If Tennessee defeats Oklahoma….

[UT97Vol]

I'm to the point now that I don't care what other people, other fans, other media thinks of us. All that matters is are we competitive, can we compete for SEC titles. Can we get back into the hunt for a national title. All the noise on the outside means nothing, so do these things and those issues take care of themselves.

 

[LTVol]

D

I feel like this is our best team ON PAPER since 2001, 2002 and 2005. 2016 roster was great but there were already suspicions that Butch Jokes was a fraud. Of those only 2001 produced.

Appreciate the kind words on Pat Summit.

definitely better than 2005. That team sucked

 

[Casual Mustard Yeeter]

Too early to tell…if NCS throttles Clemson then that win for us will be more impressive. Likewise, beating Oklahoma at their place is alway a great thing but is this a 10-2 Oklahoma to a 7-5? No one reallyknow yet.

A 7-5 Oklahoma could still be a top 25 team, as far as power ratings go. 6 teams in the SEC are ranked in the top ten, and OU plays five of them. So if they are what most power ratings think they are, they will lose five games to top ten opponents. That's about what you'd expect, to be honest. You're not what your record says you are.

We all know that the AP will vote differently, but they get rankings wrong all the time.

 

[sjt18]

Is it fair to say this team is the best the Vols have had since 2001 or is it too early still?

Side note - Pat Summitt is the best women’s basketball coach of all time, was good enough to be a men’s coach, and could easily have coached in the NBA. She left the world way too early.

Too early. And the talking heads are much more likely to question how good OU is than acknowledge that UT is good.

If that sounds too homer... the Vols have kind of earned that skepticism. Heupel appears to be turning things around but even going half way back through Fulmer's tenure UT was notorious for not fulfilling lofty expectations.

 

[VolRage]

Is it fair to say this team is the best the Vols have had since 2001 or is it too early still?

Side note - Pat Summitt is the best women’s basketball coach of all time, was good enough to be a men’s coach, and could easily have coached in the NBA. She left the world way too early.

I’m not trying to be ugly but I don’t think this years Sooners team is the appropriate team to determine that. The Vols have played significantly tougher teams than this years Sooners. Just as I’m sure this years Vols are not that team to make any basis for the Sooners. It’s too early. I suspect Bama and the Georgia Bulldogs aren’t as good this year as they’ve been in the past. I could be wrong. The Bulldog and KY game this past weekend might have been a fluke but I don’t think so. We’ll see. Will the new Bama coach be 1/2 or 3/4 the coach Saban was? Or will he be better? The jury is still out. I want to see what this Vols team does against Bama and Georgia before I chime in with any proclamation's of greatness. And then you still have the SECCG and the playoffs where they could fall apart.

 

[General Jack]

D

definitely better than 2005. That team sucked

The 2005 team entered the seasons ranked #3, stacked with talent, coached by a former national champion. They were good “on paper.” But agree they weren’t very good on the field.

 

[EastTNVol6240]

Huh? How would trouncing #15 Oklahoma put them on par with 2022? If you haven't heard the 2024 Vols have the greatest point differential in SEC history through 3 games. If we blow out Oklahoma that doesn’t just make us WAY BETTER than the 2022 team. It puts us one pace to become one of the best teams in SEC history.

This team is way better than 2022. And I would argue they're even better than the 1998 team let alone 2001 or any other Vols team in recent memory.

Taking it to far. We’ve not even seen our QB play in a meaningful game yet.

 

[bpalmer28]

Huh? How would trouncing #15 Oklahoma put them on par with 2022? If you haven't heard the 2024 Vols have the greatest point differential in SEC history through 3 games. If we blow out Oklahoma that doesn’t just make us WAY BETTER than the 2022 team. It puts us one pace to become one of the best teams in SEC history.

This team is way better than 2022. And I would argue they're even better than the 1998 team let alone 2001 or any other Vols team in recent memory.

This will be the first time I’ve ever blocked someone for being too positive. Goodbye.