re: Where is everyone’s confidence level being close to 24 hours from kickoff?

I'm sitting at a 5. I don't expect to win this game, but I do know that we have a shot to win. If we come out the gates and pass the ball well, my confidence will shoot up to an 8

this game relies solely on JD's ability to get the ball to the WRs

Either team could win. Mistakes make the difference IMHO.

5

I never know what to expect from this team.

Between 3 and 4.

2

Tenn is going to score points. I love our defense but this is an elite offense. We can’t expect to hold them to 14 or 17 or even 21 points.

As for us, I haven’t seen anything yet to prove that JD will throw the ball consistently. We can’t play from behind and expect to catch up in this game.

If JD steps up and takes advantage of their secondary then I think we have a chance in a shootout. If not…then we’re getting our arse kicked.

Please prove me wrong JD

1

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I am a solid 5

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You wish

3... just don't see us winning this unless we get some breaks. If Tennessee scores over 28 pts, we lose. Hope I'm wrong.

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TN will be the best team we have played this season.

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Probably. Though State appears like they’re pretty legit. Alternatively, LSU will probably be the best team Tennessee has played this season. Maybe a toss up with Florida, but they hosted them at Neyland, but have to come to Tiger Stadium tomorrow. They may beat us by 20, but I guarantee Heupel would say—and mean—that tomorrow will be their biggest test of the season so far.

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Mid-way through the season and the patterns are established.

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“are established.” Past tense. After 5 games. Close, granted, but we’re literally not yet midway through the season. Yet patterns aren’t being established, aren’t appearing to be trending toward being established, aren’t looking like they are the patterns that at the end of the season will likely have been established, “ARE ESTABLISHED.” Past tense. Already happened. Interesting.

We have a new head coach. We have a new offensive coordinator. We have a new defensive coordinator. We have all but 1 new position coach who got there just before last season began. Speaking of him, we have a completely new offensive line—all 5 new starters—including both tackles being true freshmen. We have a new quarterback, himself in a new offense. We have new running backs, a new Tight End, also a true freshman. We have a completely new defensive backfield. A new defensive scheme. Playing new LBs—Baskerville is the only one getting on the field this year who really has previously (Jones and Penn didn’t play much last year)—including another true freshman who is playing all over the field in completely different roles with completely different responsibilities. We’ve got a new strength and conditioning coach and new people at every just about every administrative position in the football ops building. We’ve even got a new kicker, replacing the greatest one in LSU history. But with all that change, after just 5 games, “the patterns are established.” Huh.

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Repeat of the 3 games we already played against teams with a pulse - SLOW start as coaches once again do not have us prepared to start the game.

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I agree that we’ve started slowly in our 3 real games this year, and it has been a problem starting in a hole. I disagree that our coaches haven’t had them mentally prepared to start, though. Football is an emotional sport and maybe the only one that emotion/adrenaline/effort can help you play better. But that can be counter productive because games last 3 1/2-4 hours, and all that energy exploded in the beginning of the game, can lead to tiring earlier than you maybe would have. I have no idea who gives the pregame speeches under Kelly, but I bet their a bit more cerebral with less screaming than they were under Les and O. I know Kelly wants them to play with a lot of emotion, but it’s got to be controlled so you’re still able to operate at your mental peak early, avoid stupid penalties, and preserve that energy you’ll need at the end of the game.

You can say they haven’t done a great job of most of those and I wouldn’t argue, but we dominated the 4th quarter of all 3 of the games we’re talking about here. FSU was more just Daniels passing and running, but against State and Auburn, our OL and RBs—2 of the perceived weakest groups on the team—physically exerted their will at the end of those games against trams they shouldn’t have been able to exert their physical will on. That’s coaching.

Another thing about our slow starts in the 3 games you allude to. The Florida Sate game was our 1st game of the season and they had already played, but I won’t even use that as an excuse. What I will suggest had a huge effect was our preseason All-SEC, probably consensus best player on the defense (if not team), poised to have an All-American type season Maason Smith tearing his ACL about 3 minutes into the game and being lost for the season. I wasn’t in the dome, but you could tell the effect that had on the team through the tv—the emotional deflation was palpable. It’d be ridiculous to think that didn’t have an effect on the play of a bunch of his 18-22 year-old brothers.

Similarly, last week against Auburn, on the VERY 1ST PLAY OF THE GAME—the opening kickoff—our guys had to watch another one of their brothers—a guy who had worked so hard to come back from injuries—suffer what appeared to be a devastating neck injury. It took 15-20 minutes to watch him get strapped to a board, put in an ambulance, and driven off, never once moving a single muscle below his head the entire time. And they had to watch that, hoping and praying for the best, but probably assuming the worst, that their teammate, their friend, their brother, may never walk again. And then then they had to go play 59 minutes and 45 seconds of game time against a huge divisional rival in their stadium. Perhaps, and I may be crazy here, but perhaps that could have affected their start to the game

There’s a bunch of other bullshite in your miserably negative post, but I’ll only touch on 1 more:

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Teams and coaching do not suddenly change at mid-season. It is what it is.

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“It is what it is.” After 5 games. In the 1st week of October. I don’t believe any coach would agree with you, or else they’d stop wasting all that goddamn time breaking down film, practicing, and not sleeping. But of course teams aren’t gonna “suddenly change,” even after only 5 games. But that’s a bullshite straw man, because nobody with any sense expects it. Even the most optimistic fan doesn’t expect Daniels to go out there and just start throwing for 400 yards every week. Coaches certainly don’t expect that or ANY sudden change 5 games in. But what they do expect is growth, getting better in all phases, communicating better, seeing young guys develop, maybe having bigger jumps in growth in some key areas, but mainly continuing to develop into a better team overall. And if you can’t see—or won’t admit—that we’re better now than we were against Florida State, then your a more miserable frick than the tone of your shite post would seem to suggest.