Early in the fourth quarter, a middle-aged thought occurred to me: we could leave. Tennessee was safely ahead 37-6, Kentucky showed no signs of aggression on offense, this thing was headed towards a certain finish. Fifteen years ago I was in my mid-20s, when you welcome night games. Now there are adult responsibilities to attend to, etc. We could leave.
We did not.
And I really enjoyed having different versions of that conversation at church this morning. There were more opportunities to leave early in those last fifteen years than any of us wanted. Now, every week feels like an opportunity – a gift – just to watch this team, to take it all in.
This week’s edition of that included:
Poor old Paxton Brooks, loneliest guy on the team, just tear-dropping a pair of punts inside the Kentucky three yard line. Just because we don’t do it don’t mean we ain’t good at it! Give him a chance! (…not really, but good to know it’s there when we need it!)
Doneiko Slaughter, who in 2020 started as a true freshman in game one at South Carolina, then fell far down the depth chart. The Vols continue to be thin and banged up in the secondary, here comes Will Levis, Kentucky looking to cut it to 20-13 with less than five minutes to play in the first half:
This tweet, from the always helpful SportSource Analytics:
And last, but certainly not least, Tennessee’s basketball team walking over to say hello to the Kentucky fans. Of all the is-this-an-alternate-dimension things we’ve seen in Neyland Stadium this year, this one impressively holds it own. They were greeted with the kind of response you get from a proud fanbase, frustrated and feeling it has few alternatives when you haven’t won enough recently to make a difference against the other team.
All of these things happened in game eight of this 2022 football season, just some of just one week’s worth of a season that is increasingly difficult to describe but has never been easier to enjoy.
And next, in game nine, it’s #1 Georgia vs #2 Tennessee.
On paper, we now have our second entry of the season on this list:
Highest Ranked vs Ranked Games since 1968
- 1998: #1 Tennessee vs #2 Florida State (BCS Championship) (W 23-16)
- 2022: #1 Georgia vs #2 Tennessee
- 1997: #2 Nebraska vs #3 Tennessee (Orange Bowl) (L 42-17)
- 1996: #2 Tennessee vs #4 Florida (L 35-29)
- 1997: #2 Florida vs #4 Tennessee (L 33-20)
- 1999: #2 Tennessee at #4 Florida (L 23-21)
- 2001: #2 Florida vs #5 Tennessee (W 34-32)
- 1990: #3 Auburn vs #5 Tennessee (T 26-26)
- 1995: #4 Tennessee vs #4 Ohio State (Citrus Bowl) (W 20-14)
- 1998: #2 Florida at #6 Tennessee (W 20-17 OT)
- 1999: #3 Nebraska vs #6 Tennessee (Fiesta Bowl) (L 31-21)
- 2022: #3 Alabama at #6 Tennessee (W 52-49)
Which, seen through this lens, would make this the biggest regular season game in the history of the program.
But these days are indeed new. All of those other contests took place in the BCS era or before. When Tennessee and Florida met in 1996-99 and in 2001, it felt like all or nothing, even in September. Win, and your dreams were not just available, but attainable. Lose, and the thrust of your entire season became about hoping Florida would lose twice.
Wherever Tennessee appears in Tuesday’s College Football Playoff poll, arguments about Georgia will get resolved four days later. You want to leave the Dawgs at #1 as the undefeated defending champs, fine. You like the Vols at #1 because of the resume, fine. Somebody’s going to win on Saturday.
But for the one who doesn’t, in a playoff world that we’re learning to navigate in real time together? It’s not over. And either us or Georgia wouldn’t need anything as unlikely as two mid-90s Florida losses to still get in.
I still worry about what a 12-team playoff might do to the regular season sometimes; that’s a conversation for a different day. But now, we’ll get to have it from personal experience. What last night’s win and next week’s clash would and wouldn’t mean, who knows.
But I know last night was incredible in ways that aren’t exclusively tied to being 8-0. And I know next week will be incredible in all the ways that are, no matter how many teams are in the playoffs.
Perfection is hard. And when you actually get it, like the Vols did in 1998, it becomes harder to live with anything less.
But introducing a little grace into the story – especially from the viewpoint of 15 years outside the national story – is usually a good idea.
It will not make us want to win any less on Saturday, a historic clash by any definition. But whether the loser gets in or not, I think grace helps put everything in perspective.
We’ve seen a lot in Neyland, and had plenty of notions to leave.
But stay, and you get to see the whole picture, the whole thing in motion. There is so much to take in, even more to enjoy right now. Wherever this story is headed next, the Vols are a gift.
And I cannot wait to see what they do with next week’s opportunity.
