The Official #24/#18 Tennessee vs. Syracuse Game Thread, 12:00 PM ET, ABC

#4,727
#4,727
Hairy Vols said:
People keep throwing out that Syracuse lost 18 starters like that makes them some pushover but that is not really the full story. Yeah they only bring back about 50 percent of their overall production and just 37 percent of their offense which is way down there nationally. But other teams had just as much turnover or even more. Washington State lost 36 guys in the portal. Purdue lost 32. Alabama turned over 41 players total between draft graduation and transfers. Even Wake Forest had 16 scholarship guys leave along with six offensive starters. So Syracuse is not the only program dealing with that kind of reset.


And calling them a completely new team does not hit right either. They went and reloaded. Kyle McCord came in from Ohio State after throwing for 3000 yards. LeQuint Allen is still there at running back. Oronde Gadsden came back healthy. They also pulled in Power 4 linemen and defensive pieces to patch holes. Bill Connelly’s SP plus still had them around 60th in the country which is middle of the pack not bottom of the barrel.


So Tennessee beating them is not some cheap win over a team with no talent. Syracuse was a bowl team last year and they went after the portal hard. A lot of programs had to rebuild this offseason. Acting like Syracuse was worse off than everybody else just is not true.
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Has anyone mentioned that the Tennessee starter was not on campus until June…LOL

Tennessee lost a bunch and had a crap load of guys starting who never started.

Lace them up and play.
 
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#4,728
#4,728
VOLINVONORE said:
It appears that the new rules on fake injuries had no effect in preventing them today. Both teams appeared to skirt the rules causing many of us to miss the end of the game.
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I previously posted the defensive players would just fall down on long yard plays or momentum plays before the ball us spotted and that’s what we saw today.
 
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#4,729
#4,729
Dadof2Vols said:
Has anyone mentioned that the Tennessee starter was not on campus until June…LOL

Tennessee lost a bunch and had a crap load of guys starting who never started.

Lace them up and play.
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You know with Sanders out we moved three guys on the oline and they still played better than any game we had last season!
 
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#4,731
#4,731
Hairy Vols said:
ALSO... this is flat our WRONG.

1 MARSHALL basically hit the reset button with around 50 total departures almost the entire offense and defense are gone

2 ARKANSAS lost about 42 players to the transfer portal and other attrition

3 ARIZONA had around 42 portal exits plus graduations and nfl draft losses

4 ALABAMA saw 41 players leave between draft graduation and transfers

5 USC lost 27 players to the portal including multiple starters

6 WEST VIRGINIA expected to replace around 19 to 20 starters this year

7 GEORGIA SOUTHERN lost 19 starters from last season

8 OHIO STATE lost 17 players to the transfer portal including starters

9 KANSAS lost 15 starters due to eligibility running out

10 WAKE FOREST had 16 scholarship transfers and six offensive starters leave

Syracuse isnt even in the top 10. lmao.
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A lot of these teams were losing insignificant players, but it’s not worth arguing over. Just how I see it. We’ll find out what’s up when we play UGA. My gut tells me it is reminiscent of the Ohio State game.
 
#4,732
#4,732
BruiserVol said:
A lot of these teams were losing insignificant players, but it’s not worth arguing over. Just how I see it. We’ll find out what’s up when we play UGA. My gut tells me it is reminiscent of the Ohio State game.
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Sounds like you have quite the fun/winning attitude. This is a forum where people express and share ideas to create better ones for themselves. If someone questioning your points make you say "this isn't worth discussing" I suggest you find another hobby besides college sports.

This was a fun win. I'm going to joke around and partake some good discussions. Enjoy your debbie downer energy.
 
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#4,733
#4,733
I have to ask were you all able to watch the whole game? At 15:30 EDT my local station switched the game. Said it was on ESPN 3. The message on 3 said event ended with at least 5 minutes left in the game.
I realize the score wasn't that close, but I would have liked to see the whole game. Honestly I don't think CBS would have done that.
 
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#4,734
#4,734
Southpaw02 said:
I have to ask were you all able to watch the whole game? At 15:30 EDT my local station switched the game. Said it was on ESPN 3. The message on 3 said event ended with at least 5 minutes left in the game.
I realize the score wasn't that close, but I would have liked to see the whole game. Honestly I don't think CBS would have done that.
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I had to go to ESPNEWS to watch the rest.
 
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#4,735
#4,735
PEPPERJAX said:
What happened?
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A few things. I seen Syracuse fans in the upper deck front row throwing things below at Tennessee fans. Then on the way out watched a Syracuse fan who was with his kids berate a couple of Tennessee fans. His kids started crying. Every fanbase has its bad apples but I guess this caught me off guard
 
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#4,737
#4,737
LittleVol said:
1) Syracuse is a good team.
2) Why would you even make that bet against a team that averaged 34 PPg in 2024???

3) We’ve lost basically 2 starting DTs in Hobbs and Moi.
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Mostly because I’m an emotional fan who was disappointed in our ability to control the LOS against a good but outmatched opponent.

Rationally speaking we played better against far mor talented teams. Syracuse scored points last year but not against many opponents with our talent on D. New QB for them and one high caliber receiver.

Injuries played a part but we are best when we stuff the LOS and let LBs make contact in the hole. We were making contact 1-2 yards downfield allowing a very physical runner to gain additional yards.

It’s one game, get healthy and see how guys progress. All good.
 
#4,738
#4,738
BruiserVol said:
A lot of these teams were losing insignificant players, but it’s not worth arguing over. Just how I see it. We’ll find out what’s up when we play UGA. My gut tells me it is reminiscent of the Ohio State game.
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You're right about one thing, it's not worth arguing over ....

.... but you clearly do want to make the case that Syracuse isn't any good, and that today's game is a sign of bad things to come for Tennessee.

Every college football team deals with large off-season attrition nowadays. That's just the landscape of college football in 2025. Tennessee had a great deal of turnover on offense as well. However, unlike Florida (Long Island? Seriously?) Tennessee played legitimate competition today and there were some things for optimists to be encouraged by, and some causes for concern among the downers. I think we can see which one you are.
 
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#4,741
#4,741
Good win, I think Syracuse has a pretty good team. If our offense is clicking and scoring fast we put a lot of pressure on our defense. They made some plays on 3rd and 4th downs at times that helped them hang around. So there's some opportunities there but it's football and just the way the game sort of evolved. I'll take it.
Go Vols!
 
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#4,742
#4,742
Joey can play, needs to polish up on a few things. But he is instinctive, he can move and has confidence. He can look off receivers. He needs to step into the screen passes. I know twice he threw the screen without stepping forward and following through. But his downfield passing was very good. And the bomb was beautiful. He also did not throw a pick which is very good. Was very pleased with Joey, I feel like he is capable, of course he needs to continue to get better. But I feel good about the season! GBO
 
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#4,744
#4,744
Berry4Heisman14 said:
A few things. I seen Syracuse fans in the upper deck front row throwing things below at Tennessee fans. Then on the way out watched a Syracuse fan who was with his kids berate a couple of Tennessee fans. His kids started crying. Every fanbase has its bad apples but I guess this caught me off guard
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Syracuse fans aren’t **** next to LSU and an Ohio state. Trash fanbases.
 
#4,745
#4,745
FanDude said:
You might try going to espn dot com, at top left click NCAAF, scores, scroll down to Tennessee game, at top right of that game block click Gamecast. I scroll it down a tad where I see down and yards with a description of the last play. The graphic shows team possession and the ball's location on the field. Before opening espn, I goto utsports dot com and click "Fans," then live radio broadcast. Then I open another tab goto espn dot com, and listen to the radio broadcast while following the espn Gamecast.
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Thanks for the tip!
 
#4,749
#4,749
Z06Vol said:
LBs are struggling
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Look at it this way. They rotated at least two true freshmen at LB today. After losing over 45 player to the portal, graduation and the draft, I think this was more than just a little encouraging. The new QB did amazing considering he has only been on campus since July 4th. There seems to be a little confusion at times on defense with all of the combinations of new and veteran players trying to stay in sync. The good thing is this. They won the first game and even covered the spread. They have really good film to teach with next week. Then they have ETSU to practice these new lessons before the true test of Georgia comes up.
 
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