Jotsam

The game was really hard to watch. I would love to jeer at Florida in the spirit of rivalry, but any Vols fan knows all too well the tragedy of watching your team get handed to one unqualified coach after another. Better for the whole SEC if Napier shapes up or finds an exit.

This is the time of year when I forget all SEC rivalries and desire to see the Big 10 annihilated on the field.

In an effort to find additional things to talk about, sports writers have begun churning out lists that evaluate and rank designs from fields, logos, color palettes, etc. However, since this is clearly not their field (pun) of expertise, the conversation is pedantic. As example, both Florida and LSU have earned their points through "Cool" and "Intimidating." These are platitudes. Before the next article emerges ranking the away jersey's for Bowl season, can someone put in a call to a designer and get some feedback to flesh out the content?

I'm both excited and scared for the game because there's so many unknown factors. Injured players add to the confusion, and then there's Georgia having a new coach (which is often packed with good and bad surprises), and TN's inconsistent performances that have to be weighed in the balance. I think it will be a close game, but I honestly have no clue who the winner is in this one.

This is very true. The Vols have struggled in the first half or first quarter of every game thus far. Come from behind wins are rare and difficult --you can't count on being able to accomplish that every game. Vols need to play with that second half intensity every quarter if they want to get beyond 8-9 wins.

When the preseason predictions go south (being that a true sports oracle is rare --even fictional) somehow sites like SDS have found a solution in making yet more declarations about how the future will play out. The cop out is inevitably that if a team underperforms, the soothsayer simply blames the team for not proving the seer's preternatural divinations. One of the primary lessons football teaches us is that the variables in the win/loss equation are too numerous and unwieldy to capture in a blog. And yet we continue to try. And against my better judgment, I continue to read. Carry on.

There is a strange balance and harmony to how the Vols play in the openings of 2016 games. Considering the last season, wherein our tendency was to play a very strong first quarter, then falter and eventually lose, that inclination has been flipped. Perhaps this is a dichotomous scenario, in which case I'll take the slow start that eventually leads to a win.

I'll definitely disagree with placing Virginia Tech's uniform in the "Good" column. That texture performs best in the reveal photos where it's studio-lit and you can look closely enough to see the halftone construction of the binary value. But textural elements are contextually dependent, especially in terms of viewing distance. On the field (and you can even see elements of this problem in the smaller version of the texture within the letters emblazoned on the helmet) the texture is visually compressed and looks like grainy, desaturated camouflage. The maroon stroke that contours the numbers and logo nearly ceases to be visible at any significant distance as well due to inadequate color contrast and line weight. In other words, Virginia Tech's alternate uniform failed at the more pragmatic facets of "decorum" (wherein a work of art is constructed to be appropriate and effective within its venue) and the school may well regret that choice when looking back at the footage for years to come. VTech has great traditional uniforms. I was really confused by the choice (and design) of the alternates.

Sheriron Jones may well belong on this list. Not only did he seem to be heavily responsible for rallying the offensive line, but he successfully coaxed VTech into a 15 yard penalty, all without playing a snap.

I'm picking Kentucky to upset Florida. Why? Because this is College Football: Where the rankings are made up and logic doesn't matter.

Stated with succinct eloquence.

Neyland checkering is among college football's coolest recent traditions.

Hence the qualifier "largely."

I certainly agree with that. But I can't denigrate the preseason rankings too much. I still ravenously consume these articles in my desperation to finally have football back.

His complaints seem fair to me. The Vols currently lack a recent history of beating quality teams. We're getting there, little by little. But difficulties finishing games and an inability to break streaks (particularly FL) are black marks yet to be erased. Balancing that against a stacked, talented roster and the hiring of Shoop to get the defense finishing games, and I'd say somewhere between 12-15 is more appropriate a placement for the Vols.

I'm just relieved that TN players and coaches have largely stayed out of the flame war.

@vehemon Consider me checked, sir! ...though if you read through the original comment you may detect more a note of self-deprecation than ego.

That was a truly strange response. I salute you for it.

I'd be interested to see if SC's penalty total goes up now that Muschamp is HC.

The worst teams got the kindest responses. I'll try to take it as a good sign that there was next to nothing positive said about UT.

I assume that the media has resorted to voodoo and dark magic to make these wild predictions. If Tennessee underperforms (which is more likely than being #1), these same journalists (I use that word lightly) will begin chastising the Vols fan base for "buying the hype" despite the media being responsible for its creation. It's precisely what happened last year. So let me and the other Vols fans on this comment thread --and numerous others-- stand as record: I do not buy the hype. Proof is on the field, everything else is conjecture.

Tennessee's "bad luck" with injuries for the past three years has been too consistent to pin wholly on the vicissitudes of fortune. It certainly leaves those of us on the outside wondering about the quality of conditioning the players are receiving.

For a more valuable metric (equally weighting football and basketball) why not average the winning percentages? Combining just the wins and losses disproportionately weights basketball over football by sheer number of games.

You're oddly absent on Kentucky's post featuring this same subject.

I love that Kentucky has the checkerboard endzones. It makes the Vols feel so at home running in for touchdowns. It's a great display of hospitality.

These are kids exposed to a ridiculous amount of attention from schools and the media. It's probably wise that they hold off on making these enormous decisions that will impact the rest of their lives. I hope he ends up at Tennessee, but it's best if he does so having vetted his options.

You're a warm and fuzzy individual.

Aw, you beat me to it.

I've been skeptical of viewing distances in this game, but I admit that's pretty nifty.

Here's hoping. Tennessee vs. Alabama should mean something.