No pundits mentioning Tennessee in early discussions

[NighthawkVol]

No doubt our secondary is suspect. However, domintaing defensive lines can make a poor secondary average and an average one pretty dang good. And IMO the DL on this team is talented enough to make the secondary good enough, assuming they need the help.

McCoy and Gibson are the best CB pair of the Heupel era. We finally have 2 outside CBs who have the physical tools to play press man. Thomas at will be the best NB since Theo, but he’ll need to stay healthy. If Boo gets a chance, he’ll stay in the lineup.

 

[Orange-U-Glad]

The core issue is how tough the SEC is going to be this year. We are still in building mode. Potential means you haven’t done it yet. We have a difficult schedule. There was a crawler during the SEC media days that showed our over and under on wins at 8.3. While I think we will do better than that, getting to 9 wins will not be a cakewalk.

 

[Woodlawn VOL]

I like being in the weeds out by the chicken coupe as Corso used to say. Let em overlook us, we have to go show them all on the field. GBO!

 

[RockyTop140]

Only our fanbase is saying Nico has Heisman potential. We have 1 good proven running back in Sampson. and our Secondary is sus until proven otherwise.

Yep. I do like some of our younger db talent, but they’ll have to learn quickly this season for us to be in the playoffs

 

[25vol]

Only our fanbase is saying Nico has Heisman potential. We have 1 good proven running back in Sampson. and our Secondary is sus until proven otherwise.

Yeah that RB2 spot is wide open, imo. Wonder if young Mr. Lewis will take that spot at some point. He’s too fast to leave off the field.

 

[Rockytop10nessee]

Yeah the media puts a lot of stock in returning starters and experience wise, we rank something like 90th in the country. I was listening to Paul Finebaum yesterday and he talked about this. That's why so much of the media has us ranked around or outside of the top 25 and they have some teams like Iowa ranked so much higher than us. Personally I think that's being a tad short-sighted, considering how trash they looked against us in the bowl game, but no matter. It'll all work itself out by the end of the year.

It’s beyond short sighted to have Iowa ahead of us. We whipped their ass with the same team we have now, minus a very mediocre secondary that ought to be better this year than last. not short-sighted, but egregiously stupid.

 

[Rockytop10nessee]

Nico has started 1 game how does he get Heisman level from that? We have 1 proven running back.

We have a good chance to be a great team this season but lets kinda be realistic we could also be not very good with a few injuries. What happens if Nico gets hurt or does not play well? What if that happens to any team? Lol.

What happens if Sampson cant carry the load as a feature back after being 3rd in a platoon and none of the other guys step up? There’s just no reason to think that would happen, and heupel’s offenses have ALWAYS run the ball at an elite level. 100% of the years he’s been an OC or higher.

We have pretty much all new faces at secondary. We sucked in the secondary, it is more likely than not that we are improved in the secondary.

There is a huge amount of potential on this team but its all unproven in SEC play. Its not all unproven. Our lines are probably the most experienced in the entire nation.

If you look at all the key players on this years team they are mostly either new or have a history of injuries. On offense lets look at proven quantities Sampson, Squirrel, Webb and Nimrod. You left out Bru who has only been injured once and therefore doesn’t have a history of injuries, plus 4 starters On the OL and a five star tackle that got playing time last year at LSU.

Pretty much every other player falls into the aforementioned categories. So 8 starters? Lmao… 14 starters out of 22 with experience including pretty much everyone in trenches, and almost 3 deep on the DL.

On our side is we have the #52 SOS which is super low for us. But that's also a negative in the eyes of the pundits. No it’s not. In a 12 team playoff that won’t matter at all. Win 10+ and we’re in. Win 9 or fewer and we aren’t. SOS wont matter at all.

 

[pimo1]

1. Only this team matters in this forums

2 Huepels offense has always had depth at RB....and he platoons heavy. We don't have anyone beyond Sampson proven and he was the 3rd RB last year mostly because of pass blocking. Sampson is a beast but can he carry the load if the other guys can't step up?

3. Our secondary last year was disappointing but not nearly as bad as people make it out to have been. We had talent and they had experience. New guys are new guys.

4. I clearly pointed out the one place we had no issues is Dline. Oline only 2 people will be playing the same position John Campbell will move to RT (won't be an issue) and Heard is new to the program. Cade is All-America talent but injury-prone and we have nothing behind him. We will have at leat one new face at guard. Linebackers all new starters but no worries there. SDE new starter. TE new starters (both likely transfers). RB 1-2 new guys if the platoon stays in place (number 2 is likely a true freshman). WR the only guys we return expected to play a lot of snaps are Squirrel and Bru who is coming back from a serious injury. Thornton showed flashes but stayed hurt. Our next most proven guys there are expected to be the 5 and 6 on the depth chart if lucky right?

5. As mentioned above Bru is coming back from a season-ending injury and we return 3 starting linemen to this team one changing positions. I guess you were counting Heard who was a backup RT who started 1 game at another program but I'll give you that.

6. First off, we heavily platoon at RB and Dline. Dline we return pretty much everything. The whole 2 deep in the secondary is mostly new faces. Both our starting Linebackers will be new. TE and QB are new. the only 2 WR's with experience in this system expected to contribute are Squirrel and Bru. The whole Sampson being a workhorse is not likely gonna fly in this offense. We swapped out RB's every series for a reason. The pace of the offense makes it a necessity. They are also the most important unt in this offense because the whole pass game is predicated on them. If we cant at least make people play the run we are toast.

7. SoS will be so much more important this year because of the realignment. There are gonna be a lot more 9-10 win teams in the top 15 than normal. Last year not a single team in the top 10 ended the regular season with less than 10 wins and not a single team in the top 15 ended the season with less than 9. That will not be the case this year. I do not see an undefeated team coming out of the top 3 conferences this year. Every top team has at least 4 land mines on their schedule this year. Did you not see the bowl game that Iowa team won 10 games.... 10? Not because they were good because they played in the BIG10 west.. the second-best team in that division was Northwestern (7 regular season wins). The east was just as terrible behind the big 3. SoS will play a huge role this year in the playoff race because teams in other conferences will be playing harder schedules so if there are multiple teams with 10 wins the ones with the higher SoS get the nod. Its not an opinion its literally how the Playoff poll works. SoS and SoR are huge factors now more than ever.


Unlike other polls, the College Football Playoff rankings come out only until well into the season. And unlike other polls, it's the only one that really matters, as it's for the four-team playoff. The CFP Selection Committee ranks its own Top 25, using factors like strength of schedule, results, championships won, common opponents and more. The top four teams go to the playoff, which plays two semifinals before the national title game in a No. 1 vs. No. 4 and No. 2 vs. No. 3 format. -ncaa.com

 

[The Original Fade]

The way some of you crave media love is down right creepy

 

[Rockytop10nessee]

1. Only this team matters in this forums

2 Huepels offense has always had depth at RB....and he platoons heavy. We don't have anyone beyond Sampson proven and he was the 3rd RB last year mostly because of pass blocking. Sampson is a beast but can he carry the load if the other guys can't step up?

3. Our secondary last year was disappointing but not nearly as bad as people make it out to have been. We had talent and they had experience. New guys are new guys.

4. I clearly pointed out the one place we had no issues is Dline. Oline only 2 people will be playing the same position John Campbell will move to RT (won't be an issue) and Heard is new to the program. Cade is All-America talent but injury-prone and we have nothing behind him. We will have at leat one new face at guard. Linebackers all new starters but no worries there. SDE new starter. TE new starters (both likely transfers). RB 1-2 new guys if the platoon stays in place (number 2 is likely a true freshman). WR the only guys we return expected to play a lot of snaps are Squirrel and Bru who is coming back from a serious injury. Thornton showed flashes but stayed hurt. Our next most proven guys there are expected to be the 5 and 6 on the depth chart if lucky right?

5. As mentioned above Bru is coming back from a season-ending injury and we return 3 starting linemen to this team one changing positions. I guess you were counting Heard who was a backup RT who started 1 game at another program but I'll give you that.

6. First off, we heavily platoon at RB and Dline. Dline we return pretty much everything. The whole 2 deep in the secondary is mostly new faces. Both our starting Linebackers will be new. TE and QB are new. the only 2 WR's with experience in this system expected to contribute are Squirrel and Bru. The whole Sampson being a workhorse is not likely gonna fly in this offense. We swapped out RB's every series for a reason. The pace of the offense makes it a necessity. They are also the most important unt in this offense because the whole pass game is predicated on them. If we cant at least make people play the run we are toast.

7. SoS will be so much more important this year because of the realignment. There are gonna be a lot more 9-10 win teams in the top 15 than normal. Last year not a single team in the top 10 ended the regular season with less than 10 wins and not a single team in the top 15 ended the season with less than 9. That will not be the case this year. I do not see an undefeated team coming out of the top 3 conferences this year. Every top team has at least 4 land mines on their schedule this year. Did you not see the bowl game that Iowa team won 10 games.... 10? Not because they were good because they played in the BIG10 west.. the second-best team in that division was Northwestern (7 regular season wins). The east was just as terrible behind the big 3. SoS will play a huge role this year in the playoff race because teams in other conferences will be playing harder schedules so if there are multiple teams with 10 wins the ones with the higher SoS get the nod. Its not an opinion its literally how the Playoff poll works. SoS and SoR are huge factors now more than ever.


Unlike other polls, the College Football Playoff rankings come out only until well into the season. And unlike other polls, it's the only one that really matters, as it's for the four-team playoff. The CFP Selection Committee ranks its own Top 25, using factors like strength of schedule, results, championships won, common opponents and more. The top four teams go to the playoff, which plays two semifinals before the national title game in a No. 1 vs. No. 4 and No. 2 vs. No. 3 format. -ncaa.com

There won’t be more than 12 teams with 2 losses or less. I just looked at polls dating back 20 years and it hasn’t happened. If we have 2 losses or fewer, we’re a lock.

Youre overstating our inexperience and ignoring other teams’. Your first point is first class bullshít. Lol. Discussing our competition for the playoff is absolutely a relevant topic here.

Heupel’s offense have not always had running back depth. It was a huge question mark in his first and second year here. What heupel’s offense always does is develop the young guys and have them ready. Same for wide receivers. Same for QBs. Heupel’s been an OC or HC for going on 15 years. The worst QB in those 15 years just got drafted and had a 5 to 1 td to int ratio. Saying we don’t know what we have yet in Nico is disingenuous. We have coaches saying he’s the best heupel’s ever had under center. We know he’s gonna be better than Milton (who stil led us to a top 20 offense). We know he tore up an Iowa defense that held the national champions to around 200 yards of total offense the game before they played us.

There are plenty of reasons to expect greatness this year.

 

[volbound1700]

We are considered "in the mix" which might be about right. IMO, how we are lined up in the SEC by most people is about right but we are sometimes jobbed in the National Rankings overall.

As stated, the new secondary and QB has given us the willies.

I think the 9-4 season, although not bad, hurt the perception a little bit on the National Stage because it gave the same view of "same old Tennessee". We just need to prove people wrong.

 

[ntxVOL]

There won’t be more than 12 teams with 2 losses or less. I just looked at polls dating back 20 years and it hasn’t happened. If we have 2 losses or fewer, we’re a lock.

Youre overstating our inexperience and ignoring other teams’. Your first point is first class bullshít. Lol. Discussing our competition for the playoff is absolutely a relevant topic here.

Heupel’s offense have not always had running back depth. It was a huge question mark in his first and second year here. What heupel’s offense always does is develop the young guys and have them ready. Same for wide receivers. Same for QBs. Heupel’s been an OC or HC for going on 15 years. The worst QB in those 15 years just got drafted and had a 5 to 1 td to int ratio. Saying we don’t know what we have yet in Nico is disingenuous. We have coaches saying he’s the best heupel’s ever had under center. We know he’s gonna be better than Milton (who stil led us to a top 20 offense). We know he tore up an Iowa defense that held the national champions to around 200 yards of total offense the game before they played us.

There are plenty of reasons to expect greatness this year.

Well then I suppose the only explanation for no preseason hype is the lack of respect for what Heupel brings to this league.

This could be a breakout year or a bust. I can't wait to find out, the season can't get here fast enough.

 

[volbound1700]

Nico has started 1 game how does he get Heisman level from that? We have 1 proven running back.

We have a good chance to be a great team this season but lets kinda be realistic we could also be not very good with a few injuries. What happens if Nico gets hurt or does not play well? What happens if Sampson cant carry the load as a feature back after being 3rd in a platoon and none of the other guys step up? In this offense if we can't run the ball we are boned. We have pretty much all new faces at secondary. There is a huge amount of potential on this team but its all unproven in SEC play. If you look at all the key players on this years team they are mostly either new or have a history of injuries. On offense lets look at proven quantities Sampson, Squirrel, Webb and Nimrod. On defense the line. Pretty much every other player falls into the aforementioned categories. On our side is we have the #52 SOS which is super low for us. But that's also a negative in the eyes of the pundits.

Our schedule is fine. We have NC State, Oklahoma, Alabama, and Georgia. All 4 will be ranked. Also don't sleep on UK who could also be ranked by the time we play them. Florida isn't necessarily a pushover as well although they will struggle to make a bowl game IMO.

That being said, it is a far more favorable schedule than last year. It is a medium schedule when compared to the rest of the SEC. OU and Alabama have far harder schedules but Mizzou, Ole Miss, and Texas have a lot easier schedules.

 

[Rockytop10nessee]

Well then I suppose the only explanation for no preseason hype is the lack of respect for what Heupel brings to this league.

This could be a breakout year or a bust. I can't wait to find out, the season can't get here fast enough.

Our absolute floor is 8-4.

No preseason hype stems from our star QB being a rs frosh and other great teams in the conference have juniors and seniors at QB. We’ll be top 10 maybe top 5 after the Oklahoma game. Preseason polls lean heavily on returning experience. We’re an anomaly, because our new QB is better than our old one, and our new back seven is likely better than our experienced one last year. That normally doesnt happen.

 

[pimo1]

Our schedule is fine. We have NC State, Oklahoma, Alabama, and Georgia. All 4 will be ranked. Also don't sleep on UK who could also be ranked by the time we play them. Florida isn't necessarily a pushover as well although they will struggle to make a bowl game IMO.

That being said, it is a far more favorable schedule than last year. It is a medium schedule when compared to the rest of the SEC. OU and Alabama have far harder schedules but Mizzou, Ole Miss, and Texas have a lot easier schedules.

To us its fine but for CFP polls its not good. Its number 55. That will change over the course of the season if Say Vandy wins some games or Bama/UGA fall of a cliff. But having a low SOS is for instance a large part of the reason Texas got in with 1 loss over undefeated FSU. texas had a much stronger SoS and the loss didn't hurt their SoR much because it was to Oklahoma. FSU played 3 ranked teams. texas played 5 and beat Bama. Thats what SoS/SoR can do.

 

[volbound1700]

To us its fine but for CFP polls its not good. Its number 55. That will change over the course of the season if Say Vandy wins some games or Bama/UGA fall of a cliff. But having a low SOS is for instance a large part of the reason Texas got in with 1 loss over undefeated FSU. texas had a much stronger SoS and the loss didn't hurt their SoR much because it was to Oklahoma. FSU played 3 ranked teams. texas played 5 and beat Bama. Thats what SoS/SoR can do.

55 sounds inaccurate but we will see. The polls are not out yet. "Eye" test is the most important as you saw with Alabama. I think if Tennessee goes 10-2, they will be in unless we just a weird year with a bunch of undefeated or 11-1 teams (I don't see that). 9-3 will be pushing it, however.

SEC is deep this year (at least it looks to be going into the season).

 

[pimo1]

There won’t be more than 12 teams with 2 losses or less. I just looked at polls dating back 20 years and it hasn’t happened. If we have 2 losses or fewer, we’re a lock.

Youre overstating our inexperience and ignoring other teams’. Your first point is first class bullshít. Lol. Discussing our competition for the playoff is absolutely a relevant topic here.

Heupel’s offense have not always had running back depth. It was a huge question mark in his first and second year here. What heupel’s offense always does is develop the young guys and have them ready. Same for wide receivers. Same for QBs. Heupel’s been an OC or HC for going on 15 years. The worst QB in those 15 years just got drafted and had a 5 to 1 td to int ratio. Saying we don’t know what we have yet in Nico is disingenuous. We have coaches saying he’s the best heupel’s ever had under center. We know he’s gonna be better than Milton (who stil led us to a top 20 offense). We know he tore up an Iowa defense that held the national champions to around 200 yards of total offense the game before they played us.

There are plenty of reasons to expect greatness this year.

I never said there would be 12 teams with 2 losses or less. Please show me where I said that? I said there will be a lot of teams in the top 15 with 2 regular season losses. Because looking back on history wont show you anything about this season Conferences have been completely changed. The landscape of the SEC, ACC, Big10, Big12 and even some of the smaller conferences have changed massively this year. All of the top 5 conferences except for RIP PAC12 are either a lot stronger or have a lot more parity (Big12). This means what happened in the Big10 last year with the Conference championship game happening between the 1st and 5th best teams in the conference wont happen. There were 4 teams in the East that would have beaten the brakes off Iowa (Maryland was a better team with a cursed schedule).

I totally believe in CJH and this administration. but there are a lot of things out of their control and one must take those into account when setting expectations unless they want to be sorely let down. If you set expectations without putting reality in the formula you are setting unrealistic expectations. Injuries happen, SoS matters, and quite often players don't pan out immediately in new roles/systems.

 

[Rockytop10nessee]

I never said there would be 12 teams with 2 losses or less. Please show me where I said that? I said there will be a lot of teams in the top 15 with 2 regular season losses. Because looking back on history wont show you anything about this season Conferences have been completely changed. The landscape of the SEC, ACC, Big10, Big12 and even some of the smaller conferences have changed massively this year. All of the top 5 conferences except for RIP PAC12 are either a lot stronger or have a lot more parity (Big12). This means what happened in the Big10 last year with the Conference championship game happening between the 1st and 5th best teams in the conference wont happen. There were 4 teams in the East that would have beaten the brakes off Iowa (Maryland was a better team with a cursed schedule).

I totally believe in CJH and this administration. but there are a lot of things out of their control and one must take those into account when setting expectations unless they want to be sorely let down. If you set expectations without putting reality in the formula you are setting unrealistic expectations. Injuries happen, SoS matters, and quite often players don't pan out immediately in new roles/systems.

Now you’re making shít up. And ignoring my points that debunk the bullshít you post. You’re not being realistic. You’re being argumentative for the **** of it… and for some reason you that more parity means more teams with only two losses. There wil be 8-10 teams with 2 losses, just like every other year. The realignment won’t impact that, unless it makes it fewer teams with 2 losses. You think you’ve figured something out by thinking critically but you didn’t do it right. Lmao.

 

[pimo1]

Now you’re making shít up. And ignoring my points that debunk the bullshít you post. You’re not being realistic. You’re being argumentative for the **** of it… and for some reason you that more parity means more teams with only two losses. There wil be 8-10 teams with 2 losses, just like every other year. The realignment won’t impact that, unless it makes it fewer teams with 2 losses. You think you’ve figured something out by thinking critically but you didn’t do it right. Lmao.

You seem a tad angry sir. Can you please state some evidence to refuse what I'm saying? You just seem to want to disagree no matter what. it is fairly easy to look at the BIG10 and see clearly their schedules are going to be a lot harder this year. Same with ACC. Ohio State and Michigan played 3 and 2 teams respectively with pulses last season. Not even joking Vandy could have won 8 games on either of the schedules. SoS is what got Ohio State eliminated from discussion of playoffs. It is also what got FSU left out even being undefeated. SoR is what got Michigan in. Had Clemson and Duke not flamed out end of season FSU would have been in because it would have raised their SoS and SoR that's how it works and was the rist time its really come down to it. the realignment will make this happen more because when you play with more parity top teams will eat more losses.

I will Stand on this, it is Highly unlikely any team in the SEC ACC or BIG10 go undefeated this regular season. Maybe Georgia or OSU but they both have at least 4 games they could lose on their schedules instead of the 2-3 they had last year.

If you look up the CFP playoff polls all the things I said about SoS and SoR are there. These are facts. Lol. Please sir point out one singular thing I made up?

 

[Rockytop10nessee]

You seem a tad angry sir. Can you please state some evidence to refuse what I'm saying? You just seem to want to disagree no matter what. it is fairly easy to look at the BIG10 and see clearly their schedules are going to be a lot harder this year. Same with ACC. Ohio State and Michigan played 3 and 2 teams respectively with pulses last season. Not even joking Vandy could have won 8 games on either of the schedules. SoS is what got Ohio State eliminated from discussion of playoffs. It is also what got FSU left out even being undefeated. SoR is what got Michigan in. Had Clemson and Duke not flamed out end of season FSU would have been in because it would have raised their SoS and SoR that's how it works and was the rist time its really come down to it. the realignment will make this happen more because when you play with more parity top teams will eat more losses.

I will Stand on this, it is Highly unlikely any team in the SEC ACC or BIG10 go undefeated this regular season. Maybe Georgia or OSU but they both have at least 4 games they could lose on their schedules instead of the 2-3 they had last year.

If you look up the CFP playoff polls all the things I said about SoS and SoR are there. These are facts. Lol. Please sir point out one singular thing I made up?

Im not angry. I am curious why you think your role on this board is to be the devil’s advocate to everything anyone says. Christ I’m not reading all that drivel you just responded with. More made up bullshît lol

 

[Oldvoldad]

Who will be our two starting safeties and who will be their two backups?

Probably Turrentine,Thomas,Brooks,Slaughter.

 

[lefthander]

Only our fanbase is saying Nico has Heisman potential. We have 1 good proven running back in Sampson. and our Secondary is sus until proven otherwise.

Nico Heisman? Who does he throw two? How much protection does he get?
We can be optimistic and and realistic at same time.

 

[Volfan1000]

Not sure why we are not being discussed, Heisman level quarterback, good running backs and good recruiting on defensive and offensive lines. What is our weakness?

Tennessee is a sleeping giant.

 

[knox73]

Peyton Lewis. Remember that name.

 

[Volador]

I despise too much pre-season hype. Never seems to sit well with us, so always always always prefer being the underdog, as in the 1998 NC Team. All the pressure was OFF of that team once Peyton left, so quietly that team flew under the radar and had zero pressure on them. Playing when you have something to prove is the fuel of soooo many champions in soooo many sports. Let's be happy this years team is in that mix. I sleep better at night w o all that damn pressure. GBO!!