KNOXVILLE - You couldn't blame Jalen Reeves-Maybin for basking in the moment after he and his Tennessee teammates accomplished something that hadn't been done in the program in nearly a decade.
You also wouldn't fault the junior linebacker for wondering, even in the immediate aftermath of the Volunteers putting the finishing touches on an 8-4 regular season, what might have been.
Not long after these Vols became the winningest Tennessee team since 2007 by turning a close game into a rout in Saturday's 53-28 win against Vanderbilt, third-year head coach Butch Jones shared his opinion that his team is one of the best in all of college football.
"I think he's right, if you just look at who we've played and how we've played them," Reeves-Maybin said. "Iowa's in the playoffs, and we handled them earlier in the year. We took (Alabama) to the fourth, we took Florida to the fourth, we took Oklahoma to the fourth - those are all top teams this year.
"I think the proof is in the pudding, that we can play with anybody. If we would have finished those games out earlier, it might have been a different season, but I'm trying not to focus on that.
"Finishing with eight wins, first time that's been done in a long time, and we're going to go get nine next."
In many ways Tennessee (8-4, 5-3 SEC) had the best season it's had since 2007, when Phillip Fulmer's penultimate team won 10 games and played in the SEC championship game.
The Vols deserve credit for accomplishing that, particularly after a 2-3 start in which they led in all three of their losses by at least 13 points. They will rue those missed opportunities, sure, but as they were expected to do, the Vols took care of business in every game after losing narrowly at Alabama, even if it wasn't pretty every step of the way.
The result was the program's first five-game winning streak since - you guessed it - 2007.
"This is a team that did not let adversity define who we are," Jones said. "(They) just kept grinding and building it and putting their head down and working every day. This football team has been mentally ready to play for 12 games, and that is very difficult to do."
"The momentum that you have, you don't want it to end. That's a tribute to these kids. That's a tribute to everyone in our football organization."
Tennessee led just 20-14 when the Vols put their foot down and put the Commodores (4-8, 2-6) away.
Cameron Sutton returned a punt for a touchdown. Todd Kelly Jr.'s interception kept Vanderbilt from cutting into a 13-point lead. The defense chipped in a safety and held the 'Dores to 15 third-quarter yards as the Vols got their ground game going with quarterback Josh Dobbs and running backs Jalen Hurd and Alvin Kamara.
Had Tennessee been able to put Oklahoma or Florida away in similar fashion in September, their next game might be sooner than late December or New Year's Day.
"Every game we've played in, we've been in," Dobbs said. "Every game we've played in, we had the lead. Every game we played in, we were right there. The ball bounces the other way, we come out on top. We know how good we are and how successful we can be. The mindset was to keep fighting."
That's what the Vols did when Jones told them after the Arkansas loss that they were a good team, and when the Vols trailed Georgia 24-3 before rallying for a season-saving win.
Tennessee will rue its missed opportunities in those close losses, but the narrow defeats - the four came by a combined 17 points - fueled the Vols.
"In past seasons, when we lost, it was bad losses. It was multiple scores," left tackle Kyler Kerbyson said. "This year, it was right there. It was on the tip of your tongue. You could grab it.
"We never saw ourselves as a losing football team or a bad football team. Every single one of those wins was so close. We told ourselves we can hang with anybody. All three of those losses that we had in the beginning really taught us something about ourselves and taught us how to really bounce back and how to keep fighting throughout the season."
That season has one last chance for one last exclamation point in a bowl game, and the destination and opponent for that will be determined a week from today.
"Just let us know where the field's at and we'll be ready to play," defensive end Derek Barnett said.
"We've got a chance to finish on a strong note, so that's what we're excited about."
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com