How would a loss this Saturday affect the program?

#177
#177
Something people are missing is we are trying to run a new system on both sides of the ball. Many of the players we have are not the type of players we need for the systems. But, you have to start somewhere. I don't think we have played a single team that is learning a completely new system on both sides of the ball. Given the facts, the record is about where I thought it would be. Do I think we can beat Vandy? Sure we can. We will have to play a good game and we will have to play like we are on a mission. But we can do it. Play like we did against KY and we win. Anything less and is going to be hard to pull off the win. GO VOLS
 
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#179
#179
Anybody who knows where we are and how far they have come knows that the game is a tossup. It want affect us going forward because were gonna get much better expect they are reaching their peak and will again be Candy real soon when they play us.
 
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#180
#180
Slydell said:
You don't lose to Kentucky or Vanderbilt or you lose fans and questions should be asked.
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Agree. In my mind the Vandy game was the most important game this year going into the season. I don't know why everyone thinks Vandy is Alabama North now. We should be expecting to win and prepared to win. Anything else and there will be a pall of "blind squirrel picks up an acorn" on the Auburn and KY wins for this coaching staff and doubts will be raised.
 
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#181
#181
No way this team should be confused with the Buth Jone's era. There are some similarities as far as the overall record is concerned. But competing for 4 quarters is night and day different. I thought this was an emotionally whipped team midseason last year and most fans that were honest with themselves could see signs of players quitting on the head coach.

The culture is a changing and bringing in new players will continue to change the talent level and the character of the program. Next year, guys not giving their all will be more isolated, spotted earlier and most of all, dealt with by the position coaches with more immediate options. As long as the vols go down swinging Saturday, next season will still be a dramatic turnaround.
 
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#182
#182
GoVols15 said:
Some would say melodrama while others would call reality! Time to see the Vols like the rest of America does! Truth hurts!
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Except that it isn't reality. It won't change how the the team prepares for next season. It won't change how the coaches coach and recruit. It won't change who's on the schedule next year and the years to come. It changes nothing about the future except what volnation complains about all winter.
 
#184
#184
A bowl game and extra practice is crucial for this new coaching staff and I hope they realize it. Pruitt said himself that he has never been at a program that hasn't been in the hunt for championships so he may not realize how far behind the team will be next year without that extra bowl prep. Fulmer knows how important this game is so I am hopeful this team will come out with purpose. This game is critical for the program moving forward.
 
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#185
#185
Roustabout said:
If you look at attendance, this is a lot worse than people want to acknowledge. You can bitch about negavols on a forum but the empty seats don’t lie. Fan apathy is the worst I’ve seen it in my lifetime.
Pruitt is not an engaging personality so it would be better if he and his staff had done a guru like coaching job. Losing by the same score at home that you did on the road last year, by Derek Freaking Dooley tells me all I need to know. This thing is in the shitter.

I know there are talent deficiencies but I’d think you’d have an Oline able to properly line up and not continue getting procedure penalties. Or, still be clueless about who to block. It’s one thing to get physically beat. It’s another to just not block, which has happened on many occasions.

A loss to Vandy will hurt recruiting. It will hurt fan interest. It will hurt donations. The stadium renovations were put on hold. It’s money. It ain’t coming in like it was or should. A loss will erase any momentum you picked up from beating UK. A win will set people at ease, and give us a bowl to focus on.
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Attendance is down all around.
 
#186
#186
SaintLouisVol said:
Except that it isn't reality. It won't change how the the team prepares for next season. It won't change how the coaches coach and recruit. It won't change who's on the schedule next year and the years to come. It changes nothing about the future except what volnation complains about all winter.
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That is not my point that I made perfectly clear! It won't change how the coaches coach but the "good" coaches may and have looked elsewhere. Yes it won't change the schedule but the more Ls put on the schedule keeps sinking us lower down to Minnesota football level, we are currently a lower tier program in the SEC and no person can argue with this fact. It's been since 1998 that we have even smelled anything like a SEC Championship. You are so wrong, losing breeds losing just like wining breeds winning. How you play impacts EVERYTHING from the quality of coaches you can get, to the players and to the fan base. GET MY POINT!

Can we change it, absolutely, but the damage that has been done to our team, even with the best of luck, is going to take years to recover. So far, at least, very little improvement has occurred over the last decade. Still a VFL, and always will be, but my expectations for the program has definitely turned for the worse. I will believe it when I see it. In the meantime my financial support is definitely slowing down. GO VOLS!

Ever year we play like a lower tier program just diminishes the T image more and more, both internally and externally. You need to take your orange colored glasses off and look at REALITY!
 
#187
#187
Eddie Vol Halen said:
Agree. In my mind the Vandy game was the most important game this year going into the season. I don't know why everyone thinks Vandy is Alabama North now. We should be expecting to win and prepared to win. Anything else and there will be a pall of "blind squirrel picks up an acorn" on the Auburn and KY wins for this coaching staff and doubts will be raised.
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Maybe because they've beat us 4 out of the last 6 games??? This isn't the 90s and we've been through 5 coaches in 10 years so this isn't the gimmie game it used to be.
 
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#188
#188
Tourney3p0 said:
Just look at it. 7 pages of people pretending this is the standard pace of improvement for what we'd like to think is a top tier program.
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Its salt and peppered with people pretending season is already over, coach has failed and there is zero hope for Tennessee football. Ever.

Just keeping it real.
 
#189
#189
Behr said:
Its salt and peppered with people pretending season is already over, coach has failed and there is zero hope for Tennessee football. Ever.

Just keeping it real.
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Let's BE REAL, very few have said Coach Pruitt has failed, in fact I still hope Coach Pruitt succeeds! The reality is we are currently seen, by the majority of sports fans, as a lower tier program that has some but not anywhere near recent tradition. All the hype videos, articles from UT and comments by fans not in REALITY will change this reality until, and if, the Vol program begins winning again on the field. It is what it is. Maybe not forever but time will tell, and even if we start winning we are in a hole that will take us years to recover! Truth hurts but it is truth! Please keep it real!
 
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#190
#190
GoVols15 said:
Let's BE REAL, very few have said Coach Pruitt has failed, in fact I still hope Coach Pruitt succeeds! The reality is we are currently seen, by the majority of sports fans, as a lower tier program that has some but not anywhere near recent tradition. All the hype videos, articles from UT and comments by fans not in REALITY will change this reality until, and if, the Vol program begins winning again on the field. It is what it is. Maybe not forever but time will tell, and even if we start winning we are in a hole that will take us years to recover! Truth hurts but it is truth!
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Lets be really real. What is your point?
 
#193
#193
GoVols15 said:
That is not my point that I made perfectly clear! It won't change how the coaches coach but the "good" coaches may and have looked elsewhere. Yes it won't change the schedule but the more Ls put on the schedule keeps sinking us lower down to Minnesota football level, we are currently a lower tier program in the SEC and no person can argue with this fact. It's been since 1998 that we have even smelled anything like a SEC Championship. You are so wrong, losing breeds losing just like wining breeds winning. How you play impacts EVERYTHING from the quality of coaches you can get, to the players and to the fan base. GET MY POINT!

Can we change it, absolutely, but the damage that has been done to our team, even with the best of luck, is going to take years to recover. So far, at least, very little improvement has occurred over the last decade. Still a VFL, and always will be, but my expectations for the program has definitely turned for the worse. I will believe it when I see it. In the meantime my financial support is definitely slowing down. GO VOLS!

Ever year we play like a lower tier program just diminishes the T image more and more, both internally and externally. You need to take your orange colored glasses off and look at REALITY!
Click to expand...

How come we didn't get "OFFICIALLY stuck" last year, after finishing 4-8, firing the coach, and losing a three possession game to Vanderbilt? It seems like the sticking officials would have been there to sign the death certificate and file the papers on our destiny. What makes this particular game the line in the sand that will forever shape the world as we know it? Was it declared by vote or decree?

If your point is that as long as the team continues to play bad, they will be considered bad, then thanks a lot. I'll enlighten you with a mind blower: "water is wet."

It isn't as if we will suddenly be considered good if we beat Vanderbilt. They're 5-6, just like UT. We're hardly on our way to building a dynasty with an appearance in the Birmingham Bowl.

Not sure what your "good" coaches comment means. If you are saying that this loss would be the final referendum on CJP, then that is also absurd. Pruitt has had one year. He hasn't even completed one recruiting cycle. There were some things about this year's team that were really encouraging and there were some other things that were no so encouraging. All in, we have some reason for hope, some reason for skepticism, and not a whole lot of hard evidence either way as to how it is going to work out, but the idea that the fate of UT football lies with one football game is just ludicrous.
 
#194
#194
If we lose we miss out on a bowl game and 15 practices but honestly i don't think it reflects badly on Pruitt and his staff. it just highlights the huge job they have rebuilding which wont take nearly as much time as people think.

However, the insane fanbase will not help at all. People in the fanbase do not understand how much effect our impatience has on recruiting and it has affected our past 2 coaches negatively. I don't know if Dooley or Jones could have pulled it off but I do know that the inane lack of support and crazy backlash at any bump in the road has not helped recruiting at all. The twitter/facebook mentality of people these days the 24hour news cycle, all of that has made what should have been an easy rebuild much harder.

It makes me puke how nowadays most "news" articles are retweets with no research done and they go viral before the truth comes out. Everyone wants info this second. Damn the accuracy of it. a perfect example is happening right now in the video game genre. Fallout 74 came out without PTT and an FOV slider within a day of the game going live people were having fits because Bethesda has not patched it in yet and said it would take a few weeks. Because no one understands the task of doing such. same applies here. Perception is a big deal. 20 years ago kids followed their local/state team. now with twitter and facebook its national. Forums used to be a place for sweaty old men. Now its where sports reporters get their "news"
 
#195
#195
GoVols15 said:
Try reading my post! 😂
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Haha.

Seriously though, I really didn't see your point. I understand you seem to be worried about what other fan bases think about us. I understand you think that won't change until we start winning again.

I mean, I can't do anything about what others think of us, don't really care either. If they think its my fault, lol, they gots problems.

I can't do anything about winning games either, we have Pruitt for that. The long term future of this program will not be decided by a win or a loss Saturday to Vanderbilt. That's getting real. Obviously we want a win and the extra practices for going to a bowl would be great, but its far from throwing in the towel if we lose.

That said, its gonna suck if we lose and I'll be discouraged for a day or two. Is what it is.
 
#197
#197
Behr said:
Haha.

Seriously though, I really didn't see your point. I understand you seem to be worried about what other fan bases think about us. I understand you think that won't change until we start winning again.

I mean, I can't do anything about what others think of us, don't really care either. If they think its my fault, lol, they gots problems.

I can't do anything about winning games either, we have Pruitt for that. The long term future of this program will not be decided by a win or a loss Saturday to Vanderbilt. That's getting real. Obviously we want a win and the extra practices for going to a bowl would be great, but its far from throwing in the towel if we lose.

That said, its gonna suck if we lose and I'll be discouraged for a day or two. Is what it is.
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We agree, I think! It's all good! We all want the Vols to win!
 
#200
#200
photovol said:
Fans must remember that this team is composed of mostly the same players as last year..... The worst Tennessee football team in the history of Tennessee football
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No kidding..... look at what Shoop is doing at Miss State.....that should tell everyone something about the talent level on D
 
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