What would you consider a disappointing season?

[Big Orange Captain]

I’ve seen several prognosticators picking us to go 7-5 and even 6-6 and one guy saying we could be like FSU last year and have losing season. It just pisses me off that so many people are sliding us way down in the rankings and writing us off. I hope this motivates our boys to come out and prove them fools wrong. Personally i got us going 9-3 this season and while i would love for us to be back in the playoff again im not expecting a return trip this season but i could live with 9-3 or even 8-4 but anything worse than that then i will be disappointed with. What about you guys and what would you consider a disappointment this season? 7-5 or 6-6 to me barring a rash of injuries would be an awful season.

 

[camp_steveo]

9-3

10-2 or better is good for the Vols. Any less is a drop off.

 

[bpalmer28]

7-5. I'm expecting 8-4 but think 9-3 is doable. 10-2 or better is possible but feels kind of dreamy considering the unknown at QB.

 

[VOLINVONORE]

8-4.

 

[berry4138]

Losing to Florida

 

[WillisWG]

Three returning starters on offense ( 2 of those guys are in red jerseys), eight defensively and two specialists, I am sitting on the sidelines with no expectations right now. I believe we're underrated but need some confirmation first. D will be outstanding.

 

[OffTackleVol]

I’ve seen several prognosticators picking us to go 7-5 and even 6-6 and one guy saying we could be like FSU last year and have losing season. It just pisses me off that so many people are sliding us way down in the rankings and writing us off. I hope this motivates our boys to come out and prove them fools wrong. Personally i got us going 9-3 this season and while i would love for us to be back in the playoff again im not expecting a return trip this season but i could live with 9-3 or even 8-4 but anything worse than that then i will be disappointed with. What about you guys and what would you consider a disappointment this season? 7-5 or 6-6 to me barring a rash of injuries would be an awful season.

8-4 would be disappointing to me. As I and several other posters on here have said multiple times, this is Heup's most talented roster at UT. What concerns me is that it's inexperienced talent.

 

[GreveHaller]

Seeing bama win a NC

 

[YankeeVol]

Less than 8 wins (before a bowl game).

 

[PC Jr.]

I’ve seen several prognosticators picking us to go 7-5 and even 6-6 and one guy saying we could be like FSU last year and have losing season. It just pisses me off that so many people are sliding us way down in the rankings and writing us off. I hope this motivates our boys to come out and prove them fools wrong. Personally i got us going 9-3 this season and while i would love for us to be back in the playoff again im not expecting a return trip this season but i could live with 9-3 or even 8-4 but anything worse than that then i will be disappointed with. What about you guys and what would you consider a disappointment this season? 7-5 or 6-6 to me barring a rash of injuries would be an awful season.

I’ve been one of the 6-6 guys. I hate that. I really morn the loss of the excitement I used to have leading up to the first Saturday of the season. Maybe it’s year after year of unrealistic expectations or the agonizing losses of games the Vols were picked to win. I just don’t get amped for football now. I hope that will change starting this year … but this team doesn’t look like they are headed that direction. I’d love to be so so wrong and for them to go back to the playoff. Most position groups have enough concerns to case doubt on winning 7 or 8 (at least to me). I hope you guys can convince me to get fired up and that this team is going to surprise me. Please do! Tennessee Football is one of the things that makes the fall the best season of the year. I miss the excitement and want it back.

 

[Nico ee-ah-MAH-LAY-ah-va]

Less than 8 is bad. 8 is okay. 9 is a good season. Anything above that is a great season.

 

[zjcvols]

Less than 8 wins (before a bowl game).

Anything below 8 wins means they lost one to Syracuse, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Miss State or Arkansas...that would be unacceptable.

8-4: Bare Minimum
9-3: Expectation
10-2: Great season
11-1/12-0: Put Heupel in the HOF

 

[PEPPERJAX]

A record of 8-4 or below isn't moving the needle for anyone unless injuries mount. Let's face it, UT has a favorable schedule this year and should take advantage of it. Bama and UGA are the only two teams with superior rosters, so there is no shame in losing those games but our talent looks closer to Bama's right now instead of UGA. UF is a loss until UT can win a damn game in the swamp. 9-3 is realistic, especially if QB play is solid this year. All of the other teams remaining on the schedule have inferior rosters and UT should be the favorites. Honestly, going 9-3 if far from the end of the world, however, if Heupel manages to win 1 of either UGA, UF, or bama, then we are most likely a 10 win team. GBO!!!

 

[B81]

Anything under 7 wins is a huge disappointment.

 

[PEPPERJAX]

Anything below 8 wins means they lost one to Syracuse, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Miss State or Arkansas...that would be unacceptable.

8-4: Bare Minimum
9-3: Expectation
10-2: Great season
11-1/12-0: Put Heupel in the HOF

Agreed

No reason to drop those games.

 

[YankeeVol]

A record of 8-4 or below isn't moving the needle for anyone unless injuries mount. Let's face it, UT has a favorable schedule this year and should take advantage of it. Bama and UGA are the only two teams with superior rosters, so there is no shame in losing those games but our talent looks closer to Bama's right now instead of UGA. UF is a loss until UT can win a damn game in the swamp. 9-3 is realistic, especially if QB play is solid this year. All of the other teams remaining on the schedule have inferior rosters and UT should be the favorites. Honestly, going 9-3 if far from the end of the world, however, if Heupel manages to win 1 of either UGA, UF, or bama, then we are most likely a 10 win team. GBO!!!

Fun fact: All 16 SEC teams rank among the 20 hardest schedules in the country, according to ESPN's metrics, from the grueling path for Florida (No. 1) to the easy (relatively speaking) slate at Missouri (No. 20).

 

[Nico ee-ah-MAH-LAY-ah-va]

Seeing bama win a NC

I would be pretty shocked if they did. They have the talent, but there are holes on that roster that have not been solved.

QB is a huge question mark with Simpson. Their defense overall is questionable. They have a lot of talent, but they were pretty bad last year, and DeBoer is not a defensive mastermind.

 

[vegasvolfan]

I’ve seen several prognosticators picking us to go 7-5 and even 6-6 and one guy saying we could be like FSU last year and have losing season. It just pisses me off that so many people are sliding us way down in the rankings and writing us off. I hope this motivates our boys to come out and prove them fools wrong. Personally i got us going 9-3 this season and while i would love for us to be back in the playoff again im not expecting a return trip this season but i could live with 9-3 or even 8-4 but anything worse than that then i will be disappointed with. What about you guys and what would you consider a disappointment this season? 7-5 or 6-6 to me barring a rash of injuries would be an awful season.

I don’t have too much of an issue with people thinking we will take a dip after losing a starting QB, most of our OL, DL, best receiverr and a RB that put the offense on his back for much of the season. We were not that good of an offense last year as it was.

We may reup in some of those areas, but what’s more disappointing to me is that we don’t have a clear starting center and we were pretty far off having a backup QB ready to step in like these championship teams typically do.

I will not be surprised if we take a big step back this year and would prefer to be surprised by not doing so than ignore all of that and feel let down. Huepel has surprised me two out of his 4 years here already, so hopefully it happens again this year!

 

[PEPPERJAX]

Fun fact: All 16 SEC teams rank among the 20 hardest schedules in the country, according to ESPN's metrics, from the grueling path for Florida (No. 1) to the easy (relatively speaking) slate at Missouri (No. 20).

Where do we rank?

 

[YankeeVol]

Where do we rank?

15th

Only Ole Miss (16th) and Mizzou (20th) are lower

 

[zjcvols]

15th

Only Ole Miss (16th) and Mizzou (20th) are lower

Getting Miss State on the road early in the year instead of going to Florida is such a massive, massive W for the coaching staff.

 

[Big Orange Captain]

Anything under 7 wins is a huge disappointment.

agreed. This Heupel’s 5th season the floor this season should be 8-4 but we should be at the point where we are competing for the SEC every season and making the playoff. I mean Heupel got us to 7-5 in his first season with a patchwork roster and alot of people were expecting a 5-7 or 4-8 season so i certainly don’t think we do worse than 8-4 this season. I think Heupel does get a big road win against Florida.

 

[Big Orange Captain]

Losing to Florida

i think we end that swamp losing streak this year

 

[VFL-82-JP]

I recognized in Josh Heupel's second season that he's bringing us back to championship football, and said the expectation EVERY season going forward should be something between 8-4 and 12-0. 8-4 is the floor. 12-0 is the ceiling. Every year. Every single season can fall anywhere in that range.

So given that 8-4 is the floor, anything less than that (in other words, 7-5 or below) would be a disappointment.

Go Vols!

 

[vegasvolfan]

I was thinking 7-5 would leave me disappointed. 8-4/9-3 won’t exactly excite me either.