Only a fool or the Grinch would attempt to argue that Butch Jones hasn't dramatically improved the Tennessee football program in his two full seasons and two games as head coach.
Athletic department giving is up. Recruiting is way up. Academic performance is way, way up over that of more than one previous coaching regime. In every way save one - on-field success - the Volunteers are becoming Exhibit A for how to rebuild a once-proud program from the ground up.
That said, should the Vols fall at Florida 10 days from today for their 11th straight loss to the Gators, the last vestiges of a honeymoon will be over for Jones, the Big Orange Nation's disappointment over yet another defeat against a bitter rival too much to swallow.
Not that this is necessarily the coach's fault. Reintroducing yourself as a force to be reckoned with in the Southeastern Conference takes time. It might be easier to achieve world peace.
But as it prepares to enter Florida's Swamp by beating up on Western Carolina this weekend, UT is 0-6 under Jones against its three most despised rivals: Alabama, Georgia and the Gators. To further frustrate Volniacs everywhere, in four of those six defeats, the Vols owned the lead at one point.
UT's Joshua Dobbs (11) gets taken down after running the ball against Oklahoma during the first half of play Saturday. The Volunteers played the Sooner's at home on Sept. 12, 2015, at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville.So when the Clorox Orange once again failed to secure a victory this past Saturday after leading Oklahoma 17-3 with only 10 minutes to go in regulation, eventually falling 31-24 in overtime, a wicked but witty tweet took hold on the Internet:
"I'm first-half Butch Jones and I have DirectTV" "I'm second-half Butch Jones and I have cable."
Ouch.
To the coach's credit, he did a pretty good job of falling on his sword, stopping the buck, assuming all blame for the OU defeat.
"I take full responsibility for Saturday night," he said Monday.
To the argument that he should have gone for the touchdown inside the 1-yard line instead of kicking a field goal early in the first quarter, he was less apologetic, though he succinctly explained his decision.
"You are responsible for creating your own momentum," Jones said. "I just felt at that early juncture of the game that you come away with points. If you make one play in the fourth quarter, that looks to be a good decision. You can always second-guess, but I don't second-guess because a lot of diligence and effort went into that decision."
There's never been an overtime loss in college football that can't be second-guessed. And as much as that early play on the goal line could have been played differently, the play-calling with 8:12 remaining in the fourth quarter and OU suddenly within 17-10 may have been the key to this defeat.
Taking over at their own 20 with a distinct need to regain momentum, the Vols twice sent Jalen Hurd into the line for a combined gain of a single yard, committed a 5-yard penalty, then completed a pass for 8 yards, which resulted in a fourth-and-7. When UT next touched the ball, the game was tied.
Given the fact that the Sooners' offense had been on the field 16 plays to the Vols' two (not including a punt) to that point in the final period, the Big Orange defense certainly could have used a rest. Instead, it was the third three-and-out possession of the second half for the home team.
If nothing else, a little bit of creativity besides run-run-pass would have been nice to see, lest offensive coordinator Mike DeBord soon come to be known as Mike DeBoring in much the same way the offense run by Phillip Fulmer's final offensive coordinator, Dave Clawson, went from the Clawfense to the Crawlfense.
Of course, those who still strongly believe in Jones, and there should be many, also can point to something he said of the Oklahoma loss as a positive sign for the future.
"A year ago, we played this football team, and we were noncompetitive," he said. "With most of that team returning to a very, very good Oklahoma football team with a talented defense, we went to double overtime. We came up one play short."
By that standard, the glass is way more than half full. It's almost to the top. It's close to overflowing with the potential for sustained success. But there is also this for those concerned that Jones is far better at setting the table for success than delivering a five-star meal: After 27 games, he stands 13-14 overall, the same as Derek Dooley at that juncture. No coach to last longer than three seasons at UT ever has lost more than he won after his first 27 games.
This doesn't mean the Vols are going to lose inside the Swamp. First-year Gators coach Jim McElwain may already have cut short his honeymoon after publicly berating running back Kelvin Taylor for the player drawing a 15-yard unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty against East Carolina by flashing a throat-slash gesture once used by his father: former Gators great Fred Taylor.
"I'm not proud of it and neither is my mother," McElwain said this week, surely hoping to minimize the distraction to his new team.
It also doesn't mean that a UT fan base potentially splintered by another loss in the Swamp couldn't again be unified by a win later this season against Georgia or Alabama or Missouri, which Jones also has yet to beat.
But it does mean that Jones needs a big win quickly to keep the majority of Volniacs in his corner.
And just in case Florida's flogging of UT should continue, expect another of Jones's beloved bricks to be added to the Big Orange Nation's wailing wall, which may one day topple over from the weight of unfulfilled expectations, taking its brick mason of a coach with it.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.