Had i asked you in August what Tennessee's record would be if Tillman is pretty much out for the season after Akron, what would have been your predicted record? I think I might have said 6 or 7 wins, if I am being honest.
I thought we would go 9-3 with Tillman, beating Florida and dropping a late game (I picked USCjr) If Tillman was out at the beginning? 8-4, probably 7-5
Probably not on topic here, but I feel like we are different than a lot of top teams, in that the distance between our ceiling and our floor is much larger than that of a Georgia, or a Michigan, or an Alabama. If we look at it on a 10 point scale, I'd put Georgia's floor at a 7 and their ceiling at a 9, whereas our floor is probably a 4 or a 5, and our ceiling is like, an 11 or 12. I'm not saying we'd ever lose to Vandy or anything like that. It's just weird that it feels like we could beat anybody by a couple scores if we play lights out, but could also lose convincingly to a number of top teams if we are off. A lot of people said we looked outmatched or like we didn't belong against UGA. I could just as easily see us running away from them in a neutral site rematch. Remember when we were dominating Bama in the first half before letting them climb back into it? That was us at an 11 while they were at a 7. That game ended close, but if not for the WTF fumble and the nonsense PI call, we probably could have won that game by 2-3 scores. Just a weird team. I don't think I'd pick a single team in the country over us in a game where both teams are guaranteed to play to their ceilings. I don't think it's outlandish to say we have the highest ceiling of any team in the country.
