A community of reasonable fanatics.
Tennessee’s five-year strategic plan for the athletic department was released 11 months ago. In the “competitive excellence” section, the plan calls for the Vols to earn the top Director’s Cup finish in the SEC, and for each sport to strive for a Top 16 finish nationally. Tennessee just won the […]
Lady Vol softball went through Alabama 10-5 yesterday, opening the Women’s College World Series with a bang. Up next: the two-time defending national champs from Oklahoma, who boast an average 57-1 record this season. The two met last season, with Oklahoma winning deep into extra innings. The Sooners carry all […]
A couple of years ago when we lived in Virginia and Mississippi State was making its way through the College World Series, someone in our church asked what we thought about the Bulldogs as Tennessee fans. I’ve used that conversation to highlight the importance of change in SEC football scheduling: […]
We could get some news from Destin next week on the 2024 SEC football schedule, with the long-awaited debut of Texas and Oklahoma in the league. Everything in college football, from the expanded playoff to the return of the video game, is headed toward change one year from now. Both […]
Tennessee’s sports calendar never really ends, which is great when you’re good at everything. Softball hosts their regional this weekend, while baseball is at South Carolina, trying to play their way into hosting theirs. The hope is both teams give us the chance to watch them play into the month […]
Something I find myself saying a lot – and will continue to do so joyfully – is that the 2022 team is best understood not just in how they left the wilderness, but that they found the promised land. It wasn’t just the first time in 15 years the Vols […]
Last May, when Tennessee baseball was on its historic tear, we started looking at how hard it is to win an SEC Championship. When a team was making it look as easy as that group was, you can forget that the Vols had just four league titles in the five […]
Tennessee tied its second-best mark with five players taken in the first three rounds of the NFL Draft last weekend. The 2023 draft class joined 2007, 2002, 1998, and 1992 at that mark, trailing only the 2000 draft class with a boatload of players from the 1998 national champions. That […]
When I was a kid, I watched the NFL Draft from almost start to finish every year. And the only reason why was the Vols: nine players selected in 1991, nine again in 1992. Even when the draft was shortened to seven rounds, the Vols put 14 names on the […]
Plug in the win total machine and what do you get? A fitting 8.65 expected regular season wins for the Vols in 2023. That would make 9-3 our most expected outcome this fall. We’ve been running this thing since 2017, making this easily the highest total we’ve seen in terms […]