I like Dooley

You read it correctly. And in all honesty, Tennessee should beat Florida at home this year, even though UT won't have a big talent advantage.

 

Just to play devil's advocate, one could easily make the argument that if just a decent coaching job gets 9 wins because of the vast amount of talent on the roster that Dooley is seriously upgrading the roster. How would you respond to that? I don't know that I buy that the roster is good where we get 9 wins just based on talent.

 

Ah! Someone that looks into things and sees them! I like it!

 

He's doing 1/3 of his job at an acceptable level

 

I guess. If we actually jump to 9 wins this season, which I doubt, you can make an argument that he's going to survive.

 

It is also possible that many on this board are mistaking the UT fan base's stupidity for patience.

There are many who will look at a 7-5 record next year and see improvement. There are many that will look at an 8-4 program and think "things could be worse."

 

If we win 9 games not including bowl Dooley will have a Top 5 class book it. There is a hug difference between 5 and 1 though. Peterman fits this offense much better then Bray or Worley. In 2013 we do not know what will happen schedule wise if rumors are true and we are adding two ACC teams then Bama is likely off the schedule. I am just throwing out random points that could lead to more positive results. All and All he has to win this year. If Hart is ok with anything less then 9 with Bowl this site and others will turn on him and all of UT athletics. I personally want 9 in the regular season but I feel like if he wins 8 we will keep based on nothing but my gut.

 

Bama is not and won't be off the schedule.

Ever.

 

Cardinal if Mike Slime has his way yes it will be he has said as much. I am personally ok with it. If we are adding FSU or Clemson to the schedule every year. I get the money loss and the tradition. But it would also be an end to all cross rivalries. Our schedule right now is year in and out harder then UGA and UF's 8 out of 10 years this is true maybe more. At some point we have to be smart and take the advantages we can get.

I am not saying it will happen but I do not see it as unlikely as others may. The other option is we end up in the same division. If we go to 16 there is no other options. There will not be yearly cross rivalries.

 

All I can say is that for UT/Bama, Auburn/Bama or Auburn/UGA is that I will believe these rivalries are done on an annual basis when I see it.

 

It is more likely they will do a complete reorganization of divisions IMO. Some possibilities below. In the end there is no way to keep yearly cross rivalries with 16.

UGA
Auburn
Bama
UT
UF-could end up on other side and bring Vandy back over. Loss of UGA game would be huge but they would play LSU and FSU yearly.
Clemson/Virginia/Vtech- 1 or 2 of these
Kentucky
USClite

Div. 2

Texas AM
Mizz
Arkansas
LSU
FSU-if we take clemson and not Virginia schools?
Vandy
Ole Miss
Miss. St.

 

Thanks volfanjo. Again - I am hopeful this is the start of a really nice do-over. But if Dools heads down the trash talking BS path again I hope they toss him before the season's out. He needs to man up and be a big boy - not talk like one. I share your concern on the run game. I am trusting that Hart has made it clear that has to change for there to be significant progress.

I keep going back to the "what if" questions last year. What if Hunter and Bray had stayed healthy all season? What if JJ had played all season on D? Would they have been more competitive against the big boys? We know they would have beat UK. Would they have beaten UF, USCe or UGA? I had to say to myself that yes - they would have won at least 2 more games. They would have gone to a bowl game. They would have a winning season. As bad as things appeared without those guys, it could have been that much better with them.

So the next step was to ask are we better off at those positions and even others this year. The answer is clearly 'yes'. They get Hunter back. They added Patterson, McCullers, Sentimore - all strong starters. They got D-back help with Orta and the recruits like McNeil, Thomas and Bonner. All the roster is older and stronger. Add in some better position coaching and hopefully doing away with a stupid run blocking scheme. It just has to happen now or Dools is done.

 

Look at the other 8 teams we play. The 4 out of conference opponents we play are awful, UK and Vandy suck, and Mississippi State loses quite a bit and is replacing those players with some awful recruiting classes. That's seven, and I don't know enough about Missouri to say Tennessee is definitely more talented, but I'd be surprised if they're anything special at all. It's Dooley's third year at Tennessee. Pitching the checkerboard end zones alone should have been enough for Dooley to beat those 8 by now.

 

Sounds like Big Orange purgatory, TenD, and completely possible. How much more can the Vol fan take?

 

No way FSU ever gets in the SEC. Ever. Not unless the governor of Florida forces it on UF.

 

UF will find out how much Slime loves those dollar bills...

I am not sure who it will be if anyone. I have heard all sorts of rumors. Do you think we are adding two more schools? Slime has already said divisions are temporary pending other changes.

 

I will go on record though that the Jew gut says Slime wants a Virginia school real bad. I think he wants an Oklahoma school as well. The issue is they do not want to split in either state with their in state rival and he does not want both.

 

This is mostly out of my ass, so don't put any more weight than a turd in this but:

I am pretty sure that Florida, as a founding member of the SEC, has a veto vote on new conference members. Same as UT, Alabama, etc. They will NOT agree to FSU, because it will cost THEM money. The only mechanism I can see around this is if FSU/SEC tried to go over UF's head and went to the governing powers of the state government to make it happen. That would be tough, because some of them would be more interested in UF's future success more than FSU AND FU's success.

I do think continued expansion is on the table, but the conference is going to wait a year or two and see what develops nationally. This expansion is a direct reaction to the Big 10 and Pac 12's moves. There is another generation of conferences about to emerge that will further blur the line between mid-major and BCS conference, imo. We can already see that with the Big East, and some rumored 18-20 team conference about to emerge in the West/Mid West. The SEC will see how that starts playing out because they know that they can always pull a couple of teams.

As I put in a blog in the Fall, I can only try to predict future conference expansion with the assumption of rationality. That is a hell of an assumption, however. I did successfully identify Missouri as a prime target way back in September, based on the assumption of rationality. FSU and Virginia Tech do not fit, with such an assumption. Neither does North Carolina or really any of the NC schools with perhaps the exception of NC State-- but I think NC State sees themselves as something more than they are, and will want to stay with UNC, Duke, Wake, etc.

To me, the next logical expansion class would come from Maryland, NC State, Virginia, possibly West Virginia. It has gotten a lot tougher to pull an ACC team lately though due to the events of the last few months.

 

You, I guess we could take both Virginia schools. That would add a lot of market presence in DC.

 

I was thinking NC State was a real possibility. They would be killing UNC in no time in football. They might be doing that soon anyways. I would think we go after a Virginia based school first and and Oklahoma based one as well. It fits what Slime wants which is Market share. The TV contract we could pull of if we added those two states would be massive. NC State is a good fall back if we cannot get one from those two states. I just read Slime does not want a school from a state that has an SEC member. THis negates some of my original thoughts. He thinks it adds too little to TV markets. The problem is Florida is a huge market for talents and TV. It warrants two schools IMO. USF is a good option as well.

The only thing that leads me to believe something radical is going to happen for 2013 is when Slime went public with the fact divisions for this year are temporary and not final. It could mean they will just rethink it for next year? Or two new schools are coming in?