If the Hogs are 4-0 going into the Oct 3rd game in Knoxville...

[HogFanInBryant]

does this game automatically become a potential "program changing" matchup?

I'll go first...and yes it becomes the biggest game since the BCS loss to Ohio St.

Thoughts?

[MuskogeeHogFan]

does this game automatically become a potential "program changing" matchup?

I'll go first...and yes it becomes the biggest game since the BCS loss to Ohio St.

Thoughts?

It has already been said to be a potentially season changing game for both teams based on the outcome, but to compare it to a BCS level game? No.

[lahawg1]

If we are 4-0 going into Knox I have all the confidence that we will leave 5-0

[HogFanInBryant]

It has already been said to be a potentially season changing game for both teams based on the outcome, but to compare it to a BCS level game? No.

Since...not as...since...

[Hogarusa]

No
At Bama the following week will be much bigger

[HogFanInBryant]

No
At Bama the following week will be much bigger

You have to light the grill first before you cook the steak...

[TheRazorback500]

If we are 4-0 going into Knox I have all the confidence that we will leave 5-0

I'm with ya. If we're 4-0, we'll have beaten an A&M team that is IMO a lot more talented than the Vols.
It'll just continue to move our program forward.

:razorback: 

[HogFanInBryant]

I'm with ya. If we're 4-0, we'll have beaten an A&M team that is IMO a lot more talented than the Vols.
It'll just continue to move our program forward.

:razorback: 

Tenn on the road>A&M at neutral site

[MuskogeeHogFan]

Since...not as...since...

Whatever, it is not a program changing match-up and by far, it can't compare to a BCS game vs. Ohio State. That is wayyyy overplaying this game. JMO Now do we need to win at Tennessee? Of course, but the potentially program changing game for us comes the following week at Alabama for their Homecoming. Beat them in their house and that becomes a potentially program changing win. Tennessee is just another stepping stone to that game.

[TheRazorback500]

Tenn on the road>A&M at neutral site

Good point. Hopefully our experience will help us overcome our road woes.

[HogFanInBryant]

Whatever, it is not a program changing match-up and by far, it can't compare to a BCS game vs. Ohio State. That is wayyyy overplaying this game. JMO

agree to disagree...we leave Knoxville 5-0 and all the sudden everyone is worried about playing us...no matter where the game is...

[ThisTeetsTaken]

Could be the difference in a single digit win regular season and a double digit one.  Could be.

[hawgmasta]

It would be one of the bigger games of the season IMO if we started off 5-0 by knocking off one of the better teams in the east this year.

[MuskogeeHogFan]

agree to disagree...we leave Knoxville 5-0 and all the sudden everyone is worried about playing us...no matter where the game is...

Everyone is already worried about playing us. We don't need a win at Tennessee for that to occur. And you left out the part of the quote that addressed the Alabama game as being the real potential game/season changer for us. But you can refer back to what I actually said.

[bphi11ips]

It will be the fifth game.

[MuskogeeHogFan]

It will be the fifth game.

That's factual, it will indeed be the 5th game of the season.

[HogFanInBryant]

It will be the fifth game.

Yes...ummmm...yes...4-0 going into Knoxville, hoping to leave 5-0...I'm trying to find a mistake here but not seeing it...huh? 

[Svrdhd]

Yes...ummmm...yes...4-0 going into Knoxville, hoping to leave 5-0...I'm trying to find a mistake here but not seeing it...huh?

LOL, c'mon man, not supposed to play catch up in your own thread!

[OS2 (SW) Razor Back]

Program changer? The program changer occurred when we left the SWC to join the SEC.

[CFB_Fanatic]

Tenn on the road>A&M at neutral site

Meh......disagree here a bit. TAMU has more talent than Tenn and they have added Chavis to the defensive side, where they have rectruited well lately, which means Chavis will have a lot of talent to work with. TAMU will be a very tough out, even at a nuetral site.

Tenner on the other hand is still young and Butch Jones has yet to prove he can win a big game. All of his wins last year came against lesser competition, they just happened to face all the weak teams several weeks in a row at the end of the season last year, so the perception was they finished strong. Factor that in with the fact that Tenn has to go to Oklahoma 2 weeks before hand (where I think they will get smashed) and their confidence level will be down.

I think we will have a better chance to beat Tenner than TAMU, just my 2 cents.

[snoblind]

Yes...ummmm...yes...4-0 going into Knoxville, hoping to leave 5-0...I'm trying to find a mistake here but not seeing it...huh? 

Check the OP.

[31to6]

does this game automatically become a potential "program changing" matchup?

I'll go first...and yes it becomes the biggest game since the BCS loss to Ohio St.

Thoughts?

Someone's hype meter will be laying broken on the ground next to a crumpled up season program and a pool of tears.

[HOGGISHABOUTAR]

I`m damn glad we have A&M at a neutral site right now, the updated Kyle field is ridiculous, so we need to let the new car smell wear off before we go there. I think we leave stinky old Knoxville 5-0, and if so, lookout!

[HOGINTENNESSEE]

does this game automatically become a potential "program changing" matchup?

I'll go first...and yes it becomes the biggest game since the BCS loss to Ohio St.

Thoughts?

What? The game against LSU with the winner going to the NC in 2011 was a bigger game than OSU game by far.

[ZERO]

It depends if Tennessee is also 4-0. They could very well be 2-2 if they're not as advertised.

[Hogwild]

No, we would still have @Bama, Auburn, @Ole Miss,@LSU.

[jgphillips3]

Tennessee is arguably at this point an underdog to us even at home (could be different by then) so I have to say no.  Being 5-0 then beating the bully of the SEC at home in Tuscaloosa could be a Bielema program defining game though.

[duckman]

A&M is the key to a great season IMO.  We NEED that game to get rolling, we beat them and Tenner gets curb stomped then the Bama game will be a war...

[passinghog]

Vegas will have us as dogs in the game

[BenDial]

I certainly see why one might circle the game in Knoxville as bigger than A&M and one of the biggest games we've played since the BCS game. First, we haven't played a BCS game, so it's not really comparing it to the Sugar Bowl. Rather, it's comparing it all the games we've played since the Sugar Bowl.

Now stop to consider that two teams are sexy teams to talk about in the SEC- the Vaulting Volunteers and the Rising Razorbacks. This game will be billed as a contender vs. pretender match. As unfair as it may be, it's already being billed that way. The media is already hyping this matchup as two rising programs where one is going to take the next step while one will falter and stay relatively obscure, buried in the middle of the SEC.

If the Vols are still undefeated, tough task as they host Oklahoma and travel to Florida before our game, as we are, then we're looking at combined records of 8-0 and two top 15 teams. Heck, they may both be top 10.

I say all of that to say that if as big as the Tennessee game is, if we come of out of it undefeated, then the Alabama game will be an entirely different level. And it's quite possible, that if Auburn is still undefeated the following week, THAT could be the biggest matchup of the year in the SEC if the Hogs were able to leave Bryant-Denny unscathed.

[bennyl08]

I'd argue that the Texas bowl game was bigger. We lose that game, we don't have any of this offseason hype. We were a team that got lucky back to back then, went right back to losing vs Mizzou and Texas. We lose the Texas game, then beating Tenner means we rise up to where we are right now rather than rise up into the hyped actual dark horse contender.

EDIT: Of course, then one could argue, well, if we didn't beat ole miss and LSU, then there wouldn't have been the hype for the Texas game and so on and so forth. However, I'd argue that those two games weren't really hyped for us, but the Texas game was. We win that game, we have the entire offseason of people talking positively about us, we lose it, nobody is talking about us. Compare that to the Tenner game, we win that game and we launch ourselves into a team that can truly compete and isn't just rising, but risen. However, if we lose that game, we still have the opportunity to make people forget about that loss by winning the games that come after. With the Texas bowl game, there is no chance for redemption for 7-8 months.

[alohawg]

It will be the fifth game.

They all count the same.

[dhornjr1]

It would be the biggest match-up we've had since we laid an egg in Baton Rouge in 2011. We win that game and we were quite possibly playing for the national championship.

[East TN HAWG]

I tell everyone here in TN the Hogs are going to win by at least 10 points.  They look at me like I am stupid.  They really believe that they have the best DL in their history, and that Dobbs can make up for the lack of a OL.  They all want to bet me.

I've never felt this confident about a win over UT.   

[HAWG MAFIA]

I tell everyone here in TN the Hogs are going to win by at least 10 points.  They look at me like I am stupid.  They really believe that they have the best DL in their history, and that Dobbs can make up for the lack of a OL.  They all want to bet me.

I've never felt this confident about a win over UT.

Are you taking the bets?

[Porky McGee]

The biggest game since the ohio state loss was the game the next year against LSU when it was #1 vs #3 and we had a potential shot at the BCS title game if we won.

[Pork Twain]

agree to disagree...we leave Knoxville 5-0 and all the sudden everyone is worried about playing us...no matter where the game is...

Everyone is worried about playing us already.  Going into Bama and knocking them off is a much bigger game, regardless of the outcome of the Tenn game.

[HF#1]

If we beat A&M, we would likely be just outside the top 10

[hogcard1964]

If we are 4-0 going into Knox I have all the confidence that we will leave 5-0

Is there any doubt we won't be 4-0 entering that game?

[Cinco de Hogo]

I like playing Tennessee but at the end if the day it's just another SEC game.  Any one of our games against SECW opponents is more important.  Got to keep things in perspective no matter what your personal feelings are towards your opponent.

[Tortfeasor]

I said this in another thread, but TN has suffered a lot of injuries. They have 4 players out for the season and had 18 miss a practice recently due to injury. If they keep this up they may not have a team.

[chitwnhog]

Of the three games I think Tenn is the least important. We beat A&M that is gonna be big cause we haven't gotten over that hump in three years. Best Tenn the next week just builds momentum for Bama. We beat Bama and we have arrived. Program changing.

[WarPig88]

Everyone is already worried about playing us. We don't need a win at Tennessee for that to occur. And you left out the part of the quote that addressed the Alabama game as being the real potential game/season changer for us. But you can refer back to what I actually said.

I don't see anyone "worried" about playing us. I see them looking forward to playing us this year. Not because we are a cupcake, but because we are considered to be good.

We won't be surprising anyone this season. We will be taking everyone's best shot.

[HOGINTENNESSEE]

The biggest game since the ohio state loss was the game the next year against LSU when it was #1 vs #3 and we had a potential shot at the BCS title game if we won.

I agree and said the same thing about 7 posts above this one.

[NaturalStateReb]

does this game automatically become a potential "program changing" matchup?

I'll go first...and yes it becomes the biggest game since the BCS loss to Ohio St.

Thoughts?

I think it's potentially a bellwether game.  If Arkansas wins on the road against a pretty good Tennessee game in front of 100,000 screaming Volunteer fans, then I think Arkansas could be looking at a really good bowl.  A loss here isn't crippling, but with 5 conference games away from home, it wouldn't fill you with confidence about what Arkansas is going to do in those road games, especially with a follow up date at Tuscaloosa.

[Hoggish1]

does this game automatically become a potential "program changing" matchup?

I'll go first...and yes it becomes the biggest game since the BCS loss to Ohio St.

Thoughts?

It will be the biggest game of the year to that point, especially if Tenner has also won.  In that case, game day will be there.

[Porky McGee]

I agree and said the same thing about 7 posts above this one.

My bad. Missed that when I scanned this thread

[DoctorSusscrofa]

I just hope they're 15-0 going into the trophy presentation.

[threeNout]

If ?

[HOGINTENNESSEE]

My bad. Missed that when I scanned this thread

No Problem. I'm really surprised no else is bring that game up. Last game of the season we win and go to the National Title. But bigger than this UT game and bigger than the OSU game