NolaVol

My worry for LSU is that they will follow in the Tennessee path next year. You have a bunch of talent at the WR spot ready to break out but you have a QB who is finally getting his turn to be the starter and has a cannon arm but has a historical mediocre completion % but somehow you are expecting that to turn around miraculously. Prior to Milton's full year as a starter he was a career 58% passer - last year he was able to bump it 64.7%, still not great. Nuss so far has a similar career passer % of 59%, so I am curious to see if he has a better curve in his year he gets the keys to the car. Since LSU doesn't play the Vols this year I will be pulling for him to do well.

Not sure you know how to use LOL - We are a half game back bc we have had our bye game already and Bama has not. Bama has their bye game after LSU. Should both teams hold serve till then, then UT would be in first with the tie breaker over Bama with that close head to head game - Bama's effort in that game on the other hand was LOL indeed.

Hey Blueman, how did Big Z and the cats do against USCe last night, didn't get to watch the game....

AU is definitely playing great ball right now, and 16-2 is a great start. I think the biggest difference btw AU and Vols is current Strength of Schedule - AU is at 104 while Vols are at 3. That being said, I think AU, Vols and UK are separating themselves as the conference elite so far. Bama has a great offense, but as shown Saturday if you can play good defense they struggle and their defense is just not good which I think will bite them a few more times this season. Very glad we get AU at home at the end of the season in what could be an important game for conference tourny seeding.

AFan...really appreciate an answer for a question that was not asked. I am solely talking about the offense this year, not sure where your references to all our players from last year have any bearing on that comment at all. If I would have referenced last years offense in some way, sure, bring up past players.

I definitely agree with that - too many field goals and leaving points off the board. Could definitely be the difference if this is a close game this weekend - which all the stats point to it being.

I love the thought by so many that we have a 'not so good offense'...but somehow is still ranked #4 in the SEC in yards and pts per game, both categories are ahead of Mizzou. Congrats to Bama for making great halftime adjustments to get the W, but this also the same offense that lit yall up for 20 pts in the first half in BDS.

Gundy - 163-77 career @ Ok St. - 67.9% winning percentage over 19 years Jimbo - 44-25 career @ TAMU - 63.7% winning percentage over 6 years Gundy done better for longer - seems accurate

If you want a head coach to go 6-6 7-5 every season and go 2-100 against teams with a pulse but gets paid $2.5M more than Gundy, then Jimbo is your guy.

As much as it pains me to pull for Kiffin I will be cheering for the Rebs to pull the upset of the year this weekend. IF and that is a BIG IF the Vols can get out of CoMo with a W and Rebs win....Neyland the following week with the East on the line would be epic. Too bad if that happens I'll have to watch the game on mute bc ithas already been picked up by the 2:30 CBS knuckleheads.

LSU is the best offense in the country and is 6-2. Goes both ways - gotta have some sort of balance. That how I felt as a Vols fan last year - best offense in country but still went 10-2. Stuff happens. That is why UGA has been so good the past 2 1/2 years. Balance - Top defenses but also a good offenses (#3 O and #7 D this year), not lopsided like LSU this year (#1 O and #76 D) or Vols last (#1 O and #45 D).

While you are correct that the last couple games LSU's pass defense has been better, one must take into account competition. The last two games LSU has played have been against Auburn (160.9 pass ypg - 15th worst in nation) and Army (132.6 pass ypg - 5th worst in nation).

Another example would be Fulmer-Kiffin,Dooley,Jones,Pruitt - Heupel. Am I doing this right?

You consider the Texas game and Arkansas game significantly better....interesting. Sorry, couldn't help myself.

Or should I say Milton's inability to hit down the field shots, which is what he needs to do against Bama to keep defense honest and open run game up

I completely agree that the game comes down to the QB's - the annoying part is people love to pull Milton's stats from the A&M game and compare to Milroe for the season. If you put their season stats next to each other they are much more similar - though Milroe is slightly ahead. Milroe - 64.4%, 1397 pass yds, 11 TD, 4 int, 139 rush yds, 26 sacks Milton - 61.5%, 1264 pass yds, 10 TD, 4 int, 173 rush yds, 8 sacks So the gap between the two is not nearly as large as many are trying to make it out. The biggest difference is Miton's ability to hit the down the field shots (20+ yds) - he does that 4-5 times I think we have a great chance to come away with the W.

And if not for a garbage time TD with 33 seconds left in the game this would be the mighty, unstoppable Tide who scored a whopping 36 combined points against Texas A&M and USF.

Milton is definitely a much weaker spot than most Vols fans were anticipating coming into the season. While those #'s are from the A&M game, his season stats are slight more acceptable at 61.5% and 210 yds per game. I think if we can get 65% and close to his average at 210-225 yds plus close to what our run game has been averaging per game we should put ourselves in a position to have a chance at coming out the weekend with a W. Gonna be a great game though, about as polar opposite from last years game as you could get.

Donk - I would look to how the Vols run game did against A&M vs Gators since the Fla game we were missing two of our 5 starting OL, including an All SEC caliber center. When we played A&M, with a better run defense, we had no problem doing what we wanted. So I would be more concerned with your own OL and keeping Milroe upright rather that assuming your D is going to shut down our run game just bc your bama.

I have a sneaky feeling that is wishful hoping from an LSU fan who needs Ole Miss to lose before they can control their own destiny - that being said, I am hoping for a 'sneaky feeling' as well that LSU completely stomps the gators when y'all play. Assuming we can even still control our own destiny at that point in the season.

Fritz is waiting to see who will replace Dannen as AD. He is content at Tulane and would be happy staying there, but needs to make sure he has a good working relationship with the new AD. Especially with the playoff expanding to 12 teams next year he now has an opportunity to get Tulane into one of the non P5 spots available.

Well Geaux, speaking from experience last year - an elite offense can have an off game or two during the year and the question is then, do you trust your defense to win the game for you when you only put up 21 - 28 pts. From what LSU has shown so far this year, that is not a question many, if any, could answer with nay certainty. I am very skeptical on how much the defense has actually improved as of late vs the level of offensive competition they faced last week.

And yet, Cats 33 - Gators 14, with only 69 rushing yds And yet, Utes 24 - Gators 11, with only 13 rushing yds Your point being? We had a bad half of football on the road and it cost us that game. Y'all had two bad games on the road and it cost you two.

While we definitely didn't have our best day of passing on offense - and credit to A&M front 7 for causing enough disruption on pass plays to throw off Milton. I would not say that Bama's D is any better than A&M's and I am fully expecting a very similar game next week in Tuscaloosa as we had last weekend. As long as we can run the ball with some consistency and Milton and the WR's can make some more plays I think we have just as good of a chance to win this game as Bama does. I am more curious to see if we can get enough consistent pressure on Milroe all game to disrupt the flow of Bama's offense - if we can do that I think we put ourselves in a good position. But it will be a dog fight and a hostile crowd for sure - looking forward to watching a great game. Just hope for no injuries on either side and may the best team win.

Very True

Pretty sure even if LSU runs the table and wins the SEC with two losses you are on the outside looking in without getting help from a bunch of other teams. But hey, stranger things have happened.

And you lost to LSU - your point? We are both 1-1 in the SEC

@backwaterblue - Please explain to me 'more quality opponents'. You have played six games this year. One game against the No. 7 offense in the country, and they lit you up for 460 yds and 48 pts. Of the other 5 teams on your schedule, their offensive ranks are No. 71st (New Mexico), 86th (Alabama), 89th (Auburn), 111th (Arkansas) and 113th (ULM). So lets temper expecation that your highly ranked defense is shutting down offensive juggernauts. I am by no means stating Vols will be light up the A&M D on Saturday, but to assume A&M's defense is elite based on stats against 'quality opponents' is funny.

'RBs- A&M advantage' - Incorrect Vols - 231.2 ypg rushing w/ 13 TD's A&M - 144.83 ypg rushing w/ 8 TD's (w/ one more game) 'WRs- A&M has one of the best receiver rooms in the country' - May be slightly better than Vols, but a stretch to say one of the best in the country 'DL- Massive advantage to A&M' - Incorrect Vols - 4.4 sacks per game A&M - 4.33 sacks per game and both about even on average TFL per game 'Special teams- Anias Smith' - Special Teams is a push, both returners are top tier in NCAA

I'd be just fine with all those outcomes - though if the Vols could win by slightly more than a 'close one' my blood pressure would sure appreciate it