Importance of an OOC schedule

[VOL 4 Life 83]

Disclaimer: this is not in support of Pruitt, he still needs to go....however

IMHO, the lack of an out of conference schedule has really hurt this team this year, and honestly many other football teams. I’ll explain briefly.

4 extra games to get players experience.

Build momentum off of (most likely) wins.

Extra practices for the players.

More time for strength and conditioning.

More evaluation of the coaching staff.

Etc....

Covid aside, if we played an OOC schedule this year, we likely go 3-4 in those games (wins vs Charlotte, Furman, and Troy, loss to Oklahoma). That puts us at potentially 6 wins (after beating Vandy today)....with the chance of picking up an extra SEC win or two due to more experience and building off momentum. So possibly going 7-5 or 6-6.

This is NOT an excuse for the product we have seen on the field, but does offer an interesting take on the whole situation and begs the question that maybe there is more to it than just what the coaching staff has put together this year. Flame away...

 

[CAVPUT]

We'll never know, but under Pruitt and this staff, I've learned there are no sure wins/patsies to use as tune ups for league play. Georgia State will forever be attached to his name.

 

[tastycar]

Disclaimer: this is not in support of Pruitt, he still needs to go....however

IMHO, the lack of an out of conference schedule has really hurt this team this year, and honestly many other football teams. I’ll explain briefly.

4 extra games to get players experience.

Build momentum off of (most likely) wins.

Extra practices for the players.

More time for strength and conditioning.

More evaluation of the coaching staff.

Etc....

Covid aside, if we played an OOC schedule this year, we likely go 3-4 in those games (wins vs Charlotte, Furman, and Troy, loss to Oklahoma). That puts us at potentially 6 wins (after beating Vandy today)....with the chance of picking up an extra SEC win or two due to more experience and building off momentum. So possibly going 7-5 or 6-6.

This is NOT an excuse for the product we have seen on the field, but does offer an interesting take on the whole situation and begs the question that maybe there is more to it than just what the coaching staff has put together this year. Flame away...

Your premise that 'we likely go 3-4 in those games' would hold if we didn't have the staff we have.

 

[K-town Vol Fan]

Potentially getting 6 wins after beating Vandy is not good enough in year 3.

 

[VOL 4 Life 83]

Potentially getting 6 wins after beating Vandy is not good enough in year 3.

Agreed, but 6-6 or 7-5 looks better than 3-7

 

[BigSteve09]

Georgia State.

 

[wmcovol]

It doesn’t matter what icing you put on this season, getting boatraced at home by Ky, beat by Ark & Auburn that was just magnified this staff’s incompetenc

 

[vol1981]

You can put powdered sugar on manure, but guess what? You still have manure.

 

[Otis1105]

This was a judgement season. People would have excused this staff with 7-5 or 6-6. This season just showed how far the program has to go..may end up being a blessing long term.

 

[JBVolunteer]

Who really gets excited to see Tennessee squeak in 6 wins if they had to beat 3-4 sunbelt, mwac opponents to get there? If you can’t at least hold your own in conference play; you’re just not good enough. At this point, I’d rather keep the all conference schedule. At least we know where we really stand.

 

[BeardedVol]

OOC wins are meaningless unless it's a P5 school. This all SEC schedule has exposed Pruitt for what he is, a mediocre defensive coordinator, with no head coaching skills.

 

[VOL 4 Life 83]

Who really gets excited to see Tennessee squeak in 6 wins if they had to beat 3-4 sunbelt, mwac opponents to get there? If you can’t at least hold your own in conference play; you’re just not good enough. At this point, I’d rather keep the all conference schedule. At least we know where we really stand.

I get your point. All I’m postulating is that with 4 more games, maybe there can be some momentum to build off that might have effected the outcome

 

[lilesrt]

Disclaimer: this is not in support of Pruitt, he still needs to go....however

IMHO, the lack of an out of conference schedule has really hurt this team this year, and honestly many other football teams. I’ll explain briefly.

4 extra games to get players experience.

Build momentum off of (most likely) wins.

Extra practices for the players.

More time for strength and conditioning.

More evaluation of the coaching staff.

Etc....

Covid aside, if we played an OOC schedule this year, we likely go 3-4 in those games (wins vs Charlotte, Furman, and Troy, loss to Oklahoma). That puts us at potentially 6 wins (after beating Vandy today)....with the chance of picking up an extra SEC win or two due to more experience and building off momentum. So possibly going 7-5 or 6-6.

This is NOT an excuse for the product we have seen on the field, but does offer an interesting take on the whole situation and begs the question that maybe there is more to it than just what the coaching staff has put together this year. Flame away...

We’re ultimately judged based on our in-conference success/failure. Tennessee is known for scheduling ridiculously difficult OOC opponents to add to the gauntlet which is the SEC (Not to mention, ALABAMA EVERY SEASON). We lost big against Oregon both home & away. We lost to OK both home & away. We even lost to BYU at home. Also, UCLA during the Fulmer era. Tennessee has been bad on many fronts the past 20 years.

 

[GVol1966]

Agreed, but 6-6 or 7-5 looks better than 3-7

Looks better??? You are what you are. Who gives a damn about looking better.
We won 6-7 games in a row last year and it “looked “ good , but most of us knew we weren’t!

 

[landscapingvol]

Agreed, but 6-6 or 7-5 looks better than 3-7

We were scheduled to play at Oklahoma this year and Troy. Other teams would have been given the chance to improve like Missouri which would throttle us right now. There is zero chance we would have finished 7-5

 

[BeardedVol]

I get your point. All I’m postulating is that with 4 more games, maybe there can be some momentum to build off that might have effected the outcome

Our players are not dumb. They are fully aware of the reality that beating up on a completely overmatched ETSU means nothing in terms of the program.

 

[BigOrangeMojo]

Lane Kiffin, Drinkwitz, and Pittman all inherited much worse situations without an OOC schedule and they've had better years than us.

 

[Carl Pickens]

Georgia State.

Kentucky.... 2nd half of Arkansas

 

[BigOrangeMojo]

Take that back, the OOC is the issue.

Obviously
Overmatched
Coach

 

[VOL_Lyfe]

The all- SEC schedule has exposed the pretenders....some, like Bama, rose to the challenge. Some, clearly, did not.

 

[VOL 4 Life 83]

I’m not advocating that this coaching staff hasn’t done a poor job, just that the extra practice, live game reps, conditioning, etc. may have benefited the program more than an intermittent, stop and go season

 

[BeardedVol]

I’m not advocating that this coaching staff hasn’t done a poor job, just that the extra practice, live game reps, conditioning, etc. may have benefited the program more than an intermittent, stop and go season

Dude... We had more bye weeks than games in November. Extra practices with this staff, are not yielding results, because as a whole, they are bad at developing players.

 

[Doberman]

The importance of OOC games is akin to a cat taking a dump in a litter box, and scratching litter over the turd to cover the stink.

Patsy OOC games only pad the W column, and cover the stink.

 

[ATPVol]

Georgia State.

This times a Million.

 

[vol1981]

The all- SEC schedule has exposed the pretenders....some, like Bama, rose to the challenge. Some, clearly, did not.

Anybody remember that popular song from around 1960? 'The Great Pretender'
That should be Pruitt's theme song.