Most underachieving team

#53
#53
RDU VOL#14 said:
That team had zero good players on the outside. If anyone wants to know how good of a coach Cut is look at that teams WR group and try to figure out how Lucas Taylor was a 1,000 yard guy.
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What Cutcliffe managed to do in 2006 and 2007 was some serious smoke and mirrors. We didn't run it great and we didn't have a deep threat. It was a bunch of speed outs, quick slants, seams, comebacks etc. Ainge knew how to get the ball out quick and put in on a receiver.
 
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#54
#54
RDU VOL#14 said:
Quarterbacks. Ainge fell apart and Rick Clausen thought he should’ve been the guy. I guess in that case the old “when you have 2 qb’s you have zero” comes into play .
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Ainge was the first in a group of multiple QBs we've had that had all the physical talent in the world but not much between the ears. At least Ainge was rehabbed by Cut and Crompdaddy was rehabbed by Kiffin. Bray had a gigantic arm but was a complete moron. Poor JG had nobody to rehab him.

Tennessee's QB play since Casey Clausen has been bad to downright awful. The only consistent bright spot was Dobbs.
 
#55
#55
GAVol said:
What Cutcliffe managed to do in 2006 and 2007 was some serious smoke and mirrors. We didn't run it great and we didn't have a deep threat. It was a bunch of speed outs, quick slants, seams, comebacks etc. Ainge knew how to get the ball out quick and put in on a receiver.
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Cut was the biggest reason for Fulmer's success imo. Once Cut was out of the equation, you got a bunch of underachieving seasons
 
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#57
#57
If you look at the last 40-50 years, you would be hard pressed to find a program that has squandered as much talent and underperformed to the degree we have. I can’t even remember a game where we went in with less talent and rose up put them down. But I remember time after time when we were better talent-wise but played down to the level of our competition. That goes back to poor to mediocre coaching and the administration’s willingness to accept that standard at a time when we really could have gotten among the best coaches in the country. At this point, no top coach in the country is going to seriously consider us. So now the best we can do is to take a flyer on a coach who is trying to bull his way into the top tier and hope we get a diamond in the rough.
 
#58
#58
VOLfrombama said:
Cut was the biggest reason for Fulmer's success imo. Once Cut was out of the equation, you got a bunch of underachieving seasons
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Fulmer was exceptionally lucky to have had Cut and Chavis on staff already when he took over the job from Majors. Chavis never left, and even though Cut left twice he was on staff for a long time. Both times Cut left, Fulmer couldn't find a replacement that worked.
 
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#59
#59
Ashevillevol said:
If you look at the last 40-50 years, you would be hard pressed to find a program that has squandered as much talent and underperformed to the degree we have. I can’t even remember a game where we went in with less talent and rose up put them down. But I remember time after time when we were better talent-wise but played down to the level of our competition. That goes back to poor to mediocre coaching and the administration’s willingness to accept that standard at a time when we really could have gotten among the best coaches in the country. At this point, no top coach in the country is going to seriously consider us. So now the best we can do is to take a flyer on a coach who is trying to bull his way into the top tier and hope we get a diamond in the rough.
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IMO, Fulmer was always at his best in an underdog role. Fits his personality.

I have heard multiple players say before, including Swain on his radio show, say that they love Coach Fulmer but after a big win, the level of intensity in that next week's practice noticeably declined. Before the 1996 loss to Memphis, Fulmer and all the coaches that week always referred to Memphis as "Tiger High." Fulmer did not psychologically handle being a favorite well; I think he took that as an opportunity to take his foot off the gas and save the energy for some point later in the season when you think you might need it. However when Tennessee was an underdog, he did a great job at channeling that to his team and using it as motivation.

However, I do think that over the last 40-50 years the school that has squandered the most talent is probably Georgia, not Tennessee.
 
#60
#60
BigOrangeAl 1979 said:
When you think about it Tennesee should’ve won the 2001, 2004 and 2007 SEC title games
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1997, 1998, and 2001.

That was an undefeated Auburn team in 2004 that had already beaten us in the regular season and should have been in the BCS title game. The 2007 LSU team was more talented and won the national title that year.
 
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#61
#61
05_never_again said:
Fulmer was exceptionally lucky to have had Cut and Chavis on staff already when he took over the job from Majors. Chavis never left, and even though Cut left twice he was on staff for a long time. Both times Cut left, Fulmer couldn't find a replacement that worked.
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I think it is easy to look back and criticize but Phil could have done himself & UT a huge favor by hiring a much more qualified OC after Cut left the first time. I guess promoting Sanders was just too easy to pass by. UT could have hired a stud OC after winning the title.
 
#62
#62
PEPPERJAX said:
I think it is easy to look back and criticize but Phil could have done himself & UT a huge favor by hiring a much more qualified OC after Cut left the first time. I guess promoting Sanders was just too easy to pass by. UT could have hired a stud OC after winning the title.
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We could have, but that is never really how Phil thought.

Phil was a very old school coach, and in the late 90s/early 2000s the game was transitioning from an old school game where you had loyal assistants that stayed 20+ years into more of a business, mercenary-like game where a promotion of one of your buddies from within likely was not be the best option.

The sad part is that the guy he picked to replace Cut the second time, Clawson, actually is a good coach. He just wasn't able to effectively implement a new offense in a single season, and Phil was on the hot seat anyway, so he didn't get a second chance.
 
#63
#63
TeeMartinwins98 said:
'97 team should've won the national title but we had a QB who led with ego instead of heart. Tee's heart was what our team sorely needed in '98 and that's why we won then.
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We weren’t going to win the title that year. We lost to better teams in Florida & Nebraska. The best we could have hoped for was winning the SEC and we did despite Peyton’s EGO lol. BTW, Al Wilson’s heart and play were just as important as Tee’s in 98. We don’t beat UF without AL.
 
#64
#64
05_never_again said:
We could have, but that is never really how Phil thought.

Phil was a very old school coach, and in the late 90s/early 2000s the game was transitioning from an old school game where you had loyal assistants that stayed 20+ years into more of a business, mercenary-like game where a promotion of one of your buddies from within likely was not be the best option.

The sad part is that the guy he picked to replace Cut the second time, Clawson, actually is a good coach. He just wasn't able to effectively implement a new offense in a single season, and Phil was on the hot seat anyway, so he didn't get a second chance.
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The OL that Clawson had to work with sucked too.
 
#65
#65
BigOrangeAl 1979 said:
The 1999 team is the biggest one IMO going 9-3 with tons of talent returning from the previous year including Tee Martin back at QB. Defending champs and didn’t even win the East although they were only team to beat Bama in SEC play that year. Biggest wins were Bama, Georgia and Notre Dame but totally laid down in the Fiesta Bowl against Nebraska and got rolled 31-21.
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They were a very unlucky team. I was 4 then so obviously I don’t have live memories. But I’ve watched all the games pretty extensively with the exception of Kentucky and Vandy. We had both Arkansas and Florida out played but let em off the hook. We ran the ball all over Florida that year
 
#69
#69
05_never_again said:
Ainge was the first in a group of multiple QBs we've had that had all the physical talent in the world but not much between the ears. At least Ainge was rehabbed by Cut and Crompdaddy was rehabbed by Kiffin. Bray had a gigantic arm but was a complete moron. Poor JG had nobody to rehab him.

Tennessee's QB play since Casey Clausen has been bad to downright awful. The only consistent bright spot was Dobbs.
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If you think about it this way, we had good to great to very good QB play from around 1990 until about 2004-07. with a few minor hiccups along the way . Those hiccups being Peyton’s freshman season and Clausen’s freshman season of Joey Matthews/AJ Suggs first 4-5 games. Like you said we’ve had decent QB once in the past decade with Dobbs, but Bray’s lack of leadership takes him down more than it should’ve.
 
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#73
#73
TeeMartinwins98 said:
'97 team should've won the national title but we had a QB who led with ego instead of heart. Tee's heart was what our team sorely needed in '98 and that's why we won then.
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This is the Dumbest thing I’ve ever read on here. I love Tee but there’s no reason to disparage Peyton. I hope you never post here again
 
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