Year 2

Discussion in 'VOLuminous' started by tvolsfan, Aug 29, 2011.

  1. tvolsfan

    tvolsfan Chieftain

    As we've seen many times over the last decade or so, year 2 seems to be where well coached teams show drastic improvement. Obviously, nobody is expecting Tennessee to run the table this year or anything like that. However, I think we can still learn a lot about Dooley and what to expect from him based on this season. It's easy to just look at the schedule and say, "Well UT is better than six of their opponents, so 6-6 seems to be the benchmark." That being said, I think we need to look for more than that.

    What would you need to see this season to be confident (or at least optimistic) that Dooley is the guy to have Tennessee competing for SEC titles again?
     
  2. tvolsfan

    tvolsfan Chieftain

    For me to believe in Dooley, I think we need to see more than just winning the games we should. I would be pretty optimistic about Dooley's future if:
    a) Tennessee wins 8 regular season games this year.
    b) Tennessee looks at least as good as their record. By that I mean UT looks like they an 8+ win team, not a 6-6 team that pulled major upsets.
    c) I see solid performances in big games. Good coaches seem to have their teams playing at a higher level when it counts
     
  3. JT5

    JT5 Super Moderator

    Tennessee needs to step up and beat Florida at some point. This shit is getting old.
     
  4. justingroves

    justingroves supermod

    The team needs to beat the hell out of Montana, Buffalo, Cincy etc on the schedule. No more nailbiters to UAB please.

    This team doesn't need to fold against Bama or UGA.

    8 regular season wins barring injury to Bray or a defensive lineman.

    If not 8 regular season wins, a game like 09 Florida where the team, through no fault of its own, just gets beat by a superior opponent. I can handle that, I can't handle an ass raping like Bama doled out.
     
  5. IP

    IP Super Moderator

    If we don't start 2-0 this season, I will be extremely doubtful of his ability to bring us back.
     
  6. kptvol

    kptvol Super Moderator

    I can buy the year 2 stuff for teams not quite in our situation. New coach steps in. Fills in a few needs and adds a playmaker or two with the first recruiting class. Also coaches kids up. That shiz will work at most places, but most places don't have the ridiculous situations on the OL and DL that UT had. Very rare situation brought about by the uncommon/dumbness of an HC not recruiting OL or DL for a few years, then having two coaching changes in 12 months.
     
  7. CardinalVol

    CardinalVol Uncultured, non-diverse mod

    Still saying 8 wins is my number to believe Dooley can indeed do it. Tempting to revise it down to 7 because I think Jackson would have been that much of a difference maker on defense.

    Either way, we've got to beat some teams we are not supposed to and take care of the ones we should take care of.
     
  8. Snakeonia

    Snakeonia Active Member

    all i would like to see is UT to be competitve against the better teams.
     
  9. IP

    IP Super Moderator

    No, I'd like to see them actually steal one or two from the better teams. I'm bored with "competitive."
     
  10. tvolsfan

    tvolsfan Chieftain

    I'd really like UT to actually be better than at least one of those teams.
     
  11. Snakeonia

    Snakeonia Active Member

    oh trust me i'd love to see them upset someone. however, we weren't really competitive with bama, or georgia last year.
     
  12. GoVols

    GoVols Member

    To feel good about the direction that Dooley and staff are taking Tennessee, I would need to see us...
    - Completely control the games we should (Montana, Buffalo, Middle Tennessee)
    - Wins the games we should.
    - Finally, compete against the top tier SEC schools. I am not asking for us to upset Bama, just not get thumped by 31 points again.

    Long story short, I am just looking for improvement over last year.
     
  13. TennTradition

    TennTradition Super Moderator

    I personally view Cincinnati as more of a threat than that...
     
  14. tidwell

    tidwell Chieftain

    Agree with this. I would think year three for Dooley, based on the situation he inherited, would be a better comparison to other coaches' second year... if that makes sense.

    Still want to see improvement over last year, of course, but not sure this is Dooley's bust out year.
     
  15. IP

    IP Super Moderator

    I can't even think about Florida, given how long it's been since we even started out 2-0.
     
  16. MacReady

    MacReady New Member

    How long has it been now? It's go to be like 7 or 8 years at this point, damn it.
     
  17. tidwell

    tidwell Chieftain

    Just since 2006, with the blowout over California and the squeaker against Air Force.
     
  18. justingroves

    justingroves supermod

    The last season where I felt Tennessee was actually a good team was 2004 and even then they quit against Auburn the first time they played.

    Every season after that, where Fulmer was the HC, it seemed to get worse and worse.

    In 09, Kiffin did a good job getting the team to play hard for him (exception being Ole Miss) but that team just wasn't very good.

    Last year, Dooley was plagued by depth problems against Oregon and Bama and the team flat out never showed up against UGA. He was also hamstrung by one of the worst OL and DL in Tennessee's history
     
  19. =rpvol=

    =rpvol= Member

    i'm not sure how realistic it is, but if he can get our guys fired up enough to win at least 2 of the 5 bigger games (fl, ga, al, lsu, ar.) i think we are on the right track. would love to see an 8 or 9 win season, but losing 4 of those 5 might put that out of reach.
     
  20. FlowingAway.

    FlowingAway. Banned

    Totally with you on this. And this year SHOULD be our best opportunity in some time.

    Wouldn't mind giving LSU some payback this year, either. We've lost to those [uck fay]ers one too many times.
     

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