UT has the toughest schedule per the NCAA

Id go with that. He should win at least 9, but I'll give him a game.

 

Don't think the super tough schedule is that much of an excuse. Super tough schedules are more of an excuse for teams like 2006 UF to lose a game or if this year's LSU team falters. Our schedule is mostly made strong by us playing all three of the SEC West superpowers, and we all expected to lose those three games. It's the winnable games against more mediocre competition that has folks up in arms.

 

If Tennessee is 8-4 next year and doesn't look competitive against Bama, Florida, and Georgia, I'd be in favor of bringing in someone else to try to win right away.

 

Me too

 

Part of the reason that UT may be ranked tougher than LSU, Arkansas, or Bama is because we have to play them where they only have to play us. I'm not sure I buy the rankings, though. All three played top 15ish OOC games, and LSU played another against a potential national title contender. The fact that we are a cupcake dilutes the ranking of schedules that areat least as tough as ours.

The thing is, we probably need to plan on facing some superpowers every year. The west schedule was brutal, but the east is as bad as it has ever been. We won't always draw 3 top 10s from the other side, but we won't see our home division this bad very often, either.

 

Double post, so I'm including a picture of Natalie Portman with a shaved head:

 

Exactly. We're set, assuming we get the upset (ha!) against Vandy, to finish tied second to last in one of the worst SEC Easts ever.

 

The SEC East is down relative to the SEC West, but as a whole the conference is perhaps stronger than ever. Just to put that "weakest SEC East" talk into perspective, nationally. We would have been in the top 4 of the Pac 12, Big 12, won the Big East, been in contention for the ACC, etc. this year. And we can't even get an SEC win.

 

At full strength (Bray and Hunter) you may be right, but I highly doubt we're competing for much of anything in any conference the way we've played really from UGA onward.

 

Yes, I was talking about pre-Simms/Worley era.

 

Meh. I really stopped being impressed after Hunter went down.

 

I may be bashed for this, but I honestly feel that losing Hunter hurt the team more than losing Bray did. Here's why, with Rogers and Hunter on the field, no team could cover both of them, teams had to cover the whole field, sometimes leaving it one on one with Hunter, and Rogers on the outside, which would leave the tight ends open in the middle of the field most of the time. If anybody has the UF game on tape, go back and watch right after Hunter went down how things started happening. Florida could key in on the run and roll their coverages towards Da'Rick. If I remember correctly, UT's first run in that ball game went for over 10 yards. I strongly believe that Hunter's injury impacted the run game just as much as the pass. Teams could key in on stopping the run because they knew they just had to cover Da'Rick.
Im not at all saying that losing Bray has not been killer because it has, but I really feel that Worley/Simms could have slung the ball around with Hunter still out there.
Flame away at my comments.

 

I think that is a plausible statement, judging from the two games without Hunter but with Bray.

 

Macon, I agree with a lot of that.

There's no one left that can "take the top off" of a D

 

Bray served Florida their testicles when he was permitted to by our staff. Simms to Hunter and Rogers against the Gators would have led to ten points, tops.

We had Denarius Moore last year and couldn't consistently do anything with Simms.

 

And when the UF DBs were not committing pass interference over and over and over again