Vols No. 24 in Phil Steele's top 25

#51
#51
gburgvol said:
It's still about depth. We do not have quality SEC depth at all positions. We are almost there but, not quite yet. If we are lucky and have no injuries then we do have a team capable of making a run at the SEC but, one wrong injury at the wrong time puts us at 7-5 or so. Just the way it is.
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If Dobbs is injured and none of the Frosh QB's can step up then yes, 7 - 5 is possible I suppose. At WR, DB, LB, and DL we have enough quality depth to sustain a few injuries and still be good.
 
#53
#53
walkenvol said:
Which SEC program has quality depth at ALL positions?

On D, UT has quality depth at every position.

Lot's of depth on the O-line, we're just trying to figure out if any of the O-line is SEC quality.

It's rare to ever have 2 top shelf QB's unless one of them is young and inexperienced, prepping for when then starter graduates. UT's had several 4 year QB starters over the past 15 years. IF Dobbs goes down, we have which ever of the 3 4* freshmen who shows to be most ready to step in. This is the best position we've been in QB depth wise in a long time.

WR and TE has quality depth.

RB has 2 5* and we run a 1 back offense. Who would you trade with besides possibly GA? Maybe AL or AK but nobody else could even be discussed.

Does this change your mind any?
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I agree with many of your points but there are some things I'd like to point out.

If one of our 2 RBs gets hurt, we start relying on walk-ons and a true freshman to give the 1 healthy back some rest. As far as running the ball they might be alright but how about being receivers out of the backfield? And more importantly would they be able to hold up in pass block?

As far as the OLine goes I think we'll be improved in that area. WR full of talent, not a ton of proven production. I think that will change this year.

QB we would be in trouble if Dobbs got hurt, it's that simple really.

As far as the defense goes we have a ton of good players. DBs are going to be really really good in my opinion. We are 4-5 deep at safety. CBs we still need a bit of depth in case of injuries but we'll be solid there.

LBs is another position with a ton of talent but a ton of it is unproven. Outside of JRM we're pretty inexperienced. But boy is that talent exciting there.

DE we're good. DT we're good.

I think this team is 8-4 9-3 this year. Possible losses would be Oklahoma, Bama, Georgia, Arkansas, and Mizz.

I think we can beat all those teams honestly but during a season all kinds of crazy stuff happens so I'm going with 8-9 wins.

Just because we pull off an upset doesn't mean we're not prone to be upset as well. And on top of that we still have that huge 10 year monkey to shake loose in Gainesville.
 
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#54
#54
Phil's projections for SEC

Alabama (3)
Auburn (9)
Georgia (10)
Ole Miss (12)
LSU (14)
Missouri (19)
Arkansas (20)
Miss St (21)
Tennessee (24)

Also he projects OU (22)
 
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#55
#55
WillisWG said:
Phil's projections for SEC

Alabama (3)
Auburn (9)
Georgia (10)
Ole Miss (12)
LSU (14)
Missouri (19)
Arkansas (20)
Miss St (21)
Tennessee (24)
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Well that certainly puts the #24 ranking in a different perspective, doesn't it? Ninth-best team in the SEC, and third-best in the SEC-East. Oh, we are gonna be far better than that. From "over-rated" to "under-rated" with a single insight from Willis. :)
 
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#56
#56
RB has 2 5* and we run a 1 back offense. Who would you trade with besides possibly GA? Maybe AL or AK but nobody else could even be discussed.


AK = Alaska - has a great RB huh? Chilly in Oct and Nov up there.
 
#58
#58
walkenvol said:
Which SEC program has quality depth at ALL positions?

On D, UT has quality depth at every position.

Lot's of depth on the O-line, we're just trying to figure out if any of the O-line is SEC quality.

It's rare to ever have 2 top shelf QB's unless one of them is young and inexperienced, prepping for when then starter graduates. UT's had several 4 year QB starters over the past 15 years. IF Dobbs goes down, we have which ever of the 3 4* freshmen who shows to be most ready to step in. This is the best position we've been in QB depth wise in a long time.

WR and TE has quality depth.

RB has 2 5* and we run a 1 back offense. Who would you trade with besides possibly GA? Maybe AL or AK but nobody else could even be discussed.

Does this change your mind any?
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I am actually an optimist. I fully expect 9 + wins in 2015. I was just putting my worst case scenario out there. If Dobbs were to go down early in the year, that would cost us at least a couple of wins. I don't expect that to happen though. Our o-line will protect much better this year and Dobbs is obviously in much better physical condition now compared to last season. Can't wait for this season. 2004 seems like a century ago.
 
#59
#59
Freak said:
It does seem like the expectations have kinda skyrocketed. And considering people usually add about two games to their predictions when August rolls around, I'm guessing many will have us in the playoff hunt by then. :)
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Whadda ya mean "by then?"
 
#61
#61
Dobbs 4 Heisman said:
I feel bad for you guys. You've been so demoralized by the last 10 years, that you forgot this is COLLEGE FOOTBALL. Those young inexperienced guys we had last year went 7-6 playing againsts guys that will be in the NFL this year or graduated. Teams change. Times change.
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I guarantee I enjoy football season more than you do. UT football usually meets or exceeds my expectations because I keep them realistic. I had us at 6-7 last year, and got to be pleasantly surprised.

All of you that are predicting us to go 9-3 and 10-2 are going to have to suffer through a disappointing season. We will lose games that by all means we should lose, but you will be fuming over them and wanting the coaching staff fired because you expected an unrealistic 10-2.

I know it's corny, but as Butch always says "It's a process." Everyone is wanting to skip several steps in the process and jump to us being a major national contender again.

I will be very happy with 8-4, disappointed with 7-5, but 7-5 likely means we beat a pretty good opponent somewhere in there.

I'm doing cartwheels up and down my street over 9-3.
 
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#63
#63
WillisWG said:
Phil's projections for SEC

Alabama (3)
Auburn (9)
Georgia (10)
Ole Miss (12)
LSU (14)
Missouri (19)
Arkansas (20)
Miss St (21)
Tennessee (24)

Also he projects OU (22)
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I'm fine with this. We play 4 of those teams. I have us losing to two of them.

We get to Atlanta and face Texas A&M... win it!

Probably still miss the Playoffs.
But we'll go to a a BCS type bowl game.

Good year
 
#64
#64
LittleVol said:
I'm fine with this. We play 4 of those teams. I have us losing to two of them.

We get to Atlanta and face Texas A&M... win it!

Probably still miss the Playoffs.
But we'll go to a a BCS type bowl game.

Good year
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I feel that A&M will win the west as well. I think they have the best 1/2 punch at WR in the sec and the nation. Speedy is prolly the best player with the ball in his hands in the country. If Chavis can fix the D up they will be a force. Would be nice to play them in the SEC championship game.
 
#65
#65
Is this Phil's top 25? Or him predicting the AP top 25?

Edit: these aren't Phil's top 25

Before I get to the rankings, it's important to make the point that this is not my preseason 11-25 for 2014, but rather what I am projecting the AP poll's 11-25 will look like to start the season.
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#66
#66
Dobbs 4 Heisman said:
I feel bad for you guys. You've been so demoralized by the last 10 years, that you forgot this is COLLEGE FOOTBALL. Those young inexperienced guys we had last year went 7-6 playing againsts guys that will be in the NFL this year or graduated. Teams change. Times change.

We're returning more starters than every team in the SEC (except for Vanderbilt). Many of those starters were either true freshmen or first year starters. Those guys will improve. We also had the consensus 2nd best recruiting class in the SEC for 2015. Some of those guys will be the next Jalen Hurd or Derek Barnett. Meaning we'll be adding more impact players.

Anything less than 9-3 would be a failure given the talent on this roster. Other than Alabama, there is not one team on our schedule that is CLEARLY more talented than we are. There are certainly several that rival us (Oklahoma, Florida, and Georgia) and those that play beyond their talents (Missouri and Arkansas). However, I don't think its unreasonable to expect us to go 3-2 against Oklahoma/Florida/Georgia/Missouri/Arkansas.

At some point you have to start beating teams that are equal to you.
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I think some posters believe we can only win when we have a roster of 5* redshirt seniors backed up by more 5* redshirt seniors.
 
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#70
#70
checkerboards09 said:
We'll find out this year and that was my point. He was saying 8-4 or even 7-5 is what we'll see this year. 7-5 is inexcusable and means we have the wrong coach.
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If we go 7 and 5 and lose the 5 games by 3 to 7 points, then we will have a decent season, this team is still very young and is still 1 year away 2016 is the year that we will win the SEC, now saying that this team still could win 9 or 10 games counting a bowl win, our biggest question mark is still the OL and we do have talent there now but look at last year when you have to play Freshmen on the OL, DOBBS has to stay healthy or we will be in trouble a Freshmen QB wont get it done with a average OL at best.
 
#71
#71
gburgvol said:
It's still about depth. We do not have quality SEC depth at all positions. We are almost there but, not quite yet. If we are lucky and have no injuries then we do have a team capable of making a run at the SEC but, one wrong injury at the wrong time puts us at 7-5 or so. Just the way it is.
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Absolutely 100% correct.
 
#73
#73
chatt-townVOL said:
I guarantee I enjoy football season more than you do. UT football usually meets or exceeds my expectations because I keep them realistic. I had us at 6-7 last year, and got to be pleasantly surprised.

All of you that are predicting us to go 9-3 and 10-2 are going to have to suffer through a disappointing season. We will lose games that by all means we should lose, but you will be fuming over them and wanting the coaching staff fired because you expected an unrealistic 10-2.

I know it's corny, but as Butch always says "It's a process." Everyone is wanting to skip several steps in the process and jump to us being a major national contender again.

I will be very happy with 8-4, disappointed with 7-5, but 7-5 likely means we beat a pretty good opponent somewhere in there.

I'm doing cartwheels up and down my street over 9-3.
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Well thats the difference between me and you. I'll only be doing carwheels when we win the national title. Even last year when I didn't expect us to be very good, I was pissed at every loss. Setting arbitarily low expectations doesn't make losing any easier (at least for me). Yes, I understand there is a process. And yes, winning titles takes steps.

But that doesn't mean we need to like it. There's a difference between knowing the program is on the right track and progressing vs. being happy with mediocrity. Sorry, but I'll never be happy with mediocrity. Only national titles should be celebrated at a program like Tennessee.
 
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