Bowl Projections this week UT still in - UF out

[LA Vol]

I'm not as worried about our talent as I am about our fortitude and will to win. If our seniors and juniors want it bad enough and give their all, we'll win. If they continue to give less and play uninspired and undisciplined, we'll lose. Vandy has confidence and momentum on their side; we have neither. We have to want it more.

 

[HuntlandVolinColo]

Well found a good nugget of news. Vandy is only averaging 140 yards rushing per game vs 320 and 236 for Aub and Mizzou. This is weakness against weakness which can only help us. They out pass us by 50 yards a game. Take away the first 4 games of the year and we are closely matched on passing yards.

Our schedule was much tougher too and Vandy caught gators and uga at the right times.

 

[HuntlandVolinColo]

I'm not as worried about our talent as I am about our fortitude and will to win. If our seniors and juniors want it bad enough and give their all, we'll win. If they continue to give less and play uninspired and undisciplined, we'll lose. Vandy has confidence and momentum on their side; we have neither. We have to want it more.

I agree and I'm glad we get a bye week to regroup.

 

[tennrich1]

I am surprised at that. After watching this team in person on Saturday I think it is a stretch to say we should beat anybody. Many do, but many players just don't give maximum effort. It was a shameful display of lack if contact. It is hard for me to fathom that we have people starting who won't block, or who don't try to get off of a block.
Have our corners gotten off a block in the last 3 games? Or our defensive ends kept contain?
We actually had wedge. Lockers on kickoff Saturday who didn't TOUCH a single player. That's why we couldn't get a kickoff return out past the 20.
The other frustrating thing is that there were 3 major clips right in front of the ball carrier and the official on 3 of their big plays on special teams. I was astonished they didn't get flagged for those plays. Just an all around bad day on the field for UT.

LACK OF TEAM SPEED...THAT'S WHY WE LOOK SO FOOLISH AND INEPT ON THE FIELD...I dont know for a fact but I bet we can count on 5 fingers the guys on this team with 4.5 speed or better...and that may be a strectch....Wont win with that against top ten teams...wont happen....

 

[dan4vols]

If Janek can't find away to stop Vandy with 2 weeks, he should be fired on the Spot!

I know the man is trying, and I wont pretend I can know what he's up against in terms of available talent against upcoming talent and schemes. But it's not about team goals anymore it's just about prepping for next season by getting to a bowl....any bowl. Keeping current comits is job 1 here on out.

 

[supersmo18]

I like your optimism. What have you seen that makes you think we will beat Vandy?

I see a ground game that continues to grind out 100+ yards rushing against Auburn. I see a win against a much better SC team than UGA and FL (both). I see a QB that is progressing week by week, given that he's still a Freshman and making some rookie mistakes. Make no mistake, our offense will have to perform and perform well, but again, they are not playing the same teams that we've played the last 4 or 5 games.

The defense just needs to man up balls to the wall and make it happen. Pure and simple.

 

[Joe Vols]

This and the fact that 21 pts on Sat came off turnovers, meaning they only scored 13 points on sustained offensive drives down the field. If we control turnovers, we will beat Vandy. Besides, Butch is already 1-0 against Franklin :loco:

I hope you are right.

 

[supersmo18]

Enough to beat GA and FLA

You still don't get it.

FLORIDA AND GEORGIA ARE IMPOTENT.

Simply looking at a W/L record is NOT a fair comparison of where either of those teams were or are when UT and/or VU played them.

 

[supersmo18]

I hope you are right.

He has a good point. Florida's offense is atrocious, which fed right into the hands of VU's defenders.

I originally thought we made Florida better by injuring Brantley and having them put in Murphy, but I (at this point) don't see a difference between the two.

Florida's now a wagon with two wheels left. One of the hubs of the wheel reads "South Carolina" and the other hub reads "Florida State."

They're cooked.

 

[dreVol]

We have a 2 game playoff to get to a bowl game. Win or go home, that has to be the seniors' mentality.

 

[supersmo18]

Florida lost 9 starters to injury and a lot of confidence since we last played them. Florida had a bye to prepare for us and Peterman debut was a disaster. This was before Worley and WRs started gelling.

UGA was decimated with injuries after playing us and Mizzou. They were down to their 3rd string RB, and 4th string WRs among other injuries. Plus they lost control of SEC East the week prior to Mizzou (low morale).

Excuses? Yes
Valid? Yes

You said much more specifically than I did, but this is what I'm going for. :hi:

 

[HuntlandVolinColo]

gators have to beat USCe or FSU to go bowling. I don't see that happening unless they punt on 1st down and get all their points on defense and special teams.

 

[VolFootballlover]

You know we gave up 444 yards rushing to aub but only 479 yards total to our 354 yards. On that alone we were competitive with aub...

Your Kidding right? The Game I saw looked Like a Highschool team playing Auburn from the 2nd quarter on! From my seat Auburn could have scored at will and every player on Auburns team was laughing at how easy it was!

 

[daj2576]

Your Kidding right? The Game I saw looked Like a Highschool team playing Auburn from the 2nd quarter on! From my seat Auburn could have scored at will and every player on Auburns team was laughing at how easy it was!

The outcome of that game is only a shock to people who thought that Auburn's record last year was relative to talent. That is a very very talented team, who had a coach that was so inept that he actually won less games, with more talent, than Dooley.

Going in to this season, Auburn was the game that scared me the most after Bama. Those are insanely talented teams.

 

[fatvol]

I hate that Florida may miss a bowl game due to all of their injuries...

I wanted them to miss a bowl because Muschamp sucks.

 

[jkleno]

The outcome of that game is only a shock to people who thought that Auburn's record last year was relative to talent. That is a very very talented team, who had a coach that was so inept that he actually won less games, with more talent, than Dooley.

Going in to this season, Auburn was the game that scared me the most after Bama. Those are insanely talented teams.

Auburn has gone through the same attrition we have due to the firing of their HC. Fortunately for them, their COACH went out and got the QB they needed to run his offense. Our HC still doesn't have his QB and it looks like he doesn't have his QB in next year's class either. Am I wrong? I have been wrong before. I just feel that if he had his QB he would have put him on the field. One other question- AU knew what they were getting with Malzahn (an offensive guru), what is CBJ's expertise? I mean that seriously, I never knew what Dooley was and when he ended up a QB coach for Dallas, I was shocked.

 

[jkleno]

Your Kidding right? The Game I saw looked Like a Highschool team playing Auburn from the 2nd quarter on! From my seat Auburn could have scored at will and every player on Auburns team was laughing at how easy it was!

You nailed him. And AU was polite not to score another 7 at the end.

 

[titansvolsfaninga]

I mean, Vandy is a better team than they have been in the past. No doubt about it. But the teams that they beat in UGA and FL were but a mere shell of what they were in the beginning of the season when we played them. Even as bad as our defense has been playing, our defense has still had to deal with MUCH better offenses than what either Vandy or UK will put on the field. I really like our chances, and as I said long before the season started, I'd be happy with 6-6 in CBJs first year, especially with this schedule we've had to endure.

Some of your fellow VN posters think we should only have one loss right now.

 

[FBtime]

After watching Dobbs for two weeks now I just am not confident that he can beat EITHER Vandy or Kentucky. Seems a given our defense will give up a 24-30 points and I am not sure Dobbs can direct the offense to enough points.

 

[jkleno]

Some of your fellow VN posters think we should only have one loss right now.

Amen

 

[daj2576]

Auburn has gone through the same attrition we have due to the firing of their HC. Fortunately for them, their COACH went out and got the QB they needed to run his offense. Our HC still doesn't have his QB and it looks like he doesn't have his QB in next year's class either. Am I wrong? I have been wrong before. I just feel that if he had his QB he would have put him on the field. One other question- AU knew what they were getting with Malzahn (an offensive guru), what is CBJ's expertise? I mean that seriously, I never knew what Dooley was and when he ended up a QB coach for Dallas, I was shocked.

Jones recruited at least one QB on our current roster to Cincy. Jones also recruited Dobbs directly to UT.

Jones' forte' is offense. He prefers a species of the spread and/or read-option. I am not proficient enough to tell you what makes his philosophy specifically different than the version that Malzahn or Kelly runs, but he is much closer to them than say, Saban.

I believe that you are making an incorrect assumption on attrition. Even if attrition was exactly proportionate for both UT and Auburn, Auburn's last classes are far superior to UT's. This means simply that if you distill either UT or Auburn's rosters down, Auburn's would still be far superior. In fact, Auburn's roster, in my view, is good enough to win the east outright and compete for the west.

The second incorrect assumption that I believe you are making is in relation to the importance of the QB. I am not saying that a QB isn't important, just that we believe them to be more important than they are. I have read some interesting numerical studies that suggest that the most important position on the team is a kicker. That a good/experienced kicker accounts for over a one game a year difference in seasonal outcomes versus a .2 game a year difference that a good/experienced QB accounts for. I am not saying that those are definitive studies, but they are intriguing.

More than intriguing, it is consistent data with teams who have a system quarterback that is attributed as winning the national championship (Newton/Tebow) you find that their whole rosters were superior to their competition. That fact negates a bit of the support for the idea of their singular impact.

 

[jkleno]

Jones recruited at least one QB on our current roster to Cincy. Jones also recruited Dobbs directly to UT.

Jones' forte' is offense. He prefers a species of the spread and/or read-option. I am not proficient enough to tell you what makes his philosophy specifically different than the version that Malzahn or Kelly runs, but he is much closer to them than say, Saban.

I believe that you are making an incorrect assumption on attrition. Even if attrition was exactly proportionate for both UT and Auburn, Auburn's last classes are far superior to UT's. This means simply that if you distill either UT or Auburn's rosters down, Auburn's would still be far superior. In fact, Auburn's roster, in my view, is good enough to win the east outright and compete for the west.

The second incorrect assumption that I believe you are making is in relation to the importance of the QB. I am not saying that a QB isn't important, just that we believe them to be more important than they are. I have read some interesting numerical studies that suggest that the most important position on the team is a kicker. That a good/experienced kicker accounts for over a one game a year difference in seasonal outcomes versus a .2 game a year difference that a good/experienced QB accounts for. I am not saying that those are definitive studies, but they are intriguing.

More than intriguing, it is consistent data with teams who have a system quarterback that is attributed as winning the national championship (Newton/Tebow) you find that their whole rosters were superior to their competition. That fact negates a bit of the support for the idea of their singular impact.

Thanks for the answers about CBJ. I would disagree with you about the importance of a QB. But, that's what makes discussions interesting.

 

[jkleno]

Jones recruited at least one QB on our current roster to Cincy. Jones also recruited Dobbs directly to UT.

Jones' forte' is offense. He prefers a species of the spread and/or read-option. I am not proficient enough to tell you what makes his philosophy specifically different than the version that Malzahn or Kelly runs, but he is much closer to them than say, Saban.

I believe that you are making an incorrect assumption on attrition. Even if attrition was exactly proportionate for both UT and Auburn, Auburn's last classes are far superior to UT's. This means simply that if you distill either UT or Auburn's rosters down, Auburn's would still be far superior. In fact, Auburn's roster, in my view, is good enough to win the east outright and compete for the west.

The second incorrect assumption that I believe you are making is in relation to the importance of the QB. I am not saying that a QB isn't important, just that we believe them to be more important than they are. I have read some interesting numerical studies that suggest that the most important position on the team is a kicker. That a good/experienced kicker accounts for over a one game a year difference in seasonal outcomes versus a .2 game a year difference that a good/experienced QB accounts for. I am not saying that those are definitive studies, but they are intriguing.

More than intriguing, it is consistent data with teams who have a system quarterback that is attributed as winning the national championship (Newton/Tebow) you find that their whole rosters were superior to their competition. That fact negates a bit of the support for the idea of their singular impact.

You are 100% correct about Auburn's recruiting. I went back at Rivals and they have had TOP 10 classes ever since 2010. I didn't realize that.Thanks for pointing that out to me. How did Chizik get all of that talent to AU?

 

[daj2576]

You are 100% correct about Auburn's recruiting. I went back at Rivals and they have had TOP 10 classes ever since 2010. I didn't realize that.Thanks for pointing that out to me. How did Chizik get all of that talent to AU?

The same way Butch is recruiting to UT.

 

[jkleno]

The same way Butch is recruiting to UT.

I always that AU gave the $$$. HA