Turning point in 2015 season

#51
#51
"Back to back bowl wins since '95 - '96". They weren't just wins, they were a** beatings. That also proves that we're back to elite status.
 
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#53
#53
We had less competition during the final stretch.
Lost to the good teams and beat the not so good
teams toward the end of the season.
Nothing magical about that.
We were close but, just could not get it done.
Maybe 2016 will be better.
 
#55
#55
checkerboards09 said:
No kidding, but it was in dominating fashion. That's what ELITE teams do.
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Yes I agree elite teams win big. 2013-2015 Tennessee Volunteers football teams weren't elite.

2016 Vols have a chance to be elite.

I'm tired of the hype - ready to see results on the field.
 
#56
#56
KBVol said:
I gave the team and coaches full marks for rebounding after the bad Arky loss, for the great comeback win vs Georgia and the great effort/near upset of Alabama. But the elephant in the room is change in difficulty of schedule. Kudos to them for taking care of business and doing what they should've done. If you want to call it negative to point it out in a thread that discusses the "turnaround" and the streak then fine, call it negative...but it should also be called something else....the truth.
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May be technically true, but it was still a great "turnaround."

Truth is that our Vols have the second longest winning streak among at least the Power 5, maybe all of FBS, if I remember correctly. Our last loss was to the only team with a longer winning streak. And they won the NC. Favorable schedule or not, it's still very hard to do.
 
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#57
#57
jakez4ut said:
in fairness, it was exactly those kinds of things that had either not happened for us, or had happened against us, that led us to where we were.

so i'm totally fine with opponents WR dropping TD's and while i'd prefer not to get in to 4th and 9's in the 1st half that are "must haves".....they made a play when they had to.

Brian Randolph made a HUGE play to seal the game.

these are the kinds of things they will have to do many times over next season if they're going to have the kind of season we want them to have. they can't just show up and think it's just going to happen.

if the opportunity to make a play presents itself...MAKE IT!!! and take the opponents bad luck in stride....
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This is always the difference between good teams and what folks label as great teams. Some may call it luck and in a way part of it is - a missed catch that would be caught 99 percent of the time. An unforced fumble that keeps a team unbeaten as what we saw in 1998.

Sometimes the team that wants it bad enough finds a way to win.
 
#58
#58
checkerboards09 said:
No kidding, but it was in dominating fashion. That's what ELITE teams do.
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You may as well talk to the walls. Some on here will still find something to complain about even after the 2016 vols win the East, the SEC and the NC.

The teams beaten won't be good enough. The score differential won't be good enough. Tennessee will win because of a dropped pass. They'll get lucky and someone will beat the best team - for some nothing will ever be good enough.
 
#59
#59
volfan102455 said:
You may as well talk to the walls. Some on here will still find something to complain about even after the 2016 vols win the East, the SEC and the NC.

The teams beaten won't be good enough. The score differential won't be good enough. Tennessee will win because of a dropped pass. They'll get lucky and someone will beat the best team - for some nothing will ever be good enough.
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Hate to break it to you, but 9-4 has never been elite.
 
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#60
#60
ajvol01 said:
Hate to break it to you, but 9-4 has never been elite.
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No 9-4 isn't, but we're officially back to elite status starting this season. We could've/should've been a playoff team last year and you can tell we're ready to get back to where we should be. This is a top program in the history of college football, so in reality, we're still an awesome program just down.
 
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#61
#61
The "dropped TD pass" agenda is laughable. We can play that game all day long. If we had not fumbled on the 1 for a 99 yard return the game would have been a blowout. Ect, ect.

I doubt Georgia or Florida have been saying to themselves over the last 3 or 4 years "well we only beat UT because they messed up"? No, I'm pretty sure they took the W and we're happy they did enough to Win.
 
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#62
#62
DarthVol said:
May be technically true, but it was still a great "turnaround."

Truth is that our Vols have the second longest winning streak among at least the Power 5, maybe all of FBS, if I remember correctly. Our last loss was to the only team with a longer winning streak. And they won the NC. Favorable schedule or not, it's still very hard to do.
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With all due respect, I disagree. If you're a good, disciplined, very talented team like we were last year, it's just not very hard to do....it's not hard to rip off wins vs bad teams that won about 38% of their games (after including NW's 10-3 record). What was hard to do is play elite teams like Oklahoma and Alabama down to the wire.
 
#63
#63
ajvol01 said:
Yes I agree elite teams win big. 2013-2015 Tennessee Volunteers football teams weren't elite.

2016 Vols have a chance to be elite.

I'm tired of the hype - ready to see results on the field.
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I'm tired of the losing.

Hype Rocks!

Jump higher Vols.
 
#64
#64
volfan102455 said:
You may as well talk to the walls. Some on here will still find something to complain about even after the 2016 vols win the East, the SEC and the NC.

The teams beaten won't be good enough. The score differential won't be good enough. Tennessee will win because of a dropped pass. They'll get lucky and someone will beat the best team - for some nothing will ever be good enough.
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That's my favorite thing to do, complain about a WIN. It beats everything about a loss.

Jump higher Vols.
 
#65
#65
KBVol said:
With all due respect, I disagree. If you're a good, disciplined, very talented team like we were last year, it's just not very hard to do....it's not hard to rip off wins vs bad teams that won about 38% of their games (after including NW's 10-3 record). What was hard to do is play elite teams like Oklahoma and Alabama down to the wire.
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Agree to disagree, but apparently out of the 117, 119, or however many FBS teams there are now, no one else except Alabama has a six game winning streak (there's is actually 12). I expect the numbers would say that a fair number of those teams had easier schedules than ours.

I just think that it diminishes the accomplishment to say it wasn't that hard, when the evidence says otherwise. Should elite teams beat the teams we beat over those six games? Of course. I think most of us would agree that we were not yet elite last year. And still no one else, save Bama, won that many games in a row. Regardless of schedule.
 
#67
#67
KBVol said:
Look, they way the team played coming back from 21 down to Georgia was great.....I'm still thrilled with the win and have rewatched it 3-4 times. Just a great comeback win. And the way they competed and nearly pulled off a big upset in Tuscaloosa made me very proud of our beloved Vols. Major kudos to the coaches and staff for giving the eventual national champs a scare and probably the best game they got all year, along with Clemson in the title game.

But let's keep it real here....a huge factor, undoubtedly the biggest, most important factor in the 6 game win streak was who we played.....Kentucky, South Carolina, North Texas, Missouri, Vandy.....the 5 regular season teams were a combined 18-44 (.291). Compare that to the combined record and win percentage of the 4 very good teams we played and lost to earlier in the season, Oklahoma, Florida, Arkansas and Alabama...43-11 (.796).

Of course, we played a 10 win Northwestern team to complete the six game win streak in Tampa, and I won't minimize that at all, given how we completely dominated them....but we can all agree that they were completely overmatched physically and athletically by Tennessee.

Flame away if you must, but that's just the truth as I see it. We didn't fold up, we came back and turned what could've been a season-wrecking loss into a positive, learned from, grew from it and started winning....but playing the weakest part of our schedule helped immensely.
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2nd half of the season has always been Tenesseee's bread and butter to get 9-11 wins on the season.
 
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#70
#70
DarthVol said:
Agree to disagree, but apparently out of the 117, 119, or however many FBS teams there are now, no one else except Alabama has a six game winning streak (there's is actually 12). I expect the numbers would say that a fair number of those teams had easier schedules than ours.

I just think that it diminishes the accomplishment to say it wasn't that hard, when the evidence says otherwise. Should elite teams beat the teams we beat over those six games? Of course. I think most of us would agree that we were not yet elite last year. And still no one else, save Bama, won that many games in a row. Regardless of schedule.
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I think your "evidence" is misleading. Just a few examples.....


1. Clemson....they had a 17 game win streak prior to their last loss....vs 14-1 Bama, in the national title game.....so they are one of the teams that doesn't have a 6 game win streak like Tennessee.

2. Stanford....they have won 12 of their last 13 games, got tripped up by a good 9-4 Oregon team last year, not a 3-9 SCar or 4-8 Vandy or 1-11 North Texas.....so they are one of the teams that doesnt have a 6 game win streak like Tennessee

3. Oklahoma....had their 7 game win streak snapped by 14-1 and eventual national title runner-up Clemson....so they are one of the teams that doesnt have a 6 game win streak like Tennessee.

4. Even Northwestern helps make the point.....Northwestern had won 5 in a row, vs bad teams like Illinois. Purdue and Penn State, before playing and losing to a good team like Tennessee. Had they played a poor team like Ball State or Minnesota instead of our Vols, they too would very likely have a 6 game win streak right now and you'd probably be saying, "the only other team that currently has a 6 game win streak right now besides Tennessee and Alabama is 11-win Northwestern".


Despite what you and others apparently believe, I'm not trying to diminish Tennessee's 6-game win streak, but rather accurately define it and the 2015 season as a whole. They did what good teams do, which is beat the teams they're supposed to when they play them. So, they did that, they finished with 9 wins and built good momentum heading into the off season. But the fact still remains, that when we played the 5 toughest teams on our schedule last year, we lost to 4 of them....and when we got past those 5 games and played the 6 worst teams in our schedule, we won em all.
 
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#71
#71
Bottom line: if there was a turning point, we will see it this season and will get through the Alabama game with a maximum of two losses before we get to the easy wins.
 
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#72
#72
KBVol said:
I think your "evidence" is misleading. Just a few examples.....


1. Clemson....they had a 17 game win streak prior to their last loss....vs 14-1 Bama, in the national title game.....so they are one of the teams that doesn't have a 6 game win streak like Tennessee.

2. Stanford....they have won 12 of their last 13 games, got tripped up by a good 9-4 Oregon team last year, not a 3-9 SCar or 4-8 Vandy or 1-11 North Texas.....so they are one of the teams that doesnt have a 6 game win streak like Tennessee

3. Oklahoma....had their 7 game win streak snapped by 14-1 and eventual national title runner-up Clemson....so they are one of the teams that doesnt have a 6 game win streak like Tennessee.

4. Even Northwestern helps make the point.....Northwestern had won 5 in a row, vs bad teams like Illinois. Purdue and Penn State, before playing and losing to a good team like Tennessee. Had they played a poor team like Ball State or Minnesota instead of our Vols, they too would very likely have a 6 game win streak right now and you'd probably be saying, "the only other team that currently has a 6 game win streak right now besides Tennessee and Alabama is 11-win Northwestern".


Despite what you and others apparently believe, I'm not trying to diminish Tennessee's 6-game win streak, but rather accurately define it and the 2015 season as a whole. They did what good teams do, which is beat the teams they're supposed to when they play them. So, they did that, they finished with 9 wins and built good momentum heading into the off season. But the fact still remains, that when we played the 5 toughest teams on our schedule last year, we lost to 4 of them....and when we got past those 5 games and played the 6 worst teams in our schedule, we won em all.
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Good points. Contrary to my earlier wording, I don't think you are trying to diminish the accomplishment. It would've been better for me to say that it comes across that way. Or at least that's the way it can appear.

Also, of the 4 teams that you mentioned there is a good argument that 3 of them are elite or close to it. Once you make the playoff, then your season ends with either a championship or a loss. You've got your shot and that's what we want. Ultimately, still having a winning streak means that you either won the NC or didn't make the playoffs. For us then, it's more an indicator of progress, to wit, I think we agree at least to some measure. Win the games you're supposed to and move forward from there.

If we make the playoffs last year, the progress is evident and the question becomes, "Are we back for good? Or at least for the foreseeable future?" I would much rather be debating that point. And to some degree, I suspect that's what we are all probably getting at - Is the strong finish an indication that this is the year that we show up for real?

Here's hoping.
 
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