Are we ever going to catch Georgia?

#201
#201
CFB is always a continuous cycle. Alabama and GA was saying the same thing about us in the 90s. I’m not worried. I’m glad we have some stability and no scandals right now. You can’t build a program on a bad foundation. Give Heupel a few years, get the program stabilized financially and with recruiting and then we will see where we stand. Bama is almost gone. Kirby will have to decide to stay at UGA or go to Bama. Either way, there is a big power vacuum coming soon.
 
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#202
#202
loosecannon said:
CFB is always a continuous cycle. Alabama and GA was saying the same thing about us in the 90s. I’m not worried. I’m glad we have some stability and no scandals right now. You can’t build a program on a bad foundation. Give Heupel a few years, get the program stabilized financially and with recruiting and then we will see where we stand. Bama is almost gone. Kirby will have to decide to stay at UGA or go to Bama. Either way, there is a big power vacuum coming soon.
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Just depends on who Bama replaces Saban with once he retires. A football program's success is dependent on the head coach. Having facilities, resources, recruiting base, ect is a plus, but those do not automatically yield a top notch college football program. After Stallings retired Bama experience a decade of meh football coaches. Same Bama, bad football till Saban showed up.

Spurrier made Florida. Zook fumbled around and then Meyer continued the success. After Meyer, Florida fell off because they made bad choices. Nothing else changed. They are still in some of the best recruiting area of the US.

USC for years was a mediocre team. Pete Carroll came in and changed that. After Carroll, USC fell into a coaching quagmire and has been up and down.

Or Clemson. Haven't been much of anything since the 80s. Then Dabo takes over and after a couple of years turns them into one of the best programs of the decade.

I doubt Kirby leaves UGA. Bama will have options, but there is no guarantee. If they hire a good head coach that can recruit and hire a talented staff they can continue to be a SEC Champ contender. Bama has proven they will commit to the football program.
 
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#203
#203
UGA right now is what Bama was about a decade ago. They just wear you out with waves of quality depth and some standouts. You will have to have a qb that they have to play honest. Enough depth to not let them wear them down. UT is several years behind. Not sure they'll ever outrecruit UGA with Kirby there or Saban at Bama. There will be years though that if Heupel stays top 10-15 they'll play with them and possibly beat them.
 
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#204
#204
I would answer "no", but that is not exclusive to Tennessee.

I hate it as much as anyone because I don't have words to express how much I hate Georgia, but they have found their Knute Rockne, Bear Bryant, Nick Saban, etc.

As long as Kirby Smart is there and he maintains his drive, he'll win for too long for me to be willing to accept.

The only thing that will change that is just if he no longer has the drive to stay on top of the mountain. That's our only hope is that he doesn't have the energy to maintain this.
 
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#206
#206
TheDeeble said:
Just depends on who Bama replaces Saban with once he retires. A football program's success is dependent on the head coach. Having facilities, resources, recruiting base, ect is a plus, but those do not automatically yield a top notch college football program. After Stallings retired Bama experience a decade of meh football coaches. Same Bama, bad football till Saban showed up.

Spurrier made Florida. Zook fumbled around and then Meyer continued the success. After Meyer, Florida fell off because they made bad choices. Nothing else changed. They are still in some of the best recruiting area of the US.

USC for years was a mediocre team. Pete Carroll came in and changed that. After Carroll, USC fell into a coaching quagmire and has been up and down.

Or Clemson. Haven't been much of anything since the 80s. Then Dabo takes over and after a couple of years turns them into one of the best programs of the decade.

I doubt Kirby leaves UGA. Bama will have options, but there is no guarantee. If they hire a good head coach that can recruit and hire a talented staff they can continue to be a SEC Champ contender. Bama has proven they will commit to the football program.
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Yeah. That’s kinda what I was getting at. Once you are at the mountain top, it takes a fee replacement hires usually to get it right. Rarely does a transition go smoothly without drop off. I can’t think of any top teams with a HC that retired that ended up better. Closest was at LSU twice, but those were inconsistent.
 
#207
#207
I believe perspective is important here. Many younger fans never knew Tenn. when it was a powerhouse and regularly was a top 5 team. It 100% can be done again but not in a day.

At some point in the next 2-3 years our roster will be good enough to compete. The younger players will be developed creating depth (which we lack). Then it comes down to executing.

UGAs recent teams execute when it matters most. That’s created a winning culture and an expectation to win. I respect them for how hard they play and how well coached they are.

We have shown glimpses, even this year, of what we can become. Hang in there my fellow Vol faithful. We are, beyond a shadow of doubt, on the rise. Better years ahead.
 
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#208
#208
GoVols64 said:
I believe perspective is important here. Many younger fans never knew Tenn. when it was a powerhouse and regularly was a top 5 team. It 100% can be done again but not in a day.
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We were only top 5 twice in the 90s in our best decade. Only 6 total top 5 finishes since 1970.
 
#210
#210
Imagine if we had had Heupel instead of Butch but with that talent from those 2015 and 2016 teams. Those teams would have probably gone undefeated.
 
#211
#211
BigOrangeTrain said:
Thread says it. Are we ever really going to catch them? I don’t think so. People can talk about the portal and NIL all you want. It’s not
Leveling anything. All it’s doing is making the rich richer. I mean how long has it been since we have owned UGA? Well let’s look at facts.

Since 2000, we are 6-18 against UGA. And let’s face facts. The UGA that Heupel is going against is VASTLY better than ANY UGA team Fulmer or anyone else faced. I mean Butch beat UGA in 2015 and 2016. I mean really? That was Riches last year and Kirby’s first ever with a true FR QB. In 2016 we needed a pure luck play to beat them.

We know UGA will recruit nothing less than top 3 from here on out. So how do we overcome that?
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No. We will never compete with Georgia year end and year out.
 
#213
#213
Once Saban retires I’m guessing Kiffin steps in.
Then we will be behind Ga, Ala, and Texas.
Texas will flourish in this conference. Texas A&M is not Texas. Far from it. Just my opinion . GO BIG ORANGE!!! VFL
Just give me playoff appearances 1 out of every 4 yrs . I’ll be good.
 
#214
#214
BigOrangeTrain said:
I think they will at some point. But it wouldn’t surprise me if they go 4 years without losing a game.
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Dang, this aged well. Guess this is just more fuel for your quest for the over-reacting fan of the year award. I notice you do have some faithful followers consistently hitting the like button too. Oh joy.
 
#215
#215
GUNTERSVOL said:
Dang, this aged well. Guess this is just more fuel for your quest for the over-reacting fan of the year award. I notice you do have some faithful followers consistently hitting the like button too. Oh joy.
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I am wrong quite often. You can boast about it all you like. I want us to be THE national powerhouse. I want teams like UGA and Bama to want to be US. And I won’t apologize for it. I am sure you expected UGA to lose right? Yeah sure you did 🙄🙄
 
#216
#216
GoVols64 said:
I believe perspective is important here. Many younger fans never knew Tenn. when it was a powerhouse and regularly was a top 5 team. It 100% can be done again but not in a day.

At some point in the next 2-3 years our roster will be good enough to compete. The younger players will be developed creating depth (which we lack). Then it comes down to executing.

UGAs recent teams execute when it matters most. That’s created a winning culture and an expectation to win. I respect them for how hard they play and how well coached they are.

We have shown glimpses, even this year, of what we can become. Hang in there my fellow Vol faithful. We are, beyond a shadow of doubt, on the rise. Better years ahead.
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Our selling point won't be our history. Frankly, Tennessee is only a mediocre program if you take out the Neyland years which ended in the early 1950s. You have the one National Title year with Fulmer and a few SEC Titles from Fulmer, Majors, and in the 1960s but overall Tennessee has NEVER had runs like you are seeing with Alabama and Georgia with the exception of Neyland years. So basically OUR PROGRAM is Neyland.

That being said, the selling point is our unique end zones, our big stadium, our membership in the SEC, our unique fight song, mascots, culture, etc. Tennessee has a lot of unique traditions. The state is also full of great celebrities that are not in other states. We just had Dolly Parton and Peyton Manning at our game 2 weeks ago. We had a lot of former NFL greats. Even with our struggles, one of the best running backs in the NFL is Alvin Kamara. Josh Dobbs is making headlines.

In a lot of ways, recruits care more about hearing from these former NFL players than who won a National Title. Sell our former players and our traditions.
 
#219
#219
volbound1700 said:
Our selling point won't be our history. Frankly, Tennessee is only a mediocre program if you take out the Neyland years which ended in the early 1950s. You have the one National Title year with Fulmer and a few SEC Titles from Fulmer, Majors, and in the 1960s but overall Tennessee has NEVER had runs like you are seeing with Alabama and Georgia with the exception of Neyland years. So basically OUR PROGRAM is Neyland.

That being said, the selling point is our unique end zones, our big stadium, our membership in the SEC, our unique fight song, mascots, culture, etc. Tennessee has a lot of unique traditions. The state is also full of great celebrities that are not in other states. We just had Dolly Parton and Peyton Manning at our game 2 weeks ago. We had a lot of former NFL greats. Even with our struggles, one of the best running backs in the NFL is Alvin Kamara. Josh Dobbs is making headlines.

In a lot of ways, recruits care more about hearing from these former NFL players than who won a National Title. Sell our former players and our traditions.
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Young recruits don’t know who Dolly is or care
 
#221
#221
Vols are destined to be an upper mid SEC team perennially unless Heupel starts recruiting at an elite level. I don’t know how the 12 team playoff will work but I doubt 3 SEC teams make it in regularly. Best I can see is Vols squeaking in once a decade.
 
#222
#222
Mtnvol80 said:
We were only top 5 twice in the 90s in our best decade. Only 6 total top 5 finishes since 1970.
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Exactly. I've been watching the Vols for 40 years and don't remember us "regularly" being a top 5 team
 
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#223
#223
Catching Georgia is probably a long shot at best!
Tennessee is just not recruiting at Georgia or Alabama’s level, unfortunately
 
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