dasox24

I didn't...

Going to my girlfriend's cabin in the Smokey Mountains for a little getaway tonight. Should be fun.

QUOTE (Capn12 @ Oct 26, 2009 -> 01:02 PM) I went to Knoxville back in 2003 for our game, sat up in the Upper Deck and froze my ass off. That wind off of the river will cut you in half! I won't be able to get there now though, marriage curtailed such frivolous spending! I'm looking forward to the game, I really feel like either team could win it. If we face the Crompton that was the QB before the Georgia game, then I think lots of Tennessee fans will leave Neyland awful agitated. If he plays like he has the last 2 games, we're in for a dogfight. I don't like how our inability to score inside the red zone is going to be further complicated by facing the Tennessee secondary. I think both of our games against Alabama could have went either way. People seem to forget that Bama only found the endzone once offensively against us, and we left 10 points on the field that night. I don't see to this day, how Bama keeps finding a way to win in the end. I'd expect something like 17-14 or 16-13 either way this Saturday night, I don't see us scoring a lot on that Vol D, and I don't see Crompton getting much going against our secondary either. Fantastic assessment. I would agree with everything you wrote. Are we going to get Good Jon or Bad Jon? That will be the big factor. SC's secondary is very tough and you have some damn good pass rushers, so I think we'll have to run on you guys to do well. Still, Crompton has to take what the D gives him and not force stuff (like the last 2 games), or else we'll be out of this one. And yeah, that upper deck (I'm assuming the south corner endzone) in the worst spot in the stadium, which I guess is why we stick the opposing fans up there.

QUOTE (Capn12 @ Oct 26, 2009 -> 11:49 AM) Keep in mind, Iowa beat a South Carolina team that was beaten and all but quit with 2 games left in the season. As soon as we got romped by Florida last year, there were a multitude of underclassmen on our team that quit their college careers for all intents and purposes, and were focused on what they needed to do to get paid in the NFL. Sad, but the truth. Look at the results in the games post Arkansas game last year. Its not even a shadow of the team that ran through the first 9 games of the season. Make no mistake, Iowa dominated us and our freshman QB. They were the better team, and should have been. We pretty much bought our way into the Outback bowl due to our past performances there and fan following that they knew would come to Tampa. I find it funny that we're always left out of the conversation when the SEC talk starts. Don't count those wins over South Carolina before they actually happen. Sadly, this team plays to the level of competition week in and week out. Thats why there are never any blowout wins, but no one that dominates this defense either. Oh yeah, 1 senior on the starting offense this year, and 5 total seniors on the 2 deep total. Keep thinking we're the 'easy win'. We're going to have a good game this week. Halloween night in Neyland Stadium. Should be a lot of fun. The last time y'all came to Tennessee was one of my Top 3 games I've been to. The comeback OT win, even though you guys outperformed us statistically. The stadium was louder than I've ever heard after Succop missed that FG. Your defense is pretty damn good and I think Garcia is finally showing why he was so hyped out of high school. Of course, I think we'll win if we play like we did against Bama last week, but you never know in the SEC and the letdown from losing last week's game could really weigh on our guys. I mean, we had a chance to upset our biggest/oldest rival and #1 in the AP, and we miss 3 FGs to lose by 2 points. That has to be depressing for a team that played better on both sides of the ball than Bama. You making it to Knoxville by any chance?

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Oct 26, 2009 -> 11:39 AM) I agree. I said as much in my most recent post. I was rather stating that I don't think the SEC is greater than some other conferences. For example, I think the Pac 10 could argue that they are the best conference in college football this year. Mainly because I buy into USC and Oregon both being top tier schools, Arizona is very good, Stanford is good, Cal is solid (tons of talent...two beatdowns but to the two top-tier teams i mentioned). UCLA is solid (they beat Tenn, not that I think UCLA would beat them if they played again this year). Washington is a solid poor football team (Locker is legit, they beat USC and played with LSU). Oregon State has a legit RB and could make some noise. WSU is just terrible though. Don't remind me. That was our most embarrassing loss of the season. We play Florida to within 10 (2 missed TDs in that game could have been a huge difference for us, but oh well...) and should have beat Bama (thanks to 3 missed FGs), but we lose to UCLA when they stop us 3 straight times from the 3 yards line and in. 3 runs up the middle was bad by Kiffin though, especially when we had 2 new o-lineman that game, both of which were former walk-ons. He said so and has learned from it. I must say, however, our coaching staff sure has these guys ready to play. The previous staff left the cupboard fairly bare (especially for Tenn standards), particularly on both lines. We have 2 former walk-ons starting at Guard and Center (they're actually identical twins). And our d-line has 2 true freshman getting lots of playing time at DT, which is extremely rare in college football, but those guys are holding there own. We had a lot of attrition when Lane took over, but I love it. He said "if you can't handle it, get the heck out." So far we've had no arrests or anything law related from any player in the almost 11 months he's been here. That's pretty impressive. I have really enjoyed Lane's play-calling on offense improve as the year has gone on. You can see him learning still as a coach, which is good since he's so young. The staff he has surrounded him with is really going to pay off for him as a coach as well as being in a conference like the SEC. Makes me very excited for the future. I can't wait to see what this staff can do once they get their own players in the program. Next year might actually be worse, though, for Tennessee b/c we do lose a lot of seniors on the O-line. We might have to start a freshman and a JUCO next year on the line. That's how barren the cupboard is. And we might have a true frosh at QB, which is never a good recipe for success (unless you have Peyton Manning as a freshman and he was only 8-4, haha). I never thought I'd say this, but I'm going to miss Crompton. It may have taken him 4 years, but he's finally showing why he was a Top 5 QB out of high school. He's always had the tools, but not the mental side of things. I think Lane has really helped him in regards to that this year, sticking with him even after a rough UCLA game and 1st half of the Auburn game. Not having to worry about getting pulled after every series can do wonders for a QB apparently. And the D should be great again next year, though it will definitely hurt losing Berry (no way he stays his Senior year).

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Oct 26, 2009 -> 11:34 AM) Evan, I want to point out, in no way shape or form do I think the Big 10 is even equally as good as the SEC. I'm dumb, but not that dumb. SEC is far better. I think Alabama and Florida are both better than the top Big 10 team (Iowa or Ohio State or Penn State..I'll let you decide). I think LSU might be better too. Although I don't think any team other than potentially Florida (running on all cylinders) would blow-out any of the Big 10 teams I mentioned above. Note: I need to point out, that I would be intrigued as to how those teams would fare going into the Big 10 during the winter, but I do think Iowa, OSU, and Penn State all have pretty good defenses, Iowa's being in my biased opinion the best and ultimately enough to keep the game close, but I fear what the speed of those SEC defenses would do to Ricky Stanzi). To me the strength of the SEC comes from the next tier of teams. Tenn is solid, Ole Miss, Arkansas (great offense), Georgia (very talented), etc. Its a very deep conference. I do think a few people are sleeping on the quality of a Michigan State and Wisconsin who I think are the next tier of Big 10 schools and while MSU/Wiscy might contend against the next tier I talked about, that is only two schools and they'd still be under-dogs in there games against those SEC schools (which is a list much deeper than 2)...the rest of the Big 10 would get whiped out. I should also counter you Evan by saying that Iowa finished the season last year on fire. They'd have beat a lot of teams in the country at the end of last season. Not saying they beat Ole Miss, but they were very strong at the end of last year. It is pretty much an identical team as this year's teams except they had one of the best 3 running backs in the country (Shonne Green). Good point, Jason. I must admit I didn't realize the end of the season Iowa had last year, and you're right, they did end in pretty darn good fashion. Actually, they statistically ended a lot like Ole Miss did, so they might have been a better match-up than I first thought. I will admit Michigan St and Wisconsin look pretty solid to me this year and I think they could probably beat someone like Auburn or Georgia, though they would definitely be good games. And yes, it would be interesting to see how some of these SEC teams responded to Midwest weather in the winter. That was an argument I always liked to use when I was a huge Big 10 follower. Unfortunately, we'll never get to know since no teams would ever play that late in the season and since bowl games are all in warm climates (or domes).

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Oct 26, 2009 -> 10:32 AM) Well first off, I'll let you continue to live in your delusional make believe world where from one week to another someone is the worse football team in the world and complete hopeless, etc, etc, etc. Secondly, the SEC is an over-rated football conference and last I looked Iowa beat an SEC team last year in there bowl game and has beaten other SEC teams in this decade in bowl games (including LSU). Am I saying the SEC is worse than the Big 10, nope, but the SEC isn't the best conference in the land this year. The Pac 10 could easily play with the SEC. Iowa's also went to to toe with the Longhorns and other well respected programs under Ferentz. And you'll get suspended/banned because you have a long history of doing the above to countless posters over the years. I on the other hand, have no history of that. This is where I disagree with you. I was born and raised a Big 10 guy and used to hate the SEC, but having been a SEC follower the last 4 years, the SEC is the best in the country. The SEC has a great chance to have another National Champion this year and that would make 4 in a row for the conference. You might not be saying the SEC is worse than the Big 10, but you aren't saying they're better. They are, however, better. In regards to you bringing up the point you beat an SEC team last year: Yes, you dominated SC in the bowl game, but it was Big10 #4 vs SEC #6. South Carolina was 7-5 in the regular season and you were 9-4. That was supposed to be a game Iowa wins. If by contrast, you had played the #4 team in the SEC, that would have been Ole Miss and you would have lost. No matter their slow start this year, Ole Miss ended last year as one of the Top 5 teams in the country. They dominated everyone they played in their last 4 or 5 games once the offense got rolling. They manhandled an 11-1 Texas Tech team. If by contrast the 4th best SEC team had played the 6th best Big 10 team, Ole Miss would have played Minnesota. That game would have been ugly. It would have been about 63-14 only b/c Ole Miss would have put all the backups in. That's no exaggeration. I know many of y'all don't follow the SEC much, but there's a reason Ole Miss was ranked so highly to start the season. They were nasty at the end of last year. As for this year: - Tennessee is the best 3-4 team in the country. We would beat 70% of DI teams right now. Our defense is ridiculous and the offense is starting to warm up after the Georgia 45 point performance and putting up 340 yards of total offense on the best defense in the country last week. - Ole Miss is starting to heat up late again like they did last year after a slow start. - Florida is Florida. They're not as good as in the past, but they win games. They would beat anyone in the Big 10. So would Bama. - LSU looks to be back on track and they have a young team, which is scary. - Auburn has hit a rough patch but is still 5-3. - Arkansas showed they can play with anyone when they should have beaten Florida and they have the 2nd worst record in the SEC. - Kentucky is on pace for a 4th straight bowl game. Pretty good for a traditional SEC bottom feeder. - Georgia can be dangerous with the best WR in the country in AJ Green; their defense is hit or miss though. - And Vandy is pretty good for being in last place. They would surely beat Illinois or Indiana who rank at the bottom of the Big 10. Can't wait for bowl season. Should be a lot of fun.

QUOTE (knightni @ Oct 26, 2009 -> 02:47 AM) http://www.sporcle.com/games/Barbaloot/meatloaf Took 1 second...

Shoot, I haven't watched any of the playoffs. That's what happens to me once the Sox are out. I'm in football mode.

So not exactly what I was hoping for in Gore's 1st game back. And Mendenhall needs to hold onto the rock. I thought he was going to be one of those stellar waiver pickups, but knowing Tomlin, he'll probably give the job back to Parker (even though Parker sucks) cause he seems to not like Mendenhall very much. Also, thank you ATL o-line for deciding to suck today. When Ryan actually got time, he played well. Oh, and I played Donald Brown as my Flex. 58 yards on 2 carries and then gets hurt. What luck. He looked poised to have a big game. Addai got a TD on that drive he got hurt on too, which sucks cause it would have been Brown's ball. No shot this week. Going to 4-3. This is the worst start to a Fantasy season I've had in 4 years. So while not that bad, I'm not used to losing this much.

Gaines Adams better turn out to be darn good for us b/c I'm beginning to think that 2nd rounder could have been a good spot to take an o-lineman. Actually, now that I think about it, Angelo just would have used the pick on defense anyway, so what the hell... Neglecting the o-line for all these years has finally bit Jerry in the ass. Makeshift lines for the past 4 years has somehow worked, but not this year.

13... Can't believe I missed . The others I missed were acceptable. I wasn't even born yet when the other 5 I missed were playing.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Oct 25, 2009 -> 11:10 PM) http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story...=simmons/080501 This is an article from last year by Bill Simmons that basically discusses how the Suns being so cheap cost them a legit shot at a dynasty. It's really sad what's happened to that team b/c of "financial" reasons. I'd be so pissed to be a Suns fan right now. Not that I can say the Bulls are much better, but at least we have a great building block for the future in Rose.

Well, thank you Bears defense for really coming through today...

QUOTE (Brian @ Oct 25, 2009 -> 02:14 PM) I can't stop picking the mini Twix out of the Halloween candy. Sue me. Can't blame you at all. I have a pack of those chilled in my fridge right now.

Wow, not only is this game awful for me as a Bears fan, but I have the Chicago D playing for me in Fantasy today and they've gotten me -4 points so far. I might lose b/c of the D. Never thought I'd have to deal with that, even with the D not as good as it used to be. They're still usually good for 5-6 points on an average day.

Wow, that Steelers-Vikings game sure ended up a lot higher scoring than it looked like. 21 points scored in the last, what, 6 minutes or something like that? I had the over of 45 and lost, but it ended up being pretty close. I was hoping for a FG, OT, and then Steelers win with a TD. That would have been 47 points.

I'm still depressed from last night. We outplayed Alabama in every way except f***ing Field Goals. Not even ST's in general. We had good coverage on returns, and had decent returns ourselves. But those 3 missed FG's are gonna haunt me the rest of my life. I'll never forget this game. Tennessee was a better team last night. On a positive note, anyone else think Monte Kiffin won't be able to adjust to the college game? Our D has given up 15 points (5 FGs) in the last 2 games against Georgia and Alabama. That's stellar.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Oct 23, 2009 -> 10:33 PM) I don't think they can get much worse. But even if we assume you are right, it's possible that 9 of the 11 teams in the league could improve. Even a person such as myself who generally snipes on the Big 10 (and usually deservedly so) can admit the league is pretty good this year. QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Oct 23, 2009 -> 11:41 PM) They can't get much worse, but it is hard to image that a team that brings in no impact freshmen and loses by far its best player and 2 of its 3 best players (who were also their two primary ballhandlers) as well as their top interior player in Cyrus Tate can get better. IU will be better but they will still struggle a lot but I think they will get a team or two at their place. PSU will be really bad but Taylor Battle likely gets them an upset or two by himself. IMO the Big 10 is the best basketball conference this year but they have to prove it by knocking off the ACC in the ACC/Big 10 challenge and by winning their big non conference games. I hope they can do that. I thought for a second that 101 quoted and argued against his own post, haha... Y'alls 2 screen names confused the s*** out of me. As for the Big 10, is Indiana really supposed to be that bad that some are projecting them to finish last? I mean, I know they lost practically everyone after Sampson got the boot, but it's just weird seeing Indiana listed last.

Big weekend this week. I haven't been this excited for a game in a long time, mainly b/c of how good we looked against Georgia in our last game.

QUOTE (Jimbo's Drinker @ Oct 23, 2009 -> 12:03 PM) oh boy here we go with the Ill St. man crush. No kidding... ISU may have had a shot 3 years ago when Illinois was really bad that year, but they'll never get close again. Not with the players Illinois has brought/is bringing in now.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Oct 23, 2009 -> 01:20 AM) Man I had a f***ing .29 alcohol level just last week, and was drunk the night before too. I keep forgetting to log on and find this damn thread. I think I'm drinking Saturday, but I might pass out though... as my friend is leaving for the force, and he wants to challenge me one last time before he goes. Thanks for the shout-out though J4L. I never really thought about figuring out your BAC just for the heck of it. I always associate it with driving. I might start doing this sometimes for the fun of it. Anyway, this is a cool story (I think), but... Last Tuesday, my TA for one of my business classes bought 7 pitchers of yuengling/shiner bock divided among 3 of us. He's a badass former VP of Marketing of an Aerospace Engineering company who has already made tons of money and is now getting his PhD to become a professor. Got a wife and 2 kids, and just went out to the bars with me and another guy, and bought us everything. Anyway, according to this online BAC converter, I should have had a 0.23 BAC after our 4 hours of drinking. It was an awesome night. This 44 year old dude just giving us lessons on life and business, etc. Never thought I'd experience anything like it with a teacher. He's a great teacher too. One of my favorites of college so far.

QUOTE (jenks45monster @ Oct 22, 2009 -> 09:43 PM) Two of the HR's off of Strasburg. You can see C.J.'s. Danks in the video as well. Thanks. That's quite fun seeing a guy like CJ jack one out. He looks so small out there.

QUOTE (FlaSoxxJim @ Oct 22, 2009 -> 10:18 PM) That's all too hard. What ever happened to buying your way into heaven with good old-fashioned indulgences? Makes it easy, doesn't it?

Only 24 hours until the worst school week of my semester is over... It has been miserable. I'm drinking heavily once I get out of my 20 minute presentation to real venture capitalists (on my fake computer company) tomorrow that's worth 25% of my grade.