Would you call it a "successful" season?

#51
#51
Freak said:
They don't have any signature wins, either. (Texas State, Lamar, Arkansas, Ole Miss, Miss. St, UTSA and South Carolina).

I know LSU is fantastic, but I'll take the team like Tennessee with momentum over the team that just lost 50-7.

I point this out, not because I think Tennessee is the best 7-5 team in the country, but I think we're a better bowl draw and should get a better placement than the Aggies. JMO.
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No argument here. All good points.
 
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#53
#53
It was a very successful recovery.

No excuse for Ga St. or BYU to a lesser degree.

Pruitt holding this bunch together and keeping them bought in after the finish last year followed by the start this year was impressive for a green HC that's still trying to figure things out himself.
 
#54
#54
Other_Guy said:
Most media and even VN posters predicted between 5-7 and 7-5. I don't recall seeing many 4-8s or 8-4s. I predicted 6-6.
So the team goes 7-5. Wouldn't anything better be overachieving, given the dumpster fire 2 years ago, young OL and even worse DL entering this season, and the disastrous start to QB play/injuries?
The opposed will point to losing to GSU and BYU and ask how could one say successful with inexcusable loses to them. I understand, and yes, they were inexcusable.
But did you consider what a 7-5 team that beat GSU and BYU would mean? They're losing to Miss St, Kentucky, Missouri, SCjr or Vandy. Had they upset someone that means they would have dropped 3 of those 5 games mentioned. Would you really rather them end on another sour note, or get the bad play out of the way and start rolling into 2020?
I don't think it's fair to predict 6-6 or 7-5, then say "Oh it's not really successful because they should be 9-3".
So if anyone doesn't think it was a "successful" season, I am curious as to how you would have rather the 7-5 season play out.
Super pumped about finding out the bowl game matchup and then... bring on Oklahoma!
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Yes....

I predicted anywhere between 6-6 to 8-4. I also expected us to go 4-4 in the SEC...We finished up 5-3 in the SEC.
The first 2 losses were hard to take....but the BYU game was lost on extremely poor execution on 2 plays...one on offense at the end of the first half.
And one on defense at the end of the 2nd half.
 
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#55
#55
Sometimes in life success isn't defined by meeting your highest expectations, for countless reasons, it has to be defined by your response to initial failure. We're all disappointed at the failures in the beginning but I'm personally very content with the recovery and final outcome.

I believe better days are ahead under Pruitt.
 
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#56
#56
Other_Guy said:
Most media and even VN posters predicted between 5-7 and 7-5. I don't recall seeing many 4-8s or 8-4s. I predicted 6-6.
So the team goes 7-5. Wouldn't anything better be overachieving, given the dumpster fire 2 years ago, young OL and even worse DL entering this season, and the disastrous start to QB play/injuries?
The opposed will point to losing to GSU and BYU and ask how could one say successful with inexcusable loses to them. I understand, and yes, they were inexcusable.
But did you consider what a 7-5 team that beat GSU and BYU would mean? They're losing to Miss St, Kentucky, Missouri, SCjr or Vandy. Had they upset someone that means they would have dropped 3 of those 5 games mentioned. Would you really rather them end on another sour note, or get the bad play out of the way and start rolling into 2020?
I don't think it's fair to predict 6-6 or 7-5, then say "Oh it's not really successful because they should be 9-3".
So if anyone doesn't think it was a "successful" season, I am curious as to how you would have rather the 7-5 season play out.
Super pumped about finding out the bowl game matchup and then... bring on Oklahoma!
Click to expand...

3 game win improvement in SEC is massive success. Especially with the bozos here saying we would go 0-8 in league play
 
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#57
#57
Other_Guy said:
Most media and even VN posters predicted between 5-7 and 7-5. I don't recall seeing many 4-8s or 8-4s. I predicted 6-6.
So the team goes 7-5. Wouldn't anything better be overachieving, given the dumpster fire 2 years ago, young OL and even worse DL entering this season, and the disastrous start to QB play/injuries?
The opposed will point to losing to GSU and BYU and ask how could one say successful with inexcusable loses to them. I understand, and yes, they were inexcusable.
But did you consider what a 7-5 team that beat GSU and BYU would mean? They're losing to Miss St, Kentucky, Missouri, SCjr or Vandy. Had they upset someone that means they would have dropped 3 of those 5 games mentioned. Would you really rather them end on another sour note, or get the bad play out of the way and start rolling into 2020?
I don't think it's fair to predict 6-6 or 7-5, then say "Oh it's not really successful because they should be 9-3".
So if anyone doesn't think it was a "successful" season, I am curious as to how you would have rather the 7-5 season play out.
Super pumped about finding out the bowl game matchup and then... bring on Oklahoma!
Click to expand...

Agree. It would be fair to say UT started off much worse than expected but ended up exactly where most able minded Vol fans thought we would be in preseason. Say what you will about the East but I’m thrilled with a winning record in the conference. I don’t think UT is “back” by any means. I can still see areas to improve on and need to be more consistent. Coach Pruitt says everything Vol fans need to hear in the post game (imo) ... and with that being said I have a lot more confidence in the staff especially after this team bought in and they turned it around.

Sadly, for the board anyway, we have to go back to life back to reality...

Looking at the numbers I’m afraid Florida and Georgia are further along than UT is right now. But UT is the team that’s right there, just outside that window looking in. The main thing is to just hang in there for a few years. Be competitive. Don’t get run off the field! I think Pruitt is the guy that can take care of business with everyone else- the Missouri’s and Kentucky’s, etc. But I’m starting to believe he can steal some wins from the perceived better teams. We’ve seen glimpses. Like I said, hang in there Vol fans.
 
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#58
#58
I consider it a successful season. Still a long way to go but after the disastrous start, it was good to see the team keep fighting and improving. Coach Pruitt is learning on the job but at least he seems willing to learn as opposed to Butch Jones who always believed he knew it all.
 
#59
#59
Yep...especially after starting 0-2 and most thinking winning anything might be impossible.
 
#60
#60
Not in my opinion. 8-4 should have been the minimum to be considered successful.

We had much easier schedule than last yr, home schedule was very conducive, and we should have gone 9-3.

We got much better as the season progressed, but we did not beat a "very good" team. We did not beat any SEC team that was considered good.
 
#61
#61
A successful season would have been winning the 9 games that they clearly should have won. 7-5 is a "meets expectations" season if it were under normal circumstances because that's about where everyone had them pegged in yr 2 of Pruitt. In reality it's a "escape by the hair of your chinny chin chin" season. They should have been dead in the water but somehow escaped disaster.
 
#63
#63
I love the way it ended, starting having a bit of hope several games back so I'm happy with the direction. Pruitt absolutely failed to have his team ready to play coming out of fall camp though and that is irrefutable. I do believe he learned a lesson there.
 
#64
#64
I will give an unenthusiastic “yes, it was successful”. 7-5 isn’t going to impress anyone on a national level, but Tennessee did win two more games than they did the previous season. Those seven wins came against mediocre teams, but I’ll take it.

For 2020, I think Tennessee needs to win at least 8 regular season games and a minimum of one of those wins needs to come against Florida, Georgia, or Ala****.
 
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#65
#65
Success isn’t exactly the word I would use. I don’t want to take away from the 5 game win streak, but for it to be a “Successful” season I think we needed to either not lose to GA ST OR upset someone like FL, GA, or Bama.
 
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#66
#66
Successful based upon where we have fallen. I am pleased with what I’ve seen from CJP the last month.
 
#67
#67
I would say yes but not because of the record. I saw a change in the culture. It was visible to us at UAB when we came up there. UT went from playing football to competing again. During the Butch Bricks era a lot of guys were there wearing the uniform but they never learned to compete and consequently didn’t learn to win. During the last half of the season I saw guys who felt like they were the best team on the field and they went out with the intention to prove it and I include the Alabama game in that as well. With the young guys you have coming back they will assume the leadership roles and they know how to win.
 
#68
#68
I would call it a much improved team, successful season would have been winning games 1-2
 
#70
#70
As a long time Vol fan 7-5 stings and it’s hard to call that success.

There were 7 successes, 3 failures and 2 complete disasters.

On a personal note I was able to attend 2 games. 1-1 and I enjoyed all of 1 game and most of the other one.

The success or failure of this year will be measured by the momentum that is carried over to 2020. With a successful(win) bowl game, the Vols should be set up to have a good year.
 
#71
#71
Other_Guy said:
So you expected a 9-3 season?
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I did not expect 9 wins, but I also did not expect 0-2 start. Wins and losses matter in terms of success of course, but I was more interested in the progress of the team and development of the young players. Defense as a whole and Offensive line improvement is very promising.
 
#72
#72
Other_Guy said:
So you expected a 9-3 season?
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When you looked at how things played out and how bad some of the teams on our schedule ended up being it's easy to see how a team you expected to win 6 games could have easily won 9.
 
#74
#74
Since success is defined so subjectively I'll avoid saying it was or was not successful.

I will say it was this,
It's Great to be a Tennessee Vol!

Looking forward to an exciting bowl game win especially for our seniors that have endured so much over their time on Rocky Top. They deserve to go out winners and to be able to look back over the years to come and say we put those Vols back on the map like we promised the day we committed.

Go Vols
 
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