College Football News.com Bowl Projections

Someone to keep an eye on over the next couple years, Chase Daniel sophomore QB for Missouri. He looks to be the real deal. He came from a great program in Texas and was considered a little too short for some of the big time schools. Mizzou looks to have a real gem.

 

I knew Daniel reminded me of someone and it just came to me. He reminds me of Drew Brees. He was a little short and did not get recruited by some of the big schools, but he sure made some noise at Purdue.

 

Yeah I guess UT wasnt as impressive as some thought.

 

No doubt about it. He looked great. His decision making was about as smooth as any college QB I've ever seen. I know he's been in the O since the 8th grade but that was still impressive against a defense that probably isn't that bad.

 

I didn't get a chance to see the game but some who did said it was kind of a perfect storm turn of events that made it close.

The Cal/UT score didn't reflect the game but it probably does reflect the difference between the two teams.

The AF/UT score reflected the game but probably doesn't reflect the difference between the teams.

As for AF's perfect storm...

In the 3rd qtr, UT loses its best run stopping lineman for the season.

On the way to going up by 21 in the early 4th qtr, Ainge who was next to perfect all day doesn't see a LB that was probably out of position and throws a pick at the AF 10. AF drives down and scores. They get an on-side kick... which works maybe 5% of the time and again score to bring them to 30.

A game that should have and probably should have been a 21 point win turns into a last minute save. It happens. ND pulled one out against GT. FSU, who really may not be that good, pulled one out against Troy.

People who saw the game said that AF ran their flexbone to near perfection all day. They are an upperclassmen heavy offense. Guys who have great discipline running an offense they've run for 3 years. An offense that UT hasn't seen in years and has no real means to prepare for.

My hats off to AF. They played great and almost came out with an upset.

I'll get back to you after this weekend as to whether UT is for real or not.

In either case, whoever scheduled AF between Cal and UF should be fired. Stupid, stupid, stupid,...

 

Jim Rome is a joke. He's a big mouthed idiot... and I don't even like the Pac10.

I think UCLA is legit and we'll know for sure in a few weeks when they play ND. Oregon looks good and gets to make their statement against OU next game.

Cal seemed to legitimize themselves against Minnesota. Like I said earlier, I think UT is two scores better than Cal but Cal still may be a team that USC will have difficulty with.

We'll know more about USC this weekend too.

 

How can you say in one sentence that it should have been a 21 point win and then say that AF ran the flexbone to perfection all day? If they ran it to perfection all day, wouldn't it have been a little closer for the whole game?

I agree it was not a good job of scheduling.

I am looking forward to the UT and Florida game. I am not a Florida fan, so I would be happy to see a UT win this week.

 

Because UT is about 21 points better than AFA. You can run your offense extremely well... even good enough to be called "near perfection"... without scoring on every drive.

They did some very important things. They held on to the ball, ate up clock, and got points. They kept the ball away from UT's offense. The Vols scored on 5 of their 6 drives... but 6 drives isn't enough. The Vols were "near perfection" on offense as well.

The two defensive losses were big for UT. While the cupboard certainly isn't bare of talent, the back-ups really need to step it up now to go against Leak.

UF is the only SEC team that I almost universally pull against. I'd probably pull for them against ND or USC... maybe Miami.

 

We already got started before I could do a "week 2" thread....

As for AFA vs. UT, I saw the game. Reminded me of last year. DBs couldn't cover AFA's WR. No tackling. AFA did whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted. 3rd and long was no problem.

I disagree about Ainge's INT. He threw into double (and arguably, triple) coverage. He had been making that play most of the day. He was bailed out a few times by very athletic plays by the WRs. Not that time. UT's special teams were atrocious. A UT player takes a knee accidentally on his own one yard line and forces UT to go 99 yards (which it did). WR Austin Rogers fumbles a pooch kickoff out of bounds..barely before an AFA player recovered. UT recovered another botched snap. Pat Ryan said it best: if AFA had a defense, they would've won, and they had the better defense on the field that day.

With Johnson and Harrell gone for the year, an already thin D is thinner. Arian Foster is doubtful for the game according to Fulmer's press conference today.

To sum up, UT had a 2005-like performance on Defense. Luckily, the O made the plays that it didn't make last year to bail it out. AFA is to be commended because they ran their gameplan to perfection, and that doesn't happen often.

As for why AFA is between Cal and UF, they were the only I-A opponent UT could get to come to Knoxville when the 12th game was added. AFA pulled out of a game (at Northwestern, I think) to pick up a nice payday. UT has a policy of not playing I-AA opponents. I agree with it, but after the injuries we sustained, makes me wonder. I wish we'd opened with AFA (who had an extra week to prepare for UT) than Cal.

 

I almost universally pull against everyone else in the SEC. Remember, we have to recruit against them. We don't want them succeeding

Truthfully, I am still old school. Florida is a johnny-come-lately. They are not in our class. Only Bama is, and they're still our real rival IMHO. We're the class of the conference. Everyone else wishes they had our traditions.

 

How do you figure UT is in the same class as Bama? As far as tradition goes it is Bama and everyone else.

UT has what, 2 National Titles? Bama has 7.

 

Since 1925, UT is the winningest program in the nation.
As for national titles, those numbers you quote are correct from 1951. UT also has at least a share of the national title in 1938 (a year in which UT was undefeated, untied and unscored upon), 1940, and 1950. Bama I believe has 11 all-time national titles going back into the 1920s. Again, it's 1-2 in the SEC for Bama and Tennessee.

Tennessee won SEC titles in 1938, 1939, 1940, 1946, 1951, 1956, 1967, 1969, 1985, 1989, 1990, 1997, 1998. That does not count the shared titles. UT and Bama outdistance the other SEC schools. Bama and UT are top two in bowl victories (Bama with 30 wins, UT with 25), bowl appearances.

There are scores of other numbers that show Bama and UT's 1,2 status in the SEC. I have the actual numbers in the UT media guide but it's not at my desk right now.

 

Well I guess to me the National Titles are what speak to Bama over UT.

I have no problem recognizing how good UT has been.

I am one that thinks it is good for college football as a whole to have the traditional powers playing well...UT, Bama, Oklahoma, USC, Notre Dame, etc

 

I know that UT is not the winningest program all time in college football. There was a list on here somewhere of the all time winningest programs. Does anyone have that list?

 

Here you go pastor.

1. Michigan: 842 victories
2. Notre Dame: 802
3. Texas: 787
4. Nebraska: 786
5. Alabama and Ohio State: 764 (Tie)

 

This list was as of Jan '05.. It's obviously not up to date, but it will do unitl I can find the full list.. Obviously not toooo many games have been played since.

 

As bad as I hate to admit it, I'm not saying UT is historically more successful than Bama. The numbers don't lie. I was just pointing out that Bama and UT (In that order) are the most successful programs in the SEC. That's what I meant when I said "we're (Bama and UT) are the class of SEC." I also respect the national powers in the rest of the country as well. I like the fact that UT schedules these folks (a home and home with Oklahoma comes up in a few years; UT has had home-and-homes with ND 3 or 4 times in the last 15 years. We haven't had a series with Southern Cal in about 2 decades, though attempts were made recently, as was the case with Michigan and Ohio State. UT will have a home-and-home with Nebraska in a few years as well. NC State was scheduled back when Amato had them going places. Now that doesn't look like a huge series. Maybe by the time it rolls around, the Pack will be back.

 

I think PSU's season last year can now be called an aberration.