Revised expectations

[BigOrange Maniac]

Before the season started I said 8-4, with a possibility of beating Florida to improve to 9-3.

It's time to revise that prediction...not necessarily because of Hunter's injury (though we're obviously not as good without him) but because the running game isn't anywhere near where we'd hoped, and probably worse than just about anyone feared.

I'm going to say 6-6, with wins over Buffalo, MTSU and Kentucky, along with either Georgia or Vandy. We'll have a shot to win both of them; I'm just not sure we're good enough. Vandy is not a half bad football team but I suspect we'll beat them. Georgia will be a prime upset opportunity, but they're going to come into this game with the same chip on their shoulder (fighting for their coach) as last year when they smoked us in Athens.

I thought we had a chance to upset LSU. But after seeing them play, they're the real deal this year. Their defense is too good for us to beat them with a one-dimensional offensive attack. Similar deal with USCe. They aren't quite as good on D as LSU but they have additional weapons on O that will make us have to score more points to beat them. Alabama and Arkansas on the road are not going to be opportunities to win, I'm afraid.

[CobbWebb]

Dooley walked into the same type of mess that Majors saw when he returned home.
CW

[VinnieVOL]

This is now my expectation for the season as well.

[WoodstockVol]

I still think Tennessee finishes 8-4 losing to Alabama,LSU and South Carolina. I think that record would likely get Tennessee a Music City bowl bid(against Miami,Georgia Tech or Maryland) or a Liberty Bowl bid(against Houston or Central Florida).

[VOLMAN]

the Cin game. While I was excited to see that our passing game was continuing to build off of last year, I also saw that our running game was no better. We still have a very young OL, they may be stronger and played together for a season etc. but they are still very young. The cold hard truth is we are suffering from years of poor recruiting and neglect by past coaching staffs. We have a good coach and staff and if everyone will calm down (please don't think any of this is directed at you, this at all of us Tennessee fans in general) and let CD do the work necessary to get us back we will be in the top tier soon. It's not pleasant now and I agonize as much as anyone longing for the "good old days" but the fact is that we didn't get here over night and we won't get out in one season. IMO CF should have been gone about 5 years earlier than he was, if action had been taken then it would have been a short turn around but we had about 6 recruiting classes that turned out to be busts (either not many top recruits or experienced high attrition). I said going in that our record may not be any better but that I thought we would be a better team and I think that's going to be the case...we could still pull an upset or two but if the best team wins we'll probably end up 6-6 again. Let's just don't lose sight of the big picture.

[BanditVol]

One problem I had with the expectations of some fans in 2008 that we could just replace Fulmer and suddenly go 10-2 or 11-1 was that our situation was different than Florida when Meyer took over or bammer when Satan took over.  We simply did not have the stockpile of talent that those two had (particularly Florida, but Shula was not known as a bad recruiter at all).  That makes things much tougher.  And further, we don't have the natural recruiting advantage of either school (again Florida has it best, but the state of Alabama is also loaded with talent year in and year out).  Those two factors tempered my expectations for any coach.  I thought we were more likely to go the way of Michigan or Nebraska than UF or bammer with a new coach.  My worst fears were realized, BUT Kiffin made the problem much worse.  We would probably be much better right now if Dooley or someone other than Lane got the job in 2009.  Having said that, I don't think we are as far off as some of you.  The pendulum may seem to swing slowly, but it swings.  In spite of the loss, I thought this game was head and shoulders above our effort against a (probably worse) UF squad last year.  I see major progress and plenty of hope for the future while acknowledging we still have our work cut out.

But that's the challenge before these players now.  The next 6 weeks are a critical time in our program.  They can face the challenge and excel or give up.  I am betting on the former (the excelling part  ).