South Carolina may rank fairly low in terms of rivalries for the Tennessee football program but there’s no hiding from the fact this weekend’s game in Neyland Stadium will be the biggest of the season for Jeremy Pruitt’s program in terms of reaching the postseason in the weeks to come.

Tennessee is sitting at 2-5 on the season and a win on Saturday would give the Vols a fighting chance to reach the postseason with home games against UAB and Vanderbilt to come, as well as road games at Kentucky and Missouri before the regular season comes to an end.

The biggest question mark for the Vols entering the matchup is the status of freshman quarterback Brian Maurer. The signal-caller suffered his second concussion in as many weeks Saturday night against Alabama.

The first question Pruitt faced on media during his South Carolina press conference was on the status of Maurer.

“I trust our medical staff, they are the ones that make decisions on things like that. I meet with the players — all of our players — lots throughout the week but it’s never about any kind of medical condition,” Pruitt said. “I trust our staff, right now they are still trying to determine where he is at.”

So if Maurer cannot play, which quarterback will Tennesee play?

“We’ll see how the week goes,” Pruitt answered.

Whether he knows the answer to either of those questions or not, Pruitt isn’t letting anything out at this point heading into the crucial matchup against South Carolina.