Palmetto Proving Grounds

man i miss those!

Excellent.

May be easier to read on blog, but here's c & p

Dedicated to UT-K: While I am loyal to The Big Spur as a home board, I do wander over to the main board at Rivals. I must say, I am very disappointed at how terrible our posters are there in general. Guess that's because most are on the Big Spur now. Nevertheless daily there are a dozen trolls by Clemson and UT-k fans , and any gamecock with half a brain can put them in place. I'm here to help those who can't say anything more than we beat you.

The Vol fans are in particular very annoying. Reading their posts you would think they have won the East the past 5 years running and are a power. Fact is they are irrelevant at this point. Here's what I have heard the most, as far as excuses, and why they will be so much better;

* Tyler Bray was lost for half the season as well as Justin Hunter
* They were young, 19 players returning
* Their running game will be improved with Marlin Lane over Tyrone Poole
* The best receiving core in the nation with Hunter, Rogers and JUCO Patterson
* Within a td almost every game at halftime(congrats there)

Well lets dig into the numbers a bit. We will start in 2011 team stats;

Because UT-K didn't qualify for a bowl game and finished with a losing record for the third time in 5 years(yes, no true junior or down, the majority of UT-Ks roster has ever been a part of a winning season) they only had 4 out of conference games. Boy they took on some tough ones too. Battling the likes of MTSU, Montana, Buffalo, and Cincinnati. Let's be honest, if that was a college hockey schedule, it would be far more impressive.

Tennessee scored 152 points in those 4 games. They were their 4 highest regulation scoring games of the season(they scored 27 with a td in overtime vs Vandy, their signature win for the year) That's an average of 38.0 points per game. Not bad, but we do have to take the competition into consideration.

Tennessee played twice as many games in the SEC, undoubtably the premier conference in the country on their way to squeaking out a lone, fluke OT victory vs Vandy. In their 1-7 SEC campaign, UT-K scored a total of 86 points, or 10.7 points per game. This number was highly inflated by offensive explosions of 23 vs UF and 21 vs Vandy(regulation scoring) In 5 of 8 games, UT-k was held to a TD or less, highlighted by a 3 point performance versus SC(believe that was set up by a long fumble return), in 6 of the 8 games UT-k was held under two td's. Yes 75% UT-k couldn't get two td's, and only twice did they hit that magical 20 point number. Explosive and scary I tell you

This obviously was because Tyler Bray was hurt, and much of the SEC stats were based on Bray being gone, right? We all know he is the best qb ever to walk the planet.....

Tyler Bray started in 7 games, going 4-3 (1-3) with wins over Buffalo, Montana, Cincinnati and the signature overtime win vs Vandy,

In his 3 non conference games, Tyler was outstanding. Shredding those teams up like they were inferior opponents. He combined to go 72-95 for 1,042 yds, 11 td's 0 Int. That's an average of 24-32 for 349 yards and 3.7 td's. A 76% completion percentage, a 11/0 TD/Int ratio, a 14.4 ypc an outstanding 10.97 yards/pass attempt. Pretty Heisman like if you ask me.

In his 4 conference games(he missed the 3 top 5 defenses on schedule with SC/LSU and Bama, so these numbers are inflated for him) Tyler was more human going 75-151 for 1,032 yards, 6 td's and 6 Int's. Remember, he missed by far the top 3 defenses in the league. That equals to game average basis of 19-38, for 258 yards 1.5 td's, 1.5 ints. Completion percentage of a paltry 49.7%, ypc of 13.76, ypa of 6.83 and a td/int ration of 1.0.

So, Tyler Bray vs;

Three of the worst OOC games ever scheduled: 72-95 for 1,042 11 td's 0 Int 76% comp, 10.97 ypa

Four of the SEC's middle or lower defenses: 75-151 for 1,032 6 td's 6 int's 49.7% comp 6.83 ypa

Imagine how bad those numbers would have been playing 3 of the top 5 defenses in the country in LSU/Bama and South Carolina?

Justin Hunter:

It truly is hard to gauge how much of an impact he would have had. Kid has been explosive, even more so than Bray against bad teams, but against SEC teams, a different story. He was averaging about 150 ypg vs the dogs on the out of conference cupcake schedule UT-K took. He has yet to do what AJ Green, Alshon Jefferey, Greg Childs, and Julio Jones have done recently, and that is dominate a season in the SEC against the nations best. In fact, he has yet to dominate more than a single game and that was versus the SEC's worst in 2010, Ole Miss. That was an outlier as he has 3 catches for 114 yards and 2 td's. He had one more 100 plus game vs UGA, and I believe that was due to an 80 yard td where a pass was broken up to Da'rick and landed in his hands for a gift.

So far, the great Justin Hunter has played in 9 SEC games(a little more than 1 full seasons worth. In those games he has 13 total catches for 348 yards and 5 td's. 3 times he has been held to no catches (SC, Bama and Uk) 2 more times 1 catch (LSU, UF) and one time he reached 4 catches(UGA)

Clearly those numbers don't scream elite, they shout #3 WR

Da'Rick:

The poster child of what you don't want your child to grow up to be, well he shares it with Plunger boy and Jansen. There's nothing you can't do to get kicked off UT-k if you can play a little ball, and they prove it over and over. Here is their most productive player against real competition. I'm getting bored as this is too easy, so you may see these getting shorter....

In the Cupcake OOC: Da'rick had 517 yards receiving and 5 td's in 4 games
Against 8 SEC schools: Da'rick had 520 yards receiving and 3 td's in 8 games

3 times Da'Rick was held under 40 yards without a score in SEC play (SC, LSU, Vandy) Twice he broke 100 yards (Vandy/Ark)

Average against OOC Cupcakes: 128.ypg and 1.25 td's
Average against SEC Teams: 65 ypg and .37 td's/game

Marlin, the Savior:

This one is too comical to really post, so I will be really brief:

In 8 SEC games Marlin had 41 carries for 222 yards No TD's, compare that to SC true freshman and 4th string running back who came in after injuries to Marcus Lattimore, Shon Carson, and Kenny Miles to start a few games in the height of SEC season 107 carriers for 486 and 3 td's. Now with Mike Davis coming in, looks like Marlin could compete for the 6th spot on Carolinas depth chart for a reference to how good he is

But, but there's Cordelle:

Yeah he is a monster, but can he play? We shall see, the kids from the Rock usually do ball out, but if you are planning on a JUCO receiver to walk in and be all american, good luck.

So what do we all know?

Tennessee has had some rich tradition, as recently as the 90's they were elite. right when these kids were being born and going through toilet training, learning to walk, rob gas stations and plunger rape their cousins(in some cases)

There is no player on UT-K's roster that has been on more winning teams at UT-k then losing.
There is no player on UT-K's roster that doesn't have a losing record vs USC
There is no player on UT-K's roster that had anything to do with UT-K's rich, and getting distant, past.

Thanks fin, great piece...yunno some have loads of posts a day all about themselves and others like you wisely reserve your fingertips for good reading material and opinion

Anything Gamecock related?

Not much of a fin fan?

Thanks Fin! Great perspective.

Good read and insight.

Regardless of who/what came first, you devoted like a month to discrediting him here...and at least when I was over there 3-4 years ago, devoted a lot of time to being a jackass.

That said, not really enjoying a statistical breakdown of a crap team in our division.

geez...........bedtime

True. I just don't know why someone would visit a website and/or read things that they know will make them agitated and disgusted. I don't go over to the Oprah Message Boards and click on threads about menstruation and heavy flow days. It's not really my bag but I don't criticize and whine about the people who do post on the internet about their menstrual cycle.
So why would someone voluntaritly go to TOS MB and cry about trolling/flaming/idiocy? It's like a preacher going to Mardi Gras and saying the people there suck because they are immoral.
JMO IYAM FWIW

You mad stevey?