What will it take to get your pride (confidence/swagger) back as a fan?

[NEWDAYVOL]

Not sure where this is coming from. Everyone I know has been looking for the opportunity to feel this positive, and be as proud of the direction of the program as we are right now. That said, we are not in the position to compete with ‘Bama and UGA just yet. Competing, looking prepared, beating those we are favored to beat (PITT), and stealing one every now and then is what we should expect, and learn to enjoy. The rest will come.

I think about 90% of the fanbase is pretty positive right now. It's probably just a handful of posters in every post....about Pitt..."they are going to kill us"....in every post about Florida "no chance"....in every post projecting our record...."7-5 at best"...in every mention of Alabama or Georgia "I don't think we'll every compete/be on their level". I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Everyone has an opinion and that is what makes these message boards go 'round. But I'm just shocked there are Vol "fans" who think Pitt is going to kill us or beat us handedly.

so after reading your post, you know what the fanbase wants... but then you list scenarios for salvaging "pride" in the program...if we lose to pitt and florida, does your pride vanish?

My "pride" won't. I said what I thought would bring back hope to the negative posters....then just wanted to hear from them what would do it.

I wonder what pride actually has to do with it.

By "pride" I mean you don't go into a game like Pitt (who is not Alabama or Georgia or anywhere close) have your tail tucked between your legs and think you are going to lose. I am not talking about fandom but am associating fan's "pride" with confidence. What will it take for some of our posters/ fanbase to go into each game with confidence that they can be in and win every game?

 

[bigorangepoppa]

My fandom began when I was about 12-13 years old and my dad would tune in the portable am/fm radio to the games. Through it all, I have never quit believing in the Vols. Lets all remember, even Butch beat Georgia, and if he can do it I sincerely believe Heupel can as well. This team takes the field with a confidence that they didn't seem have much of with the last 3 coaches. And I don't think it was as much about Butch as it was there were some real dogs on those teams that just would not lay down and roll over. Forgot to mention, I'm 69 now so I been carrying my fan card a long time.

 

[OrangeBeachVol]

My pride will be fully restored when AL and GA fans stop counting the TN game as an automatic win and becomes a competitive game again. I live in AL. AL fans don't give me a hard time at all because they expect to win, most by double digits. I want them to be concerned about this game. I now have confidence that the program can get there, which I have not had that in a long time.

 

[TN-POSSUM]

^^^^THIS IS THE ONLY TENNESSEE PRIDE I'M CONCERNED ABOUT*****

"Take home a pound or 2 of TN Pride"

Get sum!

GO VOLS

 

[TnVol!]

I've never lost my pride and never will.

 

[Special Ed]

My pride hasn't gone anywhere.

 

[tncolt55]

Stop losing to ACC teams like Pitt, Beat teams like Florida and have the bamas and UGA's worried to play us. I want to be feared again, build a great defense and be physical up front on both sides of the ball.. Until we can compete for 4 quarters in a physically tough game against an élite team I wont feel prideful. I DO NOT wat to be considered a finesse team, there is no pride in that for me at all. Our defense needs to establish an identity and get after the qb, pressure wins games.

 

[Volsfannn]

So much negativity.

I think for most....
We have to beat Pitt.
We have to beat Florida.

At that point fans will feel a lot better/like we are turning the corner.

Then to get fully back we need to beat Alabama. I think we can slip up in another game (just have an off game - it happens, it's college football)...LSU, South Carolina....

I think beating Georgia @ Georgia is too much to ask this year. But if we can win a game like @ Pitt, beat Florida, and somehow beat Alabama at home...even with a loss at LSU or a slip up somewhere else and finish 10-2 (which probably means a top 7 national ranking)....I think most fans will feel like Tennessee football is back and feel pretty good going forward. That's my take...

But for you doom and gloomers what will it take (in your own words) to make you feel good about the program?

Beat Florida and a respectable loss to bama. Tired of losing to 1st year coaches and tired of defenses getting beat by 2nd string quarterbacks. But yea beating pitt and Florida would definitely be great

 

[Doberman]

Imo by definition if we don’t beat Pitt and FL we haven’t “turned the corner” and are still rebuilding

I rubber stamp this as my thoughts as well.

 

[Ned Ray McWorkher]

I wouldn't say I am negative, just more of a realist.

Tennessee football is 8-42 against ranked opponents over the last ten years. Getting this line over .400 would make me feel better about the program. I like Heupel, I like the offense, but I also see a lot of deficiencies that will prevent them from reaching the top. BTW, he went 1-4 against ranked opponents last season.

Before anyone bashes me over the schedule, LSU and Texas A&M play Bama every year also, and Georgia has only recently been dominant. Tennessee can't even beat Florida when they are down.

Meh, why stop @ 10 years? Use the whole entire record or none of the record. If we're being "real" that is....

 

[SpookyAction]

I never lost my pride during any of the previous miserable seasons in recent memory. I also don't ride the hype train since the halftime of the UF game of Dooley's third season. I was so bought in and thought that offense would carry us, but the hard lesson was a huge offense is only a partial solution to beating any quality opponent.
Let's see if the defense is average. An average defense lifts our win potential in a very big way.

 

[lonelawyer]

I don't deny my case of Stage 3 Battered Vol Syndrome. I'm trying to recover and I believe Dr. Heupel has cure. That being said, it bothers me that FU beat Utah and Candy has shown a pulse. I want wins where I don't have to have stress and can watch our team pad stats. I've avoided message boards for two years. I'm back now and hopeful of a full recovery.

 

[Big Orange Rob]

Pride has nothing to do with having an honest assessment of where we are. My pride has never diminished. However, we simply do not have enough quality athletes across the board to "assume" we are going to waltz into a game and win because we are the Tennessee team of the 1990's. I think we are headed in the right direction, but it takes a while to catch up with the top tier teams. All the games that used to be automatic wins are closer to toss ups now. A couple of injuries to the OL, LB or and/or RB could severely impact this team. We could win, or lose, any of the following this year: FL, Pitt, LSU, S Car, Ky. Hopefully we win at least three of them.

 

[OrangeTsar]

I want to see what Richardson looks like against a team that will hit him and how they look vs an offense that is going to pound on them a little bit. I’m not ready to go all in on the Gators yet. If Rodriguez was playing I’d lean UK.

I hope UT is a „team that will hit him“. It is frustrating that our opening game still left so many questions about our defense. I know that is largely a factor of our opposition; but I will rest a lot easier once I see our D tee off on a quality opponent and put some solid pressure and hits on a QB

 

[Elhanan]

For UT to be “back” means we get back to the level of success we once knew.

The era of success most fans want to “get back” to is the 90’s.

So 10 or so wins a year. This means start beating two of our big three opponents and handle the mid tier and lower tier teams each year.

If we’re not doing that then we’re not “back”. If we’re not “back” then let’s keep building until we are. CJH seems capable and lacking any seriously damning flaws unlike the last four coaches.

Getting UT back will get back the fans swagger and raise expectations.

 

[RDU VOL#14]

I hope UT is a „team that will hit him“. It is frustrating that our opening game still left so many questions about our defense. I know that is largely a factor of our opposition; but I will rest a lot easier once I see our D tee off on a quality opponent and put some solid pressure and hits on a QB

This has Jeremy Banks written all over it.

 

[OrangeTsar]

For UT to be “back” means we get back to the level of success we once knew.

The era of success most fans want to “get back” to is the 90’s.

So 10 or so wins a year. This means start beating two of our big three opponents and handle the mid tier and lower tier teams each year.

If we’re not doing that then we’re not “back”. If we’re not “back” then let’s keep building until we are. CJH seems capable and lacking any seriously damning flaws unlike the last four coaches.

Getting UT back will get back the fans swagger and raise expectations.

Having the big three actually worry about playing us instead of scheduling us as homecoming would be a nice milestone

 

[OrangeTsar]

This has Jeremy Banks written all over it.

Time will (shortly) tell

 

[CAVPUT]

So much negativity.

I think for most....
We have to beat Pitt.
We have to beat Florida.

At that point fans will feel a lot better/like we are turning the corner.

Then to get fully back we need to beat Alabama. I think we can slip up in another game (just have an off game - it happens, it's college football)...LSU, South Carolina....

I think beating Georgia @ Georgia is too much to ask this year. But if we can win a game like @ Pitt, beat Florida, and somehow beat Alabama at home...even with a loss at LSU or a slip up somewhere else and finish 10-2 (which probably means a top 7 national ranking)....I think most fans will feel like Tennessee football is back and feel pretty good going forward. That's my take...

But for you doom and gloomers what will it take (in your own words) to make you feel good about the program?

Gimme a split between Pitt/UF and I'll be happy. Anything but 0-2 against those two will allow me to feel like we're actually making progress and perhaps starting to turn the corner with this program.

 

[Volnanza]

Actually, if you look at history, we actually usually play very well at Georgia. Don't know why. We usually melt in Gainesville but show up in Athens. If we can get within sniffing distance of their talent level, then we will start winning our fair share. If we equal them in talent we will dominate. Just ask Phil.

So much negativity.

I think for most....
We have to beat Pitt.
We have to beat Florida.

At that point fans will feel a lot better/like we are turning the corner.

Then to get fully back we need to beat Alabama. I think we can slip up in another game (just have an off game - it happens, it's college football)...LSU, South Carolina....

I think beating Georgia @ Georgia is too much to ask this year. But if we can win a game like @ Pitt, beat Florida, and somehow beat Alabama at home...even with a loss at LSU or a slip up somewhere else and finish 10-2 (which probably means a top 7 national ranking)....I think most fans will feel like Tennessee football is back and feel pretty good going forward. That's my take...

But for you doom and gloomers what will it take (in your own words) to make you feel good about the program?

 

[08Vol]

For me it will take this team actually beating good, highly ranked teams again. We just watched UF’s 1st year coach beat the #7 team in the country in his 1st game. The last time UT beat a team ranked in the top 7 was the 3rd week of 2005. Since then we’ve had 33 chances to beat a top 7 team and lost every single time.

Saban turned Bama around in year 2. Kirby turned UGA around in year 2. Kiffin turned Ole Miss around in year 2. Pittman turned Arkansas around in year 2.

What will it take to get my pride in UT football back? Turning the program around in year 2, like other good SEC coaches have done. If Heupel doesn’t have 9 wins this year or a win over one of Bama, UGA, or UF then he enters next year on the hot seat.

 

[LakeMaryFLVol]

Pride there...........But Hope..Optimism ..Real excitment..5-0 with a lead heading into the 4th on 10/15

 

[JRich]

Meh, why stop @ 10 years? Use the whole entire record or none of the record. If we're being "real" that is....

Just commenting on the recent downturn of the program, which I believe to be the point of the OP. If you want to look at the all time record and say everything is going great, be my guest, but that is far from the truth. All UT fans are begging for this program to be relevant again. In order for that to happen, they need to be better against ranked opponents.

 

[butchna]

So much negativity.

I think for most....
We have to beat Pitt.
We have to beat Florida.

At that point fans will feel a lot better/like we are turning the corner.

Then to get fully back we need to beat Alabama. I think we can slip up in another game (just have an off game - it happens, it's college football)...LSU, South Carolina....

I think beating Georgia @ Georgia is too much to ask this year. But if we can win a game like @ Pitt, beat Florida, and somehow beat Alabama at home...even with a loss at LSU or a slip up somewhere else and finish 10-2 (which probably means a top 7 national ranking)....I think most fans will feel like Tennessee football is back and feel pretty good going forward. That's my take...

But for you doom and gloomers what will it take (in your own words) to make you feel good about the program?

Season’s a failure if we lose to SC, Kentucky OR Vandy.

 

[CAVPUT]

Season’s a failure if we lose to SC, Kentucky OR Vandy.

Truth