KNOXVILLE - As Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl committee member Matt Matin watched Tennessee's 53-28 victory over Vanderbilt on Saturday afternoon inside Neyland Stadium, he couldn't help but think what it might be like to have the Vols play in the Orlando, Fla., bowl on New Year's Day.
"I think we'd love to have Tennessee," said Matin, who graduated from UT in 2002 with a degree in architecture. "Five wins in a row. A really strong team. A fan base that travels well. What bowl game wouldn't want that?"
The Citrus will be one of 34 total bowl games picking its teams one week from today, just after the six bowl games in the College Football Playoff rotation - Rose, Sugar, Orange, Cotton, Fiesta and Peach - determine their participants.
According to Matin, once the Sugar Bowl tabs its SEC participant, the Citrus would be the next bowl guaranteed an SEC school. Though UT's 8-4 record would trail both Florida and Georgia in the SEC East alone, the Vols' winning streak would be appealing, as would their continued uptick under third-year coach Butch Jones. Especially after more than 40,000 Big Orange fans were estimated to have traveled to last season's Taxslayer.com Bowl rout of Iowa in Jacksonville.
Not that every UT fan hopes the Vols spend New Year's Day in typically warm and sunny Florida.
"I'd like Charlotte (Belk Bowl) because it's close," East Tennessee resident Dean Gaylon said before the start of the Vandy game. "I'd probably try to go if they play there."
Said Zach Creasy of Knoxville: "I don't care where we go. I'd be content with any bowl. We're still building, still improving."
But if Gaylon would prefer for the Vols to bowl close to home and Creasy doesn't care, Jasper, Tenn., residents Jonathan and Lori Shoemaker are all for Matin's goal to get the Vols to the Sunshine State.
"The lowest bowl I'd like to go to is the Outback," Jonathan saidof the Tampa-based bowl, which is considered a lower-tier bowl than the Citrus. "I don't think we deserve anything less than that."
Lori Shoemaker agreed.
"We want to go to Florida," she said. "We'll definitely try to be there if they go to a Florida bowl."
Regardless of where they go, however, the entire Big Orange Nation seems to think next year will be even bigger than this year.
"I think we can win the SEC championship next year," Lori Shoemaker said.
"I definitely think we'll win 10 next year," Knoxville's Joey Humble said.
Noted Gaylon: "If you'd told me we'd finish 8-4 before the season began, I'd have been fine with that. Now I'm both happy and disappointed because we came so close to winning 10 or 11 games. We could be playing in the SEC championship game next week."
Instead, the fans all are waiting to see which teams that bowl committee members such as Matin invite to their games one week from today.
And come next year, Creasy believes the Vols' postseason plans may be in the hands of the College Football Playoff committee members instead of the bowl folks.
"I'm hoping for the SEC championship next year," he said. "We've got the team to do it."
The Vols having now won five straight this year by an average of 18.9 points per game, they may also have the team that every bowl outside the six playoff bowls would love to secure to help fill their stadium this holiday season.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com