KNOXVILLE – So just how bad are North Carolina State and Georgia State anyway?
Tennessee did more than lose its eighth straight football game against Florida on Saturday night in Neyland Stadium. Not that that 37-20 defeat wasn’t bad enough, especially since UT led 20-13 midway through the third period.
But what was equally troubling was the gnawing, numbing belief that Derek Dooley’s third team may be little better equipped to compete against the top half of the Southeastern Conference than his first two squads.
It didn’t seem that way heading into this game. Not after the Vols whipped a supposedly respectable Wolfpack squad 35-21 in the opener before crushing overmatched Georgia State 51-13 last week.
But if a No. 18 Florida team that seemed not much better than average entering this game could outscore the Big Aren’t 24-zip over the game’s final 22 minutes and 33 seconds, what foul fate awaits the Doolittles at Georgia and South Carolina, not to mention that ghastly Oct. 20 visit from No. 1 Alabama?