LEXINGTON, Ky. – The dejection was clear on the face of every Tennessee football player who entered the postgame news conference room.
“It’s pretty depressing,” freshman safety Brian Randolph said.
The Volunteers lost to Kentucky for the first time in 26 years Saturday afternoon at Commonwealth Stadium. The loss ended UT’s hopes for a bowl game and gave it a second consecutive losing season. For all the positive feelings created from the dramatic win over Vanderbilt a week earlier, Saturday’s loss likely will bring with it an offseason of negativity.
“To be honest, we weren’t even thinking about a bowl,” said senior defensive lineman Malik Jackson. “We had a lot of young guys who thought, ‘Oh we’re supposed to beat Kentucky,’ but not really putting in the work. I feel like that’s what happened. A lot of people thought we were supposed to beat Kentucky, but it just fell in our laps.
“At the end of the day, they’re a team, too, that came out here and worked harder than we did. They deserved the win.”