Rucker: Reality-check yourself after Vols' rough opener

#126
#126
VFL-82-JP said:
Then you overlooked a lot, too. But you're a reptile. Vision isn't your strong suit.

Here, I'll give you and _79 a challenge, to prove the point:

Go look through my post history of the past two weeks, ending just before game start time yesterday. I think I'm fairly typical among Vols fans, if anything a bit more optimistic than the average. So it's a fair representation for this purpose. See if my posts were insanely overboard, or balanced.

Fact is, these boards have been mixed all along, from the ultra-negative MWAs of the world, through the Eeyorish KBs, to the middle ground, to the somewhat optimistic (me included), to the Nationdom-level Pollyannas.

If all you're seeing is one extreme of that spectrum, you need better glasses.
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Look at how many predicted a Vols win in Freak's guess the score and weekly pick 'em threads. In Volador's regular season wins poll thread, about 26% predicted at least 8 wins and another approximately 37% predicted at least 7 wins. I don't mind people being irrationally exuberant in their fandom so long as they are nice about it.
 
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#130
#130
VolunteerHillbilly said:
Look at how many predicted a Vols win in Freak's guess the score and weekly pick 'em threads. In Volador's regular season wins poll thread, about 26% predicted at least 8 wins and another approximately 37% predicted at least 7 wins. I don't mind people being irrationally exuberant in their fandom so long as they are nice about it.
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Yeah, putting a score guess in the weekly pick'em thread is no indicator, though.

Me, for instance: I will never (EVER) put a score that doesn't have the Vols winning. Even the week we play Bama. Never have guessed against us, and never will.

That doesn't mean I think we're gonna win versus Bama. It only means I can't bring myself to write a loss down.

I figure that's part of human nature, and applies to more folks than just me.

The most common guess in Volador's poll was 7-5, and the second most common guess was 6-6. Together, those two positions accounted for about 66% (roughly two-thirds) of everyone who joined in.

How Many Wins This Fall?

That helps prove the point I and some others have been making here. It wasn't all irrational "9-3 or bust" and "Atlanta here we come" on these boards in the run-up to yesterday. It was mostly a pretty balanced crowd.

Thanks for reminding me of that poll. It helps a lot.


p.s. one nit to pick from your post: the 8-win crowd was about 20%, not 26%. The 6-6 crowd was significantly more.
 
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#131
#131
Somebody earlier in thread made a good point, that when the QB has zero pressure, he will find a WR. Tough position for young DB's and the ones that Butch tried to ruin.
 
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#133
#133
McDad said:
Good thing Kirby and Nick are coaching UT then.
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Saban was a successful HC so he was given more grace that first year. But explain how Kirby is any different from Pruitt. I was the most critical of Butch/Dooley because they lacked any kind of success at a major program either as a Cordinator or HC. This staff has been a part of winning programs and winning creates a mentality. I don’t know if Pruitt will win here, but he has been set up for success. Just my 2 cents.
 
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#134
#134
By any metric, Pruitt has more talent than any of our other first year coaches of the last decade. I guess you can ignore recruiting rankings, athletic ability,etc and just say they suck. Do that for three years, underperform, and then fire the coach. Can't wait to watch that movie again.

"Butch can't develop talent. We have talent."

One game later

"All the players suck."

Yeah. OK. Guess I'll just try to forget the year Lane Kiffin went out and had a damn good year with a half as talented roster.

The one positive now, is at least Pruitt isn't peddling the same tired excuses, it is just the media doing it for him.
 
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#135
#135
VFL-82-JP said:
Yeah, putting a score guess in the weekly pick'em thread is no indicator, though.

Me, for instance: I will never (EVER) put a score that doesn't have the Vols winning. Even the week we play Bama. Never have guessed against us, and never will.

That doesn't mean I think we're gonna win versus Bama. It only means I can't bring myself to write a loss down.

I figure that's part of human nature, and applies to more folks than just me.

The most common guess in Volador's poll was 7-5, and the second most common guess was 6-6. Together, those two positions accounted for about 66% (roughly two-thirds) of everyone who joined in.

How Many Wins This Fall?

That helps prove the point I and some others have been making here. It wasn't all irrational "9-3 or bust" and "Atlanta here we come" on these boards in the run-up to yesterday. It was mostly a pretty balanced crowd.

Thanks for reminding me of that poll. It helps a lot.


p.s. one nit to pick from your post: the 8-win crowd was about 20%, not 26%. The 6-6 crowd was significantly more.
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For brevity, I added the 9-wins or more to the 8-wins or more and called it all 8-wins or more.
 
#136
#136
VolunteerHillbilly said:
For brevity, I added the 9-wins or more to the 8-wins or more and called it all 8-wins or more.
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Ah, I see. So the total of the "unreasonable" crowd = 26%. Leaving the other 74% (the overwhelming majority) as either reasonable folks in the middle, or pessimistic curmudgeons. :)
 
#137
#137
I agree, just find a different hobby for the next 2 or 3 years and for the older Vol fans, just appreciate the fact that we're still around.
 
#139
#139
McDad said:
Delighted you can actually read them.
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I'm sorry. I can't discuss football with you. I've tried. In my opinion you're very unreasonable. Maybe it's just the loss yesterday has you in a bad mood. Hoping you feel better soon .
 
#140
#140
I believe the author was spot on. This is a year of transition and I believe CJP will get us there, eventually. Until then, sit back, look for improvement each week and support the program. We have what we have this year and hopefully the staff can coach them to their full potential.
 
#141
#141
VFL-82-JP said:
Ah, I see. So the total of the "unreasonable" crowd = 26%. Leaving the other 74% (the overwhelming majority) as either reasonable folks in the middle, or pessimistic curmudgeons. :)
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I think we'll just have to agree to disagree concerning the reasonableness of this team getting to 7 wins in the regular season. We will probably have to pull 2-3 upsets against the betting line to get to 6.
 
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#142
#142
VolunteerHillbilly said:
I think we'll just have to agree to disagree concerning the reasonableness of this team getting to 7 wins in the regular season. We will probably have to pull 2-3 upsets against the betting line to get to 6.
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Yep, let's agree to disagree, and let the season decide which of us was right.

You're saying 3-9 or 4-8 is "reasonable" for this squad (the math of the bold part). I'm saying 6-6 or 7-5 are reasonable, given what we know now.

We're both hoping I'm more right than you, of course, but we'll see how it plays out.

Go Vols!
 
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#144
#144
FLVOL_79 said:
Most of the board did.
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Well, check my posts. I’ve said all along the goal is 6 wins and a bowl. That is the goal. Stillbis my goal. Just makes it a bit harder to get there.

I thought the offense looked better after the first couple of series. We did end up with Jordan runnin for 118 yards. JG impressed me with his decision marking and accuracy as well.

My biggest disappointments was the front 7 on defense. I don’t care if we had 4 DBs from the NFL last night, if the front 7 can’t get pressure, WRs are going to get open. I heard it somewhere before that the defense has 2.5-3 seconds to get pressure on a QB. Anything longer and guys are going to get open. A DB cannot cover a WR forever. And defensive pressure is also paramount to preventing big plays.

With three freshman DBs, this time is probably shorter. But Pruitt knows what it takes to win, and can take these games as opportunities to teach and develop these players.

But we need to have disrupters in the front 7 on defense to have any shot at success.
 
#145
#145
KBVol said:
Best, most accurate part of the article in my opinion is this, it’s spot on....

“But that changes nothing about the fact that this was a 4-8 football team last season. If those players were so good, they wouldn’t have gone 4-8. I know that’s tough to hear. But you need to hear it. A better-coached Tennessee team wouldn’t have gone 4-8 last season, but if that roster was really good, no coach would have turned it into a 4-8 team.”
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Yes. One poster in the last day or two was latching on the belief that the team "mailed it in" the last few games last season and that our 4-8 record should have been better because of that, and that, therefor the Vols are a better team than last years' record indicates. But see, a team that "mails it in," regardless of the circumstances, is exactly the kind of team that loses games like they did yesterday. We will lose a lot more games this season. I had predicted a 7 win season as the absolute ceiling for this team. Theoretically, they could still get there, but realistically, it isn't going to happen. Best case right now is win the OOC games and beat KY and Vandy.
 
#146
#146
Correct - I look forwards to turning the page on the 2015 joke of Recruiting last still here. Tuttle, Phillips, Richmond, Kirkland, Kelly, Bates...

Get your free education and be great young men. Elite Football is not for you.
 
#147
#147
McDad said:
I got 4-8. Win cupcakes and split UK / vandy. We will know what we have after game 1. We got A LOT of improvements to make.
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Sounds about right. The 4 win only cherry was busted last year, no reason why this team wont revisit it this year.
 
#148
#148
KeyVol14 said:
Every head coach is an experiment. We will see man
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How many people thought the "wait and see" would be over after the first game. Why do you think we've seen all this cross training in the secondary and o-line. Would he be doing that if he thought those areas were ok.

The real barometer is the game to game observation as in how they improve or not. After all, these players are not action figures made in a factory. Teams grow their not made.
 
#149
#149
I will be happy if we can get 6 wins. This doesn’t mean i’m off the voll train if we win less. I have 2 tickets to three of our games. I think part of our problems are the meddling Haslams. They need to stay away from our sports programs. Example they pushed for schiano then Doeren.
 
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#150
#150
revjayp said:
Saban was a successful HC so he was given more grace that first year. But explain how Kirby is any different from Pruitt. I was the most critical of Butch/Dooley because they lacked any kind of success at a major program either as a Cordinator or HC. This staff has been a part of winning programs and winning creates a mentality. I don’t know if Pruitt will win here, but he has been set up for success. Just my 2 cents.
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I dont know if CJP is more Smart or more like the others who were busts.
 
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