News Article: Vols favored in every game this year by ESPN

uafanataum

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Oct 18, 2014
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Just a few years ago a couple of preseason polls and talking heads were saying usc was back and could go to the national championship. I think they were like 9-4 that year. I could see realostically a 9-4 season for ut, but not winning every game.
 

selmaborntidefan

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Let me just remind everyone that Tennessee has beaten Alabama a whopping THREE TIMES in the last 30 years in 'games played without an extra week of rest while Alabama was slugging it out with someone else' - 1995, 1997, and 2004.

The first two teams had Peyton Manning, all three Tide teams were ON PROBATION (thanks, of course, to UT in 2004), and our none of those games was coached by a certain Legend of Kent State, who is 11-2 and has won ELEVEN IN A ROW against the Vols, including the game that sent Tennessee into their fifteen-year tailspin in December 2001.

So...yeah, whatever.
 

TideEngineer08

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Hey I do think this is going to be a break out year of sorts for Tennessee with a ton of experience returning. Florida is rebuilding, Georgia and South Carolina are starting over with new coaching staffs, and the rest of the East sucks.

We've also beaten them 9 straight games and they get us at home. It hasn't set up this nicely for them in many years.

But I would not encourage anyone to bet anything significant on Butch Jones leading them to a 12-0 season.
 

92tide

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Hey I do think this is going to be a break out year of sorts for Tennessee with a ton of experience returning. Florida is rebuilding, Georgia and South Carolina are starting over with new coaching staffs, and the rest of the East sucks.

We've also beaten them 9 straight games and they get us at home. It hasn't set up this nicely for them in many years.

But I would not encourage anyone to bet anything significant on Butch Jones leading them to a 12-0 season.
they have a pretty wicked 4 game stretch (florida at home, uga and t a and m on the road and us at home) in the middle of their season. plus they have to deal with all of the emotional baggage of playing at a nascar stadium this year.

i also don't think the uga game is going to bode well for them. i think kirby will have that one circled
 

afadam07

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they have a pretty wicked 4 game stretch (florida at home, uga and t a and m on the road and us at home) in the middle of their season. plus they have to deal with all of the emotional baggage of playing at a nascar stadium this year.

i also don't think the uga game is going to bode well for them. i think kirby will have that one circled
That's my thought as well!
 

TideEngineer08

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they have a pretty wicked 4 game stretch (florida at home, uga and t a and m on the road and us at home) in the middle of their season. plus they have to deal with all of the emotional baggage of playing at a nascar stadium this year.

i also don't think the uga game is going to bode well for them. i think kirby will have that one circled
I forgot about the game at Bristol vs. Virginia Tech (also with a new coaching staff). If they lose that opener... not good.

I agree with you, there are a ton of losable opportunities for them and that's why I wouldn't bet on anything. I've never been sold on Butch Jones being a top tier coach.
 

92tide

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I forgot about the game at Bristol vs. Virginia Tech (also with a new coaching staff). If they lose that opener... not good.

I agree with you, there are a ton of losable opportunities for them and that's why I wouldn't bet on anything. I've never been sold on Butch Jones being a top tier coach.
i think they actually open with appy state and then the next week play the hokies. the opener could have trap game qualities if you have a team that is convinced they are going to go undefeated this year and establish themselves atop the sec east just because they want it really bad.
 

bamamc1

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Butch Jones seems to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory more than most. I think UGA and us will both beat them and possibly Va. Tech.
 

ALA2262

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Their four tough game stretch discussed recently in two other threads are the four projected to be least likely won. Florida-79.2%, at UGA-55.8%, at aTm-59.3%, and Bama-58.9%.

Prediction: They have lost ELEVEN straight games to Florida. They win that game, which is the highest % of the four. They are still floating around on Cloud 9 the middle of UGA week, and lose at UGA, which is the lowest % on the schedule. They don't recover until after Bama and lose at aTm and to Bama. Go 9-3!
 

B1GTide

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they have a pretty wicked 4 game stretch (florida at home, uga and t a and m on the road and us at home) in the middle of their season.
And they don't get their usual bye the week before Alabama.
 

deliveryman35

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Butch Jones has YET to impress me. He seems to talk a good game and knows how to deftly handle and work the media, but other than beating Georgia last year he has no signature wins and the choke jobs against Oklahoma and Florida last season were embarrassing to watch, even for an Alabama fan like myself. If he doesn't win a minimum of 10 games and get to the SECCG this next season I think he's in serious trouble.
 
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Harmost

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Well they've recruited well, seem to have an experienced roster, and they play in a weak SEC East. If they can't at least get by their east foes then butch truly can't coach and I hope he sticks around. Having them favored against us is a stretch though -- they played it close on our field last year, sure, but that doesn't have anything to do with this year's game.
 

TideEngineer08

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Well they've recruited well, seem to have an experienced roster, and they play in a weak SEC East. If they can't at least get by their east foes then butch truly can't coach and I hope he sticks around. Having them favored against us is a stretch though -- they played it close on our field last year, sure, but that doesn't have anything to do with this year's game.
It was even closer in 2009. They had us beaten were it not for Terrence Cody's armpit.
 

cuda.1973

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Sure glad I wasn't eating lunch, while reading this. No one here would have known I was eating lunch when..............

Well, I am going to eat lunch now. In a room without a computer.
 

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