything done by the team of staff is all Butch's fault.
SO I GUESS EVERTHING IS BUTCH'S FAULT..
 
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#48
#48
ptcarter said:
Typical two week before the season jitters we all feel. :)

My take - I liked Debord - just because he was an old fella, like me. Seriously - he did pull out some pretty good plays from time to time, however Hurd up the middle on the first two downs got a little old. What was Hurd's longest run? 25 yards?

So - with 2 new backs, and a new qb - and maybe a little sturdier OL, I think the offence has the potential to really be good. Accuracy in the long ball will be refreshing (Dobbs did throw a hell of a hail mary though). Hopefully the playbook will be unpredictable.

Defense worries me more. If we stay healthy, good things could happen. The good thing about having so many injuries last year was that younger players got significant snaps. That can only be good.

Doug Mathews keeps crowing about Ignot. Can't wait to see that young man. I'm picturing next Al Wilson.

It's going to be a good year.
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DeBord: Most TD's in conference, maybe the best performance on offense ever by UT.

Do hope for better o-line, even though were part of the above mentioned offense.

Agree with status of defense.

What I'm saying is GOOD POST:clapping:
 
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#49
#49
savannahfan said:
It really troubles me that every time we lose, "Butch fired a blank" and on the other hand, when we win "we won in spite of Butch". I just wonder how much wins or losses have to do with the "players". An old saying comes to mind; "you can drive a horse to water, but you can't make him drink".
I give you this, sometimes a coach any coach (remember the field goal try by Bama from a mile out against Auburn?) will make mistakes that may come from info from staff that he must trust to feed him the best options. But as some are learning the "buck" stops with the Captain of the ship. So I guess anything done by the team of staff is all Butch's fault.
SO I GUESS EVERTHING IS BUTCH'S FAULT..
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I'm of the opinion that coaches don't get paid big bucks to coach football. They get paid big bucks to shoulder ultimate responsibility for the program.

So yeah. Ultimately, it is Butches fault.

But I also have a realistic attitude and understanding (to a point) of the difficulties of running a program like Tennessee. Watching game day coaching is the tip of the iceberg for a modern day HC. I think a lot of guys look back at the 70's and the 80's and see the great head coaches of that time, they were a General commanding the team forward. But nowadays, a coach is 80% politician and 10% daddy and 10% gameday coach. It is literally impossible in this day and age for one man to run a D-1 team. The job has grown beyond 1 man.

That's why you are seeing the rise of the "CEO coach". The General shape and form of the program and recruiting falls on him. Fund raising, milking boosters, showing his face on the tv shows, being an ambassador to the program. That's a coaches primary responsibility now. This isn't 1977 anymore.

That's why the "CEO coaches" usually have a lights out set of OC/DC coordinators. In a sense, THOSE jobs are more akin to the coaches of yesteryear. They are the "Generals". They advise the HC on big decisions, but you'll notice that most of them run their side of the ball almost autonomously. Making all the play calls. Recruiting players to their schemes. Etc. The HC just "signs the check" for the final decision, so to speak.
 
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#50
#50
Behr said:
Interesting way to phrase it.

But, whatever. The "grown up" in me is always present, but I post mostly as a "fan", it's more fun and enjoyable. There's a hand full around here that should think about posting as a "fan" more often. It's possible to do both.

Jmo, and I wasn't insinuating you are in that hand full.

How good are we? I like my "fan" gut feeling more than my "grown up" gut feeling. :ermm:
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The "grown up" in me and others that have followed our team for anywhere up to 60 years and post on here, have grown a lot of thick bark over the years. We have learned that to much optimism leads to to much heartache.
However, I think I can speak for most of us when I say we are FANS of the first order.
 
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