SMQ Tenn Preview

#3
#3
"That comes off a little harsh for a team I still think has a very good chance to be sitting back at ten wins, but expectations are relative: Florida, Georgia, LSU and Auburn have all had elite, top three finishes since the Vols' last BCS appearance in 1999, while Tennessee has steadily enjoyed appearances in the Peach, Cotton and Citrus Capital One bowls. Not that there's anything wrong with that. But if it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it must be 9-3 and another ciminally early stadium trip on New Year's morning."


Nail. Head.
 
#4
#4
lawgator1 said:
"That comes off a little harsh for a team I still think has a very good chance to be sitting back at ten wins, but expectations are relative: Florida, Georgia, LSU and Auburn have all had elite, top three finishes since the Vols' last BCS appearance in 1999, while Tennessee has steadily enjoyed appearances in the Peach, Cotton and Citrus Capital One bowls. Not that there's anything wrong with that. But if it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it must be 9-3 and another ciminally early stadium trip on New Year's morning."


Nail. Head.
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Exactly...team's can't snap out of slumps and go on to compete for conference championships.

Just ask the 2006 Florida Gators...The 18 losses in their previous 4 seasons really had an affect on them.
 
#5
#5
Jaytrain5 said:
Exactly...team's can't snap out of slumps and go on to compete for conference championships.

Just ask the 2006 Florida Gators...The 18 losses in their previous 4 seasons really had an affect on them.
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I did not get from him that he's talking about breaking out of the slump of being "a duck." I kind of thought he was saying that is what he predicts for UT for this year.
 
#6
#6
lawgator1 said:
I did not get from him that he's talking about breaking out of the slump of being "a duck." I kind of thought he was saying that is what he predicts for UT for this year.
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huh?

I guess the two sentences before his "duck" comment were completely unrelated. I think by referencing UT's bowl games since 99, he was pointing out that UT doesn't have the recent track record to suggest that they'll be in a BCS game.
 
#9
#9
droski said:
I thought the rushing stats were very interesting.
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I don't want to turn this into a Cal-UT thing, but I need to ask you: do those stats make you worried?

I mean, your DL is your biggest question mark this season on defense, and your better DL in 2006 allowed over 200 yards of rushing to a terrible, awful, pitiful, middle school JV rushing offense.

Though seriously, our rushing offense was terrible, but ran over the Bears? Thoughts?
 
#10
#10
VolinArizona said:
I don't want to turn this into a Cal-UT thing, but I need to ask you: do those stats make you worried?

I mean, your DL is your biggest question mark this season on defense, and your better DL in 2006 allowed over 200 yards of rushing to a terrible, awful, pitiful, middle school JV rushing offense.

Though seriously, our rushing offense was terrible, but ran over the Bears? Thoughts?
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In the past Cal has never had a problem stopping the run. Even the bush/white combo at SC never had a good game against Cal. So the question is was the Tenn game an aberation? Most of those yards were on 2 runs (edit: looked at it and realized this is incorrect,), but obviously I see your point. Malele was the primary run stopper on the dline and he returns. Davis and Hill should be capable against tenn. I expect we will load the line to try to take away the run and make those young WRs prove they can do the damage (as we did early in the game last year and you saw the results). Long answer short. . . yes I am concerned, but will it cost us the game? :dunno:

edit: our dline was clearly overrated last season btw, though tafisi was really injured the entire season and he was expected to be among the best in the country.
 
#11
#11
I can't find much to disagree with. A very good piece. He certainly zeroed right in on what has gone wrong with this team in the very first sentence ("When did Tennessee get soft?"). We've got to get that fixed if we're going to compete for anything this year.

As far as the duck thing goes, I took him to be saying that you just can't pick UT over teams that have a recent track record of success without a good reason, and while Ainge might have been that reason, he's offset by our pathetic lack of physicality in recent years. Therefore UT needs to prove something before he can pick them. Which is reasonable -- if I were someone outside the program, I'd need a good reason to pick Tennessee too.

Thanks for posting it. I wasn't aware of that blog.
 
#12
#12
His duck stuff was pretty straightforward. Hatvol said it all the time - you are what your record says.

If it sounds like a duck (no conference titles in 8 seasons), looks like a duck (terrible in the trenches), and smells like a duck (no BCS bowl games in 7 seasons), then it's a duck (a 2nd tier SEC team).
 
#13
#13
VolinArizona said:
His duck stuff was pretty straightforward. Hatvol said it all the time - you are what your record says.

If it sounds like a duck (no conference titles in 8 seasons), looks like a duck (terrible in the trenches), and smells like a duck (no BCS bowl games in 7 seasons), then it's a duck (a 2nd tier SEC team).
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I would not say 2nd tier just hanging off the edge of the first.
 
#17
#17
Vercingetorix said:
I can't find much to disagree with. A very good piece. He certainly zeroed right in on what has gone wrong with this team in the very first sentence ("When did Tennessee get soft?"). We've got to get that fixed if we're going to compete for anything this year.

As far as the duck thing goes, I took him to be saying that you just can't pick UT over teams that have a recent track record of success without a good reason, and while Ainge might have been that reason, he's offset by our pathetic lack of physicality in recent years. Therefore UT needs to prove something before he can pick them. Which is reasonable -- if I were someone outside the program, I'd need a good reason to pick Tennessee too.

Thanks for posting it. I wasn't aware of that blog.
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i coudn't agree more.....the article was pretty accurate, and i can't really disagree with it much at all.
 
#18
#18
Fine Vol said:
I would not say 2nd tier just hanging off the edge of the first.
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No, that's the entire point of the duck analogy - it's so freaking accurate. Top tier teams don't go 8 years without a conference title, 7 years without a BCS game, and doesn't have a losing record against the 4 best teams in the conference.
 
#19
#19
VolinArizona said:
No, that's the entire point of the duck analogy - it's so freaking accurate. Top tier teams don't go 8 years without a conference title, 7 years without a BCS game, and doesn't have a losing record against the 4 best teams in the conference.
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I know but its like saying we kinda suck and its hard to take.:ermm:
 
#21
#21
Fine Vol said:
I know but its like saying we kinda suck and its hard to take.:ermm:
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i know where you're coming from, but it doesn't make it any less true....we have been behind LSU, FL and GA for too long to be considered "elite" in the SEC.

the name Tennessee still carries weight, but the reality is, the name only gets you in the door. at some point, you gotta go do something......and we haven't done that in a while.
 
#22
#22
VolinArizona said:
No, that's the entire point of the duck analogy - it's so freaking accurate. Top tier teams don't go 8 years without a conference title, 7 years without a BCS game, and doesn't have a losing record against the 4 best teams in the conference.
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This is what the whole thing comes down to. When you've got so many good teams in one conference, it becomes to some extent a zero-sum game. Georgia got better than us. Auburn got better than us. LSU got better than us. Florida wandered through the Zook Wilderness for awhile, but now they're back on top. All of that success and those extra wins have to come from somewhere, and so far this decade it's been at our expense.
 
#24
#24
All in all this is one of the most insightful preseason articles I have ever seen on the Vols.
 
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