Tennessee Should be Number One In the Country

My opinion is that even conservatively, we should have two more wins. Florida and someone else. That would still include an "oopsy" loss and Bama.

 

This team is, top to bottom, as good as Clemson.

I'd be happy at 7-2 right now, and that's a perfectly reasonable and achievable scenario.

 

I can get on board with this as well. It's kind of what I've been saying all along.

 

This is an example of Butch's "Neyland Focus" and why it is hard to play at home with such high expectations. When you are building a program "brick by brick", you cannot be rushed into playing up to potential.

 

No good justification for losing to OU and Florida based on where we had them.

 

7-2 with wins against Oklahoma and either UF, Bama or Florida would have Tennessee 10 to 15th in the polls

 

I agree.

I can handle the Arkansas loss better than either of those two.

 

I could see the wins against UF and OU. I think that's top 15 worthy.

What I've really been saying all along is that we have had 6 close games now, and to say we "should" have won 5 of the 6 or even 6 of the 6 seems like too much. They're called "toss ups" for a reason.

 

Eh, don't know if we are as good as them, but I'd also be quite happy with 7-2 right now.

 

We had a special teams TD, held Arky to One of their lowest offensive outputs of the season, but decided to let Dobbs do a Peyton Manning impression to lose the game. I have a hard time swallowing that one, too.

 

They were toss ups because we stopped playing for over a quarter. We could have won some of these games by multiple scores.

 

Indy, Oklahoma and Florida were games where Tennessee had 2 score leads in the 4th, games Tennessee controlled throughout. They shouldn't have been close games. South Carolina should have been a 17 point win.

This is where the argument starts, I think. Choking away leads in the 2nd half is something this staff has done way too much, starting in year one with South Alabama.

 

Yup.

At some point, it's more than just dumb luck.

 

If we have top 5 or top 10 talent, shouldn't we be able to continue moving the ball and stopping our inferior opponents despite our coaches? Serious question.

 

No.

 

Even Oregon at the height of their power had problems moving the ball when they crawled inside the shell.

 

No.

 

Never?

 

We did against Kentucky.

 

S

I think I'm guilty of over looking the "brick by brick" statement. To build b by b you have to lay it on a solid foundation. We had no foundation to build on, thanks to the guy whose name I won't even type his initials. So our foundation was not there. Once the foundation is dug, concrete must be added to sure the building materials. Then allowed to cure. Next the brick is added one course at a time. Over time one has a wall that is attached to a firm foundation.

Problem is that a "good builder" can have a solid foundation laid at bricks laid in a relatively quick time. It doesn't take years. Maybe CBJ should call Bob Vila for a few tips!