To heck with Ohio State, 2024 was a good year!

[rocketskates]

Yeah the record was what the record was. Pretending that team was impressive or enjoyable to watch or that we are right where we wanna be because “10-3! PLAYOFFS!” is incredibly disingenuous.

If you aren’t satisfied with a ten win season you could always go back and watch the highlights of the 4-8 season under Butch, or any of the seasons under Pruitt. Maybe that would help you appreciate it a little more?

You could say that there have been some schedules that we may not have won 10 games if we had? You could also argue that we play Bama, Florida and Georgia every year, we handily beat the best team that Vandy has fielded in years, and beat a decent Oklahoma team that whipped Bama. You could also take a team from another conference such as Miami and I doubt that they win ten games with our schedule. Just my .02 but enjoy the ride.

 

[Orangecrush#27]

Oh please. If someone made the statement in a different year that “our schedule was reallly tough, this is the best 7-5 team we’ve ever had,” you and the other negas would jump down their throat. Moral losses don’t count any more than moral victories do.

His name literally says it all. He’s a troll. Just block him

 

[Other_Guy]

I feel like everyone felt the goal was back to 10 wins and make the playoffs. That's exactly what happened.
Next year 10-11 wins and win at least 1 playoff game depending on the bracket should be the goal.

 

[Hairy Vols]

So here's the unpleasant truth of playoffs: all but one go home disappointed.

Any year prior to 2014, you pick the best 12 teams in the country, and 6 of them are going to end the season with a big bowl win. Rose, Sugar, Orange, Cotton, Peach, half those teams are going to win in a major bowl. At least one, but often two or even three of them, are going to make a decent case for being considered the national champ.

Starting this year, 11 of those 12 teams leave the season on the bitter taste of a loss. None can claim to be a national champ, they're all losers.

Before this season, in the 4-team playoff, only 3 teams forcibly ended the year as losers. Out of the 12 best teams, 5 ended the year winning. That wasn't so bad.

This year, it's down to 1 of 12. Eleven losers, one winner.

Are we sure an expanded playoff is really what we want? Absolutely positive?

Go Vols!

Yes the expanded playoff is what is wanted and needed.

I prefer facts over feelings (well not really but that’s what people say online correct?)

Fact is this is the most decisive championship we’ve ever had.

This playoff format eliminates UCF and undefeated teams from feeling cheated. FSU being an ACC team being left out after going undefeated should give you all the explanation you need when it comes to “do we need or want this.”

There is no question. This is better.

 

[Hairy Vols]

His name literally says it all. He’s a troll. Just block him

Is he a troll? I keep biting the bullet. He is getting on my nerves so bad.

 

[BernardKingGOAT]

If you’re content with being an 8-4 program, give or take a game or two based on schedule difficulty, then that’s fine. I just don’t know if being a member of a fanbase that wants to win championships is for you if that’s the case.

Sitting on the bench as a kid has really affected you

 

[The Original Fade]

This may be the best time in history to be a Tennessee fan. We made the CFP giving us a chance at the championship. We won the 2024 baseball world championship. We are #1 in basketball in the country. Lady Vols are also undefeated. There's not a better program

Agree. We’ve never been this good in the 3 major sports

 

[The Original Fade]

If we are all being honest, no one expected our schedule to be so easy. We have had schedules in the past that this team would have gone 6-6 against.

This was the worst 10 win team we have ever had.

Your username is spot on

 

[Delmar]

Is he a troll? I keep biting the bullet. He is getting on my nerves so bad.

It’s a good bet. Either that or he’s one of those youngsters who has grown up with the “I want it and I want it NOW!” Syndrome. When they don’t get it, the immediate reaction is to throw a tantrum. But I’m guessing troll. Has 1,000 posts and 90% are negative. Should have put the clown on Ignore a while ago and this series sealed it. Just don’t have the patience for ignorance as I’ve gotten older.

 

[Vol in Buckeye Land]

It’s a good bet. Either that or he’s one of those youngsters who has grown up with the “I want it and I want it NOW!” Syndrome. When they don’t get it, the immediate reaction is to throw a tantrum. But I’m guessing troll. Has 1,000 posts and 90% are negative. Should have put the clown on Ignore a while ago and this series sealed it. Just don’t have the patience for ignorance as I’ve gotten older.

My money’s on bitter, cynical old guy over spoiled youngster.

 

[LegionnaireOfTheMiserable]

8-4? We just went 10-3 so what am I missing here? All of us on here want UT to win a championship. I’m sure you and a select few others will find something to complain about if we do.

There’s more to life than ball, man. Go fishing or something. Read a book.

Yes the “give or take a couple based on a schedule” part, you missed that.

 

[LegionnaireOfTheMiserable]

Your Knowledge of Tennessee history is showing….If you really want to troll try studying a little harder. The last time I looked (Tenn vs OS) 1 and 1. As far as demanding excellence I just settle for loyalty be my Country,family,or Sports team. As far as Ohio
hell they don’t even season their beans up there and put sugar in their cornbread. Tell me what’s excellent about that.

Eddie George, Orlando Pace, and Terry Glenn would have beaten the brakes off this year’s team.

As for loyalty, would it make you disloyal to your country to disagree with a president or to say that the economy should be better?

 

[LegionnaireOfTheMiserable]

If you aren’t satisfied with a ten win season you could always go back and watch the highlights of the 4-8 season under Butch, or any of the seasons under Pruitt. Maybe that would help you appreciate it a little more?

You could say that there have been some schedules that we may not have won 10 games if we had? You could also argue that we play Bama, Florida and Georgia every year, we handily beat the best team that Vandy has fielded in years, and beat a decent Oklahoma team that whipped Bama. You could also take a team from another conference such as Miami and I doubt that they win ten games with our schedule. Just my .02 but enjoy the ride.

But you folks said this same shít under Pruitt and Butch. It’s time you realize that some people can see the issues long before you can. You all have been proven wrong far too many times to be such dícks about how fans should talk.

“If you don’t like having the longest winning streak in the country, you can go back to Butch going 4-8. Or you can root for another team.”

“If you don’t like winning 18 games in 2 years, you can go back to Dooley not making a bowl game. Or you can root for another team.”

And lol at bragging about beating Vanderbilt and calling the worst OU team this century a “decent” team.

 

[Vol in Buckeye Land]

But you folks said this same shít under Pruitt and Butch. It’s time you realize that some people can see the issues long before you can. You all have been proven wrong far too many times to be such dícks about how fans should talk.

“If you don’t like having the longest winning streak in the country, you can go back to Butch going 4-8. Or you can root for another team.”

“If you don’t like winning 18 games in 2 years, you can go back to Dooley not making a bowl game. Or you can root for another team.”

And lol at bragging about beating Vanderbilt and calling the worst OU team this century a “decent” team.

How many 10-win seasons did Pruitt and Butch have in their 8 combined seasons?

With that, I am following the good advice of people ITT and putting you on ignore. As I said to you once before, I hope you bring more positivity and value to the people in your actual life than what you bring to this board, because you bring absolutely nothing of value here. Why conduct yourself this way? I find it genuinely perplexing. The fact that you or any of us are breathing today is a miracle any way you slice it. Smile once in a while. You deserve to feel some happiness occasionally (actually none of us “deserve” anything, “deserve” is irrelevant, but that’s great because it means everything is gravy).

I wish you the best, and I wish for you not to be miserable. You ain’t spreading your misery to me though, and I’m not going to feed into this perverse pass-time of yours by arguing with you. Have a good one.

 

[LegionnaireOfTheMiserable]

How many 10-win seasons did Pruitt and Butch have in their 8 combined seasons?

With that, I am following the good advice of people ITT and putting you on ignore. As I said to you once before, I hope you bring more positivity and value to the people in your actual life than what you bring to this board, because you bring absolutely nothing of value here. Why conduct yourself this way? I find it genuinely perplexing. The fact that you or any of us are breathing today is a miracle any way you slice it. Smile once in a while. You deserve to feel some happiness occasionally (actually none of us “deserve” anything, “deserve” is irrelevant, but that’s great because it means everything is gravy).

I wish you the best, and I wish for you not to be miserable. You ain’t spreading your misery to me though, and I’m not going to feed into this perverse pass-time of yours by arguing with you. Have a good one.

Nobody brings anything of value here. It’s all recycled info found from elsewhere and dime a dozen takes that boil down to “this guy is good/will be good simply because he is/will be a Volunteer.”

I just don’t get how watching that team last year didn’t frustrate any Vol fan. I honestly don’t understand how the major takeaway from that team for most wasn’t major frustration. As such, I don’t see why people have such issues with people venting those frustrations. If this were a board about movie discussions or cooking recipes, then maybe I’d seem a bit more chippy, but to me the football program feels a bit like a house of cards right now.

 

[BernardKingGOAT]

Nobody brings anything of value here. It’s all recycled info found from elsewhere and dime a dozen takes that boil down to “this guy is good/will be good simply because he is/will be a Volunteer.”

I just don’t get how watching that team last year didn’t frustrate any Vol fan. I honestly don’t understand how the major takeaway from that team for most wasn’t major frustration. As such, I don’t see why people have such issues with people venting those frustrations. If this were a board about movie discussions or cooking recipes, then maybe I’d seem a bit more chippy, but to me the football program feels a bit like a house of cards right now.

You don't get how most people aren't frustrated by last season like you? Were there frustrating moments? Sure, but overall we had a pretty damn good season. We started the year ranked 15 and finished ranked #9. You don't get it because you're miserable

 

[Orangecrush#27]

Is he a troll? I keep biting the bullet. He is getting on my nerves so bad.

He definitely is. I took the bait a few times until I started realizing he’s only here to get vol fans to argue. He don’t give a damn about the Vols

 

[CAVPUT]

To heck with Ohio State, 2024 was a good year! westwords It's not all doom & gloom, we just got spoiled. View attachment 710364​

Rah!

 

[BernardKingGOAT]

Eddie George, Orlando Pace, and Terry Glenn would have beaten the brakes off this year’s team.

As for loyalty, would it make you disloyal to your country to disagree with a president or to say that the economy should be better?

Peyton Manning, Chad Clifton, Al Wilson, Deon Grant AND Jamal Lewis would have beaten the brakes off of this OSU team

 

[rocketskates]

But you folks said this same shít under Pruitt and Butch. It’s time you realize that some people can see the issues long before you can. You all have been proven wrong far too many times to be such dícks about how fans should talk.

“If you don’t like having the longest winning streak in the country, you can go back to Butch going 4-8. Or you can root for another team.”

“If you don’t like winning 18 games in 2 years, you can go back to Dooley not making a bowl game. Or you can root for another team.”

And lol at bragging about beating Vanderbilt and calling the worst OU team this century a “decent” team.

But dude, Heupel is the most successful coach at Tennessee since Fulmer. What is your suggestion? What current coach do you think would be more successful at Tennessee? What coach is available right now that you’d like to see at Tennessee? Let’s have a meaningful discussion here. I’m game. And Vanderbilt was a decent team this year, I stand by it. Also, that OU team was far from their worst team “this century”.

 

[LegionnaireOfTheMiserable]

But dude, Heupel is the most successful coach at Tennessee since Fulmer. What is your suggestion? What current coach do you think would be more successful at Tennessee? What coach is available right now that you’d like to see at Tennessee? Let’s have a meaningful discussion here. I’m game. And Vanderbilt was a decent team this year, I stand by it. Also, that OU team was far from their worst team “this century”.

I haven’t called for Heupel to be fired. I am merely pointing out that the people acting like Heupel should be above reproach acted the same way about Dooley, Butch, and Pruitt. Criticism should be allowed, and the people who defended those previous 3 guys have no room to tell anyone what to think or feel.

And I’d really love for you to point out a worse OU team this century than this one. You can’t do it because there isn’t one.

 

[rocketskates]

I haven’t called for Heupel to be fired. I am merely pointing out that the people acting like Heupel should be above reproach acted the same way about Dooley, Butch, and Pruitt. Criticism should be allowed, and the people who defended those previous 3 guys have no room to tell anyone what to think or feel.

And I’d really love for you to point out a worse OU team this century than this one. You can’t do it because there isn’t one.

Heupel gets paid a lot of money. He isn’t above criticism, so I agree with you there. But thus far his success far outweighs Dooley, Butch, and Pruitt because he’s had zero losing seasons, two ten win seasons, a number one ranking,and he’s beaten Florida and Bama twice. The previous four coaches accomplished none of those things, so there’s reason for hope.

Also, at this point in their respective careers Dooley, Butch and Pruitt had either been fired or were getting ripped apart by the fanbase.

The 2022 OU team lost to 6 unranked teams (two of which finished 5-7) and finished 6-7 that year with a much weaker schedule than they had this year. I’d argue that they were worse than this team.

 

[LegionnaireOfTheMiserable]

Heupel gets paid a lot of money. He isn’t above criticism, so I agree with you there. But thus far his success far outweighs Dooley, Butch, and Pruitt because he’s had zero losing seasons, two ten win seasons, a number one ranking,and he’s beaten Florida and Bama twice. The previous four coaches accomplished none of those things, so there’s reason for hope.

Also, at this point in their respective careers Dooley, Butch and Pruitt had either been fired or were getting ripped apart by the fanbase.

The 2022 OU team lost to 6 unranked teams (two of which finished 5-7) and finished 6-7 that year with a much weaker schedule than they had this year. I’d argue that they were worse than this team.

I’m not in any way arguing that those guys were as good as Heupel or comparable to Heupel. He has done a far better job than any of them. But the people who acted like such pricks about people criticizing those guys have no business acting like pricks about criticism anymore. Those people lost the right to complain when they actively championed people who hurt the program.

The 2022 OU team lost 5 one score games. This OU team lost two, and one of those was to a Navy team that they had a month to prepare for. They struggled badly at home against a 4-8 Houston team. They did have a tough schedule, but at no point did they ever resemble a competitive team, at least when they weren’t playing teams from the state of Alabama.

 

[rocketskates]

I’m not in any way arguing that those guys were as good as Heupel or comparable to Heupel. He has done a far better job than any of them. But the people who acted like such pricks about people criticizing those guys have no business acting like pricks about criticism anymore. Those people lost the right to complain when they actively championed people who hurt the program.

The 2022 OU team lost 5 one score games. This OU team lost two, and one of those was to a Navy team that they had a month to prepare for. They struggled badly at home against a 4-8 Houston team. They did have a tough schedule, but at no point did they ever resemble a competitive team, at least when they weren’t playing teams from the state of Alabama.

We could debate the OU stuff all day, so we can agree to disagree on that one. Bottom line, we played them at Norman, early in the season when they still had momentum. It was a good win.

As to your first part, I think people are very confrontational with you because quite frankly you come off as a troll on here. 90% of your posts are just negativity, and while we’ve all been there, people get burned out on that sort of thing. There’s being a realist, and then there’s just seeking confrontation. I mean what I said in the best possible way as I’m not trying to bring you down. Just being straight up with you. Thanks for the friendly debate. Take care and GBO.

 

[LegionnaireOfTheMiserable]

We could debate the OU stuff all day, so we can agree to disagree on that one. Bottom line, we played them at Norman, early in the season when they still had momentum. It was a good win.

As to your first part, I think people are very confrontational with you because quite frankly you come off as a troll on here. 90% of your posts are just negativity, and while we’ve all been there, people get burned out on that sort of thing. There’s being a realist, and then there’s just seeking confrontation. I mean what I said in the best possible way as I’m not trying to bring you down. Just being straight up with you. Thanks for the friendly debate. Take care and GBO.

You’re not offending me or coming off rude, so no worries. But just to hash everything out, my comments about the very confrontational people, as you called them, aren’t just limited to me or even just to this forum. The same people who get upset about me complaining and yell that we won 10 games also got upset about others complaining after we lost to Kentucky to snap the streak and miss a bowl in 2011, they got upset about complaining about Sal Sunseri until the writing was on the wall. They got upset about complaining about losing to backup QBs on bad Florida teams with Butch, they got upset about complaining after Butch lost 3 13 point leads in our first 5 games in 2015, they got upset about complaining after Butch lost to South Carolina and Vandy with a SEC Championship berth and Sugar Bowl at stake, they got upset when we gave up 500+ on the ground to Georgia Tech in a win because you can’t complain about wins, then we went 4-8. They got upset about people complaining that Jeremy Pruitt lost 6 games by 25 or more in his first year, they got upset about complaining that Pruitt lost Vandy, Georgia State, and BYU in consecutive games, they got upset that people complained as he was going 3-7 before he got fired for cause.

There is no winning with those people unless you are happy with losing, so why try? There is no discussion to be had. If you have criticisms after a win, then you are a bad, dumb fan for complaining about a win. Doesn’t matter how many games we go on to lose after that win. If you have criticisms after a loss, you are a bad, dumb human and actually root for another team. So why would anyone who wants to discuss the team care at all about upsetting those people, since those people cannot be pleased by anything other than fervent devotion and blind faith?

The only thing those of us who discuss our teams on forums like these all have in common is that we all care too much about something that doesn’t really matter and would probably be better served directing our energies elsewhere than discussing sports online with strangers. In real life, I’ve never known anyone who expressed vitriol towards me for my sports takes. Some people have disagreed, thought I was too negative about the team, thought I was wrong, what have you, but most people IRL will discuss their opinions on the Vols without getting too upset if yours don’t align with theirs. For whatever reason, that’s impossible online.