Jeremy Pruitt Desperately Needs A Win This Weekend Against Florida; Plus, Week 4 College Football Game Picks

It’s Pruitt-Mullen I. It’s Tennessee-Florida. And it’s an extremely important game for Tennessee’s program and Jeremy Pruitt, outsized for how early it’s happening in his tenure. It doesn’t matter. The fan base is as apathetic as it’s ever been for a new coach; there was more buzz around Derek freaking Dooley early than there is for Pruitt. They’re tired of buying into coaches and then being let down in the worst ways imaginable every single time. No more. You’ve got to prove it on the field now.

Pruitt has a great opportunity tomorrow. The Florida squad he’s facing might be the worst one he’ll play the rest of the time he’s at Tennessee; he’s at home against a team with an abominable quarterback in Feleipe Franks, flanked by a bunch of skill position guys who scare no one. The defense isn’t anything to be afraid of either. I don’t care if it’s ugly, so gross that both teams literally take a dump on the field, he has to win this game tomorrow for his own security going forward. Because beating Florida, even if it's an awful Gator team, is how you get the fan base to buy in. 

Whether they actually will is totally up in the air. The Vols are worse than I thought they’d be; there’s nothing to get overly excited about on offense (besides MAYBE Tim Jordan), the line still sucks, and none of their receivers are gamebreakers. The defense looked good against ETSU and UTEP, but couldn’t stop a nosebleed against West Virginia, the only big boy school they’ve played thus far. Sure, the Gators don’t have a QB like Will Grier, but if Tennessee can’t move the ball on offense it won’t matter how great the defense plays unless they just hold UF scoreless.

This is going to be 10-9 again like it was in 2014, when the Vols and Gators took football back to the 1910s and crapped all over themselves for three and half hours. What made it even worse was that Tennessee lost that game. If they played god awful but still won, I would've at least been able to hang my hat on that. But losing that game in that way made me feel like former Gator coach Will Muschamp pulled my intestines out through my eye balls.

You just have to win. It doesn’t matter what happens, just win. Jesus. They’ve got to start getting things turned around there at some point right? They can’t suck forever! Getting your testicles kicked in every time by Georgia, Alabama, Florida, and every other major opponent makes me physically ill. I want to believe in Tennessee football again. I hate going into every game against a quality opponent feeling like they're going to lose, and the only thing worse than that is the impending sense of dread that pops up in every big spot. “Now how are they going to blow it this time? Hail Mary? 13 men on the field? The offense goes into the toilet? They get too conservative? They just don’t show up?”

In the world of college sports, I can't think of a more disappointing university year to year than Tennessee this century. It’s like losing the 2001 SEC Championship Game as a heavy favorite to LSU





 is still hanging over this program. Think about it: since that game, Tennessee:

• Is 3-13 against Florida
• Is 3-13 against Alabama
• Is 6-10 against Georgia
• Is on their fifth different football coach
• Has a 115-89 overall record
• Has had only three ten win seasons, and none since 2007
• Has won the Eastern Division only twice
• Has won more Life Championships than SEC Championships
• Has currently lost the last game they played against each SEC opponent
• Built Brick by Brick
• Was once coached by the man in this photograph

• Had Lane Kiffin walk out on them in the middle of the night after only 13 months on the job
• Lost games in every imaginable fashion. There literally isn’t a way to lose a football game that they haven’t pulled off yet.

But it wasn’t just the football team; the basketball team has been infected with their stink too.

• Bruce Pearl, the most successful coach in school history, held a barbecue at his house, invited high school juniors (a violation of NCAA rules), lied about it, and got fired.
• During Pearl’s tenure, they blew a twenty point halftime lead to Greg Oden and Ohio State in the Sweet Sixteen in 2007, robbing the school of its first ever Elite Eight berth
• In 2010, they advanced to the Elite Eight and lost to Michigan State by a single point. This game was 8 and half years ago and I’m still not over it.
• After Pearl, they hired Cuonzo Martin, who did nothing but underachieve for three years with a team that had three NBA players on it. And when they snuck into the tournament during his last year in 2014, they made it all the way to Sweet Sixteen before losing to Michigan, thanks to a bogus block/charge call
• Then there was the one “Donnie Knoxville” year in 2015 that ended when he got a ten year show cause penalty because he was apparently pulling off stuff even worse than what Rick Pitino was doing at Louisville. Oh, I’m sorry, I forgot, Rick had no idea there were hookers on campus performing for recruits. Right… go back to getting extorted by the woman you met at Louisville restaurant and then bedded. And definitely give her $3,000 to get an abortion. Stand up guy right there, just the kind of person we need in college athletics. Just like Urban Meyer!
• Rick Barnes wins the SEC regular season in his third year, gets a 3 seed in the NCAA tournament, and then loses to Cinderella Loyola-Chicago in the second round after the game-winning shot hits every single part of the rim before going in.
• 
  

Pruitt has the entire university, athletic department, state, fan base, and baggage from all of them on his back this weekend. He can’t lose to THIS Florida team. Not now.

Onto the game picks…

#19 Michigan over Nebraska (at Michigan)

Scott Frost needs to win this game to avoid an 0-3 start at his alma mater, a circumstance that no one would’ve predicted when he took the job back in December. This will be Michigan’s first game against a legitimate opponent since Week 1 against Notre Dame. I’m not in on the Wolverines, but I’m even further out on the Huskers, who lost at home to Troy last Saturday. Ugh. Nebraska is just not a good football team.

#3 Clemson over Georgia Tech (at Georgia Tech)

The Tigers haven’t looked like one of the ten best teams in the country so far this season despite being ranked #3 and having top level talent. I still think they need to make up their mind at the quarterback position, because they’ve had no real flow on offense the first month of the season, but Georgia Tech isn’t a scary team, and their "home field advantage" isn't much of an advantage.

#1 Alabama over #22 Texas A&M (at Alabama)

I wrote on Sunday that because of Tua, this has a chance to be Saban’s best team since he got to Alabama, despite their youth on defense. The Tide absolutely took apart Ole Miss last Saturday in Oxford and had the game well in their control by the end of the first quarter. This will be a good litmus test for the Aggies and their first year coach Jimbo Fisher, but as impressive as A&M looked at home against Clemson two weeks ago, I think there’s a good chance this game could get out of hand sometime in the first half. Tua brings a big play potential to the Alabama offense that they’ve never had before; it’s just easier for them to quickly put up points. Another point of note; Saban has never lost to one of his former assistant coaches, and he blasted Jimbo last year in their only career meeting.

#2 Georgia over Missouri (at Missouri)

I picked Mizzou to win the SEC East before the season, before I had seen either of these teams play. I think the Tigers will be able to put up points on the Bulldogs, but the Mizzou defense is so awful that I don’t see any way they’ll be able to slow down Georgia. The ‘Dawgs went into South Carolina a few weeks ago, a team with a better defense than what Mizzou has, and moved the ball fairly easily and had the game under their control by the third quarter. Not breaking any news here, but Georgia is loaded. I think this game is going to be in the 52-28 range.

Iowa over #18 Wisconsin (at Iowa)

Wisconsin left such a bad taste in my mouth last week against BYU, particularly their starting QB Alex Hornibrook, who made some awful throws and really looked like he shouldn’t be directing the offense on any level higher than high school. Plus, Kinnick Stadium is weird in night games, and this 
Iowa defense is pretty good. I think this one will play out about like how the Michigan-Iowa showdown did back in 2016, when the Hawkeyes won 14-11 on a last second field goal. Just a physical, ugly game with five or six turnovers.

#17 TCU over Texas (at Texas)

With how TCU played against Ohio State last week, I’m convinced that they might be one of the best six or seven teams in the country. If they didn't shoot themselves in the foot with dumb turnovers and a poor snap on a punt, we could potentially be talking about a top ranked team right here. Texas dominated USC last Saturday, but the Trojan offense is in such disarray that they’d make Florida and Tennessee's attack look like the 2007 New England Patriots. Don’t forget that the Longhorns lost to Maryland in the first week of the season. They aren’t “back” yet. Oklahoma and TCU feel like they’re on a collision course in the Big 12 Title Game again.

#7 Stanford over #20 Oregon (at Oregon)

Another argument against Willie Taggart working at FSU; Taggart leaves Oregon after going 7-5 in his only year, and the Ducks immediately find themselves in the Top 20 again, with College Gameday coming to town for their showdown on Saturday against the Cardinal. Neither of these squads have played a good team yet, unless you want to count Stanford’s victory over USC two weeks ago (and I don’t). They'll definitely face more of a challenge from Justin Herbert and the Duck offense than they got from J.T. Daniels, Clay Helton, and the Trojan attack, but the Cardinal have had a good track record against Oregon in recent years (they’ve won four of the last six times), and whenever I don’t have a great feel for a game, I always go with the more physical team, which Stanford assuredly is. Plus, they’ll have a healthy Bryce Love back at running back after he sat out last week.

Enjoy football this weekend, and yes, Go Vols!