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Wiedmer: Perfect or not, UT win a good start Vols running backs duo could be crazy good Vols' secondary sees aspects to improve UT Vols beat Bowling Green, 59-30 Hargis: Gamecocks frustrate Mocs again Nearly 16,000 see No. 8 Mocs fall to No. 7 Gamecocks, 23-20 UTC uses two QBs together at times Chattanooga Mocs lose fourth down every time Eighth-ranked Mocs drop heartbreaker to No. 7 JSU Jacksonville State defeats Chattanooga Mocs, 23-20Mocs crunched in crunch time against JSU, 23-20
NASHVILLE - His grand work done Saturday night, his three touchdowns a major reason Tennessee trampled Bowling Green 59-30 inside Nissan Stadium, running back Jalen Hurd said of the Big Orange's big start for Season 119: "We're just trying to rep and do everything we can do for the Tennessee Vols and get this team to a championship."
A championship. Every player wants a championship, be it a division title, a conference crown or a national championship. And no team wins one in Week 1. Among those who believed themselves to be serious contenders at season's dawn, only Stanford's dreams were pretty much dashed before they began thanks to this past weekend's loss to Northwestern.
But that doesn't mean opinions haven't been altered. Auburn may not seem as solid a pick to reach the four-team College Football Playoff after failing to put away Louisville despite a 31-10 lead in the final half. Alabama might appear to gain supporters after its workmanlike 35-17 win over Wisconsin in Dallas. So might Southern Cal, the Trojans putting aside head coach Steve Sarkisian's apparent alcohol issues well enough to flatten Arkansas State 55-6.
Of course, no team seemed as formidable as Mother Nature, which delayed several games, cut short Georgia's impressive 51-14 win over Louisiana-Monroe and knocked out LSU's scheduled game with McNeese State altogether.
How impactful could the Bayou Bengals' cancellation be down the road? What if LSU somehow gets to the end of the season undefeated, but there are four 13-0 teams (after conference championship games) and Les Miles' Tigers stand but 12-0?
"It just really depends on what you get accomplished," Miles told The Associated Press as he discussed the scenario that might exist prior to those conference title games. "If you're the best 11-win team at the time and there's the best 12-win teams, it will be interesting to see how that might play."
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga fans don't have to worry about being selected for a four-team playoff. The Football Championship Series level of NCAA Division I selects 24 teams (with eight first-round byes). So despite Saturday's 23-20 home loss to Jacksonville State, the Mocs aren't necessarily on any playoff bubble, at least as long as they claim the automatic playoff berth that comes with winning a third straight Southern Conference title.
And that should be reason enough for at least a good many of those 15,812 fans who filed into Finley Stadium on Saturday evening to return. The Mocs lost to Jax State a year ago and reached the FCS quarterfinals. There's no reason that can't happen again. And Mocs Nation standing behind its football heroes, win or lose, would surely help that playoff résumé.
But there is also this, which a disgruntled UTC fan was only too happy to point out to me in an email Sunday morning. Sourly yet sagely noting that the Mocs are 1-12 in games decided by five or fewer points since 2011, the fan wrote: "So many people last night were commenting 'Different year - same outcome.'"
Until that changes, the truth will hurt for those playing for and coaching the football Mocs.
Hurd's Vols could be headed for quite a different outcome than previous years, when they failed to reach a bowl game for three straight seasons between 2011 and 2013 before routing Iowa in the bowl formerly known as the Gator.
Yes, they struggled defensively against Bowling Green, though nowhere near the systemic silliness of Sal Sunseri's defenseless Ds. Yet if the Vols can keep putting up points as they did against the Falcons, it's not too hard to imagine this team at least mounting a serious challenge for the Southeastern Conference's East title, especially since both Georgia and South Carolina must visit Neyland Stadium.
Or as Hurd added, echoing a philosophy not prominent since the heyday of former coach Phillip Fulmer, when "Pound the Rock," was heard around the football program almost as often as "Rocky Top": "Tennessee football runs the ball. Off of that, we can do anything. We have the best wide receiver corps in the nation. We're a great team, and we're going to do great things this year."
The first great test for Team 119 comes Saturday, when No. 19 Oklahoma will be the first ranked opponent of the year to visit Neyland. Win that one, and all this talk of greatness and championships will begin to be taken a bit more seriously across all of college football.
But for now, with the opening week in the books as soon as No. 1 Ohio State wraps up its dangerous visit to unranked Virginia Tech tonight - remember, the Hokies shocked the Buckeyes a year ago - only one thing would appear certain.
With the SEC title game scheduled for the Georgia Dome on Dec. 5, there's almost no chance it will be canceled by Mother Nature.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.