Is This Finally Rock Bottom? Maybe? Probably Not?

Wow, well that sucked. I would say this is rock bottom, only that I’ve said that and felt it about a million different times only to see this program find that place again or even worse, sink lower. To show up and get blown off the field by Vanderbilt FOR THE THIRD YEAR IN A ROW would’ve been incomprehensible to any Vol fan ten years ago. General Neyland has to be rolling in his grave right now.

Yesterday I talked about how Jeremy Pruitt had done a good job despite the circumstances and how he had given Vol fans hope. After today though? I don't feel any of that. Today was an embarrassment. 

Here’s some fun stats: in the 57 years from 1955-2011, Tennessee lost to Vanderbilt five times. In the seven years since then, they've lost to them five times. Five times! Good god.

Here’s the Vols records against SEC opponents since 2007 (their last appearance in the SEC Title Game)
Alabama: 0-11

Florida: 1-10

Georgia: 3-8

Vanderbilt: 6-5

Missouri: 2-5

Kentucky: 9-2

South Carolina: 4-7

Auburn: 1-3

Ole Miss: 1-2

Mississippi State: 1-1

LSU: 0-3

Texas A&M: 0-1

Arkansas: 0-2

Incredible. They’ve got two winning records against all the other 13 SEC opponents in an 11 year span. They’ve only been to five bowl games, finished with a winning record four times, and are an abominable 28-60 in conference play since the start of 2008. Wow.

The offensive line is just as bad now as they were at the beginning of the season, Jarrett Guarantano looks like he’s reached the point of no return due to the amount of hits he’s taken, the defense is atrocious and can’t tackle, and the entire fan base has been trolled into oblivion so much the last decade that they think the Vols would have a better chance to win if Keller Chryst, who was damn train wreck last week against a horrible Missouri pass defense, took the field and started playing. Come on guys. This roster is atrocious. Guarantano doesn’t have a chance to be successful out there. And no, he’s not the second coming of Peyton Manning, but he’s won games in this conference. Acting like he’s the biggest problem and the reason they got beat today ignores the fact that he was under assault the entire game and most of the time had less than half a second to throw. I’m totally open for a new quarterback next season, but I don’t think they would’ve been any better today with any other QB on the roster. I don’t care about Chryst getting playing time either because his last game in this program was today and we’ll never hear from him again. So what’s the point of throwing him out there today? So maybe they’d lose by three touchdowns instead of 25 points? Come on guys.

Jeremy Pruitt has a ton of work to do. They might need 22 new starters. Great, they’ll have the whole offense back next season… why is that a good thing? This unit can’t block, there’s hardly any explosive plays, the quarterback gets clobbered nine million times a quarter…

Tennessee, and I hate to say this, but they might not ever get it figured out. I don’t want to hear about how great the facilities are or how much fan interest we have. You know who else has passionate fans? Nebraska, and they’ve been slogging around like the Vols have for almost two decades now. 

And if I see another damn hype video... you know what really sucks? Putting out hype video after hype video after hype video and then losing to freaking Vanderbilt by 25 points.

This has been the worst run major athletic department in the entire country this century, and the programs around them have only gotten better. Tennessee used to go into South Carolina and get a ton of players; now those guys all go to Clemson because the Tigers are a kick-ass program with an elite coach in Dabo Swinney who has put up a fence around the state. They used to go to Georgia and get players too; good luck with that now with Kirby Smart recruiting the hell out of it in Athens. Nick Saban has a dynasty going in Alabama for the foreseeable future, Texas A&M just paid a ton for a national championship-winning coach in Jimbo Fisher, and Florida has a more proven guy than what the Vols have in Dan Mullen. 

The schedule will be tough again next year with the Vols already behind man of the programs their fans want them to beat every season. They aren’t going to go into Alabama next season and win. We all know this. They’ve only won twice in Gainesville since 1971; I doubt they’ll be able to reverse that next year. Georgia comes to Knoxville, but they’ll have a loaded roster and a three year starter at quarterback. Sounds like another loss. South Carolina? Tennessee should’ve beaten them this year, but didn’t, and Will Muschamp is 7-0 against the Vols. And then who knows about Vanderbilt? Apparently that’s a hard game for Tennessee now.

My god. I don’t even know why I continue to watch this crap. Or root for it. They’ve been a disappointment most of my life. They always come up small and they’re an embarrassment. It’s torture.

Can’t wait to go 5-7 again next year!