Good afternoon, This season matters. This is a potentially pivotal season in the new NIL world. A new narrative must be written about Tennessee for the 2020's and beyond. Ball State and Tennessee have never met. A new all-time series leader notch is on the table. Pittsburgh is 3-0 against Tennessee all-time. Correcting that needs to begin. Dominating Akron will be key in setting up players for award considerations down the line and affecting perception for season statistics as a team. This may sound silly, but perception has never mattered more. Florida has won 16 of the last 17 meetings with Tennessee. LSU has won 7 of the last 9 meetings with Tennessee. Alabama has won 15 in a row against Tennessee, the largest streak in the series. UT-Martin used to be called "the baby Vols." Without any real head-to-head reason for believing so, Kentucky honestly believes they have surpassed Tennessee as a program. Missouri's coach likes to crack jokes at Tennessee's expense. Missouri also honestly perceives themselves as being one of the top 3 programs in the division due to their early success. South Carolina and their coach are the bell of the ball and seen as a dark horse by many. Tennessee has dropped 6 games to Vanderbilt since 2005. No wonder Vol fans are so hungry, we've been starved.
I had literally blocked out that we had lost 3 in a row to them. So much of the last 15 years gets mixed up with nightmares. Hard to tell what really happened and what I dreamed.
8-4 is the floor. 7-5, barring a serious injury to Hooker, should be considered a massive disappointment. 6 wins or less would call everything into question. There’s a long list of coaches in their second year coming out of nowhere to have a great season. I don’t think that’s out of the question if the defense is merely decent.
I think at this point, even with a hooker injury 6 wins or less would be highly problematic. I don't want to talk myself into expecting more than is reasonable, though. I think there is potential for a program changing season. But I think we are looking at an expectations-met mark of 8-4 and a realistic ceiling of 10-2. 7 wins being the floor. So ya, tight margins.
And I have been stating since Dooley, if a coach doesn't win anything by their third year (meaning SEC or National Championship), he historically is not ever going to do it. Oh, there are the outliers, but they are rare as hens' teeth.
At the same time, you can't fire a coach for winning 9 or 10 games in year 3 after taking over a team with 2 wins. You can't. It's not reasonable and no one will want to come into that.
Oh, I would never advocate firing anyone after a 10 win season after the shit show we have suffered through . But history is history and it is rare that he would make it. Just gotta be willing to reassess after every year without a championship at some point.
I think there is also a sample size bias in that, though. Coaches who don't win anything in 3 years don't coach there for much longer anywhere that matters. How many guys get 10 or 20 years if they don't ever win a championship?
Only a few more weeks boys and girls and theys and thems! Might have to fly back to see a game or two now that we're actually looking like we're worth watching again.
As long as we have to play Nick Saban every year I can’t really say I care about that stat. I’ve come to accept we will never win anything big while he’s at Bama.
One thing at a time. Part of the reason they have been so good is because we have been so inept. Both would be a lot more beatable if Tennessee was consistent enough not to lose to flawed Florida teams and ooc foes like pitt.