Winners never quit and quitters never win.
Heard that a time or two, have you? Heard it long before Butch Jones rolled into Knoxville four years ago determined to rebuild the Tennessee Volunteers football program brick by brick, have you?
Yet at the risk of criticizing running back Jalen Hurd for quitting on the program and his teammates Monday morning in the wake of the Vols' third straight loss, why bail out now?
College football isn't yet a waiver wire. Assuming anyone would want Hurd at this late date in the season, he won't be eligible until the fall of 2018 unless he drops down to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga's FCS level from UT's FBS perch.
But why even bother with either of those needless detours? Just quit school, hire a personal trainer, get in top shape for the NFL draft combine and go pro, which is probably what Hurd originally planned to do at the close of this season before he decided to walk out on the Vols.
Beyond that, if he's really done with being a running back, as has been strongly hinted, somehow figuring he might be better suited for tight end, why allow this rumor to take hold that he was upset the team didn't run the I-formation as someone possibly had promised him after his big game against Northwestern in the Outback Bowl?
Hey, if Hurd wants to be a tight end, have at it. But don't throw the disappearance of the I-formation out there as a reason to depart if the long-range plan is to become a receiver. Just say you're tired of Jones' mind games and offensive coordinator Mike DeBord's dysfunctional system and you feel it's time to get paid more than a free college education for your bumps and bruises and possible brain damage.
This isn't to say Hurd's Halloween surprise isn't a sign of deeper trouble in Volsville. There were whispers of a teamwide mutiny before last year's Georgia win. Similar rumors threatened to knock out the internet Sunday and Monday. That sometimes happens when great expectations turn to gross disappointment.
But before everyone in K-town decides to jump off the World's Fair Sunsphere over the downward direction of this season, the Big Orange can still reach the Big Peach as the Beasts of the (SEC) East in the conference championship game.
Hard as that may be to believe, given Tennessee's current 2-3 league mark, all it needs is for Florida to lose road games at Arkansas this Saturday and at LSU on Nov. 19 as the Vols outlast their overmatched East brethren from Kentucky (Nov. 12), Missouri (Nov. 19) and Vanderbilt (Nov. 26), where VU's stadium figures to be at least half full of orange.
Should those scenarios both occur - two Gator losses and three UT conference wins - the Vols will play in the Georgia Dome on Dec. 3.
And should that happen, most of this will be forgotten. Especially Hurd. Fair or not, his nickname in Big Orange Country will become, at least in some quarters, "Good Riddance." The memory and fondness for his time there will fade faster than that of former running back Bryce Brown.
But what if the other takes place? What if this is the beginning of the end for Coach Crewcut's honeymoon, rocky though it's already been at times. While it could be strongly argued that Jones' first three teams got better each autumn, particularly as the scheduled softened each November, there's been no such steady improvement this time around.
Eight games and three straight losses along, Team 120 still refuses to show up until halftime. The Vols have trailed at the breakin six of their eight games, and two of those deficits were to Appalachian State and South Carolina. They've been outscored 133-72 in first halves this season, which equates to an average deficit of 16.6 to 9. Take out that 24-14 halftime edge against Virginia Tech after trailing by 14-0 in the opening period, and the Vols are losing the first half by an average of 17-7.
In fact, to return to that first quarter at Bristol Motor Speedway, Tennessee has been outscored 84-23 in the opening periods thus far, which strongly hints of a team unprepared or unmotivated at opening kick.
That may fall to both the players and the coaches, but it's the coaches who'll be blamed, especially when it happens game after game after game, given that the Vols have been shut out in four of their eight first quarters.
Nevertheless, perhaps these past three days were rock bottom on Rocky Top for Team 120. Maybe this team and these coaches can heed Jones' relentless advice to "snap and clear." Maybe Hurd was the lone quitter on a team otherwise filled with winners, at least if you put aside the earlier voluntary exit of Preston Williams and the forced departure of Danny O'Brien.
In a statement that certainly willl be closely watched moving forward, when Jones was asked Monday if Hurd's leaving might improve team chemistry, he said, "I do."
If he's right, if Team 120 fails to lose again until or unless it reaches the SEC title game, the Big Orange Nation can blame all its earlier frustrations on its confounding junior running back, the one who led the Vols in rushing a year ago with 1,288 yards but so rarely displayed that talent or toughness this season.
But if Jones is wrong - if these Vols continue to struggle, if they lose at least one more to hand the Gators the SEC East crown - the majority of their fans, if asked if they think the program needs a new coach, also may answer, "I do."
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.