Tennessee football: When will the Vols win another SEC game?
By Dave Hooker
Published:
Tennessee likely blew their chance to become bowl eligible after getting hammered by Florida 47-21 on Saturday. The startling way in which the Vols lost to the Gators has to make one wonder if they can even win a conference game this season.
UT wasn’t supposed to lose to Florida by 26 points, which resulted in their 10th consecutive SEC loss, extending a program record for futility. The game was supposed to be close, as evident by the 4.5-point spread. It wasn’t. The lopsided affair makes one wonder if the Vols’ eventual record will be worse this season than when UT was historically bad by going 4-8 last year. Is 3-9 a possibility? Certainly. Winning five games should now be the goal — and that might be a bit hopeful.
It’s reasonable to go ahead and chalk up the next four games as losses. The Vols play at Georgia and Auburn before they host Alabama then travel to South Carolina. Short of a monumental upset, there’s no reason to think the Vols can win any of those games. Sure, stranger things could happen, but it doesn’t look to be likely. Georgia, Auburn and Alabama are all thought to be in the hunt for an SEC title and the College Football Playoff.
South Carolina seems like the most winnable contest. The Gamecocks looked quite beatable when they lost to Georgia 41-17. However, South Carolina bounced back on Saturday with a 37-14 win over Vanderbilt. That would have been nothing to brag about in past years. However, Vandy is 2-2 with a 22-17 loss at Notre Dame on their record. That’s more impressive than anything UT has done this season and the ‘Dores just got trounced by the Gamecocks.
If they Vols lose all four, they’ll be 2-6 overall and 0-5 in the SEC.
After playing South Carolina, the Vols will host Charlotte. That should be an easy win. Well, at least one would think. Then it’s back to the SEC.
Tennessee will play Kentucky and Missouri at home then Vanderbilt on the road to close the regular season.
Does anyone see a guaranteed win in that trio of games? Home field helps, in theory, but the Volunteers haven’t won a home SEC game since November of 2016.
Kentucky is 4-0 and just hammered Mississippi State 28-7, which was previously ranked No. 14 in the nation. Missouri is 3-1, has one of the best quarterbacks in the nation and one of the better offenses in the SEC. It’s very likely the Vols will be underdogs in every remaining SEC game they play this season unless things change drastically.
If there is any pending drastic change in UT’s program, it seems more likely that it would be bad than good. It doesn’t appear that all of Tennessee’s players — or even a majority of them — have bought into first-year head coach Jeremy Pruitt’s system. Either that, or they’re not physically or mentally able to change philosophies in just one season.
One would think the Vols would be getting better at this point in the season, that players would be tougher and better conditioned given the changes to UT’s strength and conditioning program. One would think the Vols would be better acquainted to Pruitt’s new defense and offensive coordinator Tyson Helton’s new offense. It doesn’t look like it.
As depressing as it might seem, the Vols seem to be getting worse.
There was no shame in losing to West Virginia 40-14 in Pruitt’s debut. The Mountaineers were thought to be contenders for a Big 12 championship during the preseason. They’re 3-0 and No. 12 in the nation. Will Grier is a Heisman contender. The Vols hammered ETSU 59-3 as they should have, but then were incredibly average in a 24-0 win over UTEP. And as for the Florida game, well that speaks for itself.
The Vols had never lost every conference game in a season in its history — until the 2017 season. Now, Tennessee could do that two seasons in a row.
The streak is at 10. It started with the loss to Vandy in 2016. The Vols’ previous record for most consecutive conference losses was 8, in 2011-2012. With seven SEC games remaining, it’s reasonable to think the Vols could more than double that previous mark for consecutive conference losses. That’s not a good first year for any coach.
Dave Hooker started covering Tennessee in 1998. He hosts an SEC radio show out of Chattanooga and covers the SEC for Saturday Down South.
