We finally turned the corner in the last 4 minutes yesterday

#126
#126
orangeblood said:
Defense did what it needed to do and Bray proved he was money. We are going to roll in the last 3 games and bowl!
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Quit drinking the Doolaid and jump on board the Gruden bus.First stop is Tuscaloosa.When Tennessee lead by Coach Gruden beats Bama 27-23 in 2013.
 
#127
#127
JAMESFROMCT said:
Money against a non -sec opponent again and the D didn't turned the corner..Troy just got tired from breaking records at the track meet.......................

Vandy is licking their chops for the showdown in 2 weeks. ...... Makes me sick that we are now competing against Vandy
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We will score on them also.It will be a track meet in Nashville.
 
#128
#128
DERELICK_MY_VOLS said:
Excuses are for Vandy and Kentucky. We are Tennessee. The 2nd winningest team in SEC football history. This team is not SEC Tennessee level football. Our starters had no business to be in the game by the 3rd quarter....because it should not have been a game by that time.
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Unfortunately fixing the sad state of UT football that was there when CDD arrived requires more than 2.5 years to fix. Accept that unfortunate fact and deal with it since it's clear that a lot of progress has been made. Our offense is one of the best in the country - fire Sunseri and fix the defense and we will be old Tennessee we all expect as soon as next year. It is not unrealistic to see this happening - even this year if the defense was just a little bit better we could be 8-1 (every game was close other than Bama game in spite of our defense). Having said this it is mandatory for CDD to win out the rest of this year to get another year (even with this defense we should not lose to Vandy or Kentucky).
 
#129
#129
TGVol said:
Unfortunately fixing the sad state of UT football that was there when CDD arrived requires more than 2.5 years to fix. Accept that unfortunate fact and deal with it since it's clear that a lot of progress has been made. Our offense is one of the best in the country - fire Sunseri and fix the defense and we will be old Tennessee we all expect as soon as next year. It is not unrealistic to see this happening - even this year if the defense was just a little bit better we could be 8-1 (every game was close other than Bama game in spite of our defense). Having said this it is mandatory for CDD to win out the rest of this year to get another year (even with this defense we should not lose to Vandy or Kentucky).
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Have you watched a Vandy game? Its not going to be easy.
 
#130
#130
Dekram said:
Have you watched a Vandy game? Its not going to be easy.
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I agree Vandy and Missouri will not be easy. But I have a feeling defense will turn around (at least somewhat - it can't get any worse). If that happens we could also easily win (big) the rest of the games (including the bowl game). Our offense is really scary good and it has not even played up to potential in some games. Also remember that the defense did not look that bad very early this year - NC state has a fairly good offense (better than Troy, M State, UF, or USCjr) and our defense was able to stay with them and even dominate them in the second half. A lot of these recent problems have to do with confidence - our defense lost it and now desperately needs few good things to happen to get it back - I think they will.
 
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#131
#131
Unfortunately fixing the sad state of UT football that was there when CDD arrived requires more than 2.5 years to fix. Accept that unfortunate fact and deal with it since it's clear that a lot of progress has been made. Our offense is one of the best in the country - fire Sunseri and fix the defense and we will be old Tennessee we all expect as soon as next year.
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What do you mean by fix? And what do you mean by progress? No one denies that Dooley inherited a mess. No one denies that Dooley improved the roster. No one denies the offense is improved. The problem is that the record is not following the improvement. The offense failed at key times in key games. Special teams is a mess. Still having major kicking failures.

A real HC would know there were major defensive coaching issues in the spring. He didn't. He was totally shocked. Further Dooley created an environment where there was a major exodus of coaches going into a pivotal year. Dooley decided to take a risk and change philosophies, and hire a position coach. Head coaches ought to be held accountable for their risks and decisions. Now, where we sit, all that progress stands to be lost. There is a good chance a lot of offensive talent will be gone regardless of who stays or goes. But, I promise you that offensive players will bail if he stays.
 
#132
#132
Listening to our fan base is like listening to everyone's political rants. Completely divisive and one sided on both sides of the fence. Everyone should be quiet for just a minute and listen for a change. There are always two sides to a story and the truth is somewhere in between. Good lord people...relax.
 
#133
#133
Roustabout said:
What do you mean by fix? And what do you mean by progress?
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By fix I mean hire an experienced DC who can do a more reasonable job with current players - we should not expect Bama or LSU type defense here any time soon no matter who is hired (it will take good number of recruiting years to get both quality and quantity of players they routinely attract every year).

By progress I mean the fact that we were very competitive in every game this year (other than Bama). The year before we got blown out by every ranked team - this is clearly progress when with horrible defense you are still in every game deep in the fourth quarter (only highlights how good our offense can be). I know a lot of people are only willing to measure progress by wins and loses but our situation was bad enough when CDD arrived that after 2.5 years it's ok to point out that our offense is one of the best and most talented in the country and how is that not progress? Look at progress on o-line alone for an example how much things can change in one year (with same players getting more experienced).
 
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#134
#134
TGVol said:
By fix I mean hire an experienced DC who can do a more reasonable job with current players - we should not expect Bama or LSU type defense here any time soon no matter who is hired (it will take good number of recruiting years to get both quality and quantity of players they routinely attract every year).

By progress I mean the fact that we were very competitive in every game this year (other than Bama). The year before we got blown out by every ranked team - this is clearly progress when with horrible defense you are still in every game deep in the fourth quarter (only highlights how good our offense can be). I know a lot of people are only willing to measure progress by wins and loses but our situation was bad enough when CDD arrived that after 2.5 years it's ok to point out that our offense is one of the best and most talented in the country and how is that not progress? Look at progress on o-line along for an example how much things can change in one year (with same players getting more experienced).
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progress at o-line is all on Pittman. Nothing to do w Dooley. And yes, improvement is measured by wins when you are getting paid millions. Dooley is terrible but what do u expect when you panic and make an idiotic hire.
 
#135
#135
theFallGuy said:
progress at o-line is all on Pittman. Nothing to do w Dooley. And yes, improvement is measured by wins when you are getting paid millions. Dooley is terrible but what do u expect when you panic and make an idiotic hire.
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As HC Dooley gets credit for hiring Pittman (as well as for recruiting those o-linemen, Huner, CP, etc), just like he gets blamed for hiring Sunseri (unless Hart forced him to do it).
 
#136
#136
TGVol said:
As HC Dooley gets credit for hiring Pittman (as well as for recruiting those o-linemen, Huner, CP, etc), just like he gets blamed for hiring Sunseri (unless Hart forced him to do it).
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your talking about a guy that still struggles to put the correct amount of players on the field.
 
#137
#137
CDD is far from perfect but I think he is a good coach - he admits to focusing primarily on offensive side of the ball and that is working out great. But that is not different from other well known and succesful coaches (is Spurrier only looks at offense and Saban on defense and they are great at it). Dooley is unfortunate that he was not able to keep Wilcox who had the defense heading in the right direction. I just don't think at this point the fact he was not able to keep Wilcox and fumbled by hiring Sunseri is enough to get him fired - it seems like a defensive hire like Pittman (someone very experienced) could perhaps turn this around quickly and the whole thing could finally come together next year.
 
#140
#140
I have seen a lot of progress with the offense. The problem is that I don't measure the quality of a UT offense based on 2011 stats. And no one should. That should NEVER be the bench mark for progress. And for as much as the offense progressed, the Defense digressed even more so. The UT offense stands to lose a good get for 2013. So, you can't just assume that it will be as good next year. If Bray, CP, Hunter, and James leave (and i think they will) you have basically all the pass production GONE.

The 2011 Vols got blown out by Bama, LSU and Ark. Those 3 teams finished in the top 5. This year UT was destroyed by Bama.
They played one of those this year. Obviously, if they played last years version of those two teams with this one, they would get destroyed. They were competitive with close scores against the UF, SC and UGA. Check it out.

Special teams are still rotten.
 
#141
#141
If Bray, CP, Hunter, and James all leave you can bring Gruden as HC and Bill Walsh from his grave as new OC and there will still be a drop-off from this year. But if Bray and CP stay (to have a good year next year and go in top 10 instead of second or third round) and few younger receivers continue to mature our offense could be about as good as this year (maybe better because running game will continue to improve as well).
 
#142
#142
orangeblood said:
They knew going in that Troy was going to be a bad match up. Certain teams are just bad match ups. Last year or early this year, we would have choked. Yesterday we found a way to get a stop (unlike Georgia game) and Bray came through (unlike South Carolina).
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Exactly. We had every reason to quit, but we came through and won. This was a victory not just on the scoreboard, but for the program as a whole. Big test passed here. :thumbsup:
 
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