Tar Volon makes a good point. Also, I don't know how good NCST is so while I left that game feeling better there are still some questions that I believe will be answered after the FL game. FL may not be the best team, but their certainly more talented\physical than the NCST's and Georgia St's of the world.
this times infinity. There's no reason for the current team to even care about the past 8 seasons. Or the past 100 for that matter.
After watching week 1 I would say the average Vol fan can taste Gator blood right now, but still cautious because of what I describe below. Now, a lot can change between game 1 and 2, and especially between game 1 and game 3, but I can't help but get the vibe that Florida's offense is going to be like UT's in 05 or 08 - lack of QB play is going to kill it. I think the general fan sentiment of overly cautious optimism is comprised of the facts that we've lost 7 in a row to them and only won 6 games against them since 1990 combined with the Bama streak from 86-94 with the clearly more talented Tennessee teams that managed to lose games in that stretch. My guess is that Neyland will be rocking at the beginning with the opportunity to erupt into late 90s form if given reason go crazy. Personally, I see no excuse whatsoever to lose to Florida - I just don't think they are that good at all, and we are a better team.
But we also have a roster that melted down in Gainesville last year when Justin Hunter went down. They had something go against them against NC State, and they responded. Something will go wrong, at some point, against Florida. Let's see them give the same response against a team that these kids grew up believing is always one of the best.
Not really. Bowling Green was able to achieve that. It's not their offense that I'm eager to see, it's their defense.
I don't have any problem with that. We aren't a BCS bowl bound team, and we shouldn't expect to be right now. The question to me isn't whether 8-4 is acceptable this year, but whether 8-4 is a stopping point on the way to actually being good again or whether 8-4 is the destination with a few 7-5s or 9-3s scattered around. 4-4 in the conference and 4-0 against an OOC schedule whose biggest threat is the 5th best team in the ACC isn't any measure for UT. You might have to pass that point when climbing the ladder, but you damned well better not stop there, which is exactly what I fear we are going to do.
The whole idea that UT is going to settle into mediocrity, and allow expectations to become 8-4 is overblown. I believe that UT is one great hire from becoming a power again. All we are lacking is a great coach. We have a great everything else. Dave Hart is not the type of athletic director to settle for 8-4's. We are not destined for mediocrity.
He may not have the choice if Dooley gets the "nice guy" treatment Buzz Peterson received from influential boosters.
sorry for any confusion from my statement. I'm not saying that 8-4 should accepted as a successful season on a normal basis. i would say that at this point, in this season, it is the expectation, 8-9 wins. Coaching may or may not suck. We might be thin at certain positions, we may not. This team is ripe with issues. It's better than it's been in 3 years though IMO and getting better. My point is to have expectations out of this team to win 10 or 11 regular season games is absolutely ludicrous. My add on to this is that this team IS NOT the 2010 or 2011 team. It's not the 2008 either. It's also not any of the team from the late '90s or early 2000s. It's the 2012 squad. The UF team? It's not the Tebow teams. It's not the Spurrier teams either. It's the 2012 team led by an unstable HC and two shaky QBs without many weapons on offense. Fans may feel one way or the other about beating Florida, but if the players really are apprehensive about beating Florida because of what teams have done in the past, they shouldn't even show up this Saturday against GA State. Just fold for the whole season and start over with a coach and set of players only focused on the here and now.
Well said, Bill. I think sometimes folks mix the strategic and tactical expectations, so to speak. The more I think about it, I'm encouraged that we won fairly comfortably while still showing plenty of things to improve upon. If we'd come out and hit the highest note we could there might not be as much to look forward to if that makes any sense, and also encouraging that about a B ish overall effort was enough to accomplish that. Also, I'd like to see Florida play 1 more time. 1 game is just 1 game but 2 might be a trend.
You are correct. They have already proven their disregard for previous UT teams by laying that steaming deuce against Kentucky.
