Tomorrow, it becomes about Georgia. That really starts tonight; Tennessee’s performance at noon today allows us to sit back and watch the Dawgs and Auburn at 7:30 PM and see what we can learn, seven days before the first measuring stick of this kind for Jeremy Pruitt’s Vols. I’m not sure there’s a bad outcome: an Auburn victory puts the Dawgs one back in the loss column in the SEC East race, while a Georgia win gives Tennessee a chance to knock off a Top 5 team for the first time since The Rally at Death Valley 15 years ago.
But while today’s outcome is still the present, for these next few hours, we should celebrate it as a bridge between what will soon become the past, and what could soon become Tennessee’s future.
Eight wins in a row, by itself, is a significant accomplishment. The Vols have only won eight in a row, appropriately, eight times in the last 35 years:
- 1986-97 (8): After a 2-5 start on the heels of the 1985 SEC Championship, the Vols won their last four, beat Minnesota in the Liberty Bowl, and started 1987 3-0 before tying Auburn.
- 1990-91 (8): Following a November 10 heartbreaker against #1 Notre Dame, the Vols secured their second straight SEC title with a 3-0 finish, beat Virginia in the Sugar Bowl, and opened the 1991 campaign 4-0.
- 2019-20 (8): Started 2-5 with a loss to Georgia State, finished 6-0 with the Gator Bowl, now 2-0 in the new year.
- 1997 (9): Between a loss to Florida and the drubbing from Nebraska in the Orange Bowl, the Vols won nine straight and the SEC title in Peyton Manning’s senior season.
- 1988-89 (10): Started 0-6, finished 5-0 in 1988, then started 5-0 in 1989 before falling to Alabama, the only blemish in an SEC title season.
- 1995-96 (11): Lost to Florida, then won the rest in 1995, finished off with the Citrus Bowl over #4 Ohio State and a #2 finish in the coaches’ poll. Started 1996 2-0 before losing to Florida again.
- 2015-16 (11): The best of times for Butch Jones: six straight after the loss to Alabama in 2015, a breathtaking 5-0 to open 2016.
- 1998-99 (14): After the loss to Nebraska to end the 1997 season, the ’98 Vols of course went 13-0 and won it all, then beat Wyoming to open the 1999 campaign before getting Alex Browned in The Swamp.
Tennessee is 2-0, not only avoiding the kind of disaster they courted at the start of last season, but putting some additional distance between themselves and the SEC East’s traditional second tier. Six of these eight straight victories have come against that group, and while the Vols dominated Missouri statistically last season, today was far more comfortable on the scoreboard.
A 23-point win is Tennessee’s best margin against Power Five competition since beating Missouri by 26 at the end of 2016. That it comes with room for improvement is even better. Connor Bazelak went for 218 yards on 10.4 yards per attempt, a day tainted by a disastrous fourth quarter interception. Tennessee’s quarterback came out firing and finished okay, 14-of-23 (60.9%) for 190 yards at 8.3 yards per attempt, one touchdown and another clean slate in turnovers. Brent Cimaglia missed a 39-yard field goal badly.
You take any win by any margin this year, and Tennessee now has eight of them in a row. Disaster avoided and consistency solidified, Jeremy Pruitt’s Vols have moved from the lowest of lows to a clear step above the teams they’ve battled too often in the last decade. That’s a job well done.
And that’s about to be the past, as it should be.
In the future, Tennessee is now 2-0 with Arkansas and Vanderbilt left on the schedule. Take care of business there, and a 7-3 finish only requires splitting the other six. With bowls clearly back in play, even a 6-4 finish could still break the right way to get the Vols to Tampa or, who knows, maybe even Orlando, putting some proof in the very strange pudding of 2020. The progress we celebrate today is also more likely to feel like progress in January now.
That’s the future.
Tonight, tomorrow, and next week, the present levels up.
He’s yet to get in a game like this as Tennessee’s head coach, but Jeremy Pruitt knows the deal:
The Vols took the long way around to games like this, but they’re here now behind eight straight wins and a mammoth offensive line. They’re here with enough talent to let a guy like Jaylin Hyatt get his feet wet instead of going headfirst into the fire. And they’re here with Jarrett Guarantano, who became Tennessee’s quarterback three very long years ago when the Vols were crushed 41-0 the last time they played in a game like this. By Georgia.
Tonight, tomorrow, and hopefully far beyond, that will be the present. Last year’s season and this year in general have taught us plenty about what you can do with assumptions, but a 2-0 start at least puts a solid, forward-progress future in play for this season.
Today, raise a glass to an eight-game winning streak and a 23-point win we can nitpick. This crew has done an exceptional job from where we were about a year ago today. They deserve our thanks and praise.
It all leads to the next, first opportunity. From the depths of Georgia State and BYU and everything else, Tennessee has won their way back to real opportunity.
Now we get to find out just how much it can be worth.
Go Vols.