TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — For all the obvious gains the University of Tennessee football program has made in the past two seasons — and they are momentous in comparison to where it was before that — the next step forward is most likely the biggest.
It’s certainly the most important.
And as Saturday’s second-half meltdown proved once again, it’s also going to be the toughest.
The 2022 season proved the Volunteers can compete with the top teams in the Southeastern Conference so long as it’s inside the cozy confines of Neyland Stadium, where more than 100,000 full-throated supporters are packed in to assist.
For the Vols to return to the status of legitimate championship contender — which every player, coach and orange-clad fan so desperately wants — they must first learn how to eliminate the lapses in focus and intensity or just plain ol’ spirit-breaking mistakes that continue to plague them on the road.