Is Tennessee a Title Contender?

[Dobbs 4 Heisman]

Just out of curiosity, why do you think Florida will be significantly weaker this year?

2015 recruiting was significantly weak (by their standards and vis-a-vis) us.

You can't really miss on a recruiting class in the SEC and hope to still compete unless it's sandwiched between 2 other awesome classes.

Last year Florida's recruiting class was only okay. It was not phenomenal.

 

[Dobbs 4 Heisman]

We have the talent, do we have a coach that will be smart enough in games to not let his foot off the gas no matter what the score? We'll see.

This is really the one question mark going into next season.

Does Butch pull of more epic choke jobs? Or does he finally coach to the level of his talent?

Its wait and see.

 

[QuickSmurf]

Marlon Brando

 

[RDU VOL#14]

GEORGIA wins the sec east. VOLS not a contender this season.

Looking at your prior post history I'd say we're a lock to win the East. Thanks for the endorsement.

 

[daj2576]

compared to GA and FL, they have easier roads to ATL than we do. neither have to play Bama and neither have a road game as hard as aTm.

and i don't know why everyone thinks FL is all the sudden some second rate MAC school? "significantly weaker"? really?

we've lost, recently, to a lot worse FL teams than this.

Florida isn't "significantly" weaker, but they haven't recently been "a lot" weaker than this either.

 

[checkerboards09]

It's not mental. It's paranormal. A curse. An act of something other worldly. Haha.

That too lol.

 

[fade route]

GEORGIA wins the sec east. VOLS not a contender this season.

Says the guy who's team is going to get donkey stomped in front of 150,000 people in week 2

 

[QuickSmurf]

Says the guy who's team is going to get donkey stomped in front of 150,000 people in week 2

Lmao he really should not have said anything

 

[KBVol]

2015 recruiting was significantly weak (by their standards and vis-a-vis) us.

You can't really miss on a recruiting class in the SEC and hope to still compete unless it's sandwiched between 2 other awesome classes.

Last year Florida's recruiting class was only okay. It was not phenomenal.

They were a spot higher than Tennessee according to both Rivals and 24/7. And they're not likely to rely heavily on their freshman class this year outside of JUCO Mark Thompson. No reason to believe they'll take a step back in year two under McElwain given how what they achieved with smoke and mirrors last year IMO.

 

[KBVol]

GEORGIA wins the sec east. VOLS not a contender this season.

Let's see what you say on here after you guys get that a$$ whipped in front of 150K+ week 2.

 

[Evet Vols]

It remains to be seen how much, if any, carryover there will be from last season, but Florida did lose its last three games by the combined score of 97-24.

Tn and Fl both lost 4 games last year. TN lost their 4 games by a total of 17 and Fl lost their 4 by a total of 80. TN will be ready this year.

 

[cali_vol]

GEORGIA wins the sec east. VOLS not a contender this season.

This from a school has a Gobbler as a mascot and serves turkey legs on game day. Before they say it's not a turkey, ”HokieBird has won national mascot competitions and has been so popular that the mascot landed an appearance on Animal Planet's "Turkey Secrets"

 

[UTblood4life]

We shouldn't even talk about winning the East until we beat UF.

This

 

[RDU VOL#14]

This

I think the coaches and team shouldn't. We don't have a damn thing to do with it. We're allowed to look ahead.

 

[QuickSmurf]

Let's see what you say on here after you guys get that a$$ whipped in front of 150K+ week 2.

I think that he might be one of those Virginia Tech Jive Turkeys

 

[Dudleys87]

Yes provided we don't fall asleep the 4th quarter.....

 

[Dobbs 4 Heisman]

They were a spot higher than Tennessee according to both Rivals and 24/7. And they're not likely to rely heavily on their freshman class this year outside of JUCO Mark Thompson. No reason to believe they'll take a step back in year two under McElwain given how what they achieved with smoke and mirrors last year IMO.

You can disagree with me but I have a theory. My theory is you need a STRONG junior and sophomore class to compete in the SEC and win national titles.

Everyone has stud seniors who will be drafted. Everyone has one or two stud freshmen that are too good to keep off the field.

The teams that win ultimately have extremely talented juniors and sophomores that will be 3 and out type of kids. Right now we have more of those kids because our 2015 class was so strong vis-a-vis Florida.

Last year Florida was stronger because their junior and sophomore classes were both top 5.

 

[jakez4ut]

Florida isn't "significantly" weaker, but they haven't recently been "a lot" weaker than this either.

I dunno, that 2014 team sucked. I don't see this team going 4-8.

 

[TNnative]

This time of year, a lot of hype and manure is spread without much regard for fact, and there is a lot of media speculation around who will do what based on factors that are irrelevant to the final outcomes of the season.

Let's be real here. There are some in the media who are over-hyping the strength of this Tennessee football team. There are some who "hate us" and won't give us our due respect.

It is true that we are not at the level of our last championship team, which was one of the greatest college teams ever in my opinion. But does that mean that Tennessee at this point in our rebuild is not a contender to win it all? I say we are.

This seems contradictory, sure, but the playing field is college football is not level. Every NCAA team does not play the same strength of schedule, which is why certain colleges in other conferences are perennial contenders even when they field mediocre teams.

This year, the field tilts a little in our favor. Using the ESPN FPI predictors, I have calculated the probability that a given team will go undefeated throughout the regular season. To me, this is the best measure of who is, and isn't, a contender, because the first step in getting to the playoff is beating the opponents on your schedule.

Contender Rank by Chance of Undefeated Regular Season

1) Oklahoma 21.5%
2) FSU 12.06%
3) Clemson 9.7%
4) LSU 8.47%
5) Tennessee 8.05%
6) Michigan 8.04%
7) Washington 2.7%
8) Oklahoma State 2.01%
9) Alabama 1.63%
10) Georgia 1.46%
11) UCLA 1.4%
12) Nebraska 1.19%
13) USC 1.10%
14) Louisville 1.04%
15) Baylor 1.00%

By this metric, Tennessee and LSU would be the most likely match up in the SEC title game. As long as both were undefeated, then the winner would advance to the playoff. The same is very likely true if both teams were at 1 loss.

The best odds for the playoff:

Oklahoma

Conference Title Game Winners

Florida State/Clemson
LSU/Tennessee
Michigan/Nebraska

Washington/UCLA (probably on the outside looking in)

Sure this is not the best team we have ever seen at Tennessee, but it is by far the best we have seen in a long while. We catch Florida and Bama at home, and we have always played tough at UGA. Even a 1 loss Tennessee team would likely make the playoff if they won in Atlanta.

So, no, I do not think it is a stretch to say we are contenders to win it all. We have a very realistic shot to be one of the 4 teams left standing at the end.

Most will see this as the Captain Obvious useless post, but DILLIGAF! I am making it anyway. Right now, everyone is a title contender, and the talking heads are desperately trying to justify their existence and their paychecks by drawing our attention.

Good time to let college football relax for now. Watch Baseball, or whatever else is on right now. If that doesn't tickle your fancy, look around for new sports to follow, there are a few out there if you just try. Let the players focus on the weight room, their academics, and being themselves for awhile without feeling the eyes of the world are burning a hole in them. But if you can't let it go, check recruiting pages, you might be the first of us to spot an unknown commodity in the next class.

Season will be here soon enough. Let's worry about it in it's own good time. It will be a whole lot more fun if we do.

 

[The Artful Dodger]

Agree, with most of the OP, except for the part about the 1998 team being one of the best cfb teams ever.

I don't think that it was even the best team at Tennessee in the last quarter century. You could make a good argument that the 2001 team was better, and even the 95' 96' and 99' teams would have an argument for being better than the 98' team. There was so much that went right for that UT team. Hopefully we have seen enough bad luck that this team is as blessed as the 98' team. The only really bad luck I remember that year was losing Al Wilson for a few games.

 

[The Artful Dodger]

compared to GA and FL, they have easier roads to ATL than we do. neither have to play Bama and neither have a road game as hard as aTm.

and i don't know why everyone thinks FL is all the sudden some second rate MAC school? "significantly weaker"? really?

we've lost, recently, to a lot worse FL teams than this.

Don't know about that. 2014 Florida is the only other UF team, during the streak, that would have an argument for being worse (at least on paper) than this years team. Most of Muschamp's defensive recruits are gone (Something like 7 UF defenders were drafted or taken in FA from last years team), and while Del Rio is prob an upgrade over Treon, they still lost Taylor, maybe Callaway, and will still have a bad O-line. This is yet another reason why there are no more excuses for not beating an undermanned UF team at home.

 

[The Artful Dodger]

Just out of curiosity, why do you think Florida will be significantly weaker this year?

Lost VHIII, Bullard, Neal, Morrison, McCallister, and Poole off of defense. Lost Taylor and prob Callaway on offense, and still have a bad O-line. Muschamp's defensive studs are almost completely gone. Tennessee put up 28 in the swamp, on a better Florida D than we will see this year. So, being at home, 30+ points is a reasonable expectation for UT to score in this years game, and there is no way that this UF offense scores that much on this UT defense unless UT has like 6 turnovers and two pick sixes or something stupid like that.

 

[Rudy123]

It could very well happen, however; many, many things would have to favor us. (1) No real injuries (2) Top 10 teams knocking off each other during the regular season (3) Any team in National Championship competition will need to suffer several major injuries to key players (4) We will have to beat Alabama "Unlikely" (5) We will need to beat Florida "Unlikely" (6) We will need to win the S.E.C. Championship, which is very likely, if we can go thru the backdoor once losing to Bama & Florida. What I mean is should we somehow get to Atlanta, then we will likely win the S.E.C. Getting to the S.E.C. in Atlanta will be very difficult with us having lost to Florida again.

 

[Rudy123]

Lost VHIII, Bullard, Neal, Morrison, McCallister, and Poole off of defense. Lost Taylor and prob Callaway on offense, and still have a bad O-line. Muschamp's defensive studs are almost completely gone. Tennessee put up 28 in the swamp, on a better Florida D than we will see this year. So, being at home, 30+ points is a reasonable expectation for UT to score in this years game, and there is no way that this UF offense scores that much on this UT defense unless UT has like 6 turnovers and two pick sixes or something stupid like that.

Remember, Florida EXPECTS to beat U.T. each season but U.T. HOPES to beat Florida. Each off season U.T. fans hope that the football God's will show us favor and we try to convince ourselves that "This is the year" but it never materializes.
Think about it! In 1998, when we beat Florida, We have homefield advantage, we had a superior team but we still needed over time to win and we technically won not because we did anything but we won because their kicker missed an overtime kick. Even with the best odds in our favor we had to go to o.t. to win.

We couldn't beat them with Muschamp as their coach. We couldn't beat them with Jeff Driscol as their q.b. We couldn't beat them with a 5th string q.b. who couldn't throw but had to rush for 300 yards against us.
Until we, as a team, buy in to a different mindset, we will always lose to them. We can't get discouraged when the game situation isn't going our way. We still have time to the clock to win it.

 

[BaldBiker]

Remember, Florida EXPECTS to beat U.T. each season but U.T. HOPES to beat Florida. Each off season U.T. fans hope that the football God's will show us favor and we try to convince ourselves that "This is the year" but it never materializes.
Think about it! In 1998, when we beat Florida, We have homefield advantage, we had a superior team but we still needed over time to win and we technically won not because we did anything but we won because their kicker missed an overtime kick. Even with the best odds in our favor we had to go to o.t. to win.

We couldn't beat them with Muschamp as their coach. We couldn't beat them with Jeff Driscol as their q.b. We couldn't beat them with a 5th string q.b. who couldn't throw but had to rush for 300 yards against us.
Until we, as a team, buy in to a different mindset, we will always lose to them. We can't get discouraged when the game situation isn't going our way. We still have time to the clock to win it.

I can't take anything you say seriously as long as you type UT as U.T. I do however appreciate that you did it at the beginning of your post, therefore saving me the time of reading any further. :hi: