IMO, Dooley's 2012 team was better than this squad and Dooley had less talent to work with. IIRC, Dooley pooped the bed against Vandy, but otherwise had the team playing respectful, and played a decent game against a pretty good UGa team. No, I think you have to go ALL the way back to 1954 to find a worse Big Orange season performance on the field. The Vols were 4-6 and only had one win over a decent team, 6-4 Ole Miss. They were shut out by Bama, UF, and Vandy that year.
Well....I'd make a case for 1977, when Majors went 4-7.
I disagree about the final Dooley year. We have looked bad against bammer and uga, but close losses in every other game. And it's those close losses I am pointing to. The reasons are different. Dooley had a potent offense with two legit starting NFL WRs and a 3-string NFL QB and an NFL line, but the D was literally the worst ever unless you count 1897. We were close in every game except a few but managed to lose all.
There are four games left. If Butch wins 3/4, and on paper at least, the three left are very weak teams, then we will be 6-6 and this team will literally be better than Dooley's last year.
If on the other hand we go 1-3.....
There is one big difference for me personally, which is that in Dooley's last year I felt we were doomed to lose. I have yet to feel that way this year with the exception of uga and bammer. But after Saturday's fiasco, maybe it is that way. Three of our five losses are games we "found a way to lose'. I guess you have to balance that with the fact that we probably should have lost to Ga Tech, but....
