Our chances at Oregon.....

#251
#251
FWIW,

- TAM was ranked by no one preseason last year... finished 3rd in the nation.

- LSU was a consensus top 3 pick and finished 14th

- OU a consensus top 5 pick finished 15th

- Arkansas was picked 10 by AP and Coaches... finished with a losing record.

- USCw was "loaded" and the #1 team according to AP. They finished unranked at 7-6.


My point is that preseason polls are way too often respect for teams that are in the past... teams that won't hit the field this fall.

I suspect Oregon is a very good team. I think we all know that UT will play at least 3 other teams with more talent and as many as 5. I believe this to be a winnable game.
 
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#255
#255
TNHopeful505 said:
Now that is absolutely true. I can't think of a player ever donning the orange as big as Big Dan. If Dan Skipper would have signed, he would have been bigger height wise. But Dan Mc. is a monster. Couch is huge too.
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Nearly 700 pounds in the middle is absolutely sick. Couch and McCullers are probably the biggest duo ever at UT when it comes to pounds.
 
#256
#256
sjt18 said:
FWIW,

- TAM was ranked by no one preseason last year... finished 3rd in the nation.

- LSU was a consensus top 3 pick and finished 14th

- OU a consensus top 5 pick finished 15th

- Arkansas was picked 10 by AP and Coaches... finished with a losing record.

- USCw was "loaded" and the #1 team according to AP. They finished unranked at 7-6.


My point is that preseason polls are way too often respect for teams that are in the past... teams that won't hit the field this fall.

I suspect Oregon is a very good team. I think we all know that UT will play at least 3 other teams with more talent and as many as 5. I believe this to be a winnable game.
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It definitely is winnable. I think every game is winnable.

But it's going to be a dog fight. Dave Lawson is going to earn his paycheck in that game. We gotta have the stamina to just stay in it and push all 4 quarters.
 
#259
#259
Boca Vol said:
If, and it's a big IF, UT's OL is doing a great job of opening holes then UT has a chance of staying in the game. Oregon can score too fast. That's the scary part.
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I think UT has the pieces to use the same formula Stanford did last year. Bend, don't break. Run the ball effectively and hold on to it (they led TOP 37 minutes to 22).

I think UT is more physically talented than Stanford. I certainly believe Jones and all of the better coaches have studied and memorized that game film by now.
 
#262
#262
checkerboards09 said:
I do too. I think they'll even give Bama and Florida hell. Not as bad, but its gonna be hard to stop those two for anybody this year.
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I really like the strategy of allowing Dan to take up 2 OL as blocks, and then freeing someone else up. It's going to help Jacquez and Corey Miller and Jordan Williams get theirs.

It's definitely going to be difficult for opposing OL, no doubt.
 
#263
#263
livefaith said:
You talking about then or us?
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Pretty sure he's talking about them. Chip Kelly is no longer the coach, but their OC took over.

So for that reason, I don't see too much of a drop off. The terminology is the same, just a different man at the helm. It would have been different if they brought in someone different. But, I don't think the coaching change affects them too much.
 
#264
#264
OWB said:
I like your optimism, but I remember the defense from last year. I need to see the improvement with my own 2 eyes before I'm talking about them being better or worse.
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I understand that. But I am not an optimist. Hopeful yes... but not an optimist. There's a difference. Optimists tend to see the sunny side in spite of the cloudy skies. That's not what I am doing. I think UT for a number of reasons is a more talented team than many think right now. The only area that I am really concerned about not having the first line talent to compete with anyone is CB.

I have begun to believe in Jones... and I was not an early convert. I believe in him primarily because when the players speak now... they gush belief in him.

Do you think Jones has ever coached a team with even close to this much talent? I don't... and that hasn't kept him from winning a lot of football games.

On the side, I like two more things about Jones when it comes to Oregon. He is familiar with what they do on O because it is similar to what he likes to do... and he's also seen WVU's version of it up close and personal.
 
#265
#265
KingtUT said:
Why is it that no one really thinks a coaching change may lead to a lesser quality team? They may take a step backwards with the new staff. We gonna whip de arses!
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I think it is sort of the nature of many people to assume that their own conditions or things that happen to them are always worse or will be worse than when the same thing happens to someone else.

Sometimes an assistant stepping in for a HC at a major program works great... sometimes it doesn't. The only recent example I can think of in the SEC is when Zook took over for Spurrier. They didn't all follow directly after him but a number of Bear's guys failed at Bama before they brought Saban in.

Bill Stewart did OK behind RichRod but there was a drop off in performance.
 
#266
#266
sjt18 said:
I understand that. But I am not an optimist. Hopeful yes... but not an optimist. There's a difference. Optimists tend to see the sunny side in spite of the cloudy skies. That's not what I am doing. I think UT for a number of reasons is a more talented team than many think right now. The only area that I am really concerned about not having the first line talent to compete with anyone is CB.

I have begun to believe in Jones... and I was not an early convert. I believe in him primarily because when the players speak now... they gush belief in him.

Do you think Jones has ever coached a team with even close to this much talent? I don't... and that hasn't kept him from winning a lot of football games.

On the side, I like two more things about Jones when it comes to Oregon. He is familiar with what they do on O because it is similar to what he likes to do... and he's also seen WVU's version of it up close and personal.
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I'm hopeful too, but this is a very tough game for a lot of reasons. I just don't think it's going to go well. Nor do I believe that anyone should really be judging this coaching staff win or lose. Having said that, anything can happen and we seem to have a better staff this time around. We shall see.
 
#267
#267
OWB said:
I'm hopeful too, but this is a very tough game for a lot of reasons. I just don't think it's going to go well. Nor do I believe that anyone should really be judging this coaching staff win or lose. Having said that, anything can happen and we seem to have a better staff this time around. We shall see.
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I honestly think this whole year is a time to judge this staff. If Jones is as good as I hope and am beginning to believe then he's going to shock the college football world a time or two this year. I think Oregon is a prime candidate.
 
#268
#268
vols4evah said:
This is a common misconception, our defense was not slow last year.
They where confused and disoriented but they where not slow. They where in a brand new 3-4 defense that was very complicated and they where poorly coached. They had to think on every play before they could react and that put them a half a step behind which made them appear slow.
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With all due respect to you, and disrespect for Sal's coaching ... We were too slow to play in the SEC.
When your two starting cornerbacks run 4.7+ 40s at pro day, it's enough said. The good SEC D's have LBs running faster than that.
We are upgraded at corner this year IMO w Jones and Coleman.
 
#269
#269
sjt18 said:
I honestly think this whole year is a time to judge this staff. If Jones is as good as I hope and am beginning to believe then he's going to shock the college football world a time or two this year. I think Oregon is a prime candidate.
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You've been around this board way too long to be getting your hopes up like that, man. I'm just looking for improvement of any kind this year. They don't have to win to show they're a better coached football team. I'm not going to be surprised and flip out if they only win 5 games.
We can meet back here and talk after the Oregon game. I hope I'm wrong ( there's always a good chance of that.)
 
#270
#270
Boca Vol said:
Please explain Oregon's #3 pre-season ranking! Good grief!

Although, I love a great OL but to say there is no talent difference based on a subjective ranking when these kids were 17 years old is crazy!
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USC was ranked #1 preseason last year. Preseason rankings.are nothing more than a guess
 
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#271
#271
TNHopeful505 said:
I really like the strategy of allowing Dan to take up 2 OL as blocks, and then freeing someone else up. It's going to help Jacquez and Corey Miller and Jordan Williams get theirs.

It's definitely going to be difficult for opposing OL, no doubt.
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Its not that he will occupy blockers, because theyve said they want him to disrupt plays, its that when u line a 350 lb DT in a gap he HAS to be double teamed
 
#272
#272
At least four keys are critical for us to have any reasonable chance in this one:

(1) Defensive containment on the perimeter. We all know that this was an absolute nightmare last year; drastic improvement on this front is absolutely imperative, given Oregon's speed at the skill positions.

(2) Avoid turnovers, particularly early in the game. We cannot allow Oregon to establish momentum.

(3) Throttle down our offensive pace. I know that it is contrary to Butch's style, but Oregon is not a team that you try to match tempo for tempo. Given how inexperienced we are at the skilled positions, we simply cannot afford three-and-outs against these guys. On the other hand, our conditioning and increased exposure to practicing against up-tempo offenses should help here. Nevertheless, it is still imperative to milk the clock as much as possible and reduce Oregon's number of possessions.

(4) Pound on them with our offensive line and running game and then pound on them some more.
 
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#273
#273
Volosaurus rex said:
At least four keys are critical for us to have any reasonable chance in this one:

(1) Defensive containment on the perimeter. We all know that this was an absolute nightmare last year; drastic improvement on this front is absolutely imperative, given Oregon's speed at the skill positions.

(2) Avoid turnovers, particularly early in the game. We cannot allow Oregon to establish momentum.

(3) Throttle down our offensive pace. I know that it is contrary to Butch's style, but Oregon is not a team that you try to match tempo for tempo. Given how inexperienced we are at the skilled positions, we simply cannot afford three-and-outs against these guys. On the other hand, our conditioning and increased exposure to practicing against up-tempo offenses should help here. Nevertheless, it is still imperative to milk the clock as much as possible and reduce Oregon's number of possessions.

(4) Pound on them with our offensive line and running game and then pound on them some more.
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#4 will be HUGE. If the Vols can't run the ball, nothing else is going to matter. One could say that's going to be the case all year.
 
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#274
#274
We will win 21-17

th
 
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#275
#275
OWB, that is especially true early in the season, when our quarterbacks and wide receivers are getting their feet wet.
 
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