Screw Georgia

#76
#76
Unfortunately consistently getting that level of talent all through your two deep only happens when you become a destination school. Becoming a destination school requires a great coaching staff who can develop good players into a great team. You have to show recruits that your school has a legitimate chance at making the playoffs and that your players get drafted into the NFL before you can load up your roster with elite talent.
It takes lots of $$$
 
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#77
#77
Final scores aren’t always indicative of how close a game was. Last night is a perfect example
You do realize that Bama had the lead at halftime? That they also had the lead in the 4th quarter? Did you watch the game? TN never had the lead once in the second half against FL, GA, or Bama lol. Take off the orange blinders and get a dose of reality.
 
#82
#82
2019 NC Game 44-16 Clemson over Alabama
2020 NC Game 42 - 25 LSU over Clemson
2021 NC Game 52 - 24 Alabama over Ohio State

I don't disagree that you have to have a good defense, but it doesn't have to look like Georgia's or Alabama's.
Past tells us you do have to be "Elite" on one side of the ball and good on the other.

This year you had an Elite defense and a decent offense win the National Championship.

You have to also put into consideration that when Alabama's offense was humming during the SEC Championship game with both WR's in play it made that D look average, and Georgia's less than stellar offense folded under the pressure.

Personally, I think the Offensive Coordinator lost that game for Bama.

I don't think it was O'Brien. The Bama defense got tired in the 4th. UGA was gashing them for 7-10 yards a rush and couldn't be stopped. Saw someone say on Twitter this morning post that UGAs last 3 TDs were scored by 3 freshmen and a walkon QB. 2022 is going to be insufferable.

Last 16 years of CFB: SEC 12 natties ACC 3 natties B10 1 natty
 
#83
#83
This is true except that Pruitt actually recruited very well in state. In fact most of our coaches did.

Not really. His 2018 class was decent but the ground work for that was laid by Butch. If there was one good thing Butch did, it was rebuilding the TN HS relationships that Dooley destroyed. Pruitt did decent in state. But his coaching incompetence and cheating created the mess Heupel now has to deal with. The guys that were the top instate guys in 2021 didn’t give Heupel a chance. He didn’t have enough time. To Blake Heupel for not getting the best instate talent last year is foolish.
 
#85
#85
You do realize that Bama had the lead at halftime? That they also had the lead in the 4th quarter? Did you watch the game? TN never had the lead once in the second half against FL, GA, or Bama lol. Take off the orange blinders and get a dose of reality.
They did and were obviously better. But we moved the ball reasonably well and our defense did ok for a while. I’m not saying we should have won. I’m just saying we competed well for most of the game.
 
#86
#86
2019 NC Game 44-16 Clemson over Alabama
2020 NC Game 42 - 25 LSU over Clemson
2021 NC Game 52 - 24 Alabama over Ohio State

I don't disagree that you have to have a good defense, but it doesn't have to look like Georgia's or Alabama's.
Past tells us you do have to be "Elite" on one side of the ball and good on the other.

This year you had an Elite defense and a decent offense win the National Championship.

You have to also put into consideration that when Alabama's offense was humming during the SEC Championship game with both WR's in play it made that D look average, and Georgia's less than stellar offense folded under the pressure.

Personally, I think the Offensive Coordinator lost that game for Bama.

2019 Team defensive rankings nationally:

Clemson- 3rd
Bama- 13

2020:

Clemson- 18
LSU- 99

2021:

Bama- 18
OSU- 38

What’s this data tell you? LSU is the outlier. Having nationally ranked defenses of 18, 38, 13 and 3 are considered superior to elite. Now, LSU fielded the best offense college football has ever seen. So what does this tell you? If you want to win national championships, you have to have superior defense to go along with great offense unless you have a HISTORIC offense.
 
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#88
#88
Not really. His 2018 class was decent but the ground work for that was laid by Butch. If there was one good thing Butch did, it was rebuilding the TN HS relationships that Dooley destroyed. Pruitt did decent in state. But his coaching incompetence and cheating created the mess Heupel now has to deal with. The guys that were the top instate guys in 2021 didn’t give Heupel a chance. He didn’t have enough time. To Blake Heupel for not getting the best instate talent last year is foolish.
Pruitt signed 6 of the top 10 in state high school recruits in 2020. I agree Pruitt left us with a mess but not bad enough that Stoops should be able to get 3 of your top in state players. I can see Bama, GA, Ohio St, etc. taking who they want, but KY?
 
#89
#89
Beat GA and Bama and the recruits will stay home. Sadly until we do there will no championships.

Agree. Problem is I honestly don’t see a scenario in which we can beat either one of those teams. I mean we would need, at minimum, 3-5 years of top 5 recruiting classes. The problem with that is regardless of how good our recruiting is, UGA and Bama will recruit better.
 
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#90
#90
They did and were obviously better. But we moved the ball reasonably well and our defense did ok for a while. I’m not saying we should have won. I’m just saying we competed well for most of the game.
We competed in the first half and got killed in the second half. At least that's how I remember it (but I could be wrong). Alabama competed for about 59 minutes.
 
#91
#91
Pruitt signed 6 of the top 10 in state high school recruits in 2020. I agree Pruitt left us with a mess but not bad enough that Stoops should be able to get 3 of your top in state players. I can see Bama, GA, Ohio St, etc. taking who they want, but KY?
It’s what happens when you have certain individuals steering kids out of state.
 
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#92
#92
Pruitt signed 6 of the top 10 in state high school recruits in 2020. I agree Pruitt left us with a mess but not bad enough that Stoops should be able to get 3 of your top in state players. I can see Bama, GA, Ohio St, etc. taking who they want, but KY?

3-7 last year and got dominated by UK at home. Then Heupel comes in late Feb and doesn’t even get his staff filled out for another couple of months. By then, it’s too late. Like I said, Heupel had no chance with the top instate guys. We are going to need stability and continued success if we want to land the top instate guys. Pruitt bought his players. Heupel doesn’t have that option.
 
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#93
#93
We competed in the first half and got killed in the second half. At least that's how I remember it (but I could be wrong). Alabama competed for about 59 minutes.
We didn’t get killed until the end of the 3rd or beginning of the 4th. Seemed like we got gassed due to obscene lack of depth relative to Alabama
 
#94
#94
Agree. Problem is I honestly don’t see a scenario in which we can beat either one of those teams. I mean we would need, at minimum, 3-5 years of top 5 recruiting classes. The problem with that is regardless of how good our recruiting is, UGA and Bama will recruit better.
I think I read TN had 7 of the elite 300 high school recruits in 2021. They say they may have 9 in 2022 high school fb. Our best year ever. If Heupel can get 4-5 of these, that would be a great start.
 
#95
#95
It’s what happens when you have certain individuals steering kids out of state.
That may be true but I seriously doubt that Pruitt and his 3-7 record was able to do this. Elite talent wants to play for championships. The color of a jersey means nothing. Most are used to winning and if good enough they are going to play for the school that gives them the best chance to compete for the big prize. Also the coaches that give them the best chance to play on Sundays. Which is why you have to beat the best to compete with them in recruiting.
 
#96
#96
3-7 last year and got dominated by UK at home. Then Heupel comes in late Feb and doesn’t even get his staff filled out for another couple of months. By then, it’s too late. Like I said, Heupel had no chance with the top instate guys. We are going to need stability and continued success if we want to land the top instate guys. Pruitt bought his players. Heupel doesn’t have that option.
Heupel came in late Jan. I would think 10 months is long enough to pick up some in state talent? He picked up quite a bit in the portal in a lot less time? I think only one of our in state players had committed when Heupel took the job. I agree Heupel walked into a burning fire but so did Napier (who has yet to fill out his staff). Yet Napier has been able to get 5 top 300 recruits while being on the job for about a month or less. If I remember correctly Saban was also a January hire. Yet with a 6-6 record he signed the number 1 class in the country his first year. Some coaches are elite recruiters, others are not. I support Coach Heupel 1000 percent but I am concerned about his coaching staff's ability to recruit. RG went above and beyond in flipping West and Pearce, but the rest of the staff on defense signed almost no one. It does concern me but time will tell.
 
#97
#97
That may be true but I seriously doubt that Pruitt and his 3-7 record was able to do this. Elite talent wants to play for championships. The color of a jersey means nothing. Most are used to winning and if good enough they are going to play for the school that gives them the best chance to compete for the big prize. Also the coaches that give them the best chance to play on Sundays. Which is why you have to beat the best to compete with them in recruiting.
You’re not understanding completely. You’re absolutely right elite talent wants to be on a certain few teams but once those are full or if those programs are on the fence on a kid and making them wait. Typically Tennessee has got those kids, typically you’ve had certain people steer kids towards at least visiting the program and a lot of those kids were landed. Now you’re seeing in state kids getting pushed anywhere but Tennessee.
 
#98
#98
Agree. Problem is I honestly don’t see a scenario in which we can beat either one of those teams. I mean we would need, at minimum, 3-5 years of top 5 recruiting classes. The problem with that is regardless of how good our recruiting is, UGA and Bama will recruit better.
It is not going to be a meteoric rise to the SEC Championship game....it will take 3-5 (likely 5) to reach the SEC Championship game unless something blows up UGA.

That being said, year 1 was make a bowl (7 regular season wins)
Year 2--beat one of our 3 rivals (UF) + 9 wins (regular season)
Year 3--NYD bowl - 10 wins (regular season)
Year 4/5--SEC East--11+ wins (regular season)

Would be a realistic improvement scheme for me.
 
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#99
#99
Glass half full or half empty ? Depends on perspective. Did 3-7 sink in … ? Did a dumpster fire make a difference ? Did possibly NCAA penalties make a difference ? Does an unknown product, poor track record, team in rebuild make a difference to a quality recruit ? I’m saying YES to all the above. TN was NOT an attractive destination and that should be obvious. It would be nice to have turned this around completely, won the 3 questionable games, recruited top 5-10. But going back to 3-7, no coach, and the worst portal hit any team may EVER see … didn’t 7-5 and competing in all but 2-3 games get us to a glass half FULL ??? Win 2 of the 5 loses NEXT year and TN becomes a much more attractive destination.
 

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