Recruiting Football Talk VIII

Looking back to team talent composite from 2024 and here is how we looked against teams more and less talented than us. We were ranked 17th heading into the 2024 season. New rankings come in August for 2025.

https://247sports.com/season/2024-football/collegeteamtalentcomposite/

Chatanooga (who cares) = W
NCST 40th = W and did what we were supposed to.
Kent State (who cares) = W
Oklahoma 7th = W and against a more talented team on the road
Arkansas 26th = L and a bad one
Florida 12th = W and feels like a good one after the fact
Alabama 1st = Huge win against the most talented roster in college football. Doubt they stay there in 2025.
Kentucky 24th = W and a solid one against a talented roster.
MSST 34th = W but felt harder than it needed to be.
Georgia 2nd = L by 2 TD against one of the three teams that have clearly separated at the top of the talent index.
UTEP (who cares) = W
Vandy 50th = W but wasn't easy
Ohio State 3rd = L and wasn't close. This team honestly felt way more talented than both AL and GA but perhaps because they had tenure in the right positions.

We entered the season more talented than 8 opponents. I think this is a great way to establish expectations. In a typical season you win one you shouldn't, lose one you shouldn't, and hold serve on the rest. Neyland Stadium and Coaching led us to a +2 over talent composite.

In 2023 we lost to one team we were more talented than (Missou) and beat one team more talented than we were (TXAM). The rest held true.

In 2022 we beat Bama, Clemson, Florida, and LSU (all more talented). We lost to South Carolina (2 spots behind us). That was an absolutely Magical season.

Home field is an equalizer against more talented teams (especially if they don't have a great QB).
 
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It's an eerie place to see. I was last up there over a decade ago and I think there were 3 people left who still lived there.

The sinkholes are very real and more and more of the area is restricted.

I’m glad someone commented on this…I was wondering if anyone had actually been there..I couldn’t imagine that feeling…super wild
 
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Vitello on the Peebles ejection.

“The catcher celebrated the strikeout as he should," Vols coach Tony Vitello said. "We are in a regional. Cannon said something back to him. As he should not. Probably what he said to the catcher is something both dugouts said back and forth to each other the whole night long."
Update: Last night I saw a post on X from (apparently) Peebles' father saying that he had asked Cannon what he and the WF catcher had said.

What the WF catcher said in initiating the exchange was too nasty and vile to post publicly, Peeple's father said. The problem, he said, was unequal, one-way enforcement (combined with one-way impunity from the rule).

I agree with that. The X post has since been deleted.
 
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And the Braves teams Chipper played on lost in various levels of the playoffs over the years partly because they were a bunch of colorless robots who couldn't generate emotional energy when the moment called for it.
They were built around great regular season pitchers like Maddux…who lost something in the second season. Dawgs like Chipper and Smoltz couldn’t overcome it. Bobby Cox a little guilty of not adjusting also. The Mark Lemkes and David Justices could have been our Paul O’Neill or Scott Brosius…but their tenure was relatively short.
 
Going into this year we should only trail Ala and GA by a dramatic amount. I am curious how we stack against Oklahoma and FL this year. I think 9 wins should be expected based on talent and home field against Oklahoma. Of course, if QB play is horrific, we could slide a bit.
 
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Just saying it would be cool if they did something else on a hoodie. Legitimately don’t think I’ve seen a Smokey hoodie or at least a decent one.

Old school 90s shirts, hoodies, etc did the whole caricature theme. Imagine something like that for the basketball team, would be cool. (Picture below for reference)

Some love it, some hate it, but it’s different and I wish they would switch up more.

It’s just the same “Vols”, “Tennessee Vols”, “T”, “Go Vols”
Sounds like a business opportunity.
 

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