Realistically who would we beat? CFP

[madbamahater]

I think Heupel has Tennessee good enough to be at any team. There is certainly room for improvement and that's encouraging. Still a lot of youth on the field.

I was surprised how poorly the Vols played in the trenches and was still in the game until very late. They are certainly better than they have performed at times.

 

[Carp]

Anyone can beat anyone. The likelihood of certain scenarios are different than others, but I feel confident against any team if we make it in.

Also, I am going to speak it into existence now. UGA won't make it into the playoffs. Haynes King is going to ball out and GT is going to beat UGA in the final week of the regular season, eliminating UGA from title contention.

 

[Stoerner Fumbles]

Easy to say afterwards. The staple of the armchair

There are several people here I’d like to staple to an armchair.

 

[Carp]

The Boise State game would be a showdown between their star running back against D Samp.

Ideally, Army beats ND this weekend and finishes undefeated after their championship game. That would likely push ND out of the playoffs and the committee would likely put Army over Boise State in the scenario.

 

[madbamahater]

I would love a rematch with UGA. Get pressure from dline, block your man on offense and cut out costly penalties and you very likely can win.

 

[njvols]

There's no one who is unbeatable for us. We still need to relax about the playoffs until the actual bracket is announced Dec 10 or whenever. I'm not saying we will win, I am saying we can. Nuanced difference here. There are probably 10-12 teams who can compete competitively with one another. There are about 4 pretenders in the top 12-15 teams right now. At least 3 of them are in the top 6

Agree...get in, and get hot, w/ the right matchups (they matter), and we can win it all. Probably the same thing keeping us out of the "eye test" rankings is what gives me doubt we can run the table....our passing game (gash plays) has been largely missing from JH's offense this year, for a variety of reasons, really different in each game. So, I think not only beating Vandy, but beating them with style points will probably ensure we get in. Vandy is a good team.

 

[NighthawkVol]

Just thinking through the playoff teams ahead of us or potentially in and how we match up.

I’m categorizing this in : Should beat meaning we’re the better team.. could beat meaning we’re just as talented and it would be a solid game- and might be tough meaning I don’t think we match up well.. I don’t think anyone this year is clearly a dominate team:

Have beat: Bama

Should beat: Penn State, Boise State, Indiana, Miami/SMU, BYU/Colorado,
Notre Dame

Could beat: Bama again, Texas, Ohio state, ole miss (almost put them in the would be tough category)

Would be tough : Georgia, Oregon

Of course doing all of this back to back on the road is a ridiculous task but I think we’re better than 6 of the field, have beat one- and match up well with 10 of the field realistically- none of them are unbeatable though.

What’s everyone else’s thoughts?

You can’t play back to back on the road in the CFP. It goes to a neutral site after the first round.

 

[bigorangepoppa]

The bad thing is everyone knew the key was getting pressure on Beck. Florida showed how to beat them they just didn’t have the players to do it with; ole Miss took that blueprint and beat the piss out of them with it. I don’t fault Banks for the initial plan but damn to stick with it the whole game was just dumb.

I read an article on Tuesday where a Georgia offensive lineman said that when they watched Tennessee they picked up on tells so they knew what Tennessee was gonna do, depending on how the defensive player set up. Heupel and Banks need to watch some film and see what Georgia saw, then correct it.

 

[OrangeBeachVol]

Offense has to show up more than one half of a game to win in the playoffs. D can only carry you so far.

 

[savannahfan]

Just thinking through the playoff teams ahead of us or potentially in and how we match up.

I’m categorizing this in : Should beat meaning we’re the better team.. could beat meaning we’re just as talented and it would be a solid game- and might be tough meaning I don’t think we match up well.. I don’t think anyone this year is clearly a dominate team:

Have beat: Bama

Should beat: Penn State, Boise State, Indiana, Miami/SMU, BYU/Colorado,
Notre Dame

Could beat: Bama again, Texas, Ohio state, ole miss (almost put them in the would be tough category)

Would be tough : Georgia, Oregon

Of course doing all of this back to back on the road is a ridiculous task but I think we’re better than 6 of the field, have beat one- and match up well with 10 of the field realistically- none of them are unbeatable though.

What’s everyone else’s thoughts?

You have a fine simple example. However our defense (if not asleep like we get sometimes) could make a real difference in many games. We know our offense is only average. So for me it comes down to just how god our defense plays.

 

[bpalmer28]

Fair, but my bvs hits hard after losing to freaking Georgia again

We should have beat them. It’s a tough pill to swallow for sure. Missed opportunity

 

[BernardKingGOAT]

Agree...get in, and get hot, w/ the right matchups (they matter), and we can win it all. Probably the same thing keeping us out of the "eye test" rankings is what gives me doubt we can run the table....our passing game (gash plays) has been largely missing from JH's offense this year, for a variety of reasons, really different in each game. So, I think not only beating Vandy, but beating them with style points will probably ensure we get in. Vandy is a good team.

It's certainly been the best win for Texas

 

[Jax_Vol]

Would beat: Texas, Penn State, Boise State, Indiana, SMU, BYU, Notre Dame, Ohio State

Would be tough: Georgia, Colorado, Oregon, Alabama, Ole Miss, Miami

 

[Clad in Big Orange]

I’m waiting to see how we play at Vandy. There’s just not been a lot of “dog” in the offense outside of Dylan Sampson. The defense, since losing Pili, has started to show cracks in the foundation. Vandy will test this teams resolve and the coaches ability to scheme for a full 4 quarters - something we haven’t shown against any legit team on the schedule. Those that scoff at Vandy and blow the “Vols by fiddy” horn are going to be wrong, again.

 

[deatojl]

I would say our team would be capable of beating anyone in the playoff field. The issue is, we are also capable of losing to anyone in the playoff field.

 

[RockiesTop22]

I’m waiting to see how we play at Vandy. There’s just not been a lot of “dog” in the offense outside of Dylan Sampson. The defense, since losing Pili, has started to show cracks in the foundation. Vandy will test this teams resolve and the coaches ability to scheme for a full 4 quarters - something we haven’t shown against any legit team on the schedule. Those that scoff at Vandy and blow the “Vols by fiddy” horn are going to be wrong, again.

Not allowed- have to answer now!

 

[Clad in Big Orange]

Not allowed- have to answer now!

In that case, we probably wouldn’t beat most of the teams ahead of us if we had to play them away from Neyland.

 

[LegionnaireOfTheMiserable]

In Neyland, we could probably beat anyone but Georgia and Oregon. Away from Neyland, we could lose to any team in the discussion.

 

[tennesseeduke]

Just thinking through the playoff teams ahead of us or potentially in and how we match up.

I’m categorizing this in : Should beat meaning we’re the better team.. could beat meaning we’re just as talented and it would be a solid game- and might be tough meaning I don’t think we match up well.. I don’t think anyone this year is clearly a dominate team:

Have beat: Bama

Should beat: Penn State, Boise State, Indiana, Miami/SMU, BYU/Colorado,
Notre Dame

Could beat: Bama again, Texas, Ohio state, ole miss (almost put them in the would be tough category)

Would be tough : Georgia, Oregon

Of course doing all of this back to back on the road is a ridiculous task but I think we’re better than 6 of the field, have beat one- and match up well with 10 of the field realistically- none of them are unbeatable though.

What’s everyone else’s thoughts?

We play our game then everyone you listed n a neutral field is in play!

 

[General Jack]

Umm yeah, this one has no clear answer.

The matchups which would worry me greatly are Georgia and Ohio State.

Everyone else, we would stand a better than average shot at taking them down.

I mean sooner or later we have to wake up on offense don't we? I would have no issues if we "woke up" and thrashed ND on their field.

Offense is getting better but defense is regressing.

 

[VolPack22]

On a neutral field we can beat anyone in the country. If we were a road team in the first round I would like our chances against any of the Big Ten Teams and Notre Dame but if we are matched up visiting any of the SEC teams I would consider it an automatic loss.

 

[Vol$_Deep_11_9]

Just thinking through the playoff teams ahead of us or potentially in and how we match up.

I’m categorizing this in : Should beat meaning we’re the better team.. could beat meaning we’re just as talented and it would be a solid game- and might be tough meaning I don’t think we match up well.. I don’t think anyone this year is clearly a dominate team:

Have beat: Bama

Should beat: Penn State, Boise State, Indiana, Miami/SMU, BYU/Colorado,
Notre Dame

Could beat: Bama again, Texas, Ohio state, ole miss (almost put them in the would be tough category)

Would be tough : Georgia, Oregon

Of course doing all of this back to back on the road is a ridiculous task but I think we’re better than 6 of the field, have beat one- and match up well with 10 of the field realistically- none of them are unbeatable though.

What’s everyone else’s thoughts?

We can beat anybody ahead of us. There’s not 12 teams better than we are. There’s not anybody that’s head and shoulders above the Vols IMO.

 

[hUTch2002]

You mean you didn’t like us rushing only 4, giving Beck a ton of time even though he has severely struggled under pressure… and then not changing that game plan at all the whole game?

Wild.

To be fair, when we did blitz we still got zero pressure.

 

[vol94]

You mean you didn’t like us rushing only 4, giving Beck a ton of time even though he has severely struggled under pressure… and then not changing that game plan at all the whole game?

Wild.

Idiocy at its best. I think Banks thought GA would wear down by the 4th quarter. He eas wrong and should’ve blitzed! UGA owned us in the 4th quarter, keeping the ball for about 20 min (iirc).

 

[hUTch2002]

Ideally, Army beats ND this weekend and finishes undefeated after their championship game. That would likely push ND out of the playoffs and the committee would likely put Army over Boise State in the scenario.

What would be hilarious is if both Army and Boise got in while the Big 12 or ACC winner got left out. I know it’s a dream but it would be hilarious.