Why are so many here scared of high expectations?

[Dobbs 4 Heisman]

So more and more people the last few weeks are trying to convince the rest of us that going 9-3 is okay. That not winning the east is okay. That we're not really there yet. That Florida, Georgia, and A&M are more talented.

My question is simple. Why?

We have a team on paper that CAN win the SEC championship. And if you do that, history tells us you can win the national title. If the rest of the country sees us as a contender, why run away from it?

I think the people trying to downplay expectations are afraid of what happens if we fall short. My counter is why? We got nowhere to go but up. This program has been a joke for the last 10 years. So what if we flop? We've got nothing to lose. Recruiting is already reeling. Butch Jones has assembled one of the most talented rosters in program history. If he can't win with these guys, he never will.

There's no more brick by brick. The house is built. Its now time to win championships. Anything short of that is a FAILURE. And guess what? That's okay.

So folks stop trying to downplay expectations. They say there are only two emotions in sports. Winning and misery. We've already been stuck in a decade of a misery. I don't know why one more year has so many here scared.

 

[Catbone]

Look how that's worked out for us in the past. I and many other have to see it to believe it, cautiously optimistic.

 

[Dobbs 4 Heisman]

Look how that's worked out for us in the past. I and many other have to see it to believe it, cautiously optimistic.

And that's why I don't get it.

We've already experienced failure.

Why would failing again scare you?

 

[Grey_pilgrim]

The past couple of years expectations have been high and we've failed to reach them. Losing big games, in which we had late forth quarter leads, does little to build faith. If we beat the Gators my stance will change. But we've lost to them 11 times in a row so until we do color me skeptical.

 

[Iam4utalways]

So more and more people the last few weeks are trying to convince the rest of us that going 9-3 is okay. That not winning the east is okay. That we're not really there yet. That Florida, Georgia, and A&M are more talented.

My question is simple. Why?

We have a team on paper that CAN win the SEC championship. And if you do that, history tells us you can win the national title. If the rest of the country sees us as a contender, why run away from it?

I think the people trying to downplay expectations are afraid of what happens if we fall short. My counter is why? We got nowhere to go but up. This program has been a joke for the last 10 years. So what if we flop? We've got nothing to lose. Recruiting is already reeling. Butch Jones has assembled one of the most talented rosters in program history. If he can't win with these guys, he never will.

There's no more brick by brick. The house is built. Its now time to win championships. Anything short of that is a FAILURE. And guess what? That's okay.

So I'm saying all this to say stop trying to downplay expectations. They say there are only two emotions in sports. Winning and misery. We've already been stuck in a decade of a misery. I don't know why one more year has so many here scared.

Only someone that cares for the Vols rather than checking out during tough times, could begin to answer correctly.

Misery is the answer. The bigger the wave the harder the crash.

And others are consumed by the statistics. And yet find the odds are in our favor to have a breakout NC year.

See you in Tampa.

 

[VolPack22]

It's probably because we have expected things before only to be let down. It's hard for people to get excited when you've been in the dumps for a decade. I fully believe that we can and should beat everyone on our schedule but I'm prepared for the worst too so a 9 win season wouldn't surprise me. We should without a doubt get 10 minimum but crazy things happen in sports and like coach said our last 5 loses are by 25 points. thats a lot of heartbreak in those loses alone not to mention the last 10 years of loses.

 

[BigOrange15]

Because we are Tennessee fans. We are used to constantly getting kicked in the nuts.

 

[volsportsfan]

So more and more people the last few weeks are trying to convince the rest of us that going 9-3 is okay. That not winning the east is okay. That we're not really there yet. That Florida, Georgia, and A&M are more talented.

My question is simple. Why?

We have a team on paper that CAN win the SEC championship. And if you do that, history tells us you can win the national title. If the rest of the country sees us as a contender, why run away from it?

I think the people trying to downplay expectations are afraid of what happens if we fall short. My counter is why? We got nowhere to go but up. This program has been a joke for the last 10 years. So what if we flop? We've got nothing to lose. Recruiting is already reeling. Butch Jones has assembled one of the most talented rosters in program history. If he can't win with these guys, he never will.

There's no more brick by brick. The house is built. Its now time to win championships. Anything short of that is a FAILURE. And guess what? That's okay.

So folks stop trying to downplay expectations. They say there are only two emotions in sports. Winning and misery. We've already been stuck in a decade of a misery. I don't know why one more year has so many here scared.

We have a coach who hasn't proved that he can win against the best. If Nick Saban or Meyer were the coach of this team I would feel more confident. Why? Because they have proved it.

 

[ajvol01]

So more and more people the last few weeks are trying to convince the rest of us that going 9-3 is okay. That not winning the east is okay. That we're not really there yet. That Florida, Georgia, and A&M are more talented.

My question is simple. Why?

We have a team on paper that CAN win the SEC championship. And if you do that, history tells us you can win the national title. If the rest of the country sees us as a contender, why run away from it?

I think the people trying to downplay expectations are afraid of what happens if we fall short. My counter is why? We got nowhere to go but up. This program has been a joke for the last 10 years. So what if we flop? We've got nothing to lose. Recruiting is already reeling. Butch Jones has assembled one of the most talented rosters in program history. If he can't win with these guys, he never will.

There's no more brick by brick. The house is built. Its now time to win championships. Anything short of that is a FAILURE. And guess what? That's okay.

So folks stop trying to downplay expectations. They say there are only two emotions in sports. Winning and misery. We've already been stuck in a decade of a misery. I don't know why one more year has so many here scared.

http://www.volnation.com/forum/tenn...41066-chance-team-optimistic-predictions.html

 

[BonesVol]

I'm on board with OP. I'm numb to the letdown at this point. I'm full steam ahead this year. The past is the past and I became a fan that didn't want to set myself up for the fall. This year, this year is definitely different. We're loaded with talent and experience. These kids are battle tested and if it's gonna happen, this is the best year we've seen in a long time. I'm riding the hype all the way to Atlanta! GBO!

 

[Dobbs 4 Heisman]

The past couple of years expectations have been high and we've failed to reach them. Losing big games, in which we had late forth quarter leads, does little to build faith. If we beat the Gators my stance will change. But we've lost to them 11 times in a row so until we do color me skeptical.

Stop with this fiction.

Nobody expected anything from us in 2014. We were the only team in college football replacing all our starters along the offensive and defensive lines. We were planning to play 20+ true freshmen. Most said we would not reach a bowl game. That team exceeded expectations by going 7-6.

In 2015 you had a few blowharts like myself predicting a 10-2 season plus maybe an upset victory in the SEC championship game. However, most had us predicted to finish second in the east. Guess where we finished? 2nd in the east. The AP and coaches poll had us as the #25 team in the preseason poll. Guess where we finished at the end of the season? #22 and #23 respectively in the AP and coaches poll. Vegas had the over/under on our regular season win total at 7.5 games. Guess what? We won 8 games.

So you're completely wrong about this team falling short of expectations the last 2 years. In fact, if we look objectively, they slightly EXCEEDED EXPECTATIONS both seasons.

 

[Iam4utalways]

I'm on board with OP. I'm numb to the letdown at this point. I'm full steam ahead this year. The past is the past and I became a fan that didn't want to set myself up for the fall. This year, this year is definitely different. We're loaded with talent and experience. These kids are battle tested and if it's gonna happen, this is the best year we've seen in a long time. I'm riding the hype all the way to Atlanta! GBO!

It's all the way to Tampa.

 

[chargervol]

And that's why I don't get it.

We've already experienced failure.

Why would failing again scare you?

"We've" experienced failure?
Lol.


But it's just honest opinions.
I may disagree with them, but I don't find skeptical people scared.

It shouldn't bother you imo.

 

[KnoxRealtorVOL]

We have a coach who hasn't proved that he can win against the best. If Nick Saban or Meyer were the coach of this team I would feel more confident. Why? Because they have proved it.

This right here.

We're scared of high expectations because we're still very unsure if Butch can get it done.

 

[ajvol01]

Stop with this fiction.

Nobody expected anything from us in 2014. We were the only team in college football replacing all our starters along the offensive and defensive lines. We were planning to play 20+ true freshmen. Most said we would not reach a bowl game. That team exceeded expectations by going 7-6.

In 2015 you had a few blowharts like myself predicting a 11-1 season plus maybe an upset victory in the SEC championship game. However, most had us predicted to finish second in the east. Guess where we finished? 2nd in the east. The AP and coaches poll had us as the #25 team in the preseason poll. Guess where we finished at the end of the season? #22 and #23 respectively in the AP and coaches poll. Vegas had the over/under on our regular season win total at 7.5 games. Guess what? We won 8 games.

So you're completely wrong about this team falling short of expectations the last 2 years. In fact, if we look objectively, they slightly EXCEEDED EXPECTATIONS both seasons.

Fyp

 

[Dobbs 4 Heisman]

http://www.volnation.com/forum/tenn...41066-chance-team-optimistic-predictions.html

And guess what? We were a 4th and goal stop against Oklahoma in OT and a 4th and 14 stop against Florida from being 11-1 last year with a second chance against Alabama in the SEC championship.

I fully believe that if we hang on against Oklahoma and Florida we beat Arkansas. Alabama would still be too much to handle in Tuscaloosa. But I would have loved our chances against them in a rematch in Atlanta.

Team 119 was a few plays away from making me look like a psychic.

 

[ajvol01]

And guess what? We were a 4th and goal stop against Oklahoma in OT and a 4th and 14 stop against Florida from being 11-1 last year with a second chance against Alabama in the SEC championship.

I fully believe that if we hang on against Oklahoma and Florida we beat Arkansas. Alabama would still be too much to handle in Tuscaloosa. But I would have loved our chances against them in a rematch in Atlanta.

Team 119 was a few plays away from making me look like a psychic.

"If ifs and buts were candy and nuts we'd all have a merry Christmas"

 

[Dobbs 4 Heisman]

It's probably because we have expected things before only to be let down. It's hard for people to get excited when you've been in the dumps for a decade. I fully believe that we can and should beat everyone on our schedule but I'm prepared for the worst too so a 9 win season wouldn't surprise me. We should without a doubt get 10 minimum but crazy things happen in sports and like coach said our last 5 loses are by 25 points. thats a lot of heartbreak in those loses alone not to mention the last 10 years of loses.

Maybe it's because I checked out for most of the last decade but can you remind me when people had expectations this high about Tennessee football only to be let down?

I don't think we've been ranked in the preseason top 10 since 2005.

If folks had high expectations from 2006-2014 only to be letdown, they only have themselves to blame because nobody else considering Tennessee a national title contender during that timeframe.

So please tell me about all these times Tennessee football has fallen short of expectations like this in the last decade?

 

[1truevol]

Why??...because so many fans on here will implode if we don't win Championships this year. They don't want to hear that big games often to come down to two or three critical plays that absolutely determine the outcome. All they see is a talented roster "finally" and EXPECT 11/12 wins...never mind that other SEC teams have very talented rosters as well...don't you think those teams have thenverynsame goals that we do??? As for me...I'm truly hoping for special season..but things happen (key injuries, a bad call here or there, or 50/50 plays that don't go our way)...that's football! At the end of the day, I'm gonna lovemand support my Vols like I have year in and year out. I think we are finally credible again talent wise...and that is ABSOLUTELY due to Butch Jones. So those of you who want to call for his head if we go 9-3..simply wake up..stop listening and "assuming" and believing media "experts" know more than our coaches. Support our player,coaches, and this program...they're worth it!

 

[Grey_pilgrim]

And guess what? We were a 4th and goal stop against Oklahoma in OT and a 4th and 14 stop against Florida from being 11-1 last year with a second chance against Alabama in the SEC championship.

I fully believe that if we hang on against Oklahoma and Florida we beat Arkansas. Alabama would still be too much to handle in Tuscaloosa. But I would have loved our chances against them in a rematch in Atlanta.

Team 119 was a few plays away from making me look like a psychic.

We needed a miracle come back to beat UGA and a miracle stop to beat USCe. Works both ways dude.

 

[KnoxRealtorVOL]

maybe it's because i checked out for most of the last decade but can you remind me when people had expectations this high about tennessee football only to be let down?

I don't think we've been ranked in the preseason top 10 since 2005.

If folks had high expectations from 2006-2014 only to be letdown, they only have themselves to blame because nobody else considering tennessee a national title contender during that timeframe.

So please tell me about all these times tennessee football has fallen short of expectations like this in the last decade?

2008
2009
2012

 

[GoVolunteers]

And that's why I don't get it.

We've already experienced failure.

Why would failing again scare you?

It doesn't scare me at all. I am a realist and try to not let my orange colored glasses skew what is probably a closer view of reality. I more than anyone want a national championship but I also know that wanting is one thing but there are 128 teams with talented youngsters all trying there very best to be successful.

 

[99gator]

I think Tennessee can win the East.

I don't think they can win the SEC title.

 

[KnoxRealtorVOL]

We needed a miracle come back to beat UGA and a miracle stop to beat USCe. Works both ways dude.

What miracle happened in the UGA game? Seems to me we just flat outplayed them.

 

[Dobbs 4 Heisman]

Fyp

No. My official prediction was 10-2.

I only argued that 11-1 was possible along with a playoff run.

And really if you look at our season and how closely we played 2 playoff teams (Oklahoma and Alabama), it was certainly possible.