Predicted finish if today's roster had been August's roster

#1
BruisedOrange

BruisedOrange

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#1
If today's roster (incl. depth chart) had been what we started the season with, where would you have predicted us to finish in the East? *

It's just another way of taking a reality check of where we are, excuses or no excuses, preparing to face Vandy and anticipating a quality bowl opponent.

Realistically, if today's roster had starting the season, I would have felt pollyannaish to even hope for 2 wins out of these final 3 games agains Eastern cellar-mates.
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*I see from some responses my wording was ambiguous. I should have said, "If we were starting the season with today's roster and depth chart..."
 
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#4
#4
8-4 or 7-5. Run defense too weak to beat teams with winning records. Va Tech UF Georgia and Vandy games all toss ups. If team wins down the stretch with grab bag patchwork defense it is a huge tribute to coaches and squad. It is like some of the Pac 10 and Big 8 squads that can survive only if offense gets over 40. Hope Kamara is fully healthy on Saturday. Exciting to see how they will play against a tough defense on the road.
 
#5
#5
We beat SC without Hurd. And we don't dig as big of a hole against Georgia without Hurd. Honestly, Hurd just didn't fit the system very well. Coaches insisted on stuffing a square peg in a round hole. I think the offense does better in those first few games getting more touches for Kelly and Kamara. 10-2 sounds good to me.
 
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#6
#6
bruisedorange said:
if today's roster (incl. Depth chart) had been what we started the season with, where would you have predicted us to finish in the east?

It's just another way of taking a reality check of where we are, excuses or no excuses, preparing to face vandy and anticipating a quality bowl opponent.

Realistically, if today's roster had starting the season, i would have felt pollyannaish to even hope for 2 wins out of these final 3 games agains eastern cellar-mates.
Click to expand...

11-1
 
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#7
#7
knox73 said:
8-4 or 7-5. Run defense too weak to beat teams with winning records. Va Tech UF Georgia and Vandy games all toss ups. If team wins down the stretch with grab bag patchwork defense it is a huge tribute to coaches and squad. It is like some of the Pac 10 and Big 8 squads that can survive only if offense gets over 40. Hope Kamara is fully healthy on Saturday. Exciting to see how they will play against a tough defense on the road.
Click to expand...
How would our record be worse than what it currently is if we were healthy?
 
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#8
#8
If we'd had the August two-deep, all of it, available throughout the season?

We'd be 10-1 right now, looking to make it 11-1 with a win over Vandy in two days.

Absolutely no doubt there.

At full strength, the stresses wouldn't have been as great in the locker room, because the pressure wouldn't be so great on the quieter upperclassmen to lead, and wouldn't be on 2nd and 3rd stringers to make it all happen. Without that pressure, all those stresses, Hurd wouldn't have become such a distraction...and probably wouldn't have left the team.

We'd have had better on-field dlscipline, likely, and wouldn't have allowed A&M to take us to overtime through turnovers and dumb mistakes.

We would've handled USCe without a second thought.

We'd have kept Alabama far closer than we, in fact, did.

No doubt in my mind, we would've overachieved, had we stayed 100% healthy.

But that's just a hypothetical; we live with where we are, not where we'd like to be.

So let's beat Vandy Saturday, and hope for the Sugar.

Go Vols!
 
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#10
#10
We had a "full" roster early in the season and almost lost to Appy St. To be blunt, we had issues early and they weren't due to injuries. We can play the "what if" game until we're blue in the face. Bottom line is that we will never know what might have been. Fruitless to play the hypothetical game. We are what we are. No more, no less.
 
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#12
#12
volfannbama said:
How would our record be worse than what it currently is if we were healthy?
Click to expand...

Not the question he asked. In fact opposite. What would the record be if our current roster with the injuries had played all season. I.e. No games with Kirkland and JRM, etc.
 
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#15
#15
serveimage
 
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#16
#16
Hilarious listening to fans blame Hurd for any of this. Grown man making 4 million per year? No blame. lmfao :lolabove:
 
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#17
#17
Daddy Gee said:
Hilarious listening to fans blame Hurd for any of this. Grown man making 4 million per year? No blame. lmfao :lolabove:
Click to expand...

You may have noticed my response in which I said without Hurd we would have done better.....BECAUSE the coaches forced players into a system they didn't fit. So yeah, reading helps.
 
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#19
#19
Everybody who has picked us to win more than 3 games should lose all blue privileges, literally and figuratively until next season.

You have picked us to have a successful season with only 1 sec experienced defensive tackle.

We've played exactly 3 games with the defensive line your banking on so far.

The run defense we exhibit tomorrow will be what we presented to Florida.

This is why we can't have nice things.
 
#21
#21
BruisedOrange said:
If today's roster (incl. depth chart) had been what we started the season with, where would you have predicted us to finish in the East? *

It's just another way of taking a reality check of where we are, excuses or no excuses, preparing to face Vandy and anticipating a quality bowl opponent.

Realistically, if today's roster had starting the season, I would have felt pollyannaish to even hope for 2 wins out of these final 3 games agains Eastern cellar-mates.
----
*I see from some responses my wording was ambiguous. I should have said, "If we were starting the season with today's roster and depth chart..."
Click to expand...

I'm not certain your thought experiment is salvagable.

Looks like nobody got what you meant for the starting line ups roster, which I'm surprised by.

Nobody bothered with SEC standing either, gave you season record predictions.
 
#22
#22
11-1.

We win the Texas A&M game without all the defensive injuries. Probably win South Carolina, too. Of course, all teams have injuries, so the real question is "what would our record be if we had suffered average injuries?" Still could make a case for 11-1 though, given how close the A&M and SCe games were.

In that scenario, we go to the SEC Championship and probably lose a 2nd time to Alabama, finishing 11-2, but still likely in the Sugar Bowl.
 
#24
#24
BruisedOrange said:
*I see from some responses my wording was ambiguous. I should have said, "If we were starting the season with today's roster and depth chart..."
Click to expand...

I think it wasn't so much the somewhat vague wording of your original post as it was the unexpected angle you took.

It is a fairly reasonable hypothetical (as hypotheticals go) to wonder how we would've done with all our lads healthy. Because, really, that could've happened.

Really odd to wonder how we would've done without many of them from the beginning. Why? Because that was never going to happen, in any reasonable universe. Either all 30-something of our in-season injuries and departures would've had to all happen in fall camp (wut?) or we could never have recruited all those guys in the first place. See? Really odd alternate universe stuff, there.

So that unexpected line of thought sat on top of the somewhat vague wording. And we end up where we are in the thread today. :)
 
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#25
#25
How 'bout FULL August roster but BETTER in-game Coaching? Whatchyagot??!!
 
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