I saw it differently.
South Carolina looked GREAT on offense with their defense a little unconditioned against a fast paced offense--sounds like it will be good for tennessee if we stay uptempo. but i still suspect them to get in better game shape as time goes on. to me, USC looked to be the most put together of the east.. it's actually comical to me that people name them as our biggest chance for upset. they have the coach, the talent on D and O to go to the SEC championship this year. and with spurrier being one of the few coaches in the game who can beat Saban, I would think they'd have the best chance at beating alabama. south carolina will eat up Georgia's slow-paced offense again this year I believe and Florida struggling honestly shouldn't give them as much trouble.
How can UT beat USC: Worley would need to improve his accuracy and keep the uptempo of the offense to tire out USC's defense. Corners would have to have the best game of their life and more pressure would need to be on their QBs. USC has got two solid QBs with a real threatening passing game. does not look good for us.
Georgia was very well-matched with Clemson--South Carolina beat both of these teams last year. you could see Georgia lacks some playmakers at WR but Gurley looked good--I mean he looked really good, he's a game changer. overall, I'd say they got worse from last year but Murray staying is huge because he leads well--I bet he wishes the OLine didn't repay him with so many sacks. they have some huge problems on the left side of their Oline OR clemson just has some great defensive ends.
How UT beats Georgia: I think we could the upset here if they don't continue to improve their offense (looked very run heavy and predictable) and we get our special teams together or if Butch can find a way to contain Gurley--he made his big plays mostly to the outside (****ty OLine) but had some good runs up the middle. like some other posters have said, their OLine really looked awful. Makes me feel better that UT doesn't have those issues with everyone healthy and they can give Worley all the time in the world to throw--even if his accuracy is nowhere near Bray's level of talent.
Florida didn't seem like they skipped a beat even with quite a few players out/lost to graduation. I hate to say it and its hard to know with them up against Toledo but they looked in a good position for the East this year-- the only team who looks like they will certainly beat them is South Carolina. Didn't catch ALL of the game but they looked fast--as always--and their defense looked nasty--as always.
How UT beats Florida: There are still some concerns on offense for them which is great for UT because their passing game doesn't look too great and we contained the run well last night. if you remember they got us last year with their QB taking off a fair amount. If we play smart, we can prevent that this year. real major concerns against them are again, giving up big plays...mostly because if they get away we don't have the speed to catch them. If UT plays with discipline and gets some of our corners back and healthy and on track with an improved special teams to get us in good field position, this could be a good game--better than people think.
Alabama looked a bit overrated to me. Granted, its early and it was the first game but they just didn't look as good on offense--apparently Vtech is sort of known to have a great D this year though. defense looked solid though and special teams looked real good, which is a game changer for sure.
How UT beats Bama: hard to say at this point. D would have to just be perfect getting that pressure on the QB.. Bama has an experience QB with leadership skills and some great talent at receiver. special teams would need some major improvement. I'd say we put North deep to return in the Bama game for speed and someone has got to teach special teams to tackle in both the open field and how to wrap up. I think we've got the ability to be decent against them offensively if we create mismatches and our WR corps step up. I think it's a real threat to have Lane and Neal rotating because they are both very talented and fresh legs every few plays makes our running game a real threat.
All I know about Oregon is that they beat the crap out of whoever they were playing.
WKU beat Kentucky with less talent but Bobby Petrino, as one poster said, is in a "league of his own" on playing up what he's got on the roster. So glad Butch did not give him very much film to study for our first team. I can't see them upsetting us with how disciplined the team looks this year but you've got to give credit to Petrino... he's a great coach and will probably capitalize on our walk-on corners and lack of speed/talent in the secondary. can also see him adjusting his special teams to get himself better field position because apparently our special teams has quite the issue tackling. I don't see WKU having the talent to stop our offense though even if it is young--we have got playmakers (in the making) in Pig and North and possibly some of the tight ends and even Young in the slot. Just because we haven't seen much of these guys doesn't mean they SUCK. I don't know if anyone in the country would have started over guys like Cordarelle Patterson and Da'Rick or even Justin Hunter. Butch and the WR coach seem to be encouraging the new guys to step up.
Missouri beat a cupcake. no news there. we will still own them. really shouldn't even be close this year. Missouri still has to recruit better but struggles because lack of in-state talent and I'm not confident they've got a good enough coach to win games they shouldn't win. still haven't had time to adjust their style of play to win in the SEC. barely had success in the big 12 some years.
Auburn beat Washington State but only by a touchdown. didn't catch this but I know they were losing at half and came back with a strong second half. I think they may be favored but if I had to guess, we'll upset them.
EDIT: I forgot about Vandy... just like all their fans forgot to show up to the Ole Miss game. I know it will probably be seen as an "upset" when we win but I just cannot see them coming to our house and winning. Ole Miss is young just like Tennessee and Vandy played a great game (threw up a little in my mouth typing that) but if they win in Neyland I think the General will roll over in his grave. it is way too early, I think, to predict this outcome based on potential strengths/weaknesses of both teams because we play them so much later in the season. although, I will say their offense looks fairly pass heavy which could be difficult for UT to shut down but again, a predictable offense and our corners getting more practice and some getting healthy by that time (best case scenario) Vandy won't give us any problems whatsoever.
