I call this progress!

#1
Nocleats

Nocleats

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#1
3 years ago, when approaching a quality opponent, at team speed and Tenns roster, one would be very hard pressed to see any hope at all in Vols surviving. 2 years ago when Tenn went to Oregon, I truly didn't see one player on Tenns roster that would even start for Oregon. The same could have been said against Alabama, LSU. or UGA,,, Doubtful that on paper VOLS matched up at an advantage against any SEC team.
Fast forward 2 seasons and 1 game and now, not only are the Vols listed as a pickem against OU, and some fans are picking Vols as SEC east winners!! Some claim a loss to OU is grounds for chaos..
Win or lose Saturday, look at how far Tenn has raised itself in 26 games folks!! It takes time but when measured in reality CBJ is pulling it off very quickly..
Yes other coach's have won quicker, season 1 or 2, but how many of them did it without any Srs or Jrs on their roster, and the very few that CBJ had, he seemed to get to play way above their ability..
Just look at where we were, then look where we are, then look where we are going to eventually get.
 
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#2
#2
I would love to see us win Saturday, but the reality is that if we play solid and just lose to a team that is a bit better than us life will keep going and we still have every chance in the world to have a great year. Let's face it, I don't think ANYONE expects us to go undefeated this year. I hope we play solid this Saturday and give 'em everything we've got. If we lose a close one, then we just lose a close one. If we win, even better! Win or lose I'm still more excited about this season than I have been in a long time!
 
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#4
#4
I would love to say we are back but we are a year away. With that being said, I love being relevant again!!
 
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#6
#6
I will be heartbroken if we lose on Sat, but only because I want us to be "back" so badly. I will not, however, forget how far we have come.

People on here need to see this type of thread and be reminded of it often. Let's do our best to enjoy the ride back to the top! GBO!
 
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#7
#7
tnprogrammer said:
I would love to see us win Saturday, but the reality is that if we play solid and just lose to a team that is a bit better than us life will keep going and we still have every chance in the world to have a great year. Let's face it, I don't think ANYONE expects us to go undefeated this year. I hope we play solid this Saturday and give 'em everything we've got. If we lose a close one, then we just lose a close one. If we win, even better! Win or lose I'm still more excited about this season than I have been in a long time!
Click to expand...

Paging Nationdom...
 
#8
#8
I am so excited for Saturday's game that I can't stop looking a threads and comparing stats. I am also afraid; I get this same excitement every year hoping for a sign of relevance. I have sat and watched my team bleed Orange on to many fields and walk away with their heads held down. Just once I want the excitement to turn into a win so we all can hold our heads up high and carry the excitement and confidence into the SEC schedule. Yea it's not a must win, but it sure feels like one. GO VOLS!!!!
 
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#9
#9
Pretty good post OP!

Some have said this is a must win game, but its not!
Important? Absolutely, but not a must win.

Now if we lose to FL, I may consider inflicting bodily harm upon myself! :banghead2:





JK, Don't call the internet police. :)



.
 
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#10
#10
Aesius said:
The clearest sign of progress is to actually win this game.
Click to expand...

This! It's a home game against the 19th ranked team. OU is good, but not "that" good. This is a winnable game. UT needs to start winning some of these.
 
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#11
#11
I remember posting before the Oregon game a couple of years ago that if you just looked at the average star rating (please, now is not the time to debate that worn out argument), UT's recruits and Oregon's recruits came out almost dead even. However, Oregon recruited to their system and they had some outstanding skill players (e.g., Mariotta & Black Mamba) that year.

If you look at our roster talent against Oklahoma, we have a similar overall roster (their Rivals rankings the last 5 years are: 2011-#14; 2012-#11; 2013-#15; 2014-#15; 2015-#14; UT's are: 2011-#13; 2012-#17; 2013-#21; 2014-#5; 2015-#5) but they have more upperclassmen with experience (lots of seniors and juniors on both sides of the ball). Yes, I know that we've lost a lot of players from those recruiting classes. OU does have a few Freshmen and Sophomores (including Redshirts) at key positions though.

I give them the edge in experience and coaching but I give us the slight edge with our skill players (esp. at QB) and with home field advantage. Btw, too bad we don't play them next year because they will be losing a lot of seniors while we will be loaded with upperclassmen.
 
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#12
#12
Agree that the Vols has taken long strides in a short amount of time. I believe Oklahoma is beatable, but in order to win, Tennessee needs to play an almost perfect game. Last weeks performance by the defense has been danced around the floor more than enough. Hopefully, those weaknesses are being addressed, and they will be dominate against the Sooners.

Home field advantage is going to be huge this week if the fans in attendance decide to redefine the term hostile environment. Loud enough to make going to Oregon's stadium seem like a Tuesday morning at the library. Statements coming out of Oklahoma leads me to believe they are just a bit overconfident. I feel the table is set for a victory.

I read somewhere that Oklahoma has never played in a venue this large. I was there when Notre Dame walked into Neyland for the first time in 1979. Every time they tried to take a snap, there was a wall of noise. So, let's get loud, Vols fans. I truly believe our time has come.
 
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#13
#13
The approach I've taken on the season. We are a very young team and young teams play very inconsistent. We have the talent to compete with anyone on our schedule. I truly believe we could get beat by Arkansas and then turn around and beat Bama.
 
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#14
#14
If our offense plays like they did against BG, and our defense steps up like I know they know how to play I don't see us losing this game, however, if we play a tough game and still lose I will not be disappointed.
 
#15
#15
volfanatic24 said:
If our offense plays like they did against BG, and our defense steps up like I know they know how to play I don't see us losing this game, however, if we play a tough game and still lose I will not be disappointed.
Click to expand...

Volfan, no offense to you but how did we as a fan base ever get to the point of not being disappointed with a loss, especially when we match up so well with these guys and have home field advantage?
 
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#16
#16
Did a little checking to see what type of crowds Oklahoma has played against. The largest crowd to see an Oklahoma game is in Jerry World in 2011 against utjr. Attendance 96,009. Last year's game at Oklahoma with Tennessee was their 6th largest home game attendance ever at 85,622. Their largest home game attendance was against ND at 86,031. Neyland's capacity is slightly larger than 17,000 more than Gaylor Family Oklahoma Memorial stadium. To be fair, Cowboy's Stadium holds in sound pretty good; I've been there many times.

However, it is probably also safe to say that no more than 50,000 of those 96,000 fans were Sooners because utjr travels pretty well, although there are lots of Sooner fans in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. One of my friends who is a utjr fan said that ND was complaining about how may 'horns made the trip to ND last week.

This week there will be upwards of 95,000 (?) of the 102,455 or more Volatile Vol fans that will generate a hostile environment directed at Oklahoma, assuming 7,500 travel from Oklahoma. That 7,500 number is a total guess on my part; someone may know how may tickets Oklahoma bought. So, sound could be a larger factor than they think.

Let's all make sure that the Oklahoma OL goes home deaf until the middle of next month. GBO!!
 
#18
#18
Nocleats said:
3 years ago, when approaching a quality opponent, at team speed and Tenns roster, one would be very hard pressed to see any hope at all in Vols surviving. 2 years ago when Tenn went to Oregon, I truly didn't see one player on Tenns roster that would even start for Oregon. The same could have been said against Alabama, LSU. or UGA,,, Doubtful that on paper VOLS matched up at an advantage against any SEC team.
Fast forward 2 seasons and 1 game and now, not only are the Vols listed as a pickem against OU, and some fans are picking Vols as SEC east winners!! Some claim a loss to OU is grounds for chaos..
Win or lose Saturday, look at how far Tenn has raised itself in 26 games folks!! It takes time but when measured in reality CBJ is pulling it off very quickly..
Yes other coach's have won quicker, season 1 or 2, but how many of them did it without any Srs or Jrs on their roster, and the very few that CBJ had, he seemed to get to play way above their ability..
Just look at where we were, then look where we are, then look where we are going to eventually get.
Click to expand...
i would say north would see playing time with all those teams IMO just sayin
 
#19
#19
It's true. Approaching this game last year I expecfed us to compete. If we played this game two years ago I wouldn't have given us a chance while this year I honestly expect us to win. If we lose the sun will still rise on Sunday and I'll still wear the Orange T on my ball cap but I expect us to win and I think the rest of the fan base does as well.

I'm a true realist but even I don't think I fully realized just how bad Dooley wrecked our program until last year sometime.
 
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#21
#21
It really is a huge and winnable game. Win this game, take care of business next week and head to Florida with a 3-0 record and possibly a top 15 ranking. Huge momentum to get that monkey off our back with UF.
 
#22
#22
Volbackhomefromtx said:
Did a little checking to see what type of crowds Oklahoma has played against. The largest crowd to see an Oklahoma game is in Jerry World in 2011 against utjr. Attendance 96,009. Last year's game at Oklahoma with Tennessee was their 6th largest home game attendance ever at 85,622. Their largest home game attendance was against ND at 86,031. Neyland's capacity is slightly larger than 17,000 more than Gaylor Family Oklahoma Memorial stadium. To be fair, Cowboy's Stadium holds in sound pretty good; I've been there many times.

However, it is probably also safe to say that no more than 50,000 of those 96,000 fans were Sooners because utjr travels pretty well, although there are lots of Sooner fans in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. One of my friends who is a utjr fan said that ND was complaining about how may 'horns made the trip to ND last week.

This week there will be upwards of 95,000 (?) of the 102,455 or more Volatile Vol fans that will generate a hostile environment directed at Oklahoma, assuming 7,500 travel from Oklahoma. That 7,500 number is a total guess on my part; someone may know how may tickets Oklahoma bought. So, sound could be a larger factor than they think.

Let's all make sure that the Oklahoma OL goes home deaf until the middle of next month. GBO!!
Click to expand...

Tx fans are not really known for being a raucous crowd either. But I'm not convinced that Neyland's crowd noise will make a huge difference in Saturday's game.
 
#24
#24
Aesius said:
The clearest sign of progress is to actually win this game.
Click to expand...

Yep, I like where we are and how the coaches have done, just got to make it happen. When is it time to show results?Sounds like it's becoming a trend that it's ok to lose on here. Even the Coachs don't say that. I like that we have patients(at times) on here, but we got to get over the hill. Not saying I or anyone expects a NC this year, and I know we still got more work to do. But the natural order of things is to recruit, get them in the system and build strength, then perform. Well the first two steps are there, let's get the last step going. All three are always in a constant state of progress, never idle.
 
#25
#25
Nocleats said:
3 years ago, when approaching a quality opponent, at team speed and Tenns roster, one would be very hard pressed to see any hope at all in Vols surviving. 2 years ago when Tenn went to Oregon, I truly didn't see one player on Tenns roster that would even start for Oregon. The same could have been said against Alabama, LSU. or UGA,,, Doubtful that on paper VOLS matched up at an advantage against any SEC team.
Fast forward 2 seasons and 1 game and now, not only are the Vols listed as a pickem against OU, and some fans are picking Vols as SEC east winners!! Some claim a loss to OU is grounds for chaos..
Win or lose Saturday, look at how far Tenn has raised itself in 26 games folks!! It takes time but when measured in reality CBJ is pulling it off very quickly..
Yes other coach's have won quicker, season 1 or 2, but how many of them did it without any Srs or Jrs on their roster, and the very few that CBJ had, he seemed to get to play way above their ability..
Just look at where we were, then look where we are, then look where we are going to eventually get.
Click to expand...

All the Pain, just to get here?
 
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