There is a clear trend in those numbers, for sure. I would make the case the Heupel is a keeper on those #'s alone, obviously. However, there is another characteristic that stands out to me as well:
Kinda subjective, but I call it comfortable wins. We all know about how UT has struggled against teams that it should beat handily. I don't know how many times I have watched a game that should have been an easy win, yet the just mind numbing play of the Vols would keep the result of the contest in doubt till the end of the game. How many times has this happened over the last few decades???? dozens....Rutgers in 2002 comes to mind. We ended up winning by 21, IIRC, but dammit we really struggled against a well coached, but inferior team. There are many other examples.
Anyway, I subjectively define a comfortable win as a win that is greater than 21 pts. 22 and higher with the margin of victory. It is interesting to see how many comfortable wins we have had thru the years.
Not including this year,
this century, we have only had 3, yeah 3, seasons with 4 or more comfy wins - 2015 (5), 2011 (4), and 2002 (4, barely). From 2016 thru 2020, we had either 1 or 2 comfy wins...unbelievable.
This year, 2021, we have had 6 comfy wins. 4 of those wins had a MoV of 32 and higher.
We had 6 comfy wins in '99, and 8 in '93. Those are the only other seasons with 6 or more. 2021 is in company with 99 & 93! Pretty amazing stat. In the late 80s and thru the 90s, most seasons had 4 or 5 comfy wins. Of the last 40 years, only 2 have no comfy wins - '88 (of course) and 2005.
It's a weird stat, yeah - dependent on SOS and other things, but it is a decent yardstick of a team's power, IMO. 6 big wins for this year is pretty amazing, if you ask me.
It says something that we had a "blah" game (the only one this year) against Candy yet we were never threatened and beat them by 24 and really spent the 4th quarter just milking the clock & running the ball
