VTTW Board Index

https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/tennessee/index.html

What's this data saying Phil?

I must be getting old. What happened in 2005 that we went 5-6 under Fulmer? I don't even remember that season happening. We were 10-3 the year before and 9-4 the year after.

Great defense, bad offense, horrific special teams.

If the ST was merely average that year, we easily win 8 games.

That was the year of the Clawfence, right?

No, that was 08. 05 was Sanders' last year.

Yep. .   The slow rot finally caught up with him.   I was in the forefront of those wanting Sanders out.  Not only did the team do a slow decline offensively under his watch, but they often looked sloppy and unprepared.  And he had a habit of not calling the play until the last possible second that didn't help either.  So many illegal procedure, offsides, and delay of game penalties.

But looking back over the last 12 years, I'd take Sanders over what at times was an absolute shizzle storm.  Which is pretty sad. 

The offense got a bad rap that year, and rightfully so. But the special teams were good for at least one turnover, one missed chip shot FG, and 150 yards in lost field position a game. Often more than that. They were atrocious.

Sad, because that was a championship level defense. Even with the O as bad as they were, the defense was good enough to win games by themselves if they weren’t being constantly undermined by the kicking game.

Lol. Man 05 really was the forgotten year.

Yes. It was frustrating to watch great defensive performances only to see the offense do just enough to....lose the game by a small margin.  There are parallels to 2008.  Not sure which offense was worse, but the 2008 defense, while not as good as the 2005, was actually not that bad aside from a couple of games.  And yeah, special teams were bad that year also.  Fulmer trying 4 50+ yard FGs vs UCLA (and missing every single one!) comes to mind.   :hurl: :hurl:

I'll say this though...as bad as 2005 and 2008 were, at the time they were still considered anomalies.  Those types of seasons are now unfortunately pretty common, and if Pruitt doesn't turn this thing around may well become the norm.   :frown: :frown:

Having said that, I have faith that he can at least avoid losing seasons, starting with this one.  If he never, like Jones gets beyond 8 regular season wins, he will be out at some point, but even then I believe Pruitt will get to 10 wins at least once.  Perhaps that will involve an SECC game or not, and perhaps it will be enough to keep him around or not, but I do believe it will happen, possibly even next year.