Mark WiedmerKNOXVILLE - If you're wondering just exactly what caused the University of Tennessee football team to struggle so much against the Charlotte 49ers on Saturday, winning by only 14-3 against the Conference USA school, here's your answer, courtesy of Marquez Callaway.
"A lot of us underestimated Charlotte," said Callaway, whose 82-yard punt return may have done the most to keep the Volunteers from winding up underwater on the scoreboard. "We wanted to get on to Kentucky."
Tennessee gets the wounded Wildcats inside Neyland Stadium this weekend, Kentucky's dream season having crashed to earth with a 31-17 loss to Georgia on Saturday.
Playing as the Vols did against Charlotte in front of a homecoming crowd generously listed at 86,753, they might well lose to Big Blue. Playing as they did in the first half at South Carolina, or at Auburn, they would seem to have an excellent chance to upset the Wildcats, who were No. 11 in the AP Top 25 last week.
This isn't to say that every Volniac might not have a reasonable cause for concern that any member of their favorite college football team would underestimate anyone, given the Big Orange entered Neyland Stadium just 3-5 this season.
Now the Vols, who are 1-3 against Southeastern Conference competition this year, must still win two of their final three games - all against SEC foes - to reach a bowl game. And while Kentucky's Cardiac Cats could well be Catatonic Cats after failing to win the SEC East for the 27th season in a row, Missouri blasted host Florida at the Swamp 38-17 a week after Georgia knocked the Gators out of the running to make the SEC title game, and Vanderbilt has won four of the past six meetings against the Vols, three of those by double figures.
So even if Kentucky plays with the same lack of emotion and execution against the Vols that Florida showed against Missouri - call it the Georgia Hangover - finding a way to beat the Tigers or the Commodores might be another matter.
Still, this was a win, and as Tennessee defensive back Nigel Warrior was quick to note, "It wasn't an easy win, but it's a win and we're thankful for that."
The Big Orange Nation should be very, very thankful that this was Charlotte and not some SEC team the Vols turned in this performance against, for this was one time the stats didn't lie. Well, not exactly.
The stats - 20 rushing yards, 4-for-12 on third-down conversions, 192 yards of offense - showed a Tennessee team either remarkably disinterested or alarmingly inept against a Charlotte squad that was shredded by Appalachian State, 45-9, and Massachusetts, 49-31.
To be fair, the 49ers did thump Western Kentucky 40-14 and edged Old Dominion, which may have pulled the shocker of all shockers this season when it beat Virginia Tech.
But if you can't get 200 total yards against a Conference USA bunch that's now 4-5, you'd be wise to overestimate everyone on your schedule.
Then again, maybe the Vols did. Maybe this is just where the program is when you're on your fifth coach since the start of the 2008 season. Or do you think an SEC team that went into its final drive of the fourth quarter with a total of minus-3 yards rushing against Charlotte is where any alumnus or fan would want it to be?
"We beat what I think is a pretty good football team," first-year coach Jeremy Pruitt said, "and we're pretty evenly matched."
This is the point no one bleeding Clorox Orange wants to admit. Even if the talent, when all of it is available and healthy, is a cut above Conference USA, the coaching carousel and injuries have taken their toll.
Yes, Tennessee can win out. It could also lose its last three.
"The feeling is," Warrior said, "we've got to get back to work."
They've been getting back to work all year. This team's shortcomings have little to do with effort, with the possible exception of the Charlotte game. The problem is, game in and game out, the Vols displaying SEC precision and talent remains a concern nine games along.
Said Pruitt: "We didn't make any explosive plays, and we struggled to be consistent and run the football, and that's not a very good recipe for success."
Especially when you also underestimate your opponent.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.
Tennessee's Jarrett Guarantano releases the ball before Charlotte defensive back Ed Rolle can get to him in the first quarter of Saturday's game in Knoxville.