Honestly the best thing to me, is I'm hoping it'll reel in a bunch of the fanbase's expectations.
After 3 easy wins, I swear half the fans were talking smack about rolling the whole conference by 50.
Now we know how we look when matched against peer/near peer level talent.
Its a battle when talent levels are near equal.
If true, it shouldn't. Heupel admitted that he pulled back in a way that he has never done before. He knows Venables. Venables knows him. He uncharacteristically played not to make mistakes.
I hope we never see that Heupel again. If we do... this may end the way the Butch Jones experiment ended.
Of course it is a battle when talent levels are similar. Who said it wasn't? OU has a great D and not much consistency on O. UT's best match up in a road game was their D against the opponent's O. They got a lead and milked it knowing the D had control of the game. Even OU's late success was after UT started playing softer to avoid big plays. I hate the style. UT has never been good at it. But there it was.
This week the Vols get Arkansas. Not sure if you think of them as a near "peer to peer" contest... but the Vols should roll them. I will be concerned if they don't. On D they haven't played a very strong schedule and against FBS only they're 13th in the SEC in total D. The Vols are 1st.
Heupel's use of this game will be interesting. Nico needs to work on some things. He needs a confidence builder. Arkansas is last in the SEC in passing D allowing 282 per game. UT is 3rd... .5 yds/gm behind 1st.
UT in spite of the OU game is near the top in every offensive category. Arkansas is as well... but they've played trash Ds.
I fully expect UT's D to show up strong again... and for the Vols to score a TON of points.
Now... how will they play or fare vs Bama and UGA? Who really knows? Two things will happen between now and Bama though. The Vols get a week off to correct some of what they learned vs OU and Nico will get two more SEC games under his belt before Bama comes to Neyland.
Your attempt to throw a wet blanket over the enthusiasm we have about the potential of this team is noted- but not shared.