This year is setting up nicely

[OrangeTsar]

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.

We will have to show an ability to win a tough game in a hostile environment. Our two losses last year could arguably be chalked up to not dealing well with a hostile crowd at Athens and Columbia. We were fortunate to get LSU in an early game. That is the next step toward becoming a Championship caliber team. We will have tough night games in Gainsville and Tuscaloosa this year. It will be our chance to prove we are ready

 

[OrangeTsar]

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?

Didn’t several pundits have us pegged for fifth in the EAST even preseason 2022?

 

[BACKDOC]

Ive been rewatching some of the games this week and just got done watching the LSU game today. Watched Clemson earlier in the week and Ive noticed a couple things. First thing ive noticed is with any little bit of improvement on the defensive side of the ball, this team will have the potential to be better than last years. I know that is kind of an obvious take but I dont think a lot of people realize how true that is. If our defensive line as a whole this season can step up and get a tad bit more pressure, it will be a major problem for opposing teams. Secondly, with Bru, Squirrel and Keyton specifically, it will be mismatch central with CJH scheming. Bru being a big bodied, stong handed receiver, Squirrel being a speed demon and Keytons ability to catch everything throw his way, will put that much more pressure on opponents secondaries. Squirrel and Joe should pick up right where Hooker and Hyatt left off. Again, these are very obvious to people that watch the games closely but I think there are a lot of people that still have doubts. Of course its yet to be seen if Milton can perform at a high level all season, but if the orange bowl is any indicator, look out.

Actually Squirrel and Bru have better hands than Keyton; I think you are just remembering the Florida game.

 

[VolKnight9]

Actually Squirrel and Bru have better hands than Keyton; I think you are just remembering the Florida game.

Bru does for sure but I’ve not seen enough of squirrel to say he has better hands than Keyton. Go rewatch LSU, Florida, Alabama and Clemson. It will surprise you how many great plays Keyton made.

 

[Emperor VOLpatine]

To add to this, Squirrels fastest 40 time is a 4.27 while Hyatt ran a 4.40 at the NFL combine.

To be fair to Hyatt that's around Hyatt's reported normal time. He ran on an injured hamstring for the 4.40

 

[VolKnight9]

To be fair to Hyatt that's around Hyatt's reported normal time. He ran on an injured hamstring for the 4.40

Right. The comparison I’m making is that Squirrel is every bit as fast or maybe a tad fast than Hyatt. Basically stating that he will have no problem blowing by corners and safeties.

 

[DC_Vol]

I joined a Facebook group sec super conference, or something. There's a ton of uscjr fans, and Kentucky, who are convinced they're at least second, and some saying they win the SEC . They seem to get triggered real easily

 

[Illinoisvolfan2]

I don’t think many of the pundits think Joe is going to be anywhere close to as effective as Hook was. If he is, and the D is even marginally better, we should replicate last year. Without that SC embarrassment

 

[89 VOLS grad]

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

I felt the same way about Kelly coming into the SEC. So far, he has proved us both wrong. But, he don't have his team yet. There is still time for him to fall on his face and get eaten alive in the MIGHTY SEC!

 

[Titans4Vols]

We're replacing(among other things) a possible heisman winning QB if not for his injury, the Biletnikoff award winning WR, another WR who when healthy is probably a better overall WR than said Biletnikoff winner, a right tackle who played so well he managed to go top 10 in the draft(not commonly seen from right tackles) and on defense lose it's best player at edge rusher in a defense that still kinda sucked even with him on the field.

Can recruiting, coaching, development, etc fix all these losses? Yes.

Does out staff have the track record of a Bama, Georgia, Ohio State, etc where they can lose absurd amounts of talent and still come back the next season and be as good or even better? Nope. Maybe it develops that track record, but this will be it's first swing at having to do it.

Have to have some seriously orange tinted glasses to think there isn't reason to question exactly how good we can be this year.

 

[kcvols1]

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.

Teams that scheme to play possession football games against Heupel’s offense get boat raced. It goes out the window once you’re down three scores and start doing the math on time of possession vs. points scored.

I triple-dog dare Bama to try that shat, but I know they aren’t that stupid, sadly.

Saban must be dogging their secondary like nobody’s business, but we’ll see how it plays out. I heard they have a 5-star freshman from here in Gwinnett County that they’re going to start at safety?!?

Good luck with that, Gumps!

 

[kcvols1]

We're replacing(among other things) a possible heisman winning QB if not for his injury, the Biletnikoff award winning WR, another WR who when healthy is probably a better overall WR than said Biletnikoff winner, a right tackle who played so well he managed to go top 10 in the draft(not commonly seen from right tackles) and on defense lose it's best player at edge rusher in a defense that still kinda sucked even with him on the field.

…and neither that QB or WR were on any preseason watch list for the Heisman or Biletnikoff awards.

It’s not about who we think these players are, but about who they will become in the next six months. It’s always a fun ride!

It’s all about when toe meets leather my friend. Til then it’s all BS clickbait.

 

[VOLINVONORE]

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.

All that is true. However, the Orange Bowl game was not decided until midway through the 4th quarter. That win was impressive when you consider the final score. The offense still has some questions and one of those is still, how well Joe can/will play, how well will the Oline protect him, and how well will we be able to run the ball.

 

[VFL-82-JP]

All that is true. However, the Orange Bowl game was not decided until midway through the 4th quarter. That win was impressive when you consider the final score. The offense still has some questions and one of those is still, how well Joe can/will play, how well will the Oline protect him, and how well will we be able to run the ball.

Friend, you're remembering a very different Orange Bowl than I recall.

In the Orange Bowl I remember, the game got comfortable for us in the 2nd Qtr when we went ahead by two touchdowns. A two-score advantage is small potatoes compared to most of our 2022 games, but this game was a little different because our defense REALLY showed up big time. All through the first half, our defense kept the Tigers from scoring. They finally got a field goal (were forced to settle for a field goal) shortly before the half. Things seemed well in hand by then.

And then when they came out of the locker room and again had to settle for a field goal early in the 3rd quarter, things really started feeling cozy for us. It already wasn't close. It just wasn't a close game. We tacked on another touchdown, and it felt over.

Sure, Clemson was able to score their first TD of the game in the 4th quarter, and--this is the sole high point of the entire match for the Tigers--they got the 2-point conversion. Yes, they were within a score of us. But it didn't feel like there was any real doubt, nonetheless. And then just a minute and a half later, we scored again, going up by 2 touchdowns again, and they'd never close the gap after that.

Don't get me wrong, it wasn't a blowout, wasn't one of those games where we go up by 3 or 4 scores and the gap remains insurmountable. Rather, it was a (uncharacteristic for our 2022 squad) defensive domination. We kept our foot on their throats the entire game. And that's why it remained so well in hand for most of the game.

That's how I remember it.

break/break

I do agree with you that the 2023 squad has to show who they are. That's true every year. For every program. But I don't think we can point to last year's bowl game as anything but a dominating win with solid performances by both the offense and defense.

Go Vols!

 

[tomq_123]

What I personally would like to see this year for me to call the year a success.

1. Beat Florida in The Swamp. We haven't beaten Florida in The Swamp since 2003. This is a huge milestone for this team and the program.
2. Beat South Carolina and Texas A&M at home. Beating South Carolina by a lot is necessary to put them back were they belong. A&M is once again a media darling to go all the way, and we need to win tough home games.
3. Win all the games we should win.
4. If not beating Bama and Georgia, at least making it a game. But beating 1 or both would be icing on the cake.

 

[aRmo]

We're replacing(among other things) a possible heisman winning QB if not for his injury, the Biletnikoff award winning WR, another WR who when healthy is probably a better overall WR than said Biletnikoff winner, a right tackle who played so well he managed to go top 10 in the draft(not commonly seen from right tackles) and on defense lose it's best player at edge rusher in a defense that still kinda sucked even with him on the field.

Can recruiting, coaching, development, etc fix all these losses? Yes.

Does out staff have the track record of a Bama, Georgia, Ohio State, etc where they can lose absurd amounts of talent and still come back the next season and be as good or even better? Nope. Maybe it develops that track record, but this will be it's first swing at having to do it.

Have to have some seriously orange tinted glasses to think there isn't reason to question exactly how good we can be this year.

You have to think tho. The talent on this team went underdeveloped with the previous staff. This staff developed what they had. Now we are deeper and more talented in spots. O-Line is my only concern.

 

[Hank Bukowski]

All that is true. However, the Orange Bowl game was not decided until midway through the 4th quarter. That win was impressive when you consider the final score. The offense still has some questions and one of those is still, how well Joe can/will play, how well will the Oline protect him, and how well will we be able to run the ball.

We play better than we played in the Orange Bowl, I’m a happy dude. We may not lose a game.

 

[aRmo]

We play better than we played in the Orange Bowl, I’m a happy dude. We may not lose a game.

Yes! people forget, Clemson's defense was the real Deal. We have to find ways to run the ball against defense's like that. Im happy with the outcome of the orange bowl, but if you just look at the stat sheet and not the score you would have thought TN got blown out.

 

[VOLINVONORE]

Friend, you're remembering a very different Orange Bowl than I recall.

In the Orange Bowl I remember, the game got comfortable for us in the 2nd Qtr when we went ahead by two touchdowns. A two-score advantage is small potatoes compared to most of our 2022 games, but this game was a little different because our defense REALLY showed up big time. All through the first half, our defense kept the Tigers from scoring. They finally got a field goal (were forced to settle for a field goal) shortly before the half. Things seemed well in hand by then.

And then when they came out of the locker room and again had to settle for a field goal early in the 3rd quarter, things really started feeling cozy for us. It already wasn't close. It just wasn't a close game. We tacked on anothetouchdown, and it felt over.

Sure, Clemson was able to score their first TD of the game in the 4th quarter, and--this is the sole high point of the entire match for the Tigers--they got the 2-point conversion. Yes, they were within a score of us. But it didn't feel like there was any real doubt, nonetheless. And then just a minute and a half later, we scored again, going up by 2 touchdowns again, and they'd never close the gap after that.

Don't get me wrong, it wasn't a blowout, wasn't one of those games where we go up by 3 or 4 scores and the gap remains insurmountable. Rather, it was a (uncharacteristic for our 2022 squad) defensive domination. We kept our foot on their throats the entire game. And that's why it remained so well in hand for most of the game.

That's how I remember it.

break/break

I do agree with you that the 2023 squad has to show who they are. That's true every year. For every program. But I don't think we can point to last year's bowl game as anything but a dominating win with solid performances by both the offense and defense.our

Go Vols!

My memory is just fine. plus I rewatched the game twice this past week. I am not saying we did not play well, especially in the last half of the 4th quarter. We did. However, it wa a very tight game until then. Our defense had kept us in the game especially in the first half when Clemson moved the ball into Tennessee's side of the field and our offense did not put points on the board. Everything worked out our way, but it took us over three quarters to put it away.

 

[Johnnyreb#VFL]

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?

Right. And what’s more we beat 2/3 of the top 3 just last year. I don’t think Tennessee is a sleeper pick anymore which makes me wonder who is the dark horse sec champ sleeper this year? Arkansas? South Carolina?

 

[LittleVol]

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.

We might have a better team than in 2022 this season.

Bama is going to continue to step back this season.

Vols by 28 in Tuscaloosa

 

[TennesseeTarheel]

Deep down I truly believe we’ll be better than last year as a collective unit. Our offense will not drop off much and our defense HAS to improve. We have a great shot at winning a NC.

I'll have what Big Orange is having!