Lock of the Week: Tennessee

[Special Ed]

College football picks, bowl games: Michigan State vs. Pitt, Oklahoma vs. Oregon among best bets

Tennessee is as close to full strength as any team can be at this point of the season. Tiyon Evans has transferred to Louisville, and while the running back had a role in the offense, he isn't irreplaceable. I don't know how this Purdue defense gets enough stops without Karlaftis, nor do I know how the Purdue offense can keep up without Bell. Tennessee 34, Purdue 20 | Tennessee -5

 

[Capt Straight]

Honestly, I would prefer beating Purdue while they are at full strength. But, I remember the 1998 National Championship game where Fl State's Weinke was not able to play and Outzen was the quarterback. And I remember Peyton playing Nebraska with a bad knee. So, it does work both ways for teams playing in a bowl.

 

[wmcovol]

Honestly, I would prefer beating Purdue while they are at full strength. But, I remember the 1998 National Championship game where Fl State's Weinke was not able to play and Outzen was the quarterback. And I remember Peyton playing Nebraska with a bad knee. So, it does work both ways for teams playing in a bowl.

Outzen played a couple games before the NC game. He was good enough to beat Florida to end the season this the reason FSU was selected #2 over O$U.

 

[Sudden Impact]

Outzen played a couple games before the NC game. He was good enough to beat Florida to end the season this the reason FSU was selected #2 over O$U.

No the BCS Bowl was based on Computer Rankings and Formulas with little if any Human input or selection Criteria

 

[TOrange99]

Next year the pundits will say TN is coming into the season with a 3 game winning streak and a convincing bowl win.
Not TN is coming into the season with a 3 game winning streak and a bowl win over a depleted Purdue team.

 

[Johnnyreb#VFL]

Honestly, I would prefer beating Purdue while they are at full strength. But, I remember the 1998 National Championship game where Fl State's Weinke was not able to play and Outzen was the quarterback. And I remember Peyton playing Nebraska with a bad knee. So, it does work both ways for teams playing in a bowl.

Definitely works both ways. How many scholarship players does Purdue have on their roster compared to UT? How many players did they lose to the transfer portal during the off and regular seasons? I’m guessing overall they have much more depth than UT.

 

[SDV]

Honestly, I would prefer beating Purdue while they are at full strength. But, I remember the 1998 National Championship game where Fl State's Weinke was not able to play and Outzen was the quarterback. And I remember Peyton playing Nebraska with a bad knee. So, it does work both ways for teams playing in a bowl.

Yeah and we didn’t have Jamal Lewis either

 

[Orange_Crush]

Honestly, I would prefer beating Purdue while they are at full strength. But, I remember the 1998 National Championship game where Fl State's Weinke was not able to play and Outzen was the quarterback. And I remember Peyton playing Nebraska with a bad knee. So, it does work both ways for teams playing in a bowl.

It's pretty silly that there are enough easily wadded panties on VN that you should feel like you have to add that disclaimer. (Of course everyone here prefers to beat someone when they are at full strength.)

 

[FïreBall]

Definitely works both ways. How many scholarship players does Purdue have on their roster compared to UT? How many players did they lose to the transfer portal during the off and regular seasons? I’m guessing overall they have much more depth than UT.

And how many new coaches does Tn have that hasn't been with this team a year.. And UT isn't 100% either... I say just be happy and enjoy the game.. GoVols!

 

[VFL-82-JP]

No the BCS Bowl was based on Computer Rankings and Formulas with little if any Human input or selection Criteria

Actually, the BCS was entirely human-created and human-driven.

Three main components: the polls, the computer ratings, and strength of schedule.

-- Both polls (AP and Coaches) were determined entirely by human voters.
-- The computer component was driven by computer algorithms created by humans, like Jeff Sagarin, Jeff Anderson, and Chris Hester. Humans made all the decisions: they said to the computers, "take these updated numbers I give you, multiply them by that, and then add this, and tell me the result." They were simply programmed calculators. Had nothing to do with AI or deep learning. It was the humans making them who created the criteria and weighed the relative importance of this and that.
-- Finally, the strength of schedule component was the most pre-programmed bit of all, with the least human variability, but it was still set by a human-decided formula. Add up the win-loss record of each team's opponents as well as the opponents' opponents. Then rank order the results by the team who played teams with the best records.

But all of that is still human input, human-selected criteria. The difference between it and a committee like the current CFP was simply that the rules and criteria were set in advance with no allowance for judgment calls at the last minute.

 

[norrislakevol]

Question: If you bet on the game and Purdue cancels because of COVID, what happens?

 

[KillaRed54]

Question: If you bet on the game and Purdue cancels because of COVID, what happens?

Your bet will be voided.

 

[KillaRed54]

Fornelli knows his CFB gambling too. I like the UT 1st qtr points prop. I'll take over 7.5 all day at plus money.

 

[Sudden Impact]

Actually, the BCS was entirely human-created and human-driven.

Three main components: the polls, the computer ratings, and strength of schedule.

-- Both polls (AP and Coaches) were determined entirely by human voters.
-- The computer component was driven by computer algorithms created by humans, like Jeff Sagarin, Jeff Anderson, and Chris Hester. Humans made all the decisions: they said to the computers, "take these updated numbers I give you, multiply them by that, and then add this, and tell me the result. They were simply programmed calculators. Had nothing to do with AI or deep learning. It was the humans making them who created the criteria and weighed the relative importance of this and that.
-- Finally, the strength of schedule component was the most pre-programmed bit of all, with the least human variability, but it was still set by a human-decided formula. Add up the win-loss record of each team's opponents as well as the opponents' opponents. Then rank order the results by the team who played teams with the best records.

But all of that is still human input, human-selected criteria. The difference between it and a committee like the current CFP was simply that the rules and criteria were set in advance with no allowance for judgment calls at the last minute.

I hear what you are saying, I agree there was human input as far as the polls but when all was said and done it was the computer formula that selected the two teams. We should have been playing Ohio State in that BCS. Furthermore, UCLA loss to Miami and Texas A&M beat Kansas State the last week of the Season. Before these losses, it appeared Tennessee was outside looking in at a Kansas State & UCLA Championship because the computer said so...I see your point but the human factor was a small part of the process and was adjusted in the following years.

 

[VFL-82-JP]

I hear what you are saying, I agree there was human input as far as the polls but when all was said and done it was the computer formula that selected the two teams. We should have been playing Ohio State in that BCS. Furthermore, UCLA loss to Miami and Texas A&M beat Kansas State the last week of the Season. Before these losses, it appeared Tennessee was outside looking in at a Kansas State & UCLA Championship because the computer said so...I see your point but the human factor was a small part of the process and was adjusted in the following years.

It's funny how we can fool ourselves into removing humanity from something just by offsetting our decisions in time a bit.

Take flipping a coin. A human builds a coin with two sides that are different. A human then holds that coin. A human picks which side of the coin will count as a win. A human applies spin to the coin while throwing it into the air. A human catches the coin at a certain point of its return toward the ground. And a human reads the result by saying which side is up.

Every bit of that process is human-driven, human-decided, human-controlled. And yet, because the decisions are all made in advance, we are able to fool ourselves into believing in a third, non-existent being called "luck" (or "fate" or "chance" or what have you).

The computer component of the BCS is exactly the same sort of thing. Entirely human in design, construct, and operation, but because we decide the rules of the calculation in advance, we can fool ourselves into believing that something other than humans (in this case "computers") decide the result.

It's all just us, brother. It's been all us all along.

Now, if you want to talk about the emergence of something that is NOT all us, we can talk about machine learning and deep learning. Something is emerging in that field that is not entirely us.

But that had nothing to do with the BCS.

Go Vols!

 

[utvolpj]

I hear what you are saying, I agree there was human input as far as the polls but when all was said and done it was the computer formula that selected the two teams. We should have been playing Ohio State in that BCS. Furthermore, UCLA loss to Miami and Texas A&M beat Kansas State the last week of the Season. Before these losses, it appeared Tennessee was outside looking in at a Kansas State & UCLA Championship because the computer said so...I see your point but the human factor was a small part of the process and was adjusted in the following years.

UT was at the top of the bcs from the beginning of Nov. The argument was just about who we would play

 

[Sudden Impact]

It's funny how we can fool ourselves into removing humanity from something just by offsetting our decisions in time a bit.

Take flipping a coin. A human builds a coin with two sides that are different. A human then holds that coin. A human picks which side of the coin will count as a win. A human applies spin to the coin while throwing it into the air. A human catches the coin at a certain point of its return toward the ground. And a human reads the result by saying which side is up.

Every bit of that process was human-driven, human-decided, human-controlled. And yet, because the decisions were all made in advance, we are able to fool ourselves into believing in a third, non-existent being called "luck" (or "fate" or "chance" or what have you).

The computer component of the BCS is exactly the same sort of thing. Entirely human in design, construct, and operation, but because we decide the rules of the calculation in advance, we can fool ourselves into believing that something other than humans (in this case "computers") decided the result.

It's all just us, brother. It's been all us all along.

Now, if you want to talk about the emergence of something that is NOT all us, we can talk about machine learning and deep learning. Something is emerging in that field that is not entirely us.

But that had nothing to do with the BCS.

Go Vols!

Ok I agree, you got me. The computer will not compute without human input, information, direction and designed. The first year the humans weighted more on Computer calculations based on human input and direction, I get it... I agree to a degree. First Year was almost Garbage IN, Garbage Out. It was half right without a human stating that is not right. FSU vs OSU is a great example and a Miami vs KSU would have been a disaster for the BCS. There needed to be some human override to this but in the first year there was not.... Of course ESPN hated us so that was a factor....I sat next to an OSU Fan during the game and he was miserable and Cocky of course. (Former Player)

 

[Sudden Impact]

UT was at the top of the bcs from the beginning of Nov. The argument was just about who we would play

It may have been the Media that was saying different...but it was late November after Arkansas game....

 

[Hacksaw]

It's weird how people can totally mis-remember something to the point where they fabricate a totally different reality in their own mind. And I say this as someone who has been guilty of it myself.

 

[Brave Volunteer]

Honestly, I would prefer beating Purdue while they are at full strength. But, I remember the 1998 National Championship game where Fl State's Weinke was not able to play and Outzen was the quarterback. And I remember Peyton playing Nebraska with a bad knee. So, it does work both ways for teams playing in a bowl.

I don't really care about what strength Purdue is at. Attrition/injury is part of the game. We just need to beat them the way a team like ours SHOULD beat them when they are at such a disadvantage. Let's hang the speed limit on them and look impressive to recruits while doing it.

 

[VFL-82-JP]

It's weird how people can totally mis-remember something to the point where they fabricate a totally different reality in their own mind. And I say this as someone who has been guilty of it myself.

Yeah. I think we see this in VN.com all the time. It's why fake news is so dangerous.

I remember hearing what Sudden Impact heard. It was during the last couple of games of the regular season, in 1998, the Kentucky and Vandy games. The announcers for one or both of those games were talking about the BCS results, which were being released weekly. And they were speculating that it might be possible for either UCLA or Kansas State, OR BOTH, to pass Tennessee. They talked about how this computer formula seemed to favor this kind of thing, and that one favored that, and so on. Honestly, they had no more idea what they were talking about than you and me, but someone gave them a microphone and a TV audience.

If you're careful when you hear other people talk about things, you can separate opinion from fact, speculation from reality. You can assign probabilities to different things that you hear. "This is probably true," "no idea whether this is fact or not," "This is entirely made up and should be discarded."

But if you don't take care that way, you simply hear things and dump them into memory, it becomes REALLY hard months or years later to separate the factual from the errant.

A fella says on VN.com this week that Phillip Fulmer actually murdered Johnny Majors, but just didn't get caught. Most everyone knows he's full of it. Some, though, aren't guarding their thoughts. A year from now, they'll say, "yeah, I think I remember hearing about Phil murdering Johnny." Two years after that, they'll say, "I'm pretty sure Phil Fulmer murdered Johnny Majors." Ten years later, they'll swear it's true on a stack of bibles.

It's human nature. Some of us are better at guarding against it than others of us, but we all get trapped by it at one time or another.

 

[Jax_Vol]

Alontae will be missed. He kept them organized in the back.

 

[Hacksaw]

Yeah. I think we see this in VN.com all the time. It's why fake news is so dangerous.

I remember hearing what Sudden Impact heard. It was during the last couple of games of the regular season, in 1998, the Kentucky and Vandy games. The announcers for one or both of those games were talking about the BCS results, which were being released weekly. And they were speculating that it might be possible for either UCLA or Kansas State, OR BOTH, to pass Tennessee. They talked about how this computer formula seemed to favor this kind of thing, and that one favored that, and so on. Honestly, they had no more idea what they were talking about than you and me, but someone gave them a microphone and a TV audience.

If you're careful when you hear other people talk about things, you can separate opinion from fact, speculation from reality. You can assign probabilities to different things that you hear. "This is probably true," "no idea whether this is fact or not," "This is entirely made up and should be discarded."

But if you don't take care that way, you simply hear things and dump them into memory, it becomes REALLY hard months or years later to separate the factual from the errant.

A fella says on VN.com this week that Phillip Fulmer actually murdered Johnny Majors, but just didn't get caught. Most everyone knows he's full of it. Some, though, aren't guarding their thoughts. A year from now, they'll say, "yeah, I think I remember hearing about Phil murdering Johnny." Two years after that, they'll say, "I'm pretty sure Phil Fulmer murdered Johnny Majors." Ten years later, they'll swear it's true on a stack of bibles.

It's human nature. Some of us are better at guarding against it than others of us, but we all get trapped by it at one time or another.

Yeah, and I think it's a pretty normal human reaction to dig in when you are challenged about it, because you know you aren't intentionally mis-remembering. I have a terrible memory, so I have learned over the years to not rely on it too stubbornly.

 

[Special Ed]

Question: If you bet on the game and Purdue cancels because of COVID, what happens?

You get to sue Covid for all the money you lost.

 

[VolFanNC09]

Honestly, if Purdue plays this game I have a lot of respect for them. JimBo from T A&M opted out like 11 days in advance because he was scared to lose to Wake because of the transfers out.

Hoping they do and this is a good showcase for us to kick off next year. We got a ton of experience coming back….it’s time to start drinking the Kool-Aid. We should be top 4 in the SEC next year.