Tennessee quarterback Joshua Dobbs (11) throws to a receiver before the start of an NCAA college football game against Arkansas Saturday, Oct. 3, 2015, in Knoxville, Tenn.LEXINGTON, Ky. - Anything you can do, I can do better.
When you've won 29 of the last 30 games you've played against another college football team - as Tennessee had against Kentucky heading into Saturday night's game at Commonwealth Stadium - a statement such as that would seem obvious.
But even by the Volunteers' previous overwhelming success against Big Blue, what transpired Halloween night was both stunning and numbing in its completeness.
And the 52-21 final score was just part of it.
Especially since UT coach Butch Jones instructed his reserves to take a knee inside the final minute rather than possibly tack on a very late touchdown. Either way, this was yet another example of how much better this Tennessee team is than last year's model, even if the Vols won that one 50-16 in Knoxville.
And how much the gap again has widened between UT and such SEC East brothers as UK, Vanderbilt and, possibly, South Carolina, which the Vols host Saturday afternoon at 4.
For instance, when Kentucky took a 14-10 lead with 5:49 left in the second quarter, the kind of grinding 14-play march that opposing coaches hate for so many different reasons, the Vols answered in one amazing play. Quarterback Josh Dobbs completed quite possibly the prettiest throw of his career, hitting Josh Malone on a 75-yard bomb on the first play from scrimmage after that Wildcats drive.
Then the Vols ended the half on a 1-yard Dobbs run to cap another 75-yard drive to lead 24-14 at the break.
This is what good teams do. They answer quickly and decisively. They break your momentum, your hope, your will. Then they break your back.
And after UT ended any logical doubt about the outcome by scoring twice in a 42-second span early in the third quarter, the real zingers arrived later in the period. UK briefly pulling within 38-21, the Vols' Evan Berry returned the following kickoff 100 yards. Less than three minutes after that, Cam Sutton ran a punt back 84 yards to provide the final margin.
"They beat our butts in all phases," Kentucky coach Mark Stoops said afterward. "They were much more physical than us."
If any Volniac wants to feel good about his or her football team this morning, those words should provide that warm feeling. "They beat (us) in all phases. They were much more physical than us."
That's really all any fan can ask for. And three years into the Butch Jones era, you're beginning not just to see this but to feel this each time the Big Orange take the field. There's more than one reason why UT's four losses in eight games have come by a mere 17 points. This team may not understand everything it takes to win, but it already understands how hard you have to play to compete. And that's the toughest part of any rebuilding job.
Thanks to Florida crushing Georgia on Saturday, any slender notion of UT winning the SEC East is over. But an 8-4 record should be all but certain. Kentucky already seemed the toughest remaining opponent on the Vols' schedule, and the Mildcats fell by 31.
With Vanderbilt being crushed 34-0 at Houston, it would now appear this week's game against South Carolina - which lost 35-28 at Texas A&M - would be the biggest remaining one on the Vols' schedule.
But playing as Tennessee did inside Commonwealth Stadium, there are no big games left until whatever bowl game the Vols can secure. There are only opportunities to improve for next season, when all this talent and experience the Vols have been developing should be scary good.
Not that this game needed to drag on any longer, but Kentucky, having now lost 30 of its last 31 to the Big Orange, should question Stoops on why UK punted late in the third quarter from the UT 44 with the score already 52-21.
You're already trailing by 31 points at home in a game you were picked to lose by roughly 11. How much worse could it get if you failed to pick up the first down? You can't seriously believe you have a better chance of making a game of it if you punt.
There was also at least one question for Jones: Why in the world was Dobbs still in the game inside the final 10 minutes of the third quarter with the Big Orange up 52-21? You're up 31 points on the road in the fourth quarter against a UK team that probably couldn't score 31 points in nine minutes if you boarded the bus early for home, but you're willing to risk your QB getting hurt to, what, control the clock?
Of course, even when the Wildcats drove inside the 15 in the game's final seven minutes, Vols reserve Max Arnold stripped a ball and forced a fumble, proving that even the UT reserves were better than the UK starters.
And did we mentioned that Big Blue actually led this game 7-0 by returning a Dobbs fumble 77 yards with 8:23 to go in the first quarter?
Said Jones last Monday as he began preparations for the Wildcats: "How do we continue to elevate our play to close and finish games off? How can we continue to elevate our game?"
The answer is the same as it's been 30 of the last 31 years: Play Kentucky. Because no one does everything on a football field better than the Wildcats more than the Vols do.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com