Are there any skeptics?

[rbroyles]

preseason ranks are not even worth wiping my arse on!

I wish that were true, unfortunately they result in media darlings and "drag queen" teams having to be unseated to get the real contenders in proper rank. This year made that as clear as it can be.

 

[GoVols817]

You put 'poor coaching' in there yet we have at least 4 coaching spots that arent even filled yet. Possibly more will become available. To know that our new coaches are not any good you must know who they are. Let the rest of us in on your inside knowledge, please.

I don't, I know the one they are all going to be answering too though, which is all I need to know.

 

[Vol Mania 21]

ten wins seems like a great thing, but 4 loses make u realize it's not that great

 

[cd12]

ten wins seems like a great thing, but 4 loses make u realize it's not that great

Exactly! with the expanded schedule 10 wins should be the norm instead of an accomplishment.

 

[gcb/hoosiervol]

Okay, who wants to put down our Vols and coaching staff -Phil inlcuded?

Not me! As I mentioned earlier in the season, I thought it was possible to win between 9 and 11 games. If the Vols hadn't turned over the ball twice in the 4th quarter against LSU, the Vols could have had 11 wins and could have gone to the Sugar Bowl rather than Georgia.
After losing to Bama and the remaining schedule it looked rough down the stretch. It could have been a 7-5 season in lieu of the Vols going to the SEC Championship game. Never give up on our Vols until the bell sounds.

How about our men's basketball team? Hope they can keep it up! I think the men's team has a good shot at winning the SEC and possibly the SEC tourney. I think the men will be a top 10 at the end of the regular season.
GO VOLS!

I have spent way too much time on these threads this season, and I am guessing there is a 50/50 as to skeptics, higher than that after fla and bama game!!

I however at times dismayed, continue to think positive and cheer like a maniac for the VOLS...but the bama game really put my butt in a depressed mood for a few days (OK I'm fibbing, I am still bothered by that loss).:salute:

 

[jakez4ut]

i think when you look at this season, in reality it wound up being "good". trip to ATL for the title, a W on NYD, and we beat GA. the offensive line got better, the running game got better, Ainge was consistent on the whole, but lacked the "it" factor to really make him a standout, the team was much more disciplined and didn't beat themselves with penalties, and AF got better with ball security. there is good young talent on this team, i couldn't help but notice how many freshmen were contributors this season. and we went undefeated at home. and we put a drubbing on one of the best teams in the country in GA, we just didn't know at the time.

but the losses to Cal and Bama really look bad now, esp considering we got killed by both of them. and i've said this before, but at some point, i simply want to make out of the month of September with us controlling our own destiny in the SECE. that means we have to beat FL more often.

the biggest problems i have with this season are:
1. we continue to walk a fine line each game where 1 or 2 plays REALLY do wind up making a difference. How many times do we have to be up by two scores early, and bite our fingernails for the entire 2nd half? why can't we simply put our foot on the throat and go for the jungular when the opportunity presents itself? there's absolutely no reason why this game, the vandy game, the SC game etc...should have been as close as they were.
2. Defense wound up having two seasons in one. this unit grew up a little bit as the season went along and is much better than the unit that stepped on the field in Berkley, but let's not get carried away either, they still are thin and have some holes up front.
3. play calling. i still say the past two years we played the entire season and i still don't know what we want to be. the play calling is irratic at times and we seem to come up with these trick plays called at the exact wrong time in the game and they don't work. Moreover, in the 2nd half yesterday, and a lot of the season, our 1st down offense is what killed us. if we threw an incomplete pass on 1st down we more times than not ran it on 2nd and it generally resulted in a 3rd and long. they were clutch yesterday in the 2nd half at keeping drives alive by making those long 3rd downs, but i would certainly like to see more 2nd and 3-4 to go going forward.
4. Special teams. it got better, but it's still an issue. coverage teams have to be better, and we missed more fg's this season than i'm accustomed to.

i think a lot of that is due to coaching and overall philosophy, but at the end of the day, i'd like to see a team with purpose each week, and just be crisp at what they do. i never got that feeling this year. Just about every win felt more like relief than anything else.

Just as in 2005 we were a few plays away from 9 wins, we were equally just a few plays away this year from 6 losses.

we simply can't continue to walk such a fine line and allow games to come down to missed fg's, or other team's mistakes or timely turnovers. when the opportunity presnets itself as it did several times this year, leave no doubt. we don't have to reinvent the wheel here, but we certainly need to re establish what we are, what we want to be, and then go do it.

the good news is i think we have enough talent right now to do that short term, and if we make sound hires this off season, there should be no reason why we shouldn't be in the conversation when it comes to SEC titles year in and year out.

 

[Etownvol]

Ainge looked like a little boy who was running for his life because the school yard bully was trying to steal his lunch money. Ainge would do well in St. Louis if he got drafted there.

Being a fair-weather Rams fan...I concur.

 

[rbroyles]

Being a fair-weather Rams fan...I concur.

Now we cannot have fair weather fans on VN, just cannot have that at all.

 

[TennFan]

:clapping:Boy, that makes me feel better about those embarrassing blowouts to our two biggest rivals, stinking up the SEC Championship game and having to play in a minor bowl game so early in the day that most of the country was either hungover or still asleep. Let's celebrate and give the coaches a big raise.
]

I'm not totally saying that the season was the best we've had. I didn't care for the blowouts either. As we know, down the stretch Cal and Bama stunk up the place and both ended up 7-6. The Vols do have to beat the "Tide" and "Gators" more frequently. The Gators are the first team the Vols need to beat. We can't depend on others to beat the Gators if we don't. Beating the Gators and Dawgs are the key to winning the SEC East.
Bama seems to be the only team that the Vols play consistently in the SEC West. Why don't we have Auburn more often than say Miss. St., Ole Miss. Is Arkansas a regular each year.
Recruiting is another big problem. Does the coaching staff try to recruit more players from Florida, GA, Texas, and California? I know getting some players from local places as Tennessee and Virginia helps also, but recruiting in the states I mentioned may be better.
Would be nice if the Vols got at least 6 players out of the top 25 every now and then with at least 2 of those being in the top 10.
When one looks at the football schedule each year for the Vols, the Big SEC games are: Florida, Georgia, and Bama. We should not lose to SC, KY, Vandy, or any team from Mississippi. Arkansas, LSU and Auburn are teams that UT alternates with. The Vols have at least one tough non-confernce game and at least one fairly easy winnable game for HC.
It's hard to compete for the National title every season, but 11 games might be the norm to win for regular season, not counting conference championships. I think the Vols should be consistent top 10 material every season with at least some of those being top 3.
Maybe we should add a Big 10 or Big 12 team to the schedule every now and then for regular season. Have a
Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Nebraska or Colorado on the schedule from the Big 12 or Michigan St, Purdue, Illinois, Penn St from the Big 10 or even have WV or Rutgers, or South Florida from the Big East. Replace Cal with Arizona, Arizona St, UCLA or Oregon from the PAC-10 or add Boise St or Fresno St from the WAC or VPI, FSU or BC from the ACC.

 

[Cartervol]

i think when you look at this season, in reality it wound up being "good". trip to ATL for the title, a W on NYD, and we beat GA. the offensive line got better, the running game got better, Ainge was consistent on the whole, but lacked the "it" factor to really make him a standout, the team was much more disciplined and didn't beat themselves with penalties, and AF got better with ball security. there is good young talent on this team, i couldn't help but notice how many freshmen were contributors this season. and we went undefeated at home. and we put a drubbing on one of the best teams in the country in GA, we just didn't know at the time.

but the losses to Cal and Bama really look bad now, esp considering we got killed by both of them. and i've said this before, but at some point, i simply want to make out of the month of September with us controlling our own destiny in the SECE. that means we have to beat FL more often.

the biggest problems i have with this season are:
1. we continue to walk a fine line each game where 1 or 2 plays REALLY do wind up making a difference. How many times do we have to be up by two scores early, and bite our fingernails for the entire 2nd half? why can't we simply put our foot on the throat and go for the jungular when the opportunity presents itself? there's absolutely no reason why this game, the vandy game, the SC game etc...should have been as close as they were.
2. Defense wound up having two seasons in one. this unit grew up a little bit as the season went along and is much better than the unit that stepped on the field in Berkley, but let's not get carried away either, they still are thin and have some holes up front.
3. play calling. i still say the past two years we played the entire season and i still don't know what we want to be. the play calling is irratic at times and we seem to come up with these trick plays called at the exact wrong time in the game and they don't work. Moreover, in the 2nd half yesterday, and a lot of the season, our 1st down offense is what killed us. if we threw an incomplete pass on 1st down we more times than not ran it on 2nd and it generally resulted in a 3rd and long. they were clutch yesterday in the 2nd half at keeping drives alive by making those long 3rd downs, but i would certainly like to see more 2nd and 3-4 to go going forward.
4. Special teams. it got better, but it's still an issue. coverage teams have to be better, and we missed more fg's this season than i'm accustomed to.

i think a lot of that is due to coaching and overall philosophy, but at the end of the day, i'd like to see a team with purpose each week, and just be crisp at what they do. i never got that feeling this year. Just about every win felt more like relief than anything else.

Just as in 2005 we were a few plays away from 9 wins, we were equally just a few plays away this year from 6 losses.

we simply can't continue to walk such a fine line and allow games to come down to missed fg's, or other team's mistakes or timely turnovers. when the opportunity presnets itself as it did several times this year, leave no doubt. we don't have to reinvent the wheel here, but we certainly need to re establish what we are, what we want to be, and then go do it.

the good news is i think we have enough talent right now to do that short term, and if we make sound hires this off season, there should be no reason why we shouldn't be in the conversation when it comes to SEC titles year in and year out.

That hasn't been the case for most of the nine years we haven't won a sec champiojnship.

The conservative game planning is always going to keep teams hanging around that shouldn't. Were the cardiac kids of the sec.

 

[TNwoozie]

Okay, who wants to put down our Vols and coaching staff -Phil inlcuded?
Not me! As I mentioned earlier in the season, I thought it was possible to win between 9 and 11 games. If the Vols hadn't turned over the ball twice in the 4th quarter against LSU, the Vols could have had 11 wins and could have gone to the Sugar Bowl rather than Georgia.
After losing to Bama and the remaining schedule it looked rough down the stretch. It could have been a 7-5 season in lieu of the Vols going to the SEC Championship game. Never give up on our Vols until the bell sounds.

How about our men's basketball team? Hope they can keep it up! I think the men's team has a good shot at winning the SEC and possibly the SEC tourney. I think the men will be a top 10 at the end of the regular season.
GO VOLS!

I do

 

[Etownvol]

Now we cannot have fair weather fans on VN, just cannot have that at all.

Wait a minute....not a fair-weather vols fan EVER, EVER, EVER! That would be simply evil....I'm kinda hot and cold with the NFL anyway, so don't worry about me...I'm all in!