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

#26
#26
With only Vickers at DT and missing JRM and Sapp at LB, people would think they run on us...and they would be right...so Georgia and Florida both would have pounded the ball more and been successful. Appy State was a good team (not one that should have been close to use but they are good mid major) and I think their running game would have been much more successful as well. VT committed so many turnovers I'm not sure running for 300 plus yards would have saved them. So I'll say we lose 3 of the games we won...we would be sitting at 5-6 and playing vandy for bowl eligibility...

You just can't win without the big uglies and we lost 4 DTs...
 
#27
#27
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...

6-6 end of reg season.
 
#30
#30
10-2, maybe 11-1! Should've goto rid of Hurd before we did. how many drives have you seen where UT runs to hurd dives then tries to pass on 3rd down since he's been gone? None! The coaching staff held us back when he was here trying to pacify his ego. Good riddens. We're going to outscore Vandy on their home field in front of their own fans. (My bad, in front of our fans in their stadium!) HA
 
#31
#31
VFL-82-JP said:
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!
Click to expand...
I wholeheartedly think this is true, 2 losses max. And people would be singing quite a different tune about Shoop. I honestly feel sorry for him even more for Butch. Along with pretty much all the defensive position coaches and O-line coaching people do not really what a good job thy have actually done given the circumstances.

Once you get to a certain level of talent chemistry and continuity make a huge difference. chemistry is almost impossible to have without continuity. On both our defense and especially on the O-line continuity has been a thing we have not even been able to maintain for the span of a game.

I can't remember a single game where we started and ended with the same 5 guys. Honestly have we even had a single lineman play every game at the same position? There has been a constant shuffle on all units on defense throughout each game also. With the exception of DE every position of D has been hit hard and usually multiple guys per game.

We started the season worried about depth at DT. we had 5 legit guys for rotation. 3 of those 5 are out/gone iN a defense that is basically built for the Will LB to flow to the ball and make tons of tackles not only do you take out the guys that eat most of the blocks for that guy he is also out the whole year.. along with his main backup and the third string guy spends a good amount of time hurt also.

It has been a nightmare to say the least. Even fully healthy the east was not a gimme no matter what people say. Lets not forget we beat both Florida and Georgia this year. and before someone says they wren't very good teams we have lost for the last decade to teams they fielded that were worse. Kentucky and Vandy are fielding the best teams they have had in a long while also. People are saying the SEC East is down but in fact the truth is there is a lot more parity in the East than there has been in the past. the top teams are not as strong as they have been but overall its much tougher from top to bottom with no real easy outs. Missou might not have any defense whatsoever but their offense is a nightmare to face. UK and Vandy have crazy good rushing attacks.

For a team in our position injury wise this is the worst possible matchup for us at the end but I have no worries the Vol's pull this off. Kongbo seems to have had a light go off last week and I honestly think he can be the next Malik Jackson here. Imagine Our Dline next year... If they can get Kongbo to buy into playing both positions End and Tackle it can be amazing.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
#32
#32
VFL-82-JP said:
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!
Click to expand...

I think Hurd was gone before the season started. He had an entire summer of BS familial influence. I believe that his attitude and the team chemistry were a big part of the problem from 9/1.
 
#33
#33
LA vol7 said:
10-2, maybe 11-1! Should've goto rid of Hurd before we did. how many drives have you seen where UT runs to hurd dives then tries to pass on 3rd down since he's been gone? None! The coaching staff held us back when he was here trying to pacify his ego. Good riddens. We're going to outscore Vandy on their home field in front of their own fans. (My bad, in front of our fans in their stadium!) HA
Click to expand...

Oh dear Lord proofread!!!
 
#35
#35
VFL-82-JP said:
Really odd to wonder how we would've done without many of them from the beginning. Why?
Click to expand...

I had a Don Quixote moment and thought I might get a few people to adjust their expectations and give our guys due credit for all they've accomplished in this season from training room hell.

"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."

I read a lot of posters who still haven't accepted that this is not the team we started the season with. They continue to believe "injuries are no excuse." Then they defame the program by disparaging the coaches instead of accepting the hard reality.

It seems many have been unwilling to lower their expectations of this team from before the season started. Hey--I want to be surrounded by people who don't lower their standards. But expectations (what we demand from others) are not the same as standards (what we demand from ourselves).

If this team, with so many pieces missing, so many starters and second teamers on the sideline, can cobble together a victory over Vandy, they deserve to be praised, not snubbed. It angers me for their sake that an upset win over this Vandy squad would be dismissed by OUR fans with "Meh... it's just Vandy."
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
#36
#36
LA vol7 said:
10-2, maybe 11-1! Should've goto rid of Hurd before we did. how many drives have you seen where UT runs to hurd dives then tries to pass on 3rd down since he's been gone? None! The coaching staff held us back when he was here trying to pacify his ego. Good riddens. We're going to outscore Vandy on their home field in front of their own fans. (My bad, in front of our fans in their stadium!) HA
Click to expand...

The only person that "got rid" of Hurd was himself. Anyone who thinks otherwise doesn't understand how this "business" works.

Oh, and what the hell is a "riddens"?
 
#37
#37
App State - L
Va Tech - W
Ohio - Toss Up
Florida - Toss Up
UGA - L
A&M - L
Bama - L
SC - L
Tech - W
UK - W
Mizzou - W
Vandy - Toss Up

IMHO. If we had started the season with the roster we have today...this is what it would look like.
 
#38
#38
Before the season, I predicted us to go 11-1 with the only loss coming to Texas A&M. I predicted us to win the SEC East & play LSU in the SEC Championship game. We would win that game & be 12-1 & definitely get us into the top 4 for the playoffs but I said we would lose the first game of the playoff in a close one.

So, we would have finished 12-2 with a very solid season & ending up with a top 10 ranking. We actually had a good enough team to win it all but I just didn't think CBJ would take us all the way.
 
New posts
You must log in or register to reply here.
Advertisement



Back
Top