Tennessee was not expected to win Saturday at Florida, but losing worse than expected did not do Volunteers head coach Jeremy Pruitt any favors. A prominent national columnist is now predicting that before the 2019 season ends, UT will have a new head coach.

Yahoo! Sports columnist Pete Thamel has jumped on the “Philip Fulmer will takeover for Jeremy Pruitt” bandwagon, an idea SDS readers are familiar with. In his Sunday column, Thamel rehashes a history of Fulmer’s alleged “backstabbing” (pre- and post-Fulmer’s tenure as Tennessee head coach) before getting to his thesis that the athletic director will take over as UT’s head football coach:

Someone get embattled Vols coach Jeremy Pruitt a Kevlar vest and tell him to watch his back. It only makes sense that Fulmer is going to cover up his own administrative failings to pull off one final machete through the spine and take over an utter disaster of his own creation.

If history is any guide, expect Fulmer to begin lining up to take over as the head coach in Tennessee in the next few weeks. Pruitt’s Vols dropped to 1-3 after getting hammered by Florida on Saturday, 34-3, and are almost assured to start 1-6 and won’t be favored until, likely, Nov. 2 against UAB.

As you can see, Thamel doesn’t hold back or sugarcoat anything. One column isn’t going to lead to any changes at Tennessee, but normalizing the idea in the national media won’t help Pruitt’s seat cool down any time soon. As Thamel writes, with UT 1-3 and facing a three-game stretch of Georgia, Mississippi State and Alabama, 1-6 is looking more likely than not.

Thamel’s full column can be read here.