This year is setting up nicely

#26
#26
Proud Army Wife said:
If I see one more prediction of USCjr finishing 2nd in the east I’m going to scream. I for the life me just don’t understand the hype. I think they’ll be improved but not 2nd in the east improved.
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They have to beat UNC to start the year or they’re legitimately staring down the barrel of 1-4. It’s very possible.
 
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#28
#28
We had 4 All-SEC picks, Georgia 16.

Bama and Ga. kicks our tails in recruiting every year.

I expect 9-3 this year. Looking at it realistically, our staff is not as good as Bama and Ga. but very close.

We will not beat Ga in the foreseeable future, and will only occasionally pick up a win here and there vs Bama. I don't expect it to be this year in Bama.

Our best bet and only hope is to get 10-2 and get an at-large invitation.
 
#29
#29
VFL-82-JP said:
To be fair, Joe remains a bit of an unknown, to all of us.

There is great reason for hope. The Orange Bowl performance. His extra season learning and living inside Heupel's offense. Great maturity and fully-flowered leadership. The young man's sails are grabbing all the wind right now.

If that carries through the start of the season, there is no limit to this offense. We almost wouldn't need a defense. We could outscore them all 80 to 50 if we had to. [but there are good reasons to believe the defense will be more stout this year, as well]

But because Joe is an unknown quantity, because we can't any of us be sure, that gives the pundits the freedom to show their colors while talking about us.

Anyone who played for a rival (Bama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Vandy, whoever) is gonna swing negative. They're going to hope for the worst in Joe, and because of that hope they're going to see the worst.

That's why we're being under-anticipated in some quarters. Not all sports talking heads went to UT. Heh.

Hopefully we'll show them.

Go Vols!
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Well said. And we’ve all seen the Joe as he was in his early days at UT. Hopefully, he’s consistent this season…Orange Bowl Joe. If he is and we have an improved secondary, it will get very interesting.
 
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#30
#30
orangemadam said:
We had 4 All-SEC picks, Georgia 16.

Bama and Ga. kicks our tails in recruiting every year.

I expect 9-3 this year. Looking at it realistically, our staff is not as good as Bama and Ga. but very close.

We will not beat Ga in the foreseeable future, and will only occasionally pick up a win here and there vs Bama. I don't expect it to be this year in Bama.

Our best bet and only hope is to get 10-2 and get an at-large invitation.
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#34
#34
GTBATV said:
Not sure I'm hearing the same thing. All I have read and heard is that we are picked to finish second in the east with a record of 10-2 or 9-3.
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The disrespect is them just assuming Bama will beat us even though they have more questions than us. We beat them with their stud QB and they will be rolling out a guy who won't be nearly as good as Young. Also, I have seen several people rank us in the teens behind a bunch of teams we would whip head to head. We are a top 10 team period. And Clemson ahead of us??? Give me a break... Did we not stomp them in the Orange Bowl?
 
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#35
#35
vegasvolfan said:
Probably because we added A&M to our schedule with Bobby Petrino now running their offense. At Florida, at Bama and Georgia alone is a mess. Then Kentucky returned the OC that had Levis looking to do more last year and picked up NC states coveted QB. Doesn’t help that game is in Lexington.

Kentucky, South Carolina & Texas A&M
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You are reaching when you talk about Kensucky being a possible L. Also, A&M is at home. That is a W too. I see 11-1 with a loss at home vs UGA. Then, we knock off UGA to win it all!
 
#36
#36
Longsufferingvol said:
And the thing is the defense wasn't bad last year. We gave up 22 points a game. That's good enough to win a national title. Heupel just needs to scheme us into scoring more points against Georgia and I think he will figure out how to do that.
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Man, I wish we got Georgia earlier this year
 
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#37
#37
89 VOLS grad said:
You are reaching when you talk about Kensucky being a possible L. Also, A&M is at home. That is a W too. I see 11-1 with a loss at home vs UGA. Then, we knock off UGA to win it all!
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RDU VOL#14 said:
They have to beat UNC to start the year or they’re legitimately staring down the barrel of 1-4. It’s very possible.
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I said it would be a close game. I appreciate the optimism though.
 
#38
#38
vegasvolfan said:
I said it would be a close game. I appreciate the optimism though.
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I think it could definitely be a close game, but 1-3 or 1-4 isn’t out of the realm of possibility when you open with a quarterback like Drake Maye, @UGA, Mississippi State (which is a mystery) @ UTK and then the Gators. That’s tough.
 
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#40
#40
NeverWe'llSever said:
They’ll be lucky to win 8 games.



If anyone actually thinks for more than 10 seconds about that matchup, a blowout is unlikely and a Tennessee victory is not outlandish to believe in at all. Every writer and YouTuber I’ve watched in the off-season looks at the game for 2 seconds and gives us the L. It’s annoying.

My argument would begin by pointing out we have actually played pretty decent in Tuscaloosa in my time as a fan (knock on wood). Yeah, we’ve taken a couple beatdowns. 2011 and 2017 were the 2 worst teams in modern Tennessee history and maybe of all time. They got their teeth kicked in by Bama teams that would go on to win it all.

But we’ve also played some tight games there. 2009, obviously. Should have won and it was coaching malpractice that we didn’t. 2015, very close game. 2019, had multiple opportunities in that game but we had an incompetent imbecile for a head coach and an atrocious QB who missed wide open touchdowns and fumbled the ball on the 1 yd line for a 99 yd touchdown to make it 35-13 instead of 28-20. 2021, we threw the ball all over them and were only down a touchdown heading into the 4th, but our lack of depth from the atrocious Pruitt fallout off-season caught up with us.

So now we come to 2023. Bama fans say they’re going to play some power football this year. Let’s say they’re right, because depending on Tyler Buchner or Jalen Milroe to pass them victory this year is a tantalizing but unlikely proposition for the opposing SEC fan. Running the football on Tennessee does not scare Vol fans that much. Every fan in the SEC knows the secondary is the weakness of our defense. But what many don’t know is Tennessee is now prepared to rotate quality players on the defensive line for 4 quarters. 12-15, no problem. Bama will get their yards, but we will also get some stops. Now comes our offense. It’s going to score points if Joe Milton is decent, which we’ll know by that point in the year. Heupel has consistently schemed our WRs wide open against Saban’s defense 2 years in a row. Our tempo also means Bama will not be able to rotate as much, so we’ll probably be able to run the football a bit. Yeah…I’m liking this matchup. Won’t be easy, but I don’t concede an automatic loss in the off-season just because it’s Bama in Trashcaloosa and they want revenge.
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The thing that worries me the most when we play at Bama is the friendly whistle that Bama will get that game. Let’s see how often we get a holding call against us in key plays….
 
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#42
#42
VolKnight9 said:
Im sure it would be but still doesn’t change the fact that Squirrel is as fast or faster than Hyatt.
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Squirrel is fast but I also know from a person on staff that Joe Milton beat Squirrel in a race. Doesn’t take away from the fact both are speedsters though.
 
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#43
#43
cherokeeeVOL said:
I don’t get the LSU love. I know they have talent but I don’t think Kelley is a fit there at all. They were OK last year but they had zero answers for our offense.
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The team we boat raced was vastly improved by the end of the year. I thought Kelly would fall on his face at LSU. Now I think differently. He's still a POS
 
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#45
#45
I don’t think enough people are talking about the positive impact that a third year under Heupel will have. I am a big believer in the rule of three, and the fact that it takes three years before results are truly seen. First year under a new system is usually rough, second year you are starting to find your rhythm and the third year you are down right dangerous. This being Heupel’s third year, I think our success will be even greater than last year due to our offense truly becoming a well oiled machine.
 
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#48
#48
I do like how the schedule shapes up this year. I expect we will lean on the running game more this year and the coaching staff will manage the game a bit differently with Joe particularly early in the year. Last year we averaged 40 carries per game and it wouldn't surprise me if that goes up to 45+. In the 3 years Heupel was at UCF he averaged 43-45+ carries per game. We have a stable of RBs and he isn't going to put Joe in long down and distance possessions. We will take alot of our shots deep on 1st down. I wouldn't be surprised to see more targets to the RB and the TEs as well. Defensively we should be improved and I think they will rotate 3 deep on the DL, 2 deep at LB and play more bodies in the secondary. Improved defense may get us an extra offensive possession each game, but the question is will we will turning those possessions into TDs vs FG, can we keep our TO's down and will Milton make enough game changing plays against the better teams?
 
#49
#49
Johnnyreb#VFL said:
Heard similarities. Georgia Bama lsu in that order. Tennessee was a top 5 sec honorable mention.
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How great is it just to say that? I mean honestly. At the end of the 2020 season if I would have said hey in 3 years we will be top 5 in the SEC. What would you have said?
 
#50
#50
CAVPUT said:
And how was it timed? Hand timed? Either way he's fast enough. Track speed is one thing, but football speed is where the rubber meets the road.
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What’s scary is at SEC media days when Milton was asked about Squirrel he said I think he has gotten faster. If that’s true then whoa.
 
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