Sunday Morning 1-14

[Drew4UTk]

It wasnt an upset. It was the same team doing the same thing, this time with an OLine that stood up.  UT is an OLine away from competing with anyone in the East except possibly UGA.... But... If a frog had wings it wouldnt bump its ass on the rocks, right? 

[OrangeAfroMan]

"It wasn't an upset" he says.


Kentucky -6
@ Tennessee
--------------------------------------------

Kentucky #11
Tennessee Unranked




I guess every team that wins is better than every team it beats.  Thank you for the correction.  

[Cincydawg]

Pruitt has his work cut out for him recruiting, I think.  This won't get fixed next year.  I don't know what fans expect, but a bowl game next year would be a good second step.  Then it remains to be seen if there is an upper limit of 9-10 wins in a great year.

Getting some Big Uglies has to be a priority, and they can take 2-3 years to really meld and work well, and then you need depth.

[bamajoe]

Move Kentucky down to about 12 and Mississippi State up to four and you will be fairly accurate. This is not anywhere near the Kentucky team that beat Florida and Mississippi State.

[Cincydawg]

I suspected UK would be in trouble yesterday.  They invested all their emotional capital in the UGA game and simply could not gather themselves.

The East is a bunch of mediocre teams that can beat each other, and probably Vandy is not one of them, but the Vols may be right now after their thrilling win against Charlotte.

OK, maybe one team in the East is decent.  They are undefeated against the East for two years running now, which is a something.

UMass.  Well, OK, but duh.

Then Tech, who can be quirky enough to beat us in Athens.

[OrangeAfroMan]

Yes but as stated in post #1, it’s half resume, half eye test.
Move Kentucky down to about 12 and Mississippi State up to four and you will be fairly accurate. This is not anywhere near the Kentucky team that beat Florida and Mississippi State.

[Gigem]

Kentucky is way too high.  Should be about 5 spots down.  

[OrangeAfroMan]

Does no one READ the posts?

[Gigem]

Does skimming count?  

UK is truly a bit of a head scratcher. They’ve got some real quality wins mixed in with some quality losses. 

At the end of the day it’s somewhat a subjective analysis. 

[Cincydawg]

Obviously, football games are not "simple" in the sense that the better team always wins.  A team can look very good and then not good in successive games, leaving us to ponder how good they are in some absolute.  Syllogism doesn't work.  Florida beat LSU, albeit at home, and then LSU made UGA look inept, albeit on the road, and then UGA beat Florida fairly convincingly.

An individual game is subject to myriad perturbations, penalties, dropped passes, missed assignments, chance happenings, and the culmination of thee can be an upset, but not usually, but we only play once.  Maybe UGA would beat LSU 65 times out of 100, but that leaves 35 times and that happened.

[MikeDeTiger]

Suggesting Alabama is more likely to 'sleep' in the Iron Bowl is absurd.  
A - it's their biggest rival
B - it's at the end of the season, with all of their goals right in front of them



That's why I specified AU...they're not secondary to Bama compared to anyone else.

Great insight.  Got anything other than anecdotal evidence and "I said so" to substantiate that?  
There's what you say, and what Nick Saban has said, more than once.  I also have eyes.  
Believe whatever you want.  It doesn't matter, and it's unproductive talking about it.  

[Drew4UTk]

that's right, @OrangeAfroMan , it WASN'T an upset.  

first off, it was in Neyland. How many consecutive wins in that stadium would determine dominance in your opinion?  As spoken above in regards to the WF vs NCST game, there is usually competition in this game.  Up until a horrific accident involving drunken driving and impacting UK's roster several years back, it was the beer barrel battle and cross border rivalry.  even when UT was at the top of their game, UK played them competitively (however losing a very lopsided ratio).  

you point to odds makers and your hatred of UT has blinded you so you swallow whatever they say negative about the Vols.  Most Vols fans I know knew three things you ignored:  1) it's Neyland and UK along with whatever intangible barrier they can't overcome was in full display  2) whether you want to admit it or even acknowledge it, UT is playing better- and their OL held up Saturday and 3) UK left it on the field the week prior, and likely thought this one a walk through.

so... if you want to define 'upset' by what odds-makers draw, or what talking heads on the tube communicate, go ahead... odds-makers could care less about who is better or worse quality wise- the almighty dollar drives the line.  That almighty dollar is handled by betters that take direction from talking heads... talking heads obviously didn't know a lot about this game, and influenced the line.  analytical folks such as yourself have a hard time parsing whatever the intangible is that allows teams like Bama/Auburn, tOSU/UM, and in this case UT/UK  to break up their pretty expectations and do so regularly.  

[Cincydawg]

I expected UK to lose, but I consider it technically to be an upset, simply because of the posted odds.

Some upsets I expect, sometimes they even happen.

[OrangeAfroMan]

Picking the underdog to win isn’t a great way to beat Vegas, but by all means, have at it.