The most important factor on Saturday night might be ........

#54
#54
pimo1 said:
There are so many things that could go wrong for each team in this game.

OSU has probably the most talented offensive skill positions in the nation period no one is close. No 3 starting WR's are even in the conversation. Their RB's are 1a and 1b and are both probably gonna be in the top 5-7 backs taken in the draft. If it starts going right for them it can get ugly.

Sampson>Henderson or Judkins but Judkins/Henderson>any 2 deep in the nation.
Smith/Egbuka/Tate best 1/2/3 punch in the nation at WR probably all 3 have first/second-round talent.

The good thing is their Oline is a hot mess right now and their QB is a Gamemanager on his best day.

Our secondary has been rock solid all year but they have not seen a receiver group like this. Bama's WIlliams and Law was the closest we have seen to this level of a WR group and Law was grotesquely underutilized.

Rb's have we played against a beast RB this year? OSU has 2 that are both almost as good as Sampson. I think the best RBs we have seen this year were Booth with Miss State and Jackson at Arkansas.. and lets been real this has been a super down year for RB's in the SEC. Unless a lot of guys have monster bowl games (or texas plays multiple games) the SEC only produced 2 1000 yard rushers. The SEC usually produces like 4-5 of them.


On the other end. OSU's has beaten up on some scrubs all year. They played 2 legit teams (Oregon and Penn State) and 2 decent teams (Michigan* and Indiana) Michigan gets an asterisk because of rivalry. Indiana I seriously want to believe the hype but they literally played a single-ranked team. Their most impressive wins were Nebraska and Michigan. I feel like ND boat races them and then gets spanked by UGA.

UT's SoS is underrated IMHO....I know we all hate to admit it but Vandy was a good team this year. Miss State and Kentucky would have had a winning record in any conference not the SEC. Purdue, Northwestern and Michigan State were very very bad teams that would have had losing records in any P4 conference..They lost to AZ state by 7 and averaged almost 26 points a game. There are not a lot of bad teams scoring 3-4 TD's a game. The lowest scoring team in the SEC was Kentucky at 20.5 a game against mostly SEC defenses. The Big Ten had 4 teams under 20 points a game including Purdue dropping 16 (15.75). I was really looking hard at it and in the Big 10 they way they are structured you can literally have a bad team in the championship game every year and it mostly works out that way. In the SEC its not like that because there are no easy wins.

All those rants done...This is actually a no lose situation for us. No one really expects us to win. Everyone expects a close game but them winning out. Everyone expects the cold weather to be a problem. That being said. I think our defense has been more reliably challenged this year and can be more counted on to play up to who they are. I cant think of a single Defensive implosion we have had this year. how many games has our defense lost us? We have given up more than 19 points twice this year. Vandy (23) and UGA (31)... we have been held to under 23 points twice Arkansas (19) and UGA (17). if our offense and defense hold up to their average performances we win.

UT is an offense built on the run...and we have an amazing defense.. both of those travel and play well in any environment, especially cold. OSU is built on the outside pass and they tend to run a lot more outside the tackles both things that don't work well in the cold, especially with a game manager QB. I think it comes down to 2 things QB pressure, if we pressure their QB and we keep them off ours.. we win. Their DB's like to get handsy also.

the second thing it comes down to is ACC refs.... do they hate the SEC or Big10 more?
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I had to quit reading after your declaration thier offensive skill positions are better"not even close".an emphatic BullS***. Sampson is much better and I wouldn't trade nico for thirr qb.

Tennessee will introduce them to SEC football. Not cupcake conference
 
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#55
#55
We started fast against UGA and fizzled right out. I’m nervous. We just can’t seem to put a complete game together.
 
#58
#58
Sara Clark said:
The cold air will make the ball hard as a rock. The wind will limit the passing game.... our running game needs to be elite.
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Just got off the phone with our son. We both winced when ESPN announcer (Florida-Tulane game) said that tomorrow's game in Columbus would be the coldest that Tennessee has had to play in since 1960l NOT TRUE! 1997 in Fayetteville AR was NINE degrees. He was in the P.O.T.S. Band in Cotton Bowl 2001 & two trips to Lexinton vs. UK. All COLDER that it will be in Columbus tomorrow night. ESPN lies. Meh.
 
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#59
#59
swampfoxfan said:
I had to quit reading after your declaration thier offensive skill positions are better"not even close".an emphatic BullS***. Sampson is much better and I wouldn't trade nico for thirr qb.

Tennessee will introduce them to SEC football. Not cupcake conference
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why because you smoke crack? they have 2 second-round running backs (the equivalent of a first-rounder at any other position) and 3 first rounder WR's.... Our guys are good Dylan Sampson is same level or higher than either of their backs...but that's it. Thornton ain't Smith (bro is a true freshman)....Squirrel is no Emeka.. the Bru vs Tate argument could be made as far as talent I take Bru injuries and age Tate. There is not an OC in the country that wouldn't trade their RB and WR room for OSUs flat out. It's ok to admit that. We have a significantly better QB, TE's, Oline, Secondary, D-line than them. Vanderbilt probably has some player starting at some position that's better than ours. It's ok. You act like this comparison was with Kent State and not a team that spent record numbers in NIL to build this roster.

Do I think they are a better offense than UT? Of course not...if you'd read more you'd have noticed that. Would I trade our guys for theirs? Nope. I don't think they are that much better at any position and Jeremiah Smith wouldn't be this good in a CJH offense. I don't think we will ever see a true freshman WR show out in this offense because they run too many option routes.

The whole, I stopped reading at point X, is an Edge Lord move and suffers from the whole assumption problem.
 
#61
#61
BernardKingGOAT said:
That's crazy
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Not really. It’s pretty easy to see if you are looking for it. When our guys come out with energy bouncing around before the play, laying hard licks, resetting with purpose after the huddle it’s pretty evident. Some games they come out so flat and I tell myself it’s gonna be an ugly night.
 
#62
#62
gobravesvols16 said:
Can’t rush just 4 the whole game like we did against UGA gonna have to bring some pressure or he will pick us apart like Beck did
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Idk that I agree with that. Their line isn’t as good as UGA. I would try to see what kind of pressure I could get with four then adjust from there. I think they’re going to have to use extra protection honestly. If their protection gets smashed up the middle idk that anything will help them. Had a few bad snaps in the last game surprisingly
 
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#63
#63
BruiserVol said:
Not really. It’s pretty easy to see if you are looking for it. When our guys come out with energy bouncing around before the play, laying hard licks, resetting with purpose after the huddle it’s pretty evident. Some games they come out so flat and I tell myself it’s gonna be an ugly night.
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Everyone who loves the game notices that stuff. This team had a chance to win both games they lost in the 4th quarter. The Vanderbilt game was the closest thing to your scenario all season.
 
#68
#68
DaddyChad said:
I may be surprised but I don’t think this will be as loud as Athens or Fayetteville or Norman. We’ve got a lot of fans I believe and it’s going to be cold as balls, also the makeup of crowd also probably will be less students and less rowdy.
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Just having everyone with gloves on - and hopefully everyone does - will soften the noise level compared to bare hands clapping x 90k
 
#69
#69
sami said:
........ starting strong. Given what has gone down with the OSU fan base bailing on Day and the potential fragility of their confidence, nothing would be better than jumping out of the gate with a couple of early scores and possibly turning the crowd against their own team.

Another slow start could be fatal in a game like this against that kind of defense, but a quick score, a turnover or stop and another quick score would be huge. Dominating the line of scrimmage on both sides is paramount, and taking care of the ball. Take the run away and make Howard beat us, and make his life miserable all night. Do these things and it should be a great night.
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Absolutely..This is not the team we can start slow with. They have 3 game changing WR's and 2 top level RB's. Not to mention the best defense we will play all year. If we start slow and get down double digits like we did against Vandy or Fla, it will be a long night. We gotta start fast, not turn the ball over and no undisciplined penalties. We need to go down and score on our first drive. If we can get up 14-0 or 17-0 early, we can take the crowd out and they will turn quickly on Ryan Day. I'd love to get up by 21 or more in the 1st half. We need to play a complete game. Play like we did the 1st half offensively against GA, then offensively like we did the 2nd half against Ala.
 
#70
#70
87&91ALUM said:
Feels like 20 degrees will definitely take its toll on the passing game. Whoever can run or stop the run, kick field goals, and deal with the weather will win the game. I expect a turnover or two on that cold night. The folks in Columbus are used to this weather. We in Tennessee are not and we are starting a young freshman QB from Hawaii. I understand the bookies having us a 7.5 point loser. Having said that, pay attention to the Maxims, be prepared, fight, fight, fight, and keep your head and eyes up, don't make dumb mistakes like offsides, targeting, etc. Go Vols and beat the Buckeyes!
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Nico is from California, not Hawaii. The weather up there is really no different than it is in East Tennessee. Very similar weather.
 
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#72
#72
The most important thing Sat night might be whether or not they have Dixieland Delight on the MP3 player.
 
#73
#73
87&91ALUM said:
Feels like 20 degrees will definitely take its toll on the passing game. Whoever can run or stop the run, kick field goals, and deal with the weather will win the game. I expect a turnover or two on that cold night. The folks in Columbus are used to this weather. We in Tennessee are not and we are starting a young freshman QB from Hawaii. I understand the bookies having us a 7.5 point loser. Having said that, pay attention to the Maxims, be prepared, fight, fight, fight, and keep your head and eyes up, don't make dumb mistakes like offsides, targeting, etc. Go Vols and beat the Buckeyes!
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So knoxville is a tropical environment and never gets cold?? Who knew?
 
#74
#74
feathersax said:
Just got off the phone with our son. We both winced when ESPN announcer (Florida-Tulane game) said that tomorrow's game in Columbus would be the coldest that Tennessee has had to play in since 1960l NOT TRUE! 1997 in Fayetteville AR was NINE degrees. He was in the P.O.T.S. Band in Cotton Bowl 2001 & two trips to Lexinton vs. UK. All COLDER that it will be in Columbus tomorrow night. ESPN lies. Meh.
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ESPN is often incorrect with their data.
 
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#75
#75
Aparently Jack Frost is coming for blood and the boys will be frozen life-less corpses long before kickoff. It might even become an "Alive" type of ending. They are playing a state where the average tempature is 54° vs 59° so freezing like it's the ice age is very possible.
 
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