From the “Mama McNabb stage here at the beautiful Al Davis Studios,” here we go…
Kentucky’s Demarco Robinson (9) is tackled by Tennessee’s Brian Randolph during the second quarter of an NCAA college football game in Lexington, Ky., Saturday, Nov 26, 2011. (AP Photo/ James Crisp)College football Monday morning quarterback – Knoxville edition
This is not fun. Or easy. After the inexplicable loss to Kentucky – a Kentucky team that put a wide out at quarterback and ran the same five to seven plays for three hours – left the University of Tennessee at 5-7. That means no bowl game. That means back-to-back losing seasons, something that has not happened since the early 1900s. That means a winning streak that had survived since the Reagan administration is over. (Do you know there are newborns that have no idea what it’s like for UT to beat Kentucky in football?). Here’s our UT ace Downtown Patrick Brown’s view of the questions in Knoxville (Questions abound as Vols offseason begins). Here are the 5-at-10’s five things that Tennessee fans may not want to admit but are forced to face this morning:
– The Vols are a bottom-tier SEC program. They were super-pumped to beat Vandy then lost to Kentucky. That’s not Ole Miss bad, but it’s bottom tier. When what used to be viewed as an expectation is now viewed as an accomplishment, well, that’s not good.
– The Vols are not even the best of that tier, regardless of whether you stack the SEC in halves or thirds. In halves it would be (in order) LSU, Bama, Arkansas, Georgia, South Carolina, Auburn then Florida, Miss. State, Vandy, Kentucky, UT, Ole Miss.