Once again---I observe that the Memphis State coach in 1996 had an infinitely greater task in preparing and coaching his dismal 4-7 team to beat the 1996 Vols--
who were ranked #6 and in the middle of the best 5 year winning run (54-8) at UT since General Neyland walked the sidelines in his prime.
To think that Elliot's leading of GSU in the first game of the season to beat the WORST TENNESSEE team to play on Shields-Watkins field in over 70 years was worse than UT's '96 loss to Memphis State
is like saying that climbing to the top of Clingman's dome is a harder task than sir Edmund Hillary's summit of Mount Everest.
I just don't understand why you guys cannot understand that Memphis State beating a Tennessee team that put up a record of 54-8 with a NC over 5 years.
Those Tennessee teams lost 8 games to only 4 teams....Florida x4, Arky x1, Nebraska x2, and Memphis State--that was simply a herculean feat by Memphis State--
and the absolute worst coaching performance in the 90s by a UT coaching staff in their prime--Absolutely inexcusable.
Now--YOU want to tell me that a Georgia State team beating a Tennessee team that has a 28-26 record over the last 5 years is a worse loss?????
And you say that this is unquestionable reality???? Taurus Fecundum..
Were you predicting this team to be the worst in Tennessee history? Was Pruitt predicting his squad to be the worst in Tennessee history. Were those who go to the practices and report on Tennessee observing this year's version of Tennessee football to be the worst?
No. You were probably right up there with the rest of the Pruitt fluffers calling an 8 or 9 win season.
Getting dominated by a team picked to finish dead last in the Sun Belt is far worse than losing to a Memphis team on fluke plays. Simple as that.
Were that Memphis defeat indicative of Tennessee's season, then I would agree with you that it would represent a worse loss than Pruitt's destruction at the hands of Georgia State.
But it was an anomaly not indicative of the quality of the coaching or the preparedness of the players over the course of the season.
The loss to Georgia State is an indicator of how well this team has been prepared and led this season. The roots of the blowout loss to Florida, which Mullen essentially treated like a controlled scrimmage beginning in the second quarter, can be traced to a poor off-season and the miserable beginning of the year that it produced.
Here are Georgia State's results for 2019:
Tennessee: 38-30
Furman: 48-42
WMU: 10-57
TX State: 34-37
There is no excuse or reasoning to show up for your first game of the season against a team that is barely above Kennesaw State-level and not be prepared to play.
When you lose like that to lesser-talent, you have been out-coached in every way, shape, and form. Our team, projected to go to a bowl, was blown out of our stadium by a team that will finish in the bottom level of the worst conference in the FBS.
That is a damning indictment of this head coach and his ability to lead players in a second season of rebuilding where improvement should be demonstrated. No strawman argument based on any fluke defeat Tennessee has suffered is going to change that.
Next thing you know, you'll use the loss to Mississippi State in 1950 as an excuse to condemn Neyland in an sad attempt to shield Pruitt from his ineptitude.
Before you use that in defense of this pathetic excuse for a coach, you may just want to check out how Tennessee did the rest of that season.
