[extremely lucky to go 6-6. I honestly think we will finish 5-7 again which would be another epic failure for the Vols....maybe 6-6 if we luck up and beat SC??]

I will admit, I am more than a little down on UT right now, but if I'm being honest...I think we will be extremely lucky to go 6-6. I honestly think we will finish 5-7 again which would be another epic failure for the Vols....maybe 6-6 if we luck up and beat SC??

 

Yes, but this is what many including me expected preseason, so....

And yet they still beat the gator shizzle out of a team that we lost to - at home.

Not exactly a confidence building argument in our favor.  

They did it with two kick returns, one int return, one fumble return for TDs (that's four), two FGs, and one sole offensive TD.  Their offense only scored one TD! (though they did get a two point conversion at some point).

On the contrary, it's a huge confidence builder.

1.  Mizzou offense not much better than ours...validates my opinion that Florida D is still tough.  Only 13 points...their QB was 6 for 18 for TWENTY YARDS!
2.  Our D will eat their QB alive.
3. Florida has obviously quit, while they played us to the end.
4.  Will Mizzou get all those turnovers against us?  I doubt it.  That's a historical performance for scoring by special teams and D.  We aren't THAT bad!

WWFD!!! 

Are you kidding? I've never seen BDV pass a bar!


G       

Hee hee.  But I think you mean Droner.   

If there's any chance that Worley misses more than the Alabama game, you have to start Dobbs over Peterman. That's where the potential is-- the guy who will compete the next two years with Dormady and Jennings for the starting job. You only play Peterman if Worley is back right away.

JMO.

I don't think Dobbs looked that great last year.  Go ahead and give Peterman the shot, and keep Dobbs on ice.  If Peterman effs up again, send Dobbs in.

Uh....no.

 

Is that one of those new fangled gang signs?  I have no idea....

If Peterman does start, we will get a real good look at what he can do.  But at some point, be fair to the kid.  The Swamp on the road...uga on the road, and now starting (if he does) against bammer?  Tough draw, as they say.  Deal him something a bit better than the 7-2 please.   

Maybe Worley can start and then get spelled occasionally.  Having Peterman's run ability can't hurt too much, and I doubt he will underthrow long balls as much because...well, who does?!?!?

Kiffin skipped out owing a $14 haircut bill.

http://espn.go.com/blog/sec/post/_/id/91481/negative-political-ad-14-barber-shop-debt-await-lane-kiffin-as-he-returns-to-knoxville

Honestly, I think the barber should sue him. He could have him served with papers just as he rolls into town. Or as he comes into the stadium. Shades of Phil Fulmer. Wouldn't that be a karmic turn around? 

Yeah, that would be fantastic.  Can you quickly pass the bar in Tennessee and do that for us?   

I see some of you have noted how overated Kentucky is.  They played literally four of the worst offenses in the country (including Vandy and Florida) in addition to UT Martin, which is basically a glorified HS team, and USCe.  And we know USCe ain't all that either.

Don't get me wrong, they are better than usual, but we will beat Kentucky.

Mizzou, we can beat.

USCe will be close, but we have a shot.

We will beat Vandy handily.

And while I am at it, I think we will match up better with bammer than we have in a while, just like we gave Florida more trouble than we have in a long time.

 

I see wins over UK and Vandy. 

Just don't see beating a Mizzou team that beat the pulp out of Florida, and I don't see winning at South Carolina. 

And beating Bama?  Not even in my thought process. 

Remember that Mizzou only had 119 yards total offense.   

I rarely say this, but they didn't win.  Florida lost.   

If uga can beat Mizzou 24-0 and INDIANA can beat them...both in Colombia mind you, then yeah, we can beat em.

IMO Georgia cannot beat either Miss State or Ole Miss. IMO Auburn will beat Georgia handily. Georgia will likely win SECE, but does not have the defense to stop MSU, Ole Miss, or Auburn. But for Auburn to win, Malzahn must get his head out of his @## and stop trying to be so cute (they are not a passing team) and let his offense play.

I just think it is the year for Miss State to win it.

UGa may well beat Allbarn in the regular season.  Last year, when Auburn was arguably a better team, Uga SHOULD have beat Allbarn.  Of course, a big step down at QB for Uga this year, but still. 

I think Uga could beat either Ole Miss (against whom uga soft D does not matter as much) or Allbarn.

Free the Peterman!  I think or hope we can limit bammer with our D, which is pretty good.  Thus it might not matter who the QB is so much.

In fact, last game was one of Worley's worst as a starter, period, dot.  I don't think it's going to matter as much, and Peterman and definitely Dobbs are better runners and might help us with their feet. 

I'd forfeit anyway.....Doesn't it go in the books as a 7-0 loss? Talk about a moral victory!! 

I think it's 1-0...even better, eh?   

I'm not really downing his ability, but his fit in the offense we think Jones and crew want to run.  Worley doesn't fit either, imo.  I just think the end of this year is the end of trying to force a square peg in a round hole.  It's all speculation, sure, but I just think this offseason is when they turn the switch and go for a guy who complements the scheme. 

Good points.  Peterman is more of a running threat than Worley, and so would seem to be a better fit.  He was recruited by Jones, though he may have been a Dooley holdover, IDK

I think Peterman is a moot point once the season is over.  I don't think he is in the competition for next year.  Dobbs is being redshirted...which indicates he is truly the #2 (#1?) guy on campus right now.  With the other prospects coming in, the qb race is up for grabs between Dobbs and the incoming class...Peterman may have gotten a raw deal with the game situations he was placed in, but the writing on the wall suggests, to me, that he is not a serious contender for the job.

This is what I am talking about.  Who knows if Peterman is finished?  Rather than complain about how bad I think he might be based on the 45 meaningful minutes he has played so far, I would rather hope or think he might be improving every day and could come in and do almost as well if not better than Worley.  Worley has not exactly lit it up recently.  And he may need to!  Worley is getting pounded every game, to say the least.  And if Peterman truly exceeds my expectations, to the point he gives Dobbs and/or the frosh competition, that's even better.

As for Dobbs, I wasn't that impressed with his vertical throwing ability last year. Doesn't mean I have given up on him ether.  One thing we agree on...Jones is mostly planning for the future at this point, and I don't even think it's next season.  I think the master plan is to be really good in 2016.  Not only Dobbs, but Blair, a highly rated OL JUCO, are being redshirted.  This year the young OL develops, and then they are re-enforced by Blair next year with whatever OL talent coming in as true frosh, we find a QB and the OL finishes developing.  Meanwhile the D is very solid this year and potentially great next year, and takes pressure while offense finds it's legs.  Thus we are primed for 2016.  My opinion is that Blair and Dobbs are both being saved for the future.

Dooley never....

Lost to an FCS team at home (see Georgia Southern last year)
Lost more than 7 games
Had nearly as much talent as UF had and still has
Lost to a team at the level of Missouri by that margin

On the other hand, Muschamp did

Go 11-1 one year.  Dools never sniffed that.
Lose to Kentucky

So here is what I think....looking at the whole of each's careers at UT and UF, respectively, Dooley overall was worse, but Muschamp has finished worse, by far.

At least in his last season Dooley was ALMOST (very frustratingly) beating good teams.  The cluster fizzle down in Gainesville is much worse than 2011.

Given expectations and where he found the program, Muschamp may well be the biggest bust of all time. 

What I saw Peterman do was come off the bench in an SEC road game and throw three straight completions and move the chains.  It happened, look it up.

Then on the second drive he was moving us and we were making first downs, and then there was a bungled hand off to Lane pretty deep in Georgia territory.  On the TV replay, it looked like Lane's fault to me.  Ball was right in his stomach and it came out somehow.

I made the comment he "wasn't bad" and got questioned for it, to say the least.

I never bothered to explain myself, but let's be clear.  My expectations for him were pretty low.   So when I say, he "wasn't bad" or I might even have said "did okay" or something like that, I just meant he was better than I expected.  I also thought, and think, that he did something he can build on. 

For what I expected, he could have been worse.

Having said that, I am not at all advocating that Peterman replace him this season.  I am saying that if we are trailing by 3 Tds in the fourth quarter, he should come in sooner and not later, because "why not".

If he is the only other option this season, get him some snaps when the game is obviously out of reach.  At that point we have nothing to lose.

Final note...anyone who has a definitive, final opinion on Peterman is kind of stretching things.  He hasn't really truly played that much when the game was on the line.  One terrible half against Florida, on the road as a true frosh, and three series on the road at Uga.   Not a very big sample.

Hilarious

IIRC, it was heavily rumored that Hammy offered Cut after Kiffin left, and he accepted on the condition that he be allowed to bring over his entire Duke staff en masse.  In hindsight, that would've been better than hiring Dooley for sure.  But it was certainly less than ideal.  We had already employed a couple of those guys (Roper, Luke), and knew that they brought absolutely nothing to the table.  So Hamilton passed, and I don't blame him.

He made it work at Dook, and so long as Cut is in charge I think he could overide those guys.  Not sure who his DC would be though, and that is what perhaps the weakness would have been.

I don't care who his staff is, the offense would at least be competent with Cut as HC (note how Roper is stinking it up at Florida and Dook has not missed a beat?).  IMO...

Butch actually addressed that in the presser Vinnie linked below.  He said we don't have fullbacks, but the H Back on the side just behind the line is the equivalent of a fullback.  He also said it's typically a TE.

I think our frosh TEs are pass catchers and not blockers is another bit of it.  I think the guy from last year (Blair?) is the best blocking TE, so perhaps more of him would be good.  Though I have heard he is a lousy blocker...not sure that's true though.

Here is a stat for you....mizzou had 119 total yards for the game - their qb was 6 for 18 for 20 yards! Geez!

Well, that means we can still have hope for the Missouri game.   

Agree that Malone was about the only guy to show up on offense.  I am not sure what's going on with North, but he dropped a long one that hit him in the mitts.  It was not the easiest catch, but he has made far tougher catches.

Worley was in fact part of the problem. Often did hold the ball too long.  There is a lot of talk about what the staff can and can't do with the OL limitations.  Well, Worley has a high completion percentage and a lot of sacks.  Tell him to THROW THE DAM BALL AWAY!  That should not be too tough.  INTs are much preferable to sacks.

I assume Lane is still injured?  I miss Rajion...he was closer to a power back then anything we have had lately (other than Hurd) and could probably grind a yard or two after contact.  Those would at least add up over the course of the game.

So what you're saying is...

You know, it just occured to me last night to wonder this, as I heard that term not only on this board but the ESPN talking heads referred to the Tamu defense the same way, but...

...does that phrase originate with Kiffin leaving UT?  Did we start the tradition of calling football disasters "dumpster fires"?

LOL!  I think we did.  I don't recall hearing it prior to 2009.

What a dubious distinction if so.  Kind of funny though....

Yeah, I remember specifically when anyone suggested we hire Cut to follow Fulmer there were lots of Vol fans that shouted it down.   

Yep.  Not entirely sure he wanted it after Kiffin, but I had hoped Fulmer could eventually be eased out and Cut would be the obvious choice to replace.  Didn't happen though.

We are, unfortunately, about where I thought we would be. I expected us to struggle mightily on offense, and we are.  How much of that is Bajakian vs the O Line inexperience and Worley only being average to above average, IDK.

I guess my take is that I expected us to suck and we do, and exactly why that's so is less of a concern at the moment.  I just want to wait it out and see what happens.  

One thing is for sure...the young O Line will improve (goodness, how can they not?), and we will have a new QB next season.  And after a whole other season of experience (more positive than this year I hope), we can start to be pretty good on offense.  That's my $0.02 anyway.