I bet when SOD looks back on what went wrong, the Sal Sunseri hire will eat at him the most. Sure, he had to do something, since most of his 2011 staff bailed on him, but it’s not like there wasn’t plenty of relevant history about how SEC defenses switching to a 3-4 scheme do in their first season.
Surely there was a 4-3 guy out there who would’ve done better than this. If Dooley had hired a new DC who merely held serve from the previous season, it’s likely he’d be getting his team ready for a bowl game today.
Get The Picture 
Very true.
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I have to think that he talked to Hart about this, and was assured he would be given more than one year.
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My thinking as well.
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He should have done a better job of reading his own program’s history, then. Fulmer was canned after the first year of trying to run a new spread offense despite having a seat that was warming up. When it didn’t fire on all cylinders to begin with, he was gone.
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Is U-Tay a hot mess or what? SOD is probably better than their latest hire. I can’t wait to go against John Jancieks defense. Has he hired Willie Martinez yet?
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Tennessee is unique as an SEC school in that they almost have to recruit very heavily in other states. They don’t have the in-state base of talent other SEC teams enjoy. So when they get down like this, it seems like it would have to hurt recruiting more so that it would Alabama or Georgia or Florida or LSU. Having a proven, dynamic coaching staff is going to be important in convincing a kid from Los Angeles (just for instance) to move to Knoxville. This is going to be interesting.
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He certainly has — Willie Two Thumbs will be manning the DBs next season.
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Thank you. Tennessee had all the most explosive pieces returning from their 2011 offense — including a healthy Bray-to-Hunter combo — and nine staters returning on defense, same as Georgia had. Nine! The Vols should’ve strolled to at least 8-4 and a Gator Bowl invite this year.
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Bray was a head case and Hunter was in his first year back from an ACL surgery and looked it. How many of those “nine staters returning on defense, same as Georgia had” would have seen significant playing time if they were on the Georgia squad? ” Are you famliar with the phrase “slower than molasses in January”?
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And I thought the exact same thing every time in the pre-season I heard some “host” say that UT was the dark-horse in the SEC … going to the 3-4 is a rough transistion – even Nick Saban’s numbers prove that.
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How is it that John Chavis was never courted for the UT HC?
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Chavis doesn’t have the “media savvy” to be a head coach in the SEC at this point. He would need to go to a smaller school and prove himself to get to the SEC level.
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Neither did SOD.
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Yoo gunna nee ho lotta dat meed-a savvee to coach da ESS EE CEE!
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Ripping shirt off as he says it.
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Chavis doesn’t want to be a head coach…. said as much. Besides uT ran him off once, he was one of the Pumpkin Kings sacrificial chess pieces.
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Yeah, I suspect that Chavis still smarts from that a little.
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A few million per year would help ease Chavis’s pain. I am very happy he’s not at ut. Instead they’ll be saying – Meet the new sod, same as the old sod.
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SOD first poor decision was to go to UT. Should have stayed where he was for awhile. Not enough experience, and made poor decisions in his three years at UT re staff and players.
Can not recruit players that have not matured, socially mal-adjusted, and sold on themselves and not a team.
CMR has to make sure Gardner and Bobo get it together in the Bowl game. Can not have the Huskers rushing game taking over the LOS. And Bobo foolin around with play selection re field position, game situation, and personnel. Murray is a closet pocket QB. Always vertical in movement in the pocket. Just wonder how long opposing Ds are going to get to him.
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Yes, Dooley should definitely have told a reputable SEC school to go to hell, especially after going 5-16 (I think) in the Sun Belt. Certainly the NFL was calling soon if he’d just waited.
Pass what you’re smoking, cause I want some.
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……no you don’t.
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+1. I figured out the other day that SOD, with his buyout, is going to clear about $12 Mil for being HC at UT for 3 seasons. Please–where can I go to sign up as HC for UT?
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You should wait for a better gig to come along
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Hmmm… one side of the ball: very good. Other side: awful.
SOD sounds like the perfect ACC coach.
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SOD gets a lot of grief about his wardrobe, gardening skills, and Good Shower Technique 101. But, I had to give him props when he snagged one of Bray’s medium range, erratic rocket overthrows and spiked it while coaching from the sidelines. I could tell he had made catches like that before.
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Wasn’t SOD a receiver in college?
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TE
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In my opinion, the jury is still out on how well the 3-4 has worked for Georgia, especially considering the spread offense is yielding to a more traditional offense among the top teams in the SEC.
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I agree. Under Grantham, our run defense has never been top notch and is rarely even very good when going up against a team of consequence. I’m discounting the two Florida games based on Muschamps body of work offensively so far
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Georgia was ranked 11th nationally in rushing defense in 2011.
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How did they rank against the four teams that mattered?
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http://www.cfbstats.com/2011/leader/national/team/defense/split13/category01/sort01.html
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Thanks for the link Spence. Wow, it’s worse than I even realized. 165 ypg, 4.66/carry, & 10 TD’s against the four ranked teams. Please bear in mind this was by FAR Granthams’ best run defense @ 101 ypg. The 2010 @ 147.2, and 2012 @ 177.8 teams are the 10th (by one ypg) and 12th (by 30 ypg) worst defensive rushing seasons during Richts’ tenure. This with arguably the most talented defensive team Athens has ever seen. Something stinks in Mudville and it cost us a January 7 game. Just sayin
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O going back to back 3 and outs didn’t really help that D much now did it?
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You’re right but tlkdawg is right, too. Maybe our vaunted D really wasn’t so vaunted.
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Talked to a big Cinci Fan this weekend and he was happy as a clam, He said Jones had made them crazy with his time management. He also said that Jones was playing with Kelly’s recruits at both CM and Cinci.
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