Mark WiedmerKNOXVILLE - Six-year-old Jurnee Scott couldn't believe her eyes. There stood her father, University of Tennessee assistant football coach Larry Scott, in the family's den this past Saturday afternoon, emphasis on afternoon.
"She looked at me and said, 'Daddy, you're in the house and the sun's up,'" Scott recalled during a Wednesday morning interview. "She almost never sees that during football season."
But this past Saturday was the Vols' one bye week of the 2016 season, or as UT head coach Butch Jones dubbed it, Family Day.
So Jones, Scott and the rest of the Vols staff had one weekend day to be with their families, to be like everybody else in the South, right down to "watching a couple of football games."
Only Scott didn't watch a lot of football. He played with his children and hung out with his wife and tried to temporarily escape the normally inescapable pressure of Southeastern Conference football.
For proof, despite a 5-2 overall record (2-2 in SEC play) against what has arguably been the toughest schedule in the country to this point, Jones joked (at least we think he was joking) about how quickly even your good friends can turn on you after losing two straight games, which the Vols have done by dropping a double-overtime game at Texas A&M followed by a 39-point loss to top-ranked Alabama.
"I've got a good friend, I won't mention his name, who brings me a sandwich every Wednesday," Jones said. "Well, we lose a couple of games, have a bye week and I didn't get my sandwich today. So I got the message loudly and clearly."
Sandwich or no sandwich, message or no message, everybody needs a break now and then. The Vols had theirs after the Alabama loss, which hopefully allowed the passage of time and medical miracles to return at least a few of Team 120's walking wounded to the field for Saturday night's 7:15 kickoff at South Carolina.
Here at home, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga will get its bye week on the weekend of Nov. 5, right after this Saturday's trip to Western Carolina.
Asked if his Mocs would have a chance to go home for a weekend, UTC coach Russ Huesman said, "There's not really time for that, but they'll definitely have that Saturday off. But they'll all get a chance to watch some TV, do some homework. Just get away from football for a few days."
Both Scott and Huesman said there is no getting away from their jobs for more than one day during an off week.
"We'll do a lot of recruiting that week," Huesman said.
Offered Scott: "You really hit the road that week. That's a big recruiting time."
What Scott didn't do was any yard work.
"There's no way I'm raking leaves on my one Saturday off," he said. "No way."
Yet UTC junior defensive back Trevor Wright definitely seemed to have some very important work on his mind, saying he intended to use the bye week "to work on academics," though he did plan to use the Saturday off to "watch football for a change."
Given that he grew up no more than three hours from Chattanooga in Greeneville, Tenn., he said he might also slip away for a night to sample some home cooking.
"Just try to see family for a day, maybe get some of my mom's chicken casserole."
Anything else?
"Maybe a steak, but that might be asking too much."
UTC running back Richardre Bagley also has his bye week already planned out, especially the weekend.
"I'm going to do absolutely nothing," he grinned. "I'm going to lay around and watch college football all day. And I'm going to order a pizza - a Pizza Hut pizza with pepperoni, red onions and bacon. That's my favorite."
UT tight end Ethan Wolf's favorite moment of the Vols' bye week occurred a week ago Wednesday, when Jones gave the Vols an unexpected day off.
"Coach made a gut call and rewarded us with a day off to go see a movie," Wolf said during Monday's news conference. "We saw 'The Accountant,' and it was a really good movie. The guys enjoyed it."
Scott also saw a movie on Family Day.
"Or it saw me," he said with a smile. "We decided to have a movie night and my daughter picked the movie. I think it was a Disney movie, but I couldn't keep my eyes open to finish it."
That was probably just fine with Jurnnee. She's used to seeing her father struggling to stay awake at night. Seeing him when the sun was up was a Disney moment all by itself.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.