10-2: I don’t see 3 losses on this schedule

[DaddyChad]

It’s hard to depend on one guy to never have a bad night, to never get injured, to play his best every week. This is what it comes down to, you cannot trust the defense to win games and the offense revolves around Hooker. If he stays healthy and on all year long maybe just maybe but it’s very unlikely.

 

[Volador]

 

[Rocky Top Raby]

Bama, UGA, Florida. There they are

 

[Sarms58]

If we lose to Pitt this year we have some serious problems. Pitt should be an easy win.

Is that why they are ranked 15th?

 

[Volsrule89]

UF is a more competitive argument... but please explain Pitt.

They lost a Heisman caliber QB and five of their top 7 receivers. They might not be one dimensional... but UT knows what to prepare for. They will be a very run heavy O.

UT should have beaten them last year... after spotting them a lead by starting Milton.

I'll put it this way. If UT loses to Pitt... then you need to up your losses. If you're saying they lost to Pitt then their win cap is probably 5.

It’s the Tennessee way….haven’t won 10 regular season games since 03. I’m to the point of I’ll believe it when I see it.

 

[sjt18]

It’s the Tennessee way….haven’t won 10 regular season games since 03. I’m to the point of I’ll believe it when I see it.

Nope. You could say that UF is talented and believe that Napier will put it all together by week 4 of the season. But if you are going to say Pitt then you need to back that one up.

I am not criticizing the staff. The process last year produced Milton as the starter. Absent proven performance, you go with the guy who does the best in practice. However, if Hooker had been the starter with 2 weeks of game prep as the #1 QB then that game probably looks a lot like USCe/Mizzou. UT's receivers were behind their secondary repeatedly. Milton just missed them. If those opportunities had not been missed then it changes the complexion of the game. It forces Pitt into a different and predictable gameplan. The "shoe" is on the other foot this year in terms of returning QB and WR production. The rest didn't really favor Pitt last year... and hasn't changed from then until now.

I am at a point of not just thinking that will be a Vol win... but a pretty lopsided win. One key to the game is that Pitt while being one of the top sack teams... was 12th in the ACC vs the pass. Only GT and Duke were worse. UT's pass D was bad... and allowed 10 yds/gm less than Pitt against significantly better competition.

 

[Go47]

Do the Vols have the depth to go 10-2 or 9-3?

No.

Do they have dominant line play on either side of the ball to win 9 or 10?

No.

How good will the defense be? It could be improved . . . But in no way should anyone expect the talent level to produce an above average or maybe even average defense.

How good will the offense be? Probably very good . . . But unless oline play improves . . . They could leave the defense - as last year - in some precarious situations.

An injury to Tillman or Hooker (especially Hooker) could cause the team to struggle to win 6/7 games.

Bama and UGA will curb stomp us. The talent differential is huge.

LSU and Florida are also more talented.

Fans should expect / be happy with 8-4 . . . Because Pitt will also be ranked ahead of the Vols.

 

[Eastknox865]

I know, orange tinted glasses, but with our offense rolling into its second season with Heup and a defense improving with some really proven position coaches, I expect some good things from this team. 10-2 seems like a big jump from 2020, but then I looked at the schedule a little bit more....

Ball St- Easy W. And we play them on a Thursday night so we have more time to prepare for....

Pitt - They lost too much off last year’s team. If Hooker had been the starter from the get go last year, we beat them by 2 tds. Heup with 2 extra days to prepare? Forget about it.

Akron - Easy W.

Florida - Easy W.

Seriously though , they are in too much turmoil and lack talent on the lines and at WR. Didn’t they just lose a WR to injury? Better luck next year losers gators.

Bye - A little early, but good for a break before LSU and bama. Heup can cook up some plays.

LSU - Also a team with a lot of recent turmoil. Brian Kelly is just Butch Jones, Sr. and been able to hide that with Notre Dame’s weak schedule.

Bama - This one is going to be tough. Saban has a renewed drive after losing to Jumbo and Kirby last year. Look for us to play them close however. If they hadn’t gotten the Georgia WR, I’d say this could be an upset special.

UT Martin - Easy W.

Kentucky - We beat them at their place last year. We’re better. They’re worse. They’ll be physical, but this is a 14-17 point Vol win.

Georgia - They lost soooo much from last year. If this was at Neyland, I’d be putting money on my Vols. Heup has the team competing late, but the SEC wants a uga-Bama championship and the refs bail out the butt-sniffers with a bogus call with under 3 minutes left in the game. Every. Damn. Year. Bring your mustard bottles.

Missouri - Heup blasts the SEC officiating all week and then names his score against Mizzou. Expect 70.

South Carolina - These guys are already dead by this point in the season. Rattler has been crushed by the SEC grind and we play against a grad assistant. Expect 60.

Vanderbilt - Easy W. Students leave this game wondering how Tennessee has ever lost to this university. Expect 70.

10-2 regular season. With the SEC protecting uga and bama, my guess is they lobby for both of them to get in the playoff again (watch the one loss team win the SEC Championship like last year), so we are looking at a Sugar Bowl invite.

I know, big dreams, but I just don’t see 10 teams on our schedule matching our talent, scheme or coaching. Hooker is too good of a leader and qb and Heup is too good of an offensive genius. Our pace can’t be matched.

10-2 if we only had to play offense but unfortunately we have to play defense. If this team doesn't improve on that side 10-2 will be unacceptable.

 

[vettefool]

I know, orange tinted glasses, but with our offense rolling into its second season with Heup and a defense improving with some really proven position coaches, I expect some good things from this team. 10-2 seems like a big jump from 2020, but then I looked at the schedule a little bit more....

Ball St- Easy W. And we play them on a Thursday night so we have more time to prepare for....

Pitt - They lost too much off last year’s team. If Hooker had been the starter from the get go last year, we beat them by 2 tds. Heup with 2 extra days to prepare? Forget about it.

Akron - Easy W.

Florida - Easy W.

Seriously though , they are in too much turmoil and lack talent on the lines and at WR. Didn’t they just lose a WR to injury? Better luck next year losers gators.

Bye - A little early, but good for a break before LSU and bama. Heup can cook up some plays.

LSU - Also a team with a lot of recent turmoil. Brian Kelly is just Butch Jones, Sr. and been able to hide that with Notre Dame’s weak schedule.

Bama - This one is going to be tough. Saban has a renewed drive after losing to Jumbo and Kirby last year. Look for us to play them close however. If they hadn’t gotten the Georgia WR, I’d say this could be an upset special.

UT Martin - Easy W.

Kentucky - We beat them at their place last year. We’re better. They’re worse. They’ll be physical, but this is a 14-17 point Vol win.

Georgia - They lost soooo much from last year. If this was at Neyland, I’d be putting money on my Vols. Heup has the team competing late, but the SEC wants a uga-Bama championship and the refs bail out the butt-sniffers with a bogus call with under 3 minutes left in the game. Every. Damn. Year. Bring your mustard bottles.

Missouri - Heup blasts the SEC officiating all week and then names his score against Mizzou. Expect 70.

South Carolina - These guys are already dead by this point in the season. Rattler has been crushed by the SEC grind and we play against a grad assistant. Expect 60.

Vanderbilt - Easy W. Students leave this game wondering how Tennessee has ever lost to this university. Expect 70.

10-2 regular season. With the SEC protecting uga and bama, my guess is they lobby for both of them to get in the playoff again (watch the one loss team win the SEC Championship like last year), so we are looking at a Sugar Bowl invite.

I know, big dreams, but I just don’t see 10 teams on our schedule matching our talent, scheme or coaching. Hooker is too good of a leader and qb and Heup is too good of an offensive genius. Our pace can’t be matched.

I thought middle school was in session. Obviously no homework has been assigned yet. Lots of free time on hand.

 

[Boston Vol]

The defense won’t be nearly good enough to win 10. We should be happy with 8 wins and don’t be surprised if we win 7. Losses to Florida Georgia Alabama and lsu

If Tennessee goes 7-5, Hooker better have missed time with an injury or the roster better look like a mass unit circa 2002. If not, 7-5 would be a terribly disappointing season.

 

[sjt18]

Do the Vols have the depth to go 10-2 or 9-3?

No.

Do they have dominant line play on either side of the ball to win 9 or 10?

No.

How good will the defense be? It could be improved . . . But in no way should anyone expect the talent level to produce an above average or maybe even average defense.

How good will the offense be? Probably very good . . . But unless oline play improves . . . They could leave the defense - as last year - in some precarious situations.

An injury to Tillman or Hooker (especially Hooker) could cause the team to struggle to win 6/7 games.

To this point... you have completely ignored at least 50% of the equation... the opponents.

Bama and UGA will curb stomp us. The talent differential is huge.

Maybe. But UT played competitive against both as deep as their roster would take them last year... and have improved depth across the board this year.

LSU and Florida are also more talented.

Are they? If they are... it is by degrees. These games are frankly tests of the coaching staff quality.

Fans should expect / be happy with 8-4

Oh, I guess... since you say so....

NOPE. UT fans should EXPECT 8 wins this year.. . .

Because Pitt will also be ranked ahead of the Vols.

So? If the competition had produced the starter who eventually proved to be the best... UT would have run out ahead in that game. It would have likely looked a lot like Mizzou or USCe. So what changed since UT spotted Pitt a half and still almost won? Pitt lost its Heisman caliber QB, Fr AA WR, five of its top 7 WR's, 2 or 3 DB's from an already shaky unit... and UT got deeper and likely better across the board. The only two losses that should not be upgraded both in terms of quality and depth are Jones and Taylor. Mays was a good player but he was injured a lot.

 

[Berry4Heisman14]

If Tennessee goes 7-5, Hooker better have missed time with an injury or the roster better look like a mass unit circa 2002. If not, 7-5 would be a terribly disappointing season.

I just don’t believe in our defense. I do however think the offense will be top 10 nationally

 

[CAVPUT]

No we need, should ,and will hammer both of them.

Pitt will be tough. I'll be happy with a split. Can't imagine routing both those teams. Hell, I can't imagine beating UF by 1 much less a "hammering".

 

[CAVPUT]

The defense won’t be nearly good enough to win 10. We should be happy with 8 wins and don’t be surprised if we win 7. Losses to Florida Georgia Alabama and lsu

Same. I feel 8 wins will be the ceiling for this roster. I expect 7. Happy with 8. Over the moon with any season better than that. Baby steps.

 

[Cartervol]

Pittsburgh and Florida are the two most important early games. 10-2 would be a big leap. I'll stick with 8 or 9. Then hopefully not make a team like Purdue look good in any way again.

 

[Wezcoast]

Forgive me if someone else already pointed this out , but I can't read this whole thread right now. However , under no circumstances, in any year , with any attrition , should we EVER lose to Vanderbilt . The talent disparity alone should carry us in any down year, but there we were getting our doors blown off by them more than once . Since 2010 we are 7-5 vs them. I know this staff are not the clowns that led us to that misery, but to even suggest that we should handily beat a team that we've beaten 1 time since 2005 is foolish. We may light them up and run them off the field for all I know, but I sure as hell am not setting myself up for that agony. This is a coin flip even with the best conditions in our favor.

 

[Illinoisvolfan2]

We will lose a couple more because of the defense. 8-4.

 

[Wezcoast]

By the way that wasn't directed a a particular person. There's a ton of people penciling UF as a win.

 

[njvols]

Some of y’all gonna be real disappointed if we go 8-4 or 7-5 which is a real possibility. We could easily lose to Pitt, Florida, Kentucky and South Carolina along with a probable loss to LSU and and definite losses to Georgia and Bama. Pump the brakes and temper your expectations because 10-2 isn’t happening. I would be estatic with 9-3, pleased with 8-4. Disappointed with 7-5 unless we have alot of injuries. 6-6 would leave me questioning if Heupel is the guy long term for us.

This is pretty much where I’m at and pleasantly surprised if we go 9-3 or better. Think we will be collectively better but we hit a lot of people by surprise with our offense and another year later we aren’t going to sneak up on anyone.

 

[Cartervol]

This is pretty much where I’m at and pleasantly surprised if we go 9-3 or better. Think we will be collectively better but we hit a lot of people by surprise with our offense and another year later we aren’t going to sneak up on anyone.

The system was probably better than the talent last year. Took some teams by surprise with the pace. That's not going to be the case this year. That's what concerns me. The talent is going to have to win those one on ones more this year.

 

[Jax_Vol]

I see 10 games Tennessee is capable of winning without pulling off a major upset.

However, I see 5 games Tennessee could lose without the other team pulling off a major upset.

Until I see something more from the defense, some of these games will be more competitive than people think.

0-12

 

[Sarms58]

By the way that wasn't directed a a particular person. There's a ton of people penciling UF as a win.

We're gonna have to fight to win most of our games...we've got 4 that should be "easy" but the rest we've got to show up and be ready to play. We can't count a team like Missouri just failing to show up. Or South Carolina playing a graduate assistant at QB. Different year.

 

[Sarms58]

UF is a more competitive argument... but please explain Pitt.

They lost a Heisman caliber QB and five of their top 7 receivers. They might not be one dimensional... but UT knows what to prepare for. They will be a very run heavy O.

UT should have beaten them last year... after spotting them a lead by starting Milton.

I'll put it this way. If UT loses to Pitt... then you need to up your losses. If you're saying they lost to Pitt then their win cap is probably 5.

Pitt returns 8 starters on offense and 7 on defense.
The offensive line should be outstanding. All five starters are expected back with three all-stars and a few pro prospects to work around. Carter Warren at left tackle is the best of the bunch, but the entire line should jell into now one of the team’s biggest strengths. They are considered the best OL in the ACC.

The depth is there at running back. The trio of Israel Abanikanda (635), Vincent Davis (593), and Rodney Hammond (504) should again combine for well over 1,500 yards and 20 touchdowns.

They lost Pickett but picked up Slovis – a kid who threw 30 touchdown passes as a freshman at USC. His career numbers look like this: 68.4 completion percentage, 7,576 passing yards and a 58/24 TD-INT ratio.

They lost Jordon Addison but return their second best WR, Jared Wayne, who had 47 grabs for 658 yards and six TDs in 2021. Pitt hopes Akron transfer WR Konata Mumpfield can replace some of Addison’s production. As a true freshman for the Zips last season, Mumpfield hauled in 63 catches for 751 yards and eight TDs.

They should be very capable of scoring again this year but may be more inclined to run their experienced backs behind their experienced OL so they might not average in the forties. How well Slovis adjusts to the new team is the biggest question on offense.

As for the Pitt defense, the defensive line is once again going to be a terror after finishing second in the nation in sacks and fifth in tackles for loss. Second Team All-ACC end Habakkuk Baldonado led the team with nine sacks, First Team All-ACC tackle Calijah Kancey was second on the team with seven sacks – those two combined for 25 tackles for loss – and everyone else up front will feed off them. They picked up a transfer LB from Notre Dame – a kid who started 7 games over his first two years at ND. Their front 7 is solid - where they gave up points/yards last year was thru the air as they were weak at corner. That's the main question mark for their D.

 

[njvols]

I see 10 games Tennessee is capable of winning without pulling off a major upset.

However, I see 5 games Tennessee could lose without the other team pulling off a major upset.

Until I see something more from the defense, some of these games will be more competitive than people think.

That’s about right.

 

[Jax_Vol]

With the poor defense, I'm seeing about an 8-5ish type of team