Vols Make Phil Steele's Most Improved List

#27
#27
dduncan4163 said:
I think the O-Line takes a big step foward this season. Quality depth is a huge concern though. Hopefully a year in a real S&C program will start paying off. We can be decent in the trenches if we avoid injuries. That's a big if but I'm a glass half full kind of guy. We're due a break Hoss.
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Year 3 under Pruitt (2020) will be the year to look for something like 8-10 wins, IMO. That's purely because of S&C and LOS play (which are directly related).

I think a good result for this year would be 6-7 regular season wins. This team still has serious deficiencies, but it would still be disheartening to see zero improvement from last year.
 
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#28
#28
golfballs said:
I'm curious about the other teams on his list. Do you have a link to this?
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I don't have his 2019 list but last year he had: Florida, Utah State, North Carolina, Colorado, Georgia Southern, Old Dominion, Nebraska, Louisiana-Monroe, Miami Ohio, Indiana, Cal, Arkansas, UNLV, Western Michigan, Buffalo. I wouldn't exactly put a ton of stock into it.
 
#30
#30
OleRockyTop said:
I don't have his 2019 list but last year he had: Florida, Utah State, North Carolina, Colorado, Georgia Southern, Old Dominion, Nebraska, Louisiana-Monroe, Miami Ohio, Indiana, Cal, Arkansas, UNLV, Western Michigan, Buffalo. I wouldn't exactly put a ton of stock into it.
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The teams he puts near the top of the "most improved list" typically are improved. I believe Florida was his #1 most improved team from last year and he was spot on. As you go down his list, he just tries to include too many teams in it and he's way off on some of his calls.

He also has another list to the effect of "10 teams who will likely start the season unranked but who have a chance to make the playoff." Same deal, the #1/#2 teams in that list typically have good years, sniffing or even making the playoff (Washington a couple years ago), but he just adds too many teams to the list and the calls near the bottom are sometimes way off.

Steele is kind of overrated as a predictor but the guide he puts out is a summer must-read just because it is chock full of so much information.
 
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#31
#31
McDad said:
Right now, I have the 4 out of conference games as wins. I will add more as the season gets closer. I can say this, I am not as certain of a win in the SC, VU, Mizz, and UK games as some others are.

I have 3 losses right now; UGA, Bama, and UF.
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I'm not certain of a win in these two games, but there's no excuse to lose to UK or Vandy this year. The rest, will be determined by how much talent Pruitt and staff have been able to develop on this roster.
 
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#32
#32
05_never_again said:
The teams he puts near the top of the "most improved list" typically are improved. I believe Florida was his #1 most improved team from last year and he was spot on. As you go down his list, he just tries to include too many teams in it and he's way off on some of his calls.

He also has another list to the effect of "10 teams who will likely start the season unranked but who have a chance to make the playoff." Same deal, the #1/#2 teams in that list typically have good years, sniffing or even making the playoff (Washington a couple years ago), but he just adds too many teams to the list and the calls near the bottom are sometimes way off.

Steele is kind of overrated as a predictor but the guide he puts out is a summer must-read just because it is chock full of so much information.
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Yeah he had Florida and Utah State as his top 2 and those two were vastly improved but after those two very few really improved much.
 
#34
#34
BeardedVol said:
I'm not certain of a win in these two games, but there's no excuse to lose to UK or Vandy this year. The rest, will be determined by how much talent Pruitt and staff have been able to develop on this roster.
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Yep - both Kentucky and Vandy are losing a ton of players.
 
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#35
#35
BeardedVol said:
I'm not certain of a win in these two games, but there's no excuse to lose to UK or Vandy this year. The rest, will be determined by how much talent Pruitt and staff have been able to develop on this roster.
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Somewhat agree. If I had to divulge right now, I am a lean to wins over UK and VU, and lean to lose with SC and Mizz
 
#37
#37
McDad said:
Somewhat agree. If I had to divulge right now, I am a lean to wins over UK and VU, and lean to lose with SC and Mizz
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I could see that, and tend to agree. I just don't like to start making per-game predictions until I see us and our conference opponents on the field in that first weekend of play.
 
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#38
#38
BeardedVol said:
I could see that, and tend to agree. I just don't like to start making per-game predictions until I see us and our conference opponents on the field in that first weekend of play.
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That's reasonable and the best way to go about making predictions. Seeing the other teams is one of the reasons I have for refining my prediction down as the season approaches.
 
#39
#39
BeardedVol said:
I'm not certain of a win in these two games, but there's no excuse to lose to UK or Vandy this year. The rest, will be determined by how much talent Pruitt and staff have been able to develop on this roster.
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The only legit excuse would be catastrophic injuries. Beyond that, I agree. Lose to UK or Vandy this year and Pruitts seat heats up significantly.
 
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#40
#40
BigOrangeTrain said:
The only legit excuse would be catastrophic injuries. Beyond that, I agree. Lose to UK or Vandy this year and Pruitts seat heats up significantly.
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I think that injury to our starting center (Brandon) was more problematic last year than what I thought. With our frequent injury bugs during CBJ's years, maybe we can be hopeful the law of averages for injuries are in our favor this year.
 
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#41
#41
Can't lose to Vandy this year. Just can't. There is no realistic excuse/reason that will excuse a loss to them for me. Sometimes you just can't control how you feel about something and for whatever reason, I just won't feel the same about anything.

Anyway, I d be disappointed and feel different about Pruitt.
 
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#44
#44
Behr said:
Can't lose to Vandy this year. Just can't. There is no realistic excuse/reason that will excuse a loss to them for me. Sometimes you just can't control how you feel about something and for whatever reason, I just won't feel the same about anything.

Anyway, I d
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The fact that we have lost 5 of the last 7 to them makes my physically sick to my stomach. Only one of those losses was even a close game. I'm not sick about it because of a hate for Vandy - I actually don't hate Vandy at all - it's just so embarrassing to have that happen over such a prolonged period of time. It might be the single most embarrassing factoid about post-2007 Tennessee football, and there are plenty to choose from.

At an institutional level (not talking about their individual coaches and players, who do try hard), Vanderbilt isn't even attempting to have a good football program. It isn't an institutional priority for them to have a good football program. They're just looking to field a team of solid student-athletes, win a couple conference games, and make a bowl. So not only is their a gigantic resource gap, there's also just a commitment gap. It is just staggering when you look at the gap in resources, institutional commitment, fan commitment, etc. between the programs how exactly Vandy has been able to do that, and just how inept Tennessee has been.
 
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#45
#45
If the DL can get their hands on Clemson’s secret sauce, I think they can be formidable(unless they have to take a drug test).
 
#46
#46
BigOrangeTrain said:
The only legit excuse would be catastrophic injuries. Beyond that, I agree. Lose to UK or Vandy this year and Pruitts seat heats up significantly.
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I know UK lost a bunch of seniors, but what about Vanderbilt? Their QB graduated but I think their starting RB is a senior this year.
 
#48
#48
05_never_again said:
The fact that we have lost 5 of the last 7 to them makes my physically sick to my stomach. Only one of those losses was even a close game. I'm not sick about it because of a hate for Vandy - I actually don't hate Vandy at all - it's just so embarrassing to have that happen over such a prolonged period of time. It might be the single most embarrassing factoid about post-2007 Tennessee football, and there are plenty to choose from.

At an institutional level (not talking about their individual coaches and players, who do try hard), Vanderbilt isn't even attempting to have a good football program. It isn't an institutional priority for them to have a good football program. They're just looking to field a team of solid student-athletes, win a couple conference games, and make a bowl. So not only is their a gigantic resource gap, there's also just a commitment gap. It is just staggering when you look at the gap in resources, institutional commitment, fan commitment, etc. between the programs how exactly Vandy has been able to do that, and just how inept Tennessee has been.
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What we have to watch out for now is, Vandy has won, is making money and waves, and they like it. They may have limited goals in SEC football, but they have met them consistently under Coach Mason. Mason has minimized regression so far after Franklin's departure. I think their momentum will slow this season without after 2018's senior class leaves. And that sets up Coach Pruitt's second test (I consider last year's two SEC upsets his first test) to overcome Vandy, SC, and Mizzou consistently. He has to coach and recruit us above the second tier local competition that we have traditionally dominated. As of this moment, Vandy still owns this state until the next round in November.
 
#49
#49
Our upperclassmen on the DL that graduated last year were some of the most unproductive and overhyped players that I have seen at UT. All of them were pretty much meh besides Taylor. Surely the coaches can get more out of that unit this year right?
 
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#50
#50
Volatility said:
I know UK lost a bunch of seniors, but what about Vanderbilt? Their QB graduated but I think their starting RB is a senior this year.
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Vandy also has an all SEC first team WR in Lipscomb I believe. Still, barring catastrophic injuries, there is no excuse for losing to Vandy again. We arent talking about UF or Georgia. Its Vanderbilt.
 
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