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Tennessee Volunteers football news, information, commentary, and analysis. Gameday on Rocky Top is a community of reasonable fanatics all sharing a passion for Tennessee athletics. Scores, game previews and recaps, and more, all often with a touch of humor.
In basketball, Tennessee just finished as the number one defense in KenPom, their third consecutive Top 5 finish there. Outside of how the 2023 Vols looked night-to-night due to injuries, the real question there was about the gap between offensive and defensive efficiency. How good do these teams need to […]
Some years you get pretty good clarity on who the best team is, and last night will certainly qualify for Georgia. As back-to-back champs, it has essentially always been them this season. I always try to view these things through the eyes of, “What helps Tennessee most?” – the Dawgs […]
(I do love this photo.) The two biggest questions coming into the Orange Bowl surrounded Tennessee’s uncertainty at quarterback and on defense. Both looked great against Vanderbilt, but Clemson – both by virtue of its #7 ranking and its name – would be another test entirely. In winning 31-14, both […]
So here’s the thing: I’ve never actually written about a Good Football Team before. (For reference: I wrote from 2009 to 2017 or so, give or take a few months. I think. Memory is hazy these days.) Sure, you could argue the first half of Tennessee’s 2016 was a good […]
There is, on one hand, a finality to bowl games. The story of your season is now closed, the aftertaste settling in. And even a top-tier bowl’s ability to endure on its own merits will soon pivot hard to the 12-team playoff, where a game like #6 Tennessee vs #7 […]
It’s still wild to me, and quite a pleasure, to be typing “Orange Bowl Preview” into that box up there. The incredible ride of this football season makes its final approach tomorrow night, already secure in our hearts, ready to bridge the gap into next year. For an encore, the […]
When your guys don’t win or make the podium for these national awards despite compelling and obvious arguments, you learn to look elsewhere for validation. And while I can’t promise all of my 25-year-old thoughts on the Heisman Trophy are entirely healthy, I do think it’s the better option overall. […]
Congrats to longtime friend of the blog birdjam, who takes home our regular season pick ’em prize by a healthy margin. His 2,181 confidence points earned first place by 54 points over PAVolFan in a hotly contested battle for second place. Also, shout out to birdjam, cnyvol, spartans100, and aaron217, […]
The most important work this season is already done: the Vols are back in the championship chase, and would be preparing for round one as we speak in a 12-team playoff, soon to become the clear answer to a season’s success. A job well done earns additional rewards: this team […]
When Tennessee beat LSU, we wrote this about the week to come: You can think whatever you want about “back”; that’s a question we already learned we can’t really even answer until the entire story of this season has been written. This team has skipped so many steps in this […]