Vols site predicts North Texas game

Harry · June 24, 2015

There shouldn't be very much bite in the North Texas Mean Green when they come to Knoxville in mid-November.
After the Vols run the gauntlet of their schedule and before they travel to Columbia, Missouri, for a huge late-season game, the contest against North Texas will be a welcome respite.
Last year, North Texas coach Dan McCarney had to replace his quarterback, leading rusher, two leading receivers, starting tight end, six members of his defensive front seven and a free safety from a nine-win season. Predictably, the Mean Green didn't fare well, going 4-8.
There are still plenty of issues—most notably at quarterback, where UNT returns all three shaky signal-callers from a season ago, led by Andrew McNulty. Josh Greer and Dajon Williams also could see snaps.
The team is going to be a veteran squad, but how much of that is a good thing considering how bad the Mean Green were a season ago? There are still numerous gaping holes, and they shouldn't have anywhere near the talent that the Vols will possess.
Much of their all-conference talent from a season ago is long gone too.
The thoughts of Joshua Dobbs, Jalen Hurd and Alvin Kamara running through UNT's defense lend this to being a late-season stat-padding game, but offensive inefficiency is really where McCarney's bunch will struggle.
This game won't be close.
read more: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2504012-power-ranking-tennessees-2015-schedule-from-easiest-to-toughest/page/3

97and03 · June 24, 2015

I hate to agree with a totally biased and random post like that, but...

Harry · June 24, 2015

On a positive note, they do predict us to be a tougher game than the juggernaut that is Western Carolina (The Catamounts?).

jdennis82 · June 24, 2015

The Tennessee game really intrigues me. Obviously, there are more important games - beginning with the first two vs SMU & Rice, but there may not have been a bigger "opportunity" game on our schedule in the last few years.

Tennessee is getting a lot of pre-season buzz. They're commonly found in the back half of publications' post spring rankings and their QB is considered a Heisman darkhorse
We do get them between two SEC games (S.Car & Mizzou), so the "overlook" factor is expected
NT will have previously experienced the Power5 road game experience of visiting Iowa City so hopefully the early game jitters that sometimes causes a slow start will be muted.

If Tenn pays off on the buzz and NT finds a QB early in the year, the "opportunity" to make CFB waves with a Knoxville W could be enormous.

Edited June 24, 2015 by jdennis82

MeanGreenTexan · June 24, 2015

We'll stand more of a chance @Kinnick than we will @Neyland. Those two teams squared off against each other in this year's Tax Slayer Bowl. TN was up 42-7 at the end of the 3rd quarter, and the score reflected the game well. Iowa looked like they did not belong on the same field.

To top that, Iowa lost a LOT of really good players this year. Tennessee is on the up-&-up with Butch Davis at the helm. Don't expect another Fry-era win against Tennessee.

BillySee58 · June 24, 2015

We'll stand more of a chance @Kinnick than we will @Neyland. Those two teams squared off against each other in this year's Tax Slayer Bowl. TN was up 42-7 at the end of the 3rd quarter, and the score reflected the game well. Iowa looked like they did not belong on the same field.
To top that, Iowa lost a LOT of really good players this year. Tennessee is on the up-&-up with Butch Davis at the helm. Don't expect another Fry-era win against Tennessee.

Butch Jones. You'd be surprised, or maybe not, at how many times that mistake gets made.

meangreen15 · June 24, 2015

"There are still plenty of issues—most notably at quarterback, where UNT returns all three shaky signal-callers from a season ago, led by Andrew McNulty. Josh Greer and Dajon Williams also could see snaps."

This tells you everything you need to know about Bleacher Report.

MeanGreenTexan · June 24, 2015

Butch Jones. You'd be surprised, or maybe not, at how many times that mistake gets made.

Good catch... and hey, if it can happen to me, it can happen to anyone.

untjim1995 · June 24, 2015

All i want from this game is to have no injuries and for the check to clear...we have no business playing Tennessee or any other southern P5 powerhouse right now, except for funding--which is business, I guess...

Edited June 24, 2015 by untjim1995

Harry · June 24, 2015

As usual our timing stinks. Had we caught Tennessee in the last 3 years they would be as down as they have been. This season everyone is predicting them to be pretty damn good.

untjim1995 · June 24, 2015

As usual our timing stinks. Had we caught Tennessee in the last 3 years they would be as down as they have been. This season everyone is predicting them to be pretty damn good.

You are exactly right. Our 2013 team probably could've beaten them, since we gave Georgia a game for 3+ quarters.

2013's team was probably our best team since the Fry era, both from a size standpoint and roster talent. 2003 would be close, too, but I'd take McCarney over Dickey in the coaching battle.

Edited June 24, 2015 by untjim1995