How Many Wins This Fall?

How many regular season WINS do you predict for UT this Fall? (excluding a potential bowl game)

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    545
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#176
#176
Jack Burton said:
Tell us more. What have you been hearing?
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nothing. Don't check in or hear from anyone. I've put them on hold until I see how administration is going to shake out and if they can make a difference in this program.. The rebuild goes much deeper than a new coach and AD..

From football specifically, too many questions need to be answered this year to expect much if any improvement. Need a lot of good things to happen to get to 6. IMO
 
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#177
#177
TNHopeful505 said:
I don't understand it guys. I'm as realistic as the next person, but facts:

1 game we will play this year is against Derek Dooley.
1 game we will play this year is against Will Muschamp, who is in no way, shape or form better than Pruitt.
1 game we will play this year is against a basketball school.
1 game we will play this year is against Vanderbilt.

Plus, we get Charlotte and UTEP and ETSU.

If you guys are seriously saying that you think our talent is so bad that we can't beat those 7 schools after subtracting the most inept head coach we've ever had, and adding one of the nation's brightest football minds as HC, then I really question your sanity.

We have talent. We have a 4* QB, Ty Chandler at RB who showed a lot of promise, Jennings and Callaway are proven WRs, the top JUCO TE is now with us, we have two 5* Offensive linemen lining up together. We have Shy Tuttle on the defensive line that has shown he can be great when healthy, as well as Kyle Phillips who was a 4* out of high school. Bituli is going to be ridiculous in this system...and I can keep going.

Just because Butch couldn't develop talent doesn't mean the talent isn't there. And yes, I believe we have had more talent than Missouri, Vandy, Kentucky, South Carolina, and even Florida for the past few years. We just needed to develop it and a coach who knew to run the ball on the 1 yard line. I believe we have that now.

Put me down for believing in 9-3, because not only do I think that we win the 7 above, but I believe we steal one from Florida and beat West Virginia, but we take Auburn to the wire, and we lose by less than two scores to UGA and Bama, who very likely will play for the CFP title again.

I do not expect this team to be a Butch team. This team is gonna be prepared, and they're gonna give people some fights. Get over the Battered Vol Syndrome and see what we DO have. The cupboard isn't bare. The talent is there. We hopefully have a coach now who knows how to use it.
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BOOM!
 
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#179
#179
jasonvol18 said:
I didn't dig that deep into it and definitely didn't go that far back. I'm betting it's happened more than just twice, those were just two off the top of my head. But I also said it wasn't that rare in college football. There's many more conference's than the SEC. But in '05 we went 5-6, then Cut came back the next year and we went 9-4 then 10-4 and won the East. Point is it isn't uncommon, especially with coaching changes. Especially as toxic as Butch was in the locker room last year. This staff would have won atleast 8 games last year with the same roster Butch had. When players quit on their HC, things can look way worse than they really are. Just a personal preference but I prefer to be optimistic but also realistic. 7-8 wins and a bowl are realistic expectations. 4-5 wins max is just crazy. That's saying a much, much better staff without players quitting on their HC, will only equal what the worst staff we've had in my lifetime and players who did quit on him did last year. There's no way to twist it to make that sound even remotely logical. If it happens, I will be the first to admit I was wrong. I've not seen anything from our roster or coaching staff, that has them repeating and not easily building on last year's results. Butch's staff and JP's Staff is as exact opposite as you will ever see. And it's not even remotely close.
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Ole Miss was 0-8 in 2007 and 3-9 overall. In 2009 , they won eight, regular season games. They also beat Florida in Gainsville that year.
 
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#182
#182
Whether we can get 3 wins in September somehow is gonna be the determining factor in how our season goes, IMO. Get a win against WVU or UF and I think we're a lock for a bowl and might even get to 7 or 8 wins if we have some things go our way.

If we go 2-3 in September, I think it's gonna be extra difficult to finish strong and make a bowl game. Some of the older guys might start looking forward to the next step in their careers instead of focusing on finishing strong against teams like Mizzou/UK/Vandy
 
#183
#183
TNHopeful505 said:
I don't understand it guys. I'm as realistic as the next person, but facts:

1 game we will play this year is against Derek Dooley.
1 game we will play this year is against Will Muschamp, who is in no way, shape or form better than Pruitt.
1 game we will play this year is against a basketball school.
1 game we will play this year is against Vanderbilt.

Plus, we get Charlotte and UTEP and ETSU.

If you guys are seriously saying that you think our talent is so bad that we can't beat those 7 schools after subtracting the most inept head coach we've ever had, and adding one of the nation's brightest football minds as HC, then I really question your sanity.

We have talent. We have a 4* QB, Ty Chandler at RB who showed a lot of promise, Jennings and Callaway are proven WRs, the top JUCO TE is now with us, we have two 5* Offensive linemen lining up together. We have Shy Tuttle on the defensive line that has shown he can be great when healthy, as well as Kyle Phillips who was a 4* out of high school. Bituli is going to be ridiculous in this system...and I can keep going.

Just because Butch couldn't develop talent doesn't mean the talent isn't there. And yes, I believe we have had more talent than Missouri, Vandy, Kentucky, South Carolina, and even Florida for the past few years. We just needed to develop it and a coach who knew to run the ball on the 1 yard line. I believe we have that now.

Put me down for believing in 9-3, because not only do I think that we win the 7 above, but I believe we steal one from Florida and beat West Virginia, but we take Auburn to the wire, and we lose by less than two scores to UGA and Bama, who very likely will play for the CFP title again.

I do not expect this team to be a Butch team. This team is gonna be prepared, and they're gonna give people some fights. Get over the Battered Vol Syndrome and see what we DO have. The cupboard isn't bare. The talent is there. We hopefully have a coach now who knows how to use it.
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Pruitt may be better than Muschamp, but we haven't won a game against him yet. Maybe things will change, maybe not. You speak as if it's a free win, which is strange coming from someone who just said they were "realistic". Doesn't appear you took reality into consideration at all with that one, seeing as reality is he's beaten us every time. Think you need to learn the difference between a fact and an opinion. Pruitt being a better coach is an opinion. A fact would be that Muschamp is 6-0 in his career against the Vols. Pruitt is unproven at the head coach position. So, not sure how you can compare the two.

Anyway, I'd love to be wrong...but I'm guessing we get maybe 6 wins.
 
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#184
#184
jasonvol18 said:
Doesn't Fla have the exact same issue but even less QB experience than us. Being at home should shift the advantage to us. Plus who knows who Fla could have suspended by then. We have no business losing to Mizzou at home with Dooley as their new OC and a team who didn't beat 1 team with a winning record last yr. W.Va, Fla and Mizzou are all winnable. None of those we had more than 7 wins and none are at the opponent's home field. Not saying we win all 3, but they definitely are very winnable games and each has their own set of question marks and issues. But saying we lose to Fla because of QB questions and new scheme's can't be used. They are very unproven at QB and have new schemes on both sides of the ball. Not to mention, the almost daily off the field Issues they are having. If we played in the Swamp then it's advantage Fla just like with Mizzou and W.Va. I definitely count Ala, Ga and Aub as losses and the 3 teams who have more talent than us based off recruiting rankings. Counting SC as a loss too because it's in SC and we haven't beaten Muschamp yet. That's a close, toss up game every year. 7-5 or 8-4 aren't unrealistic. We will see soon. Everyone's guess is as good as another.
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One year, when Dooley was our coach, Florida did not have a real q.b. So, they took this kid who came from Connecticut. He was a q.b. in high school but a running back at Florida. They had him as the starter as their q.b. in Neyland stadium. They threw less than 10 passes all game and he kept running the ball all over the place and they beat us.
There have been times when Florida has had multiple players suspended but we still don't beat them.
I know we lost to Missouri the first two seasons that they came to the S.E.C. and I think we lost to them the third year also. Missouri has a better than good q.b. and our db's are not world beaters yet.
Yes, WVU is a winnable game. Last year, Vandy, Kentucky, South Carolina and Florida were all winnable games but we lost all of those games.
In 2016, Vandy, South Carolina and A & M were winnable games, but we lost them. It doesn't matter if they are winnable games or not, we still have to play the game.
This is not going to be our year. Next year will be a great year though. Keep your expectations realistic for this season and you won't be frustrated during the season.
 
#188
#188
FLVOL_79 said:
6 is the ceiling. Expecting 5 or less mainly because while the team returns a bunch of players its returing a bunch of players from the worst team in 121 years of Tennessee football.
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Agreed. I’m going in expecting 3-9. I think the best we could hope for is 6-6. Jones may have dug a hole that is going to take Pruitt more than a season to fill.
 
#189
#189
I think given last year, six or seven wins are doable. The key, IMO, will be to have at least five wins BEFORE playing Kentucky and Vanderbilt. If there are only four wins by that point, I fear a repeat of last year, or the 2005, 2011, 2012, or 2013 season for comparison.
 
#190
#190
macrovol said:
If...
4-8 - Why did we fire Butch?
5-7 - We beat Kentucky and Vandy, so what?
6-6 - Give him a pass for first year.
7-5 - The floor based on the talent we have.
8-4 - Expected, minimum UT standard.
9-3 - We've got the right guy for certain.
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10-2 - SECCG
11-1 - Win the SECCG and it’s off to the CFBP
 
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#192
#192
gunner said:
10-2 - SECCG
11-1 - Win the SECCG and it’s off to the CFBP
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I could see the 11-1 scenario working out, but 10-2 means either WVU and/or another non conference team got the jump on us, or We lost to Florida and Bama.

Might be good enough to get back to the Citrus Bowl though at least, which considering now the last decade has been, would still be a dramatic improvement.
 
#193
#193
P
Behr said:
First, I think we win less games than how many threads have been started asking this question. :)

Second, injuries are no excuse for losses.

I think 8 is possible, but I think 6 is what we end up with.
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So, you're solidly sticking with 8. No, 6
 
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