Is Tennessee College Football Playoff CALIBER? | Vols' First Season with Nico Iamaleava

you are a graduate of the University of Tennessee Knoxville how are you feeling about Tennessee overall this year I mean win total aside the Nico era Josh hyp has another year in the system another year rather at the school to allow his system to permeate that team how do you feel Vibe wise around Tennessee heading into 2024 oh offseason it's always skyt hi JD feels like 98 going to win the SEC headed to the playoff and then that game rolls around it's oh God on to the next year you know what I mean like that that's what it is annually for Tennessee people and and I'm not quite there just yet but I'm I'm massively concerned week two they play NC State which went on a tear towards the end of last season I think that is a a tricky game that that universally Tennessee alums are just oh whatever we're gonna kill them well you know I think they're gonna be preseason top 25 can't completely Overlook that one and I the schedule makers I don't think did them any favors first conference games at Oklahoma and that's going to be Oklahoma's debut SEC game Josh hyp return to Norman I mean there's G to be so much fanfare with that football game again it it's hard for me to imagine Oklahoma losing that game with the atmosphere that that is going to be there but I'm not saying Tennessee can't beat him but but that's going to be fascinating I get it Nico there's all this hype around him but I don't know that JD that they're really going to count on him to be you know H and hooker 2.0 because one thing that that gets lost in the Josh hypo conversation is just how great his teams are at running the football and with what they had back on the offensive line I think they're going to be right there again one of the the best in the SEC rushing the football I think Tennessee has got the best defensive line in the entire SEC very talented very deep unit there now basically the rest of the defense is is a huge question mark But if you can dominate The Trenches that that'll make up for a lot of issues you have in the secondary and per perhaps that linebacker being a little bit thin so uh you know Tennessee I'm kind of they're in a weird place because I I think this time last year JD it almost universally Josh Hy was regarded as a top 10 coach in the country yeah and now I don't think anyone has him that and I'm trying to figure out what happened and I I get it they they look bad against Florida Missouri was awful they got destroyed by Georgia but nearly everybody lost to Georgia last year Missouri won 11 games in a big time B game cotton B so I think this is a big year for him is he Elite is he have have the SEC defense has figured out his scheme I don't think so but if they don't win 10 games I think that's going to be a a fair question going into 2025 as how Elite is Josh hpel the the thing that's so interesting to me based on last year was the level of Talent on the offensive side of the football to me felt drastically different than what they had had in 2022 henen hooker probably should have been a Heisman trophy finalist Jaylen hayatt won the bikov then you roll into this season and there's a lot of excitement around Joe Milton there's a lot of excitement or I guess this last season Joe Milton and Dante Thorton and what they were going to be and squirrel white and it didn't necessarily translate I think the way that a lot of us thought it would um I think Joe Milton not being mobile as as mobile as a h and hooker when it came to extending plays I think Tennessee really felt that I think having Brew McCoy go down they really felt that Dante Thorton not be healthy and hit the ground running they really felt that and so I think as bad a r as Joe Milton got in some of it is definitely on him uh this offense still scored 30 points a game and some of that you look across the the different points in the schedule they able to able to run it up a little bit more um I felt like if Josh hyp can score 30 points a game with Joe Milton at quarterback what can he do with Nico and I think what you said is on the money to to start their season if they get 4-0 those first four specifically NC State and at Oklahoma how confident is Nico how how how high is the vibe in that locker room how how high is the confidence across the team and I think if they can get to 4-0 that to me not just from a mathematical standpoint but from a trajectory standpoint I'd feel really excited and really optimistic about hitting that 10 win mark right and if you look at Josh Hy's numbers last year it was it it was the worst offense he's put on a on a field and they won nine games I mean if that's if that's the worst and you're winning nine games in this conference uh you know I think that says you're one heck of a coach and uh I believe their scoring in the SEC was like 45 points per game in conference play and then it jumped down to about 28 Joe Milton for for all the negativity I believe he threw for around 3,000 yards 25 touchdowns and maybe like five picks again these are bad numbers uh it just tells you how ridiculous offensive production hypin company are used to putting up and if they can get even close to that Tennesseee is going to make the college football playoff but uh I I can't I I they're right on that on that line will they make it I'm I'm not confident enough to say they will but I I certainly think they're going to be in the mix all season long and it's funny because with Nico like the unknown is undefeated like we think we know what he's going to be we know what he was as a recruit was the number one player in the class of 23 for us here on three and Charles power if he says someone's a big time player like I trust Charles power implicitly but when it comes to this upcoming season like I just I hope there is a little bit of patience with him as he gets his feet wet being a starting quarterback in college football it's one of the reasons why I was glad that he didn't play last year quite honestly because I think there is such a thing as playing too early when it comes to what he brings to the table you mentioned the Run game I think what he does with his legs we saw it in the bow game against Iowa the designed quarterback run game I think looks different him ad living when he breaks contain and scrambling for eight yards on second and seven I think that looks different and as another element to the offense that they didn't really have last year even extending plays I mean you you cover squirrel white for two to three seconds you know good good for you you cover him for four or five I don't know if I believe you if you're telling me you're going to do that consistently so that's that's fascinating uh Mike when we talk about like what success looks like for Tennessee in 2024 is it college football playoff is it 10 wins if they win 10 but don't make the cfp do we feel some type of way what is like the line of demarcation in your mind where you're like if this happens Tennessee fans we can live with it for the better part of the off season I and I think it's going to be this way for about half the conference which is uh you know I think these coaches are going to be upset with their fans but it it's playoff or bust and I again I think that's for half the half the conference and obviously we know half the conference is not going to make the college football play it'd be good for my business if they did but uh realistically four five maybe six and I I think six is really stretching it five may even be stretching it but I I think that is that is the expectation across uh the SEC heck I said half it may be even more I mean it may be about 10 teams expect to get there and a lot of fans are going to get disappointed annually unless we uh go to 14 16 18 hey and who's to say we're not going to that here in the near in the near future I see the see the N tournament talking about expanding the March Madness I'm like are we sure that's are we we want to do okay it's I get it it'll make money you do do what you want to do but I wonder uh that's a whole other show in itself mik we could definitely uh we could go down a rabbit hole on the uh on the playoff structure but I'm with you I think when you open up the field to 12 teams and how good the SEC is and how good I think a lot of these rosters are like yeah okay we are one of the top 12 teams in America or we expect to be and if we're not you know we got some problems hey y'all thanks so much for watching subscribe to the channel here to make sure you don't miss an episode of the hard also be sure to check out other videos on the Onre YouTube channel