This game should have been played in Knoxville and we weren’t vocal enough about the malarkey

[CPVOL]

This loss might be good IF it results in improvements. My hope is, CJH seen firsthand what it looks like to have a well oiled machine that dominates. And I hope the AD seen it too. And think we’ll know that answer pretty quick.

That’s the only way we can look at this loss. If we don’t learn and improve from it, it really was a defeat. But if we become better because of it, then CJH will succeed here. The ball is literally in his court with the start of the off season.

 

[njvols]

This loss might be good IF it results in improvements. My hope is, CJH seen firsthand what it looks like to have a well oiled machine that dominates. And I hope the AD seen it too. And think we’ll know that answer pretty quick.

That’s the only way we can look at this loss. If we don’t learn and improve from it, it really was a defeat. But if we become better because of it, then CJH will succeed here. The ball is literally in his court with the start of the off season.

I hope this all puts Vol Football on the map being more aggressive in the portal. Time to spend some $$$ on OL and WRs. Our OL was serviceable against a fortunate SEC schedule, but really got exposed when it mattered against UGA and OSU.

 

[Illinoisvolfan2]

That Tennessee team that showed up Saturday night wouldn’t beat OSU anywhere. And probably would have lost to OU FL and Bama.

 

[Sara Clark]

The outcome would have been the same. We were beat by a team much better than us any day of the week.

 

[rickyyrs]

Period.

The “committee” should have put Ohio State behind us after they lost to a 21 point underdog at home.

We lost to Arkansas at Arkansas at night. The committee dropped all teams that lost 6-7 spots except for when it came to Ohio state with a home game on the line—they somehow justified putting them in front of us.

We played 4 major teams at away stadiums—and lost 3 of them. I think it’s a completely different game if we play in Knoxville. But we’ll never know because we perpetually get screwed despite having one of the most compelling fan bases and programs in college football.

Warde Manuel.

With the talent difference i seen Saturday night. It would make no difference where the game was played. Ohio St simply has a ton more talent.

 

[MurphyVol]

I'm going waaaay out on a limb and say that we did not look like a team that should have hosted a playoff game.

 

[Volheaven50]

Period.

The “committee” should have put Ohio State behind us after they lost to a 21 point underdog at home.

We lost to Arkansas at Arkansas at night. The committee dropped all teams that lost 6-7 spots except for when it came to Ohio state with a home game on the line—they somehow justified putting them in front of us.

We played 4 major teams at away stadiums—and lost 3 of them. I think it’s a completely different game if we play in Knoxville. But we’ll never know because we perpetually get screwed despite having one of the most compelling fan bases and programs in college football.

Warde Manuel.

Uh NO ! That was a TOTAL beatdown-embarrassment and the result would have been the same no matter where they played. The dumb excuses need to stop.

 

[WhenUrVolUrVFL]

With the talent difference i seen Saturday night. It would make no difference where the game was played. Ohio St simply has a ton more talent.

Well the committee shouldn’t have rewarded them for losing their last game of the year and deviated from the precedent they’d applied to multiple teams ALL year.

Not asking for favorable treatment here. I’m asking they adhere to some sort of standard. Sorry losing to Michigan was the same as losing to Arkansas—except one thing—Ohio State lost at home. We lost on the road. That makes the loss to Michigan even worse—ESPECIALLY because it was the last game of the year.

Ohio state lost to Oregon at Oregon. We lost to Georgia at Athens. And they have been the best team in the best conference.

Bottom line: the timing of the loss and it being at home should have sent them behind us.

If the roles were reversed and we lost to Vandy in Nashville for a 2nd loss. And say we had the same scenario with them on the other side—there’s no way we’re playing in Knoxville.

 

[D-Vols]

I would have really hated for that fired up bunch to come into Neyland Stadium and blow us out in front of our home crowd. And they were fired up after losing to Michigan and all the Neyland north, Rocky Top in the Waffle House bull crap that idiots put out there.

That would have been even more embarrassing than losing at the shoe.

 

[YankeeVol]

I'm going waaaay out on a limb and say that we did not look like a team that should have been in a playoff game.

Fyp

 

[FranklinVFL]

Didn’t matter where that game was played. We walked right into a hornets nest and were ill-prepared and thus exposed.

 

[C-south]

Well the committee shouldn’t have rewarded them for losing their last game of the year and deviated from the precedent they’d applied to multiple teams ALL year.

Not asking for favorable treatment here. I’m asking they adhere to some sort of standard. Sorry losing to Michigan was the same as losing to Arkansas—except one thing—Ohio State lost at home. We lost on the road. That makes the loss to Michigan even worse—ESPECIALLY because it was the last game of the year.

Ohio state lost to Oregon at Oregon. We lost to Georgia at Athens. And they have been the best team in the best conference.

Bottom line: the timing of the loss and it being at home should have sent them behind us.

If the roles were reversed and we lost to Vandy in Nashville for a 2nd loss. And say we had the same scenario with them on the other side—there’s no way we’re playing in Knoxville.

Bottom line it’s at least something they got right and if anything shows we probably never belonged.

 

[RDU VOL#14]

No they didn’t. They had the same record as us. In a much worse conference. The SEC has earned the respect over 15 years of dominance. The Big Ten might not even be as good as the big 12.

I think Ohio State showed that they were worthy of having a better seed than us. Now if you want to say that the seeding process is flawed and that in a different system we could’ve hosted SMU that’s different. I’m sure the seeding process will be overhauled sooner rather than later, but we got what we got and it wasn’t fun.

The Big 12 might have more average teams top to bottom , but Ohio State and Oregon easily go undefeated in that league.

 

[EasternVol]

Fyp

Need to start warranty claim on that fix. The playoff is for 12 teams. We definitely deserved to be one of those twelve.

 

[S.C. OrangeMan]

Period.

The “committee” should have put Ohio State behind us after they lost to a 21 point underdog at home.

We lost to Arkansas at Arkansas at night. The committee dropped all teams that lost 6-7 spots except for when it came to Ohio state with a home game on the line—they somehow justified putting them in front of us.

We played 4 major teams at away stadiums—and lost 3 of them. I think it’s a completely different game if we play in Knoxville. But we’ll never know because we perpetually get screwed despite having one of the most compelling fan bases and programs in college football.

Warde Manuel.

Dude, there was zero chance of that.
The playoff committee put us right where the rules said we should be. The results say they were right.

 

[Chad F]

There is a lot of “coulda . . . Woulda . . . shoulda . . . about this season.

Here’s one: Shoulda taken care of business against a crap Arkansas team so that then even if we lose in the SEC championship game, we’re probably hosting.

Here’s another: Shoulda just forfeited instead of going to Columbus and getting humiliated so badly that it wipes away a decent amount of the luster from a good season overall.

This WAS a good season. But just like 2022, it showed that we aren’t a true contender yet - and I’m not sure when we will be. Our offensive line isn’t going to be better next season, and I don’t know when we are going to get some true top-tier playmakers at WR. Our defense will likely take a step back - but I don’t know if they were really as good as most of us thought since they disappeared against the biggest competition on our schedule. At QB, it is difficult to say how behind Nico is (or isn’t) based on the shortfalls around him.

As for the coaching . . . I just don’t know. This year, despite all the talk of “growing” from just being an uptempo philosophy, it feels like regression. However, there’s probably a lot behind the scenes that none of us know about. Gotta keep pushing!

 

[08Vol]

Well the committee shouldn’t have rewarded them for losing their last game of the year and deviated from the precedent they’d applied to multiple teams ALL year.

Not asking for favorable treatment here. I’m asking they adhere to some sort of standard. Sorry losing to Michigan was the same as losing to Arkansas—except one thing—Ohio State lost at home. We lost on the road. That makes the loss to Michigan even worse—ESPECIALLY because it was the last game of the year.

Ohio state lost to Oregon at Oregon. We lost to Georgia at Athens. And they have been the best team in the best conference.

Bottom line: the timing of the loss and it being at home should have sent them behind us.

If the roles were reversed and we lost to Vandy in Nashville for a 2nd loss. And say we had the same scenario with them on the other side—there’s no way we’re playing in Knoxville.

The committee has always said when 2 teams have similar records then they will look at other variables to determine ranking.
tOSU had a 2-1 record against playoff teams. UT had an 0-1 record.
Vols 2nd best win was 7-5 UF, tOSU’s 2nd best win was 11-1 Indiana.
tOSU was punished for losing to UM, they had to play what the committee thought was the best non hosting team and they are in Oregon’s bracket.

 

[rickyyrs]

Well the committee shouldn’t have rewarded them for losing their last game of the year and deviated from the precedent they’d applied to multiple teams ALL year.

Not asking for favorable treatment here. I’m asking they adhere to some sort of standard. Sorry losing to Michigan was the same as losing to Arkansas—except one thing—Ohio State lost at home. We lost on the road. That makes the loss to Michigan even worse—ESPECIALLY because it was the last game of the year.

Ohio state lost to Oregon at Oregon. We lost to Georgia at Athens. And they have been the best team in the best conference.

Bottom line: the timing of the loss and it being at home should have sent them behind us.

If the roles were reversed and we lost to Vandy in Nashville for a 2nd loss. And say we had the same scenario with them on the other side—there’s no way we’re playing in Knoxville.

Yeah i get it. And the committee was not going to do Tennessee any favors. After our leaders in higher up put them in their place.

 

[WhenUrVolUrVFL]

The committee has always said when 2 teams have similar records then they will look at other variables to determine ranking.
tOSU had a 2-1 record against playoff teams. UT had an 0-1 record.
Vols 2nd best win was 7-5 UF, tOSU’s 2nd best win was 11-1 Indiana.
tOSU was punished for losing to UM, they had to play what the committee thought was the best non hosting team and they are in Oregon’s bracket.

It’s all about timing of the loss and recent data points. You don’t stack a loss on the road 7 weeks ago and put it in the same category as the previous game. That’s just not how they do it. They’ve been sliding teams CONSISTENTLY the same for weeks….and then they change it up to get a favorable home game for Ohio State.

I get it. We got our ass kIckes. But here’s the thing: the reason why we got our ass kicked was because we have been playing poorly on the road, and we shouldn’t have been on the road in the first place—which is the point of this post.

 

[Chad F]

The committee has always said when 2 teams have similar records then they will look at other variables to determine ranking.
tOSU had a 2-1 record against playoff teams. UT had an 0-1 record.
Vols 2nd best win was 7-5 UF, tOSU’s 2nd best win was 11-1 Indiana.
tOSU was punished for losing to UM, they had to play what the committee thought was the best non hosting team and they are in Oregon’s bracket.

Man, that part about us being “the best non-hosting team” really hurts (or is laughable, depending on the perspective). The way we played, it’s an indictment on the Committee’s selections for the 12-team field. We looked like we didn’t belong in the SEC, much less in the playoffs. That turd of a performance in the national spotlight with the entire country watching took most of the luster off what was a good season overall. We just look like a mediocre team that got lucky.

 

[Woodlawn VOL]

Time to quit crying, we have to learn how to play on the road and after a freakin open date. We got to get more physical and tough up and the trenches. We took a woodshed whipping at the line of scrimmage. Our Wide receiver need to learn how to get separatIon better. GBO

 

[AndyMizunogolfer]

Can we just take this L with some class and quit complaining? We flirted with this type of game all season with our terrible first half starts. OSU came out on fire and whipped us up front all night. Our defense was out of position on almost every play all game.

 

[Tenacjim]

The flaw is in that we were playing OSU at ALL much less where. OSU losing to Michigan screwed US (and maybe Oregon) as much or more than it did OSU.

We should have been hosting SMU based on the rankings (those stupid auto byes have GOT to go). Everyone can say “Vols by fiddy” but the team that showed up Saturday would have likely had one of our patented “play to the level of the opponent” games and just snuck by (offense likely still struggles without Sampson, White & Thornton). D likely shuts them down. Then we get a shot at Georgia on a neutral field with their second string QB.

That’s the path we SHOULD have had. Those stupid auto byes are what is screwing things up….

 

[Volhoops]

We were taking it to Georgia until the home cooking officiating just continued their drives with weird shady fumble overturns. If the roles were reversed—we would t have got those overturns.

We need to stop being the ragdoll for the nonsense. We have too passionate a fanbase and are too good a program to receive negative treatment from college sports “officials”.

Dylan Sampson not being a finalist in Doak Walker or Heisman says it all

We were taking it to Georgia until the home cooking officiating just continued their drives with weird shady fumble overturns. If the roles were reversed—we would t have got those overturns.

We need to stop being the ragdoll for the nonsense. We have too passionate a fanbase and are too good a program to receive negative treatment from college sports “officials”.

Dylan Sampson not being a finalist in Doak Walker or Heisman says it all.

We also need to quit blaming the refs for every loss. Yes they are not good but simply outplaying the other team to where refs cannot change the came should be the goal.

 

[DaltonVol2298]

OSU is as good as if not better than Georgia and we CANNOT beat Georgia anywhere. Heupel is good at home except vs Georgia and I would bet OSU based upon talent levels of those teams vs TN. Please don't say Bama because they are not as talented as either GA or OSU especially this year.

True, I think they are better than Georgia. The Dogs receivers are mid.