Of all the postmortem tributes to Booch, “I hope he can help me and the teammates around me“ might be the saddest.
Pruitt’s definitely got his work cut out for him.
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“We remember the Sugar Bowl, I think it my junior year of high school, we let Alabama beat us twice,” Brinson said of a team that also lost to the Crimson Tide in the SEC Championship game. “We’re not letting Alabama beat us twice. In the Sugar Bowl in 2018, they… thought they should have been in the playoffs and lost to Texas.” -- AB-H, 12/27/23
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Get The Picture · Bloviation for the Dawgnation
Get The Picture 
TJTFB!
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There’s this guy on Volnation who goes by the handle “Dobbs 4 Heisman”, whose threads are hilarious, he’s thinking 9-3 or 10-2 next year. Most seem to be somewhere between 6-6 and 8-4. I think Pruitt’s a good coach and will get them on the right track provided Fulmer doesn’t knife him in the back before then, but it’s going to take a while. The Kirby comparisons over there are rampant, but what Lulu and Junior are not factoring in is that Richt’s last team won 10 games, even with no QB, Big Urnge just went 0-8 in the SEC. How any fan could consider Missouri a sure win after the pistol whipping Missouri gave UT last year is beyond me. I like to think Munson’s pessimism trained many UGA fans to have a slightly more objective view.
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not just 0-8 in the SEC last year but they’ve lost to EVERY SEC team in their most recent matchup.
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You’re right, and the veneration of Josh Dobbs is entertaining, he was a perfectly adequate to good college QB. I don’t think he was measurably better than any regular UGA starting QB going back to David Greene, other than certainly Grayson Lambert and perhaps Joe Cox (though I have long maintained that Cox was better than he is given credit for, he just was saddled with one of the worst defenses in UGA history, the Full Blown Willies of 2009, and constantly had to press).
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I can see them winning 8 games, it is not like they are void of talent. Butch just wasn’t getting the best out of them, won’t happen with Pruitt…and I agree, I think that Pruitt will be a good coach & good recruiter, as long as he and Fulmer do not clash.
But if I had my way, I would rather see another 0 for 8 and never sign a Georgia boy….hate those bastids.
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Me too. They’ve got a tough schedule. They open with West Virginia in Charlotte and play UF (home), UGA (away), AUB (away), BAMA (home), and USCe (away). Wins against UGA, AUB, and BAMA are hard to see, assuming those are losses, they’ve got to win 2 of 3 of WV, USCe, and UF, and then hold serve against everybody else including UK, Vandy, and Mizzou, all of whom beat them last year. If they go 8-4 I’ll be alarmed. 6-6 will be pretty good for them I think.
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It would take a minor miracle for them to win 8 games looking at their schedule. They might steal one from WVU at the opener, but they’d still have to upset someone else and not stumble against any of the weak sisters they play.
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Not a chance they steal one from WVU. The Mountaineers can score the ball and the Urnge D won’t be able to stop them. I also don’t think the Urnge O is potent enough to stay close in a shootout with WVU.
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Bowl eligibility is the most he wants to get done. There’s no need to give anyone: booster, recruits, fans, the roster the idea they’ve arrived or are on the way. This year will be about changing the culture. If he can change the roster, he’ll get dangerous.
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Bless their li’l pea pickin’ hearts.
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Left alone, I think Pruitt could eventually fix the Vols. Fortunately for us, Pruitt has Fulmer to “help” him.
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Stewart Mandel visited Tenn recently and on the latest Audible podcast with Bruce Feldman said he came away from the visit thinking Tenn could go 0-8 in the SEC again. So that’s nice.
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Not surprising given that the article quotes Pruitt as planning to play some guys on both sides of the ball. That does not bode well.
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I dont mind if UT decides they need a few throwaway years before they can really turn it around. They should really take their time and do it right.
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This made me lol.
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It took Butch Jones considerably more that one year to get Tennessee in the shape they are in. Anybody who thinks Pruitt/Phil can fix it next season needs an immediate pre-frontal lobotomy.
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I agree completely. Looking over their roster it’s hard to see where the have better talent than anyone other than Vandy. They have suffered terrible attrition. Their starters are sub par and their depth is non existent. Add in a complete change of systems, terminology and work ethos and 6-6 is the best I can see from this group. Every SEC team they play except UF has roster and coaching stability to fall back on. I don’t think anyone understands how dire it is up there. There are a ton of what ifs. Trey Smith’s health is a question mark. The line they would probably start would have a combined 28 starts. The talent is just not there yet. In that article he had 7 players switch positions? Lawd!
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A pre-frontal lobotomy may raise some of Tooth Nation’s collective IQ.
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How deep a hole does CJP have to pull the Vols out of? Their signature victory in ’17 was the opening game against GT. GT scored 41 points before losing by 1. When you have a whole season to prepare for GT’s offense, you should do a lot better than that.
Pruitt may well be an excellent coach, but you’ve got to have something a little better than what Booch left him with. It’s going to be a couple of trying years..but don’t worry, Hillbillys…Fulmer’s on this mother.
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Most of the questions about UT revolve around the Pruitt/Fulmer dynamic. I also wonder how Pruitt will manage and judge his staff if things start badly as they well might. If he caused a ruckus at UGA as an assistant, what might he do in his first head coaching gig? Will his impulse be to immediately scapegoat a coordinator or two?
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6-6 is their ceiling, IMO. Some of their fans are totally delusional; they think their mediocre at absolute best ’18 class and next year’s class will provide all the ammo Pruitt needs to quickly turn things around and challenge UGA in the east within 1-2 years. Instead, this is rebuild that, with solid coaching and luck thrown in to boot, will take 3-4 years.
Remember, UT has a losing record in SEC play dating way back to Clinton’s last year in office. The program has some serious inherent disadvantages, and IMO having Fulmer poking around constantly will only serve to make things even worse.
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Thank you for pointing out that the Vowels have a losing SEC record this century. Warms my heart.
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I’m amazed that both UT and even some UGA fans think that UT’s current issues are relatively recent ones, where they most likely will return as a power program at some point soon. And while that perhaps could happen, I’m not betting on it, as again they have too many glaring issues to overcome.
UT likes to think of itself as a big time program that has merely had some bad luck; but legit, big time programs never go through a 20 year stretch with a losing conference record. Hell, even during the mostly forgettable 90’s alone we still at least had a winning conference record.
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Tennessee can’t survive without recruiting Georgia, Florida and the Carolinas successfully. Frankly, they need to be able to have a brand to recruit nationally due to the fact that Tennessee high school football (outside of Memphis, which is practically 2 states away from Knoxville) generally is not good.
Unless Pruitt is a miracle worker, he’s going to have to get Georgia, Clemson, and the Florida schools’ leftovers for his roster. On defense, he has never had to make chicken salad out of the chicken $#!+ he inherited from Booch. On offense, I wonder what he’s going to try to do … he wants to play Bama/Georgia style ball, but he doesn’t have the line of scrimmage or QB quality to do it.
I’m ready to pop a big bowl of popcorn to watch that dumpster fire get reset in Knoxville.
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Absolutely agree. Tenn hasn’t been relevant since dial-up internet. I don’t believe it has only been coaching but personnel. They are in no shape to be viable to those old levels again. Not unless towns from Oak Ridge to Selmer start producing HS talent like Georgia has. Getting our leftovers just means they are Orange Kentucky.
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I’ll add that the man-love of some Dawgs here for Pruitt defies logic. Maybe it’s because he coached with their idol, Saban.
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“Tennessee didn’t have a single defensive player earn first-team or second-team all-SEC honors last year.” Good luck with that Defense thing Pruitt.
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Pruitt needs a signature win and bowl eligibility. They’re not going to get a signature win on the road this year and they’re certainly not going to beat Alabama at home, so beating Florida at home is the one he needs. That’s where he’ll put all his marbles and throw the kitchen sink.
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I’m fine with that. 😉
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Playing Florida was not Pruitt’s best experience when he was at UGA. Last year’s game really helped get that old vision of Treon Harris & company running on the edge out of my mind.
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I know the baseline talent is probably different, but the guy worked absolute magic in our depleted and baffled secondary when he was here.
Of all the coaches who can actually “coach ’em up” a bit versus simply do a competent job managing the caliber of talent they have on hand…he may be one of the tops in the country at that.
I would not bet against CJP getting the most out of his 3 star talent…that still might only be six wins next year.
Despite his personal issues, the shadow of Fulmer, etc – I think they made the perfect hire for where their program is right now.
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Maybe. Being a head coach is different from being a coordinator, and nobody ever really knows whether or not a guy can make the transition.
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I agree CD, I am really hoping Fulmer botches it playing the Game of Thrones.
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Tennessee still has like top 20 talent. But they have a tough schedule next season.
UGA > Auburn > Bama >South Carolina with all but Bama on the road is a rough stretch even with a bye after UGA. That is likely the top 4 teams in the SEC.
And a tough opener against WVU. Making and winning a bowl game is a major success for the vols this season, I would say. Anything above that would be amazing.
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