Still a 95% chance to make the Playoffs

#51
#51
I think we as fans need to be objective. TN Oline is not good in pass blocking and Nico struggles to make good decisions quickly. Not a good combination for success. Florida can very well spoil Tennessee's season next weekend, Playoffs are pretty much off the table for now, I think 8-4 is more realistic and next season they could make a run for the playoffs. They need to quit coddling Nico and let him grow up some, he has not been good handling the speed of the game and that run out of bounds last night to end the game was ridiculous showing he had no awareness of down, distance and time on clock.
 
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#52
#52
TAF said:
Not after Florida Loss next week...and then a Loss on the 3rd Saturday in October
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At this point, I would say this is going to be an 8-4 team. Offense is just off for some reason. Nico being a RS freshman just needs more time.
 
#53
#53
VolunteerCeltic said:
I think we as fans need to be objective. TN Oline is not good in pass blocking and Nico struggles to make good decisions quickly. Not a good combination for success. Florida can very well spoil Tennessee's season next weekend, Playoffs are pretty much off the table for now, I think 8-4 is more realistic and next season they could make a run for the playoffs. They need to quit coddling Nico and let him grow up some, he has not been good handling the speed of the game and that run out of bounds last night to end the game was ridiculous showing he had no awareness of down, distance and time on clock.
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I'm unsure how you think they're coddling Nico when he's not seeing separation from his receivers to throw. If he starts rushing and throwing picks, will that help us? He's not the one calling a steady diet of counter plays and the conservative step back passes nor is he the one lacking in Yards After Catches. What ain't there, ain't there.

I'll fully agree the last play was a mistake and Heupel said Nico knew it, felt bad about it, and owned it.

This isn't a Nico problem. This is a coach not tailoring his offense to the limitations of his talent problem. If you can't protect the QB in the pocket, you can't expect him to "speed up" his receivers so he can throw quicker, you've got to call shorter routes, dumps, shuttle passes, etc.

That's not happening.
 
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#54
#54
Why the loss to Arkansas was unacceptable. You beat them, you’re in very good shape to make the playoff. Now it’s gonna be a rough ask
 
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#55
#55
volmanNC said:
At this point, I would say this is going to be an 8-4 team. Offense is just off for some reason. Nico being a RS freshman just needs more time.
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Nico still needs to develop some but oline is seriously hampering that right now. He doesn’t have much time and so we’re taking the ball out of his hands too much
 
#56
#56
Candy is definitely not the cupcake that they once were. Thank goodness Alabama comes to Knoxville.
 
#57
#57
VolCalls said:
According to ESPN's Allstate Playoff Predictor, even with the loss to Arkansas we have a 95% chance to make the playoffs as long as we beat either Alabama or Georgia. This is without making the SEC Championship game. Now, if we lose to both of those our chances drop to 13%. We simply can't afford more than one more loss. More margin for error is the beauty of a 12-team CFP.

I'm still on board with Heupel. We all have to realize there will likely never be another Nick Saban (7 national titles in 27 seasons as a college head coach) in our lifetime, so using him as a barometer for any program is unfair - the success he had was unprecedented. Even Bear Bryant (6 titles in 25 seasons) and Woody Hayes (5 titles in 28 seasons) didn't win at that clip. Urban Meyer was close (3 national titles in a 9 year span), but he's also done with coaching. I want to win every game, every season, too, but the fact is that's not reality. And before you say, "it's not that we lost, it's the WAY we lost," then join the club. Teams get upset every year and we aren't immune. This was not the first "trap game" in program history and it won't be our last.

We will bounce back next week vs. Florida and a win on the 3rd Saturday in October will put us right back where we need to be. GBO
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That 95% is on paper. On paper, we were a much better team than Arkansas. On paper, we were 2 TD favorites. Newsflash, games aren’t played on paper. Our OL is bad and so is the OL coach. Play calling is bad. Nico is bad. We have Dylan Sampson and that’s pretty much it. Fully prepare yourself for a trash UF team to beat us yet again.
 
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#58
#58
Florida will show us why we are Tennessee and they are Florida. I hate it. Hendon hooker barely beat them. Josh dobbs and Jennings took a late lead to beat them. 98 championship team had turnovers to help them. I Hate Florida ! They always beat us. Why? Is it the curse of Steve spurrier ?
 
#59
#59
TAF said:
Not after Florida Loss next week...and then a Loss on the 3rd Saturday in October
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I see losses to UF, Bama and UGA for sure. If we aren't really careful, UK and yeah, Vandy, could get us. The wheels aren't off yet, but I'm sensing a bit of wobble after Saturday.
 
#60
#60
SayUWantAreVOLution said:
I'm unsure how you think they're coddling Nico when he's not seeing separation from his receivers to throw. If he starts rushing and throwing picks, will that help us? He's not the one calling a steady diet of counter plays and the conservative step back passes nor is he the one lacking in Yards After Catches. What ain't there, ain't there.

I'll fully agree the last play was a mistake and Heupel said Nico knew it, felt bad about it, and owned it.

This isn't a Nico problem. This is a coach not tailoring his offense to the limitations of his talent problem. If you can't protect the QB in the pocket, you can't expect him to "speed up" his receivers so he can throw quicker, you've got to call shorter routes, dumps, shuttle passes, etc.

That's not happening.
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It is clear Heupel does not trust Nico and in turn his offensive line. There is no easy fix for Nico but experience gained.
 
#61
#61
VolunteerCeltic said:
It is clear Heupel does not trust Nico and in turn his offensive line. There is no easy fix for Nico but experience gained.
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If Nico starts throwing picks or continually is hurried into overthrows or misses, his confidence might be crushed.

On the other hand, if he feels and the team feels their coach doesn't have confidence in them, their confidence may be crushed.

It's going to be an interesting and meaningful week at Anderson Training Center.

I hope we find the reset button.
 
#64
#64
There’s a better chance of 8-4 than making the playoffs. Don’t do this to yourself folks. Stop trying to hype this team into something it’s not.
 
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#66
#66
BanditVol said:
They had not updated that when you looked at it. Current chance is 43%
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You have to select Tennessee from the list and go through the exercise where you select that we beat Alabama, lose to Georgia, beat Vandy, and don’t play in the SEC Title Game. Playoff chance still at 95% in that scenario. Bottom line is we can lose one more and still be fine.
 
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#67
#67
The team should recognize that all their goals are still before them, but at the same time just focus on improving game by game. No looking down the schedule. Focus on executing against Florida and becoming a better overall team.
 
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#68
#68
This team won't get in with 3 losses....Going the rest of the way and only losing 1 game would be a major miracle.
 
#69
#69
Persian Vol said:
Their defense gave up 40 to Vandy? We can play this game back and forth. It’s tough winning on the road. Our loss was probably the most respectable of all the losses to an unranked team yesterday. People can certainly be disappointed, but people ready to call it quits against losing to a team on the road in prime time who was probably a few turnovers away from being in the Top 10 is an overreaction simply put.
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Its not just about the loss, but the conservative play calling, thats what bothers me. We can't beat any good team with that type of play calling. I rather go down in defeat, playing trying to win instead of playing not to lose.
 
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#70
#70
SayUWantAreVOLution said:
I'm unsure how you think they're coddling Nico when he's not seeing separation from his receivers to throw. If he starts rushing and throwing picks, will that help us? He's not the one calling a steady diet of counter plays and the conservative step back passes nor is he the one lacking in Yards After Catches. What ain't there, ain't there.

I'll fully agree the last play was a mistake and Heupel said Nico knew it, felt bad about it, and owned it.

This isn't a Nico problem. This is a coach not tailoring his offense to the limitations of his talent problem. If you can't protect the QB in the pocket, you can't expect him to "speed up" his receivers so he can throw quicker, you've got to call shorter routes, dumps, shuttle passes, etc.

That's not happening.
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I totally agree with you, I have said the same thing.
 
#72
#72
VolsSportsFan said:
Granted we have to beat ready, but Florida has beaten a bad Miss St team and a meh UCF team. I’d pump the brakes on Billy turning it around. They still aren’t a good football team.
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How many times has Florida beaten us when they "werent a good football team"?

They've had our number for years. Even when we were clearly the better team.

We always find a way to lose to Florida.
 
#73
#73
cgrish said:
Its not just about the loss, but the conservative play calling, thats what bothers me. We can't beat any good team with that type of play calling. I rather go down in defeat, playing trying to win instead of playing not to lose.
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Heupel has no confidence in the passing game. We saw it against Oklahoma in the 2nd half.
 
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#74
#74
BowlBrother85 said:
Heupel has no confidence in the passing game. We saw it against Oklahoma in the 2nd half.
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If he has no confidence in the passing game try someone else, I personally think Nico can do it just give him a chance. Yes he will make some mistakes, will throw a few interceptions. But you just can't play conservative and win in the sec at this time. And especially when you play teams that has more talent than u do Bama and Ga. You have to go all out with them. Like we did in 2022. Had we played with the same offensive scheme that we are using now, we would have got beat bad by Bama in 22
 
#75
#75
I don't want this team to even think about playoffs. I want them to take it one game at a time and right the wrongs I saw last night. They need to continue to improve and take care of business one game at a time.
 
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