'I must throw the BS flag. I'm on this hype train as much as anybody, but it is officially a runaway. We must have realism.

Here's a link to the type of thing I'm discussing. Link


1) Tennessee was just a heartbeat away from being 5-7 last year. Did we not call the loss to Florida coaching malpractice and wonder if Butch Jones was our Ron Zook? Sorry, but we need to see some results before placing faith in a preseason line like this.


2) While Tennessee has talent, they don't have depth. Not the kind of depth you need to go deep into the SEC in November and keep on winning anyway. It would take a lot of luck-and we're surely due for some. But it's a stretch.


3) How much has that offensive line improved again? If they don't protect Dobbs, then who knows how low the bottom could be?


4) How much has that offensive line improved again? How well can UT run against the tougher teams of this league? Jalen Hurd will have some help. But we saw what a moderately good Missouri team did to UT last year.


5) Is Jalen Hurd durable enough to go for a whole season? Perhaps. With some help from his friends. Who's the #3 TB?


6) I must point out that the source is ESPN. The track record with ESPNUCONN has ever been to run Tennessee down. When they say good things about Tennessee, it's so that when the Vols stumble, they can blast them as frauds and imitators. Never forget; ESPN is not your friend.


7) The Florida game hangs like an eternal cloud over the program. I'm convinced that Tennessee simply must settle down and play to Neyland's Maxims and make Florida blink. Is this not precisely what Florida has done so many times? Will Tennessee actually do this? If not, then refer back to #6.


8) The schedule is favorable. It was favorable in 1996 too. Lots of preseason hype there too. How did that season work out? It was a 10-2 season that sounds great on paper, but in reality was a huge disappointment given the preseason expectations. The uncontrolled hype is the best way to create unrealistic expectations that will inevitably be deflated in the worst way with a corresponding rollercoaster of emotion that sees a fan base thrilled with a 7-6 record one season, yet whining about 10-2 the next. Please, please, please don't take us back to the days of whining about 10 win seasons. Alabama can and will go there. Let's let them have that spot all to themselves.


I don't know what anyone else is doing, but I'm dialing it back. Let's just worry about a strong start out of the gate and getting bowl eligible in October for a change.

______

South Carolina:

I've heard about enough of this BS about UT never beating Spurrier 3 times in a row.

When has South Carolina ever won in Neyland Stadium? 2005 and 2011. It took the best coach and talent that Carolina has ever had combined with the worst coach and talent that Tennessee has ever had for Carolina to even put together a win streak against Tennessee. That has clearly flipped over in the last two years.

Check me on this and correct me if I'm wrong. South Carolina has never beaten a Tennessee team with a winning record in Neyland Stadium. Never. Steve Spurrier isn't going to change that.

For good measure, does anybody else remember that 55-3 Krakatoa that Tennessee laid on South Carolina in 1993? That's what I'd like to see this November. And when Spurrier runs through the tunnel at the end of the game, I'll head down there to lead the chant "FOUR MORE YEARS!!!" for him. Vol fans for Spurrier.

If I can make it to any game this fall, that's the one I want to see.

Eric S.
UT'95'