Which 2 do you prefer, if we go 10-2?

[Behr]

Gotta beat Oklahoma this year man. Just gotta.

And.....

 

[McDad]

I voted UGA and Bama. Those two help us more than losing to UF and OK hurts us. A case can be made by beating both of those teams we deserve to be in the playoffs. A win over what most are thinking is a mediocre UF team probably doesn't help us. Plus losing early in the season is less harmful than losing later.
Additionally, maybe a win against UT convinces UF to sign Napier to an extension. And unless we have to do this exercise again in future seasons, we can peel off a dozen straight wins against the Gators starting in 25.

 

[GoDucks349]

Calling for 10-2 makes as much sense as 9-3 or 12-0.

It depends on the schedule.

If we lose to OU and FLA
but Beat UGA, Bama and everybody else to end the season, then beat Texas in Atlanta.

Then beat Oregon 1st round
Then Houston in the Semifinal.
Then destroy Ohio State in the National Championship then I will take the gut punches early
Vs losing late, and not getting Atlanta or the playoffs and some lame Bowl Game while losing some big time commitments…

Glad you see Oregon as a walk over game.

 

[chuckiepoo]

Glad you see Oregon as a walk over game.

Houston? wtf?

 

[LittleVol]

Glad you see Oregon as a walk over game.

We owe you all...big time

 

[LittleVol]

Houston? wtf?

"Whose HOUSE!??" "__________!?"

 

[LittleVol]

Losing early vs winning late with our schedule is the optimal one

The difference between 11-2 or 14-2

 

[VFL-82-JP]

Calling for 10-2 makes as much sense as 9-3 or 12-0.

It depends on the schedule.

If we lose to OU and FLA
but Beat UGA, Bama and everybody else to end the season, then beat Texas in Atlanta.

Then beat Oregon 1st round
Then Houston in the Semifinal.
Then destroy Ohio State in the National Championship then I will take the gut punches early
Vs losing late, and not getting Atlanta or the playoffs and some lame Bowl Game while losing some big time commitments…

You make a compelling case. Like your logic.

Go Vols!

 

[superdave1984]

If we  have to lose 2 games, and only 2 ganes, and they must come from those choices....it seems better for us overall if we were to lose to the eventual SEC champ and eventual SEC runner up. I presume uga will be the eventual SEC champ and texas will be the runner up. Since we do not play texas, I would say OU since they are early on the schedule.

 

[GoDucks349]

We owe you all...big time

I understand the feelings.

 

[GoDucks349]

Houston? wtf?

Yea, thought this was about football.

 

[volbound1700]

I am not surprised that Alabama and Florida were the winners. Although, I do think beating Georgia would be hilarious for the meltdowns that would occur (notably with Uncle Lou).

EDIT: By the way, I voted for Alabama and Florida. I think beating both is the most critical. IMO, Florida is the most important team on the list to beat as losing to them is embarrassing (as it was last year) and seems to buy into that "mental" issue with them and holds our program back.

 

[chuckiepoo]

"Whose HOUSE!??" "__________!?"

COOGS HOUSE!!!!

 

[aRmo]

I think we beat Bama this year. We were stomping them at halftime in Tuscaloosa last year when the team came out flat in the 2nd half. Credit to Nick Saban for firing his team up, but i dont think thats a sure (W) for the Tide. Heupel has shown he can give Alabama trouble. Even in 2021, it was a 7 point game in the 4th Quarter.

 

[unfrozencvmanvol]

I would say Bama and Florida. That would mean we defend our home turf and don't lose a game in Neyland. Also, road losses to UGA and OU would not be anything to be embarrassed about in the Playoff Committee's deliberations.

 

[pimo1]

Don’t care

10-2 works no matter what

Realistically the best 10-2 outcome would be losses to Bama and UGA. NC state and Oklahoma are the next 2 best teams on our schedule. Losing t any team below those 4 would be suboptimal in a hypothetical where we take 2 losses. We have 4-5 games we could realistically lose this year.

People for get that NC State is ranked ahead of us currently in most polls and Oklahoma is ranked right near us in most. Those are the 2 scariest games on the schedule because of when they happen. Early in the season while the offense/secondary are still gelling. The good thing is the same is true for those 2 teams they have a lot of new faces to get up to speed also. UGA is an L this season period. Florida and Bama come to Neyland I am more comfortable with those wins than NCState (neutral site in their home state) and OK on the road.

 

[AllVols]

Normally I go with Gators and Bama without blinking, but I'm going to the OU game with a friend who's a huge OU fan. I would prefer not to make that flight home having to listen to him brag. Again...(we went to the series 10 years ago home and away).

I'm hoping you get to make that flight home with a huge grin on your face.

 

[PA_Vol_Fan]

NC State and UGA

 

[sami]

There are pros and cons to any of the choices. Let's just take 'em one at a time.

 

[VFL-82-JP]

There are pros and cons to any of the choices. Let's just take 'em one at a time.

Yah, agreed. And this is just one hypothetical. We could run another based on the Vols going 11-1. Or 9-3. Doing one for 12-0 would be kinda uneventful, since the only choice would be "Beat Em All". Heh.

It's just a way to organize how we think about the season while we wait for it to start.

Go Vols!

 

[BanditVol]

We must, absolutely MUST, beat bammer and the gators.

Bammer because they are always no. 1 on my list (and should be on everyone's!)

The gators because we have so often lost to them when we should not, and the losses have often been worse than they should be. THAT. MUST. END!!!

Also we are likely to lose to uga.

If you asked me about likely its bammer and uga until proven otherwise, but as much as I want to beat uga and/or OU, we cannot lose to the gators this year. That must finally end!

 

[OneVolNation]

If we beat Georgia, we're the best in the country.

 

[GoVols64]

So this hypothetical starts with an assumption: assume we will go 10-2 this fall.

Question is: which two do we beat, of the biggest four challenges?

And by biggest four, I mean: Oklahoma, Florida (just because of the psych factor of that series), Bama, and Georgia.

To get to 10-2, we gotta beat (at least) two of those four. So which would you most prefer?

...

I'm gonna go with Bama and Florida. Biggest rivals of my lifetime, even if Florida is way down lately, and Bama is a bit of an unknown with a new coach.

Naturally, I'm hoping for us to go 12-0, or at worst 11-1. But if we GOT to temper our appetites, which 2 of those 4 would you most want Ws over?

Go Vols!

Interesting thought experiment. Bama and UGA would be the win's that help us the most as a program and to wipe out early losses to OU and UF in this scenario. You would also think losses to Bama and UGA would be better received by the playoff committee.

I certainly believe that getting the stigma of blowing games to the Gators would be great too....

Can't we just be greedy and win them all?

 

[chuckiepoo]

These hypotheticals… not much meat on the bone. vs

 

[hndog609]

Pragmatically I want GA since it's almost a certainty that would be one of the marquee wins of by any team in the country. The other is FL just 'cause beating the Gators in Neyland is just always awesome and I really hate the lizards.