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Yuk yuk yuk

notron

New Recruit
Sep 4, 2011
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Every body in East TN is to report to the ut football stadium because of the tornado threat.it seems that a touchdown never happens there.
 
For some reason it seems that most teams require a game or two for the offense to gel. With typically a rather strong defense, I see VT hanging competitively in the game as Tennessee offense may still be working kinks out. Probably will not win as our offense is not as explosive and will be working its own kinks out including still adjusting personnel to new offensive schemes. As long as we keep it within 10 points then I will be happy. If low scoring affair then would like it within 7 points.
 
We had better win, because if we lose all people will remember is the ugly uniforms that we will have worn in game.
 
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I predict our D will crowd the line because TN likes to run the ball and they will have to beat us by passing the ball and Foster's D will cause TN problems with different looks.

VT will show nothing in our Liberty game that TN will see in their game.

We should be proficient in a few (oft practiced) plays designed to get TE Hodges, WR Ford, FB Rogers the ball in mismatches/space.

It'll be a closer game than people think and VT may win.
 
I predict our D will crowd the line because TN likes to run the ball and they will have to beat us by passing the ball and Foster's D will cause TN problems with different looks.

VT will show nothing in our Liberty game that TN will see in their game.

We should be proficient in a few (oft practiced) plays designed to get TE Hodges, WR Ford, FB Rogers the ball in mismatches/space.

It'll be a closer game than people think and VT may win.

VT should win this game.
 
VT should win this game.
Think positive hr. Not should win will win. 17vt 6 tn

Not trolling here... Just talking football.

I don't see any way Tech's defense can hold Tennessee below 28. I love what Bud Foster does and respect the heck out of him as a DC... However, the game comes down to blocking and tackling. I think VT will struggle to tackle Dobbs, Hurd, and Kamara. I think Tennessee will be able to handle your front 7 as well.

IMO, Fuente has a better chance at getting some chunk plays vs Tennessee's defense. Hodges, Rodgers, Ford, and your RB provide more of a match-up problem than anyone on your defense (that I am aware of). I like Tennessee's defense and think they have top 10 potential, but if VT makes it a game it will be Fuente getting good QB play and making some plays on offense.
 
Not trolling here... Just talking football.

I don't see any way Tech's defense can hold Tennessee below 28. I love what Bud Foster does and respect the heck out of him as a DC... However, the game comes down to blocking and tackling. I think VT will struggle to tackle Dobbs, Hurd, and Kamara. I think Tennessee will be able to handle your front 7 as well.

IMO, Fuente has a better chance at getting some chunk plays vs Tennessee's defense. Hodges, Rodgers, Ford, and your RB provide more of a match-up problem than anyone on your defense (that I am aware of). I like Tennessee's defense and think they have top 10 potential, but if VT makes it a game it will be Fuente getting good QB play and making some plays on offense.
 
We will all see come game time. Remember 17/6 we both will see a great game which I hope is injury free for both teams.
 
I like Tennessee's defense and think they have top 10 potential, but if VT makes it a game it will be Fuente getting good QB play and making some plays on offense.
You do know that VT has been consistently fielding top 10 defenses for the last 20+ years straight, right? The best Defensive Coordinator in all the land ring a bell? Several of those years VT was ranked #1 overall in total and/or scoring defense in the nation. It is THE calling card for VT football, and this year looks to be respectably stout, even by our lofty standards.

I'll be shocked if UTenn fields a better defense this year than VT does. It's what we do, and what we have been doing for several decades now.
 
You do know that VT has been consistently fielding top 10 defenses for the last 20+ years straight, right? The best Defensive Coordinator in all the land ring a bell? Several of those years VT was ranked #1 overall in total and/or scoring defense in the nation. It is THE calling card for VT football, and this year looks to be respectably stout, even by our lofty standards.

I'll be shocked if UTenn fields a better defense this year than VT does. It's what we do, and what we have been doing for several decades now.

I'm basing that opinion more on the players/match-ups than the coach in this instance. In another thread, IIRC, a few posters cited some turnover on the DL and not the most talented you have ever been in the back 7. (If I am off base here, educate me. I'm a genuinely curious guy)

No disrespect to VT's defensive tradition or Bud Foster. JMO, but I think VT has much more talent on offense this season. Fore, Hodges, and Rodgers would start for almost anyone in the country. Decent QB and OL play and your offense will be good.

Tennessee fan's did hear a lot about Pat Fitzgerald and Northwestern's defense before last year's bowl game, and we proceeded to win 45-6.
 
In another thread, IIRC, a few posters cited some turnover on the DL and not the most talented you have ever been in the back 7.
If you're just talking about can't-miss NFL talent, then no, our current secondary does not have the accolades that some of the previous secondaries have had. With guys like DeAngelo Hall, Kam Chancellor, Brandon Flowers, James Anderson, the Fuller brothers, etc...it's hard to crack that list. But the current secondary still has very good individual talent and TONS of playing experience, and is very deep. The expectation this year is that the secondary will compliment the front 7 very nicely.

As for the DL, unless I've missed the memo, the question is what's the rotation going to look like, not who will be playing, right? The DL is the strength of this team. It's deep, experienced, and has play makers all across the front. But now you make me want to go see what I've missed? Linebacker is the only question mark I'm aware of heading into the season. If there's any unit on the defense that will end up causing it to not be a top 10 unit, then I'm guessing that will be it.
 
If you're just talking about can't-miss NFL talent, then no, our current secondary does not have the accolades that some of the previous secondaries have had. With guys like DeAngelo Hall, Kam Chancellor, Brandon Flowers, James Anderson, the Fuller brothers, etc...it's hard to crack that list. But the current secondary still has very good individual talent and TONS of playing experience, and is very deep. The expectation this year is that the secondary will compliment the front 7 very nicely.

As for the DL, unless I've missed the memo, the question is what's the rotation going to look like, not who will be playing, right? The DL is the strength of this team. It's deep, experienced, and has play makers all across the front. But now you make me want to go see what I've missed? Linebacker is the only question mark I'm aware of heading into the season. If there's any unit on the defense that will end up causing it to not be a top 10 unit, then I'm guessing that will be it.

Seems to be some differing opinions on the defense... These from the other thread:

Our DLine is new except one DE and our LBs and DBs are half new.

Our major D uncertainties are our DL with three new starters. Our LBR's with one new starter and safety and CB with one new starter at each position . .

I did do a quick search on last year's rushing defense. VT finished 75th (180 yards per game). As a comparison, Northwestern finished 21st (126 yards per game) and Tennessee ran for 236 yards against them. How much roster turnover is there for the Hokie defense? Does Foster have the players the fix that statistic?

As it will be for Tennessee all season, can the opponent stop our run game? That game within the game will have a lot to do with the outcome.
 
RockyTop - I think it boils down to your passing game. If you present a creditable threat in the passing game and keep our defense honest then your running game may flourish. If Foster can cheat and stack the box then I would be surprised to see you equal your stats against Northwestern. Foster is not afraid typically to put the backs on islands. They are normally that good. That allows him to focus on run game effectively. To keep the offense honest, he will throw in some disguised blitzes. How good is your OL? How many experienced is it? I think you have some younger players who started last year so they should be better.
 
Oh yeah, I see what data you're looking at. Some clarifications:

1) New starters doesn't always mean new players. In VT's case, the dline usually rotates heavily throughout a season, so there will be up to 15 guys any given year with significant snaps under their belt. Yes, we lost 3 starters from last season, but their replacements aren't new commodities to us...we've been watching them play heavy minutes for year(s). That's why I said that the rotation was the question (who gets named the starter at each position?), but not really what names will be in the rotation. Honestly, I still don't know who the starters are (maybe someone else here knows?), but I do know who will be playing and how good they are. Based on the players that were in the rotation last year, it has the makings of being a really, really good dline. Who are those starters? Yeah, beats me.

2) I'm not really seeing the question marks at corner. 6'-2" Facyson is an All-ACC caliber corner on one side and the other side is 6'-3" Alexander, who had 4 INTs last season while playing a couple of positions and was named to the Freshman All-American Second Team. Maybe the backups are unproven? Safety? Yeah, maybe, I can see that. Linebackers? That one's the one I'll be keeping my eye on. If the linebackers don't pan out right, it's going to hurt the potential of the defense. When I say it's expected that the D will be pretty stout this season, that's totally excluding any major issues occurring at linebacker, which is not a 100% given at this point.

3) As for the statistics, VT tried a one year experiment last year in which we went mostly man and blitzed someone on every play. Big picture, the numbers dropped (as you pointed out), so Foster has ditched the idea and we're going back to our traditional amoeba zone defense. Check out the rushing stats from 2004 (the first year of the amoeba zone) through 2014 to get an idea of what that defense is capable of. It was #1 in country in rushing defense on a couple of occasions. Bottom line, though, if you're scouting VT's defense for 2016, don't look at 2015 film, because that's not what we're running. Check from 2004 thru 2014 instead. I'm not expecting the VT D to be #1 against the rush this year, but the final numbers will be night-and-day different from what they were in 2015.
 
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RockyTop - I think it boils down to your passing game. If you present a creditable threat in the passing game and keep our defense honest then your running game may flourish. If Foster can cheat and stack the box then I would be surprised to see you equal your stats against Northwestern. Foster is not afraid typically to put the backs on islands. They are normally that good. That allows him to focus on run game effectively. To keep the offense honest, he will throw in some disguised blitzes. How good is your OL? How many experienced is it? I think you have some younger players who started last year so they should be better.

OL is better at run blocking than pass blocking. Return 4 of 5 starters from 2015 OL that paved the way for almost 3,000 yards rushing. Of the 5 starters there are a RS Freshman, Junior, Junior, Senior, and RS Junior.

New starter is 5* RS Freshman Drew Richmond. We are a little thin depth-wise at OT, really deep at OG and C.

Passing game needs to improve for us to win big (SECG type big). Our OC does a great job of play calling to what we can execute though.
 
OL is better at run blocking than pass blocking. Return 4 of 5 starters from 2015 OL that paved the way for almost 3,000 yards rushing. Of the 5 starters there are a RS Freshman, Junior, Junior, Senior, and RS Junior.

New starter is 5* RS Freshman Drew Richmond. We are a little thin depth-wise at OT, really deep at OG and C.

Passing game needs to improve for us to win big (SECG type big). Our OC does a great job of play calling to what we can execute though.
I'm not sold on our defense. We've got about half the talent we've had previously in those years our d was dominant. Plus our new offense is suppose to be some high flying show, so I expect our d to be on the field a lot. You can expect to score at least 5-6 yrs and I'm not even being facetious.
 
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Dobbs running and kick return is what concerns me most.

We certainly had a great year returning kicks in 2015. Best PR and KOR units in the country hands down.

Evan Berry has been hampered with a tinder hamstring so far this camp. He was back this week but could be something that lingers throughout the season.

Would definitely be a big blow if he isn't 100%. I doubt he gets kicked too much anyways though.

Sutton and Kamara are healthy and will be our punt returners.
 
We have always struggled with good running QB's and Big RB's. UT has both on the same team and another top flyte back to boot. As SBW pointed out we do not have the D personnel we have had in the past. These two things , along with a brand new QB and O system have me believing that we will struggle in this game. I'm not expecting them to blow us out but just looking at the two teams and where they are I don't see us having a terrific day.
 
This game will be interesting, on paper one team is on the way up while the other has been sliding the wrong way. Will game play out that way or will VT show big improvement under the new regime......Will Tenn play like the they are projected or just be over hyped. These games are much more intriguing than watching schools play Liberty.
 
One of VT's top tailbacks, Marshawn Williams, will be suspended for the UTenn game for a non-behavioral issue.

That doesn't help the cause in any way, although we do still have McKenzie and McMillian in the rotation.
 
One of VT's top tailbacks, Marshawn Williams, will be suspended for the UTenn game for a non-behavioral issue.

That doesn't help the cause in any way, although we do still have McKenzie and McMillian in the rotation.
Marshawn is not quite ready to play. We have Rogers and Peoples,both of whom can carry the mail.
 
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You do know that VT has been consistently fielding top 10 defenses for the last 20+ years straight, right? The best Defensive Coordinator in all the land ring a bell? Several of those years VT was ranked #1 overall in total and/or scoring defense in the nation. It is THE calling card for VT football, and this year looks to be respectably stout, even by our lofty standards.

I'll be shocked if UTenn fields a better defense this year than VT does. It's what we do, and what we have been doing for several decades now.
Right on, except for the last 3 or 4 years.
 
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You do know that VT has been consistently fielding top 10 defenses for the last 20+ years straight, right? The best Defensive Coordinator in all the land ring a bell? Several of those years VT was ranked #1 overall in total and/or scoring defense in the nation. It is THE calling card for VT football, and this year looks to be respectably stout, even by our lofty standards.

I'll be shocked if UTenn fields a better defense this year than VT does. It's what we do, and what we have been doing for several decades now.

and if you played in the sec that would not be the case the easy games yall play every year helps those stats
 
and if you played in the sec that would not be the case the easy games yall play every year helps those stats
Plenty of cupcakes to be had in the SEC as well. The top of the conference usually looks OK (and they've even manage to win a title in the playoff era), but most of the conference is pretty mediocre / bad during most years.
 
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Oh, come on, guys.
I don't like TN. But the SEC is granite solid.
Good thing we're not playing a conference in BoB, but a team.
 
SEC is by far the best conference in football. There is no one else a close second. Just about every SEC game has the magnitude of a bowl game. I wish ACC schools would schedule more games vs SEC teams.
 
Every SEC school and ACC school has tougher schedule than the Big 10 schools. I saw Michigan's schedule and gained 5 pounds just thinking about cupcakes. I heard a talk show host say other day that most SEC teams play "13" Bowl games a year.
 
Your conference schedule doesnt have Clemson or FSU on it. As a Tennessee fan, would trade schedules with VT in a heart beat.
This is definitely the weakest schedule we've had in ages. Judging by last night's outcome, the only OOC game against a ranked opponent we'll have this season is Notre Dame.

In-conference ranked opponents won't be many, either. UNC and Miami are both in the pre-season polls at the moment, but I'm not holding my breath that either one will stay there for any length of time. And like you said, no FSU or Clemson (or Louisville) this year.
 
I just looked at Tennessee's schedule>

Appy State, Ohio, Tennessee Tech, Kentucky and Vanderbilt.

Somehow I have a craving for cupcakes. I'm on my way to Food Lion or Kroger right now.
 
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