University of Tennessee football coach Butch Jones answers questions from media at the University of Tennessee Football Media Day Thursday, July 31, 2014, in Knoxville, Tenn.KNOXVILLE - Without hesitation, Butch Jones conveyed his confidence.
His Tennessee football team had just completed a week that began with the suspension of two defensive players amid an investigation into an alleged rape and sexual assault and ended with Saturday night's 29-21 loss to No. 19 Missouri, and for his second season as coach to end in a trip to a bowl game, the Volunteers must win at Vanderbilt next Saturday.
A young team that's shown plenty of fight all season will have to do it again one more time with everything on the line.
"They'll pick themselves up," Jones said Saturday night. "I think you saw it today. This is a resilient group of kids. We started seven true freshmen in an SEC game versus a team that may very well represent the Eastern Division (in the SEC championship game). This is a resilient group. They take pride in their performance. They bring it every day.
"Hopefully our fans are proud of what they see in terms of their work ethic. There's a never-give-up (attitude). We could have folded again there, and we're fighting, scratching and clawing for those onside kicks twice. I love our kids, and they're resilient."
It's an interesting component of a team whose season looked doomed following a humbling 34-3 loss at Ole Miss in mid-October. The Vols wouldn't even be playing for a bowl bid if they hadn't rallied from a 14-point deficit in the final minutes of an overtime win at South Carolina to start November.
Tennessee head coach Butch Jones shouts to field judge Blake Parks during the Vols' 29-21 loss to the Missouri Tigers on Nov. 22, 2014, at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville.Tennessee was there again against Missouri, too, scoring a late touchdown and two-point conversion and nearly recovering the ensuing onside kick a second time after the first attempt was negated due to a debatable offsides penalty.
"We have great leadership on this team," freshman safety Todd Kelly said. "We played for the seniors. This was senior night, and we hate that they went out with a loss, but at the same time, we still have one game left to make it all right. I think the senior leadership and the young guys wanting to win for the older guys is probably what definitely motivates us."
Tennessee's offense will have to get back on track after Missouri stifled it by winning the battle at the line of scrimmage with its defensive line, while the Vols defensively have to get back to cutting down on big plays and getting off the field on third downs.
Of course, it shouldn't be too difficult to do against a 3-8 Vanderbilt team that's coming off a 51-0 pasting at Mississippi State on Saturday night.
Still, all the pressure in Nashville next week will be on Tennessee.
"It's do-or-die, it's win-or-go-home," safety Brian Randolph said. "Hopefully it won't take much motivation for us to get up this week. We all have one goal, and that's to send our seniors out on a good note and make it to a bowl game."
In 2011, Tennessee faced a similar situation, where a win at lowly Kentucky would have sent them to a bowl game in Derek Dooley's second season.
You all know how that one turned out.
"It's for our sixth win and to become bowl eligible," quarterback Josh Dobbs said. "The seniors deserve to go to a bowl game. Our goals are at stake this week, so we've got to come ready to play."
Midway through his postgame meeting with the media, Jones turned a question about how a few plays can determine a game into an energetic mini-rant about the season's 12th and final game.
"Hey, we've got one game, and we've got a lot to accomplish with this football team," he said. "We're not gonna hang our head. Shoot, some people never even thought we'd be playing for a bowl game the last game of the year. We've got a lot of positive things goings on.
"It hurts, it's disappointing -- I'm ready to go back to work right now, and so is this football team, because we've got a lot to play for this week. ... That's it."
Adding fuel to the matchup for Tennessee, is Vanderbilt's two-game win streak in the series. The Commodores won just twice (1982 and 2005) in the previous 36 meetings prior to wins against the Vols the past two seasons under coach James Franklin, who is now at Penn State. Vanderbilt hasn't beaten Tennessee in three consecutive seasons since the 1920s.
"I hated it," said Vols linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin, who's from Clarksville, Tenn. "I'm from Middle Tennessee, so when I go home, I've got to see that black and gold everywhere, and I hate it. We won't let that happen this week."
It can't if Tennessee wants to reach its primary goal for the season.
"We've got to come out and play our hearts out," Reeves-Maybin said. "We've got one game to get to a bowl game. The program hasn't been in a while, and we've got to get the job done."
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.