Good Ole Rocky Top - A Tennessee Volunteers Dynasty

[the red c]

Hello all and welcome to my Tennessee Volunteers dynasty! The Vols are easily my favorite college football team so I'm looking forward to the challenge of rebuilding them in the almighty SEC. The last few years have not been too kind to the Vols in real life; however, head coach Butch Jones seems to have the program headed in the right direction. In this dynasty I'll be playing as Butch, starting with year 2 and team 118. So i'll be using the 2014-2015 rosters, but I won't be simmng year 1, or 2013-2014 in the dynasty. I'm just going to play from year 1 in the dynasty with this years real life team.

I'm looking forward to reporting this dynasty on here and restoring glory on Rocky Top!

Platform: PS3
Mode: Heisman
Rosters: Operation Sports Community 2014-2015 rosters
Sliders: Jarrod21's Black Set
Gameplay Preferences: 9 min quarters, slow game speed, 0 threshold

[the red c]

Yearly Recaps & NCAA Recaps

[the red c]

Record Book and Award Winners

[the red c]

Rivalry Games

[the red c]

Alright that is all the reserved posts that I want to have. I don't know exactly how I plan to report this dynasty and progress through the seasons just yet. I plan on only playing 6-8 games each year, and I will not reporting on things outside of TN or the SEC until around week 8.

Starting in week 8 I'm going to take the fate of my virtual college football world into my own hands. I'm going to release my own "College Football Playoff" rankings starting after week 8 as I'll be closely watching the top 25 from that point on. I feel like the game does a horrible job at ranking teams at the top, so with the editor I'll be able to fix that.

So without further ado, lets get this thing started, Go Vols!

[the red c]

Utah State Aggies 0-0 @ Tennessee Volunteers 0-0

Date: Saturday, August 31st, 2013
Time: 12:00 Central
Channel: ESPN2
Description: It is the season and home opener for your Tennessee Volunteers. Coming into Neyland Stadium is the Aggies of Utah State. Can the Vols open up the season with a win?

Game Recap:The season opener for the Volunteers couldn't have been any more exciting and thrilling than it was for Vol fans. With Tennessee's lone goal of the season to reach the postseason, combined with the Vols playing in the deadly conference known as the SEC, non conference wins are a must.

But the Vols struggled early and often. Sophomore QB Joshua Dobbs got the go ahead to start over senior Justin Worley, but after three 1st half interceptions by Dobbs the youngster was benched. The senior didn't immediately provide a spark, but he did when the team needed it most.

Down 20-2, yes 20-2, starting the 4th quarter, Worley and tailback Marlin Lane led the Volunteers to an improbable comeback. The Vols would put 25 4th quarter points. Starting with a 5 yard touchdown run from Worley, then freshman wide receiver Josh Malone caught a 12 yard touchdown pass midway through the quarter. Marlin Lane added the last touchdown of the quarter with a run from 5 yards out. And finally, field goal kicker Aaron Medley would nail a 28 yarder, sending the game into OT.

It would take three overtime periods to do it, but after a missed field goal by Utah State, Marlin Lane would score his fourth rushing touchdown of the day to seize victory for Tennessee, setting a school record for rushing touchdowns in a game in the process.

It certainly wasn't pretty, and it wasn't how coach Butch Jones and the Vols drew it up in their game plan, but a win is a win and the Vols will take. Up next is a home battle with the Arkansas State Red Wolves.

Final: Tennessee 47, Utah State 41 3OT

[DrGravyBoat]

Looks good so far, following

[the red c]

Coach's Corner: Q&A with Butch Jones

Q: Coach, first off, congrats on winning a very exciting triple-overtime thriller in the season opener. Your overall thoughts on the game?

A: I thought our players did a tremendous job of staying poised and staying relentless. We talked about it all through the off season, this games about mental toughness. And our team showed great mental toughness on Saturday.

Q: Because of his performance, and Dobbs throwing 3 INTs, will Justin Worley be the starter against the Red Wolves?

A: I can't fully answer that one just yet. We made a decision to start Dobbs, but he obviously wasn't performing like a starter at the University of Tennessee should. I though he [Worley] did a great job of coming into the ball game and rallying the troops. Marlin Lane, a veteran senior, also did a great job of taking the game by running the ball with great execution. He did a great job, which led to the throwing game opening up a bit.

Q: What were you most impressed about in this game?

A: Just the fact that our team never quit. Going into the 4th quarter down 20-2, it takes a great deal of mental toughness to fight and claw back into the game. Our defense really stepped up and kept the ballgame within reach for our offense. Senior middle linebacker A.J. Johnson had an excellent game. He was a big leader for our young guys out there.

Q: Finally coach, what is the status of freshman running back Jalen Hurd? He started the game over Lane, but we didn't see much of the highly anticipated 5 star freshman in the 2nd half.

A: Hurd got a little banged up and reinjured his shoulder that he hurt in high school his senior year. It doesn't appear to be too severe just yet, but he will miss a couple of weeks. But again, we talked about it in the off season, at any given moment our players need to be ready to fill in the production. And you saw that with Marlin Lane. The senior knew exactly what he needed to do to help out this football team. This will also give our other freshman running back Derrell Scott a chance to see the field.

Key Tennessee Players against Utah State:
Justin Worley - 18-30 passing, 181 yards, 1 td, 1 int, 60%
Marlin Lane - 17 att, 106 yards, 4 td
Jalen Hurd - 15 att, 59 yards
Pig Howard - 4 att, 54 yards
Von Pearson - 6 rec, 61 yards
Josh Malone - 4 rec, 64 yards, 1 td
A.J. Johnson - 13 tackles, 4 TFLs
Corey Vereen - 3 tackles, 3 TFLs, 3 sacks