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Is Tennessee In the Ascendancy?

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deliveryman35

Hall of Fame
Jul 26, 2003
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I don't want to make any more out of yesterday's game than what it's worth, but I was really taken aback by just how tough they played us. Let's face it, there's a disparity in talent between our two teams and you can't tell me our guys had trouble getting up for our most natural, border rivalry game. This, of course, is not a new phenomenon. In 1966 when we arguably had our best Bryant-coached team ever we beat them in even a closer game(11-10) as yesterday. But, with the strides that they are making in recruiting, and the coaches that Lane has surrounded himself with, I'm just wondering if we got a glimpse of the future yesterday. Most people think once Tebow is gone that Urban Meyer may start looking for greener pastures(whether he wants to or not), that would obviously leave a vacuum for either UT or UGA to fill. Right now my money is on the vols....what's your opinion?
 
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I think it also depends on how well Kiffin can recruit, I haven't been keeping up but if Tennessee starts getting top 5 talent then we could have the old school Alabama Tennessee like match up.
 
deliveryman35 said:
I take it, then, that NY and CA, you guys think they aren't.;)
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I'll put it this way - we were "this close" for a number of years under Shula. Though a number of publications announced that "Bama was back!" in 2005, we weren't - until Saban arrived. We still lost almost as much as we won, and we lost all of the important games...
 
It's hard to say at the moment. It depends on five key things...

1) How long Monte Kiffin stays as DC,
2) How well they recruit overall,
3) How well they recruit specifically at the QB position,
4) Whether Lane grows up or whether he keeps acting like a child,
5) How well they can manage the next two years.

Right now, they're doing No. 2 fairly well. They'll finish with a top 15, perhaps a top 10 class in the country this year (and I've heard it thrown around that they could even get ranked in the 3-7 range, which would be huge for them).

However, they have nothing coming back at the QB position. Nos. 3 and 5 are related because Tennessee is going to be a bad team in 2010, worse than it is this year, and won't get better until they start replenishing talent along both LOS and at the QB slot. One of the kids they've got committed at QB right now doesn't really scare anyone.

No. 4 is big because if it doesn't get fixed, the rest don't matter. Lane griping about the Cody helmet deal on his coach's show today was just yet another rule he doesn't have a clue about. I think he just believes because he's Lane Kiffin, son of Monte, nice-looking guy and ladies' man, and former assistant for Pete Carroll, that the world is supposed to open up for him and let him walk in. Sorry, kid, that's not going to happen down South.

Add those things up, and it becomes clear that he'd better recruit lights-out the next two seasons, otherwise he's going to have a reckoning year with his bosses following the 2011 season. He's managing his offense the way Shula ran the UA offense for four years and we know from experience that won't work here. But at worst, he's going to set up his replacement for a heck of a run.
 
NYBamaFan said:
I'll put it this way - we were "this close" for a number of years under Shula. Though a number of publications announced that "Bama was back!" in 2005, we weren't - until Saban arrived. We still lost almost as much as we won, and we lost all of the important games...
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I have to certainly agree with that. The moment that they put Brodie on the cover of SI I started getting worried.

But my question here is really pertaining to UT, it has nothing to do with us. We're in good hands with Nick. Frankly, I see this becoming a very, very important game in the years extending into the future, with title implications on the line. I guess what I am basically saying is I see UT taking the mantel over in the East away from Florida. No offense to the gator nation, but I see them slipping, perhaps into irrelevance, in the next couple of years, especially if Meyer walks...
 
CLK will be a footnote in Knoxville before his first recruit graduates! Mark that down!
 
deliveryman35 said:
I have to certainly agree with that. The moment that they put Brodie on the cover of SI I started getting worried.

But my question here is really pertaining to UT, it has nothing to do with us. We're in good hands with Nick. Frankly, I see this becoming a very, very important game in the years extending into the future, with title implications on the line. I guess what I am basically saying is I see UT taking the mantel over in the East away from Florida. No offense to the gator nation, but I see them slipping, perhaps into irrelevance, in the next couple of years, especially if Meyer walks...
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I think this game will be alot like the LSU game is in terms of recruiting. We go hard with all the moblie/La guys with LSU and I think we will go hard with UT for the Georgia kids much in the same way
 
deliveryman35 said:
...But my question here is really pertaining to UT, it has nothing to do with us....
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I was drawing an analogy. Things can look great on the outside and still be rotten at the core. Right now, they don't even look all that great on the outside unless you like moral victories.

I think that Kiffin has assembled a great staff, but so did Shula (another analogy). It is not a sure indicator of success, nor is recruiting class rank.

I am not impressed, and the fact that we almost lost to them yesterday didn't change that...
 
NYBamaFan said:
I'll put it this way - we were "this close" for a number of years under Shula. Though a number of publications announced that "Bama was back!" in 2005, we weren't - until Saban arrived. We still lost almost as much as we won, and we lost all of the important games...
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Have to agree with this. They (UT) are a team that is playing up and down to their competition much like BAMA used to do. One game they'd play lights out, then barely escape against a team they should be the daylights out of.
Kiffin has no resume or wins to prove he is capable of doing what Saban or Meyer has done. He's not even in the same universe. He does have some good recruiters on his staff in Orgeron and Thompson, and he has daddy helping. But I've not seen anything that says they're back yet.
Fulmer didn't leave them completely devoid of talent. He had some top classes while he was there so they have enough to compete. Heck, Crompton was rated a 4-5 star qb I believe. Jeez, its not like they were on probation or anything prior to Kiffin.
 
deliveryman35 said:
I have to certainly agree with that. The moment that they put Brodie on the cover of SI I started getting worried.

But my question here is really pertaining to UT, it has nothing to do with us. We're in good hands with Nick. Frankly, I see this becoming a very, very important game in the years extending into the future, with title implications on the line. I guess what I am basically saying is I see UT taking the mantel over in the East away from Florida. No offense to the gator nation, but I see them slipping, perhaps into irrelevance, in the next couple of years, especially if Meyer walks...
Click to expand...

You can write this one in blood: Barring some kind of major-league scandal and/or a nuclear bomb going off in Alachua County, Florida is going nowhere no matter what Meyer does.

They won't make the same mistake again with a Zook-like guy. They and UA have each learned their respective lessons. If Meyer leaves after this year, they'll have a list of no fewer than 50 very competent head coaches who would come running for the chance to coach at that school. It literally recruits itself.

Even Coach Bryant knew it -- he saw UF as a sleeping giant many decades ago. Well, the giant is awake and it's not going back to sleep.

UT could get itself strong enough where it, UGA and UF took turns representing the division, but Florida can't be pushed out of the picture. Tennessee can be for the simple reason that it can't sustain its program with Tennessee-based recruits. The state of Tennessee might put out 15-20 guys a year that can play SEC ball; the state of Florida puts out 150 or more.

What will hamper Tennessee from this point forward is being surrounded by other great recruiters. Financial and insurance guys call it a "competitive market." For Tennessee, the four main threats are Saban, Richt, Butch Davis at UNC and Dabo Swinney at Clemson. Al Groh at UVA has also been a thorn in their sides. I feel one of the reasons they nabbed Kiffin was that he was familiar with recruiting Texas and California from his USC days and could help get some of those guys to come to Knoxville.

Point being, UT has the steepest ladder of the three main SEC East schools to climb. I'm not saying it's impossible, but there will never again be a day in our lives where Tennessee is the unquestioned year-in, year-out leader in the SEC East and UGA and UF are fighting for scraps.
 
NYBamaFan said:
I was drawing an analogy. Things can look great on the outside and still be rotten at the core. Right now, they don't even look all that great on the outside unless you like moral victories.

I think that Kiffin has assembled a great staff, but so did Shula (another analogy). It is not a sure indicator of success, nor is recruiting class rank.

I am not impressed, and the fact that we almost lost to them yesterday didn't change that...
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I have to disagree on one count, Shulas staff would have been great if it was 1985 JMO.
 
deliveryman35 said:
I have to certainly agree with that. The moment that they put Brodie on the cover of SI I started getting worried.

But my question here is really pertaining to UT, it has nothing to do with us. We're in good hands with Nick. Frankly, I see this becoming a very, very important game in the years extending into the future, with title implications on the line. I guess what I am basically saying is I see UT taking the mantel over in the East away from Florida. No offense to the gator nation, but I see them slipping, perhaps into irrelevance, in the next couple of years, especially if Meyer walks...
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Wow :) I think Florida will remain good, not as good as now but good. I hope you are dead on with your thought, especially UT taking over the spot of the Gators.

Truth is, as Jess said, next year could be really rough. We will be young all over the field. I think we can all assume Berry will be gone. We will still have Rogan, unless he thinks he can go pro. We will also have Jackson and maybe Myles in the defensive back field. Without doing some research I am not sure how we will be on LBs and DL...I think fairly young there as well. On offense, we will have sophomores in the back field (Brown and Oku). We will probably have a freshman QB - Tyler Bray. The OL will be young. Gerald Jones should be back and we will also have Teague and Richardson, both sophomores, at WR.

In 2010 we will be young. The year that is going to tell how good Kiffin is will be 2011. That is when we will really see if Lane and staff can get the players coached up.
 
NYBamaFan said:
I was drawing an analogy. Things can look great on the outside and still be rotten at the core. Right now, they don't even look all that great on the outside unless you like moral victories.

I think that Kiffin has assembled a great staff, but so did Shula (another analogy). It is not a sure indicator of success, nor is recruiting class rank.

I am not impressed, and the fact that we almost lost to them yesterday didn't change that...
Click to expand...

You're joking...right? Joe Kines was decent but I cannot think of anyone else on that staff that was ever worth keeping around--oh wait, Ben Pollard was, but,....Mikey fired him.
 
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