Mark WiedmerPerhaps because the University of Tennessee’s historically front-loaded football schedule has so often allowed for warm, fuzzy late-autumn memories and plenty of painful reasons to forget the games that came before them, former Volunteers coach Johnny Majors used to say, “They remember what you do in November.”
Perhaps that’s also why, after three straight losses to close October, current coach Butch Jones said of Saturday’s 55-0 homecoming win over Tennessee Tech to start this November in style: “I talked about winning the week this week and going 1-0. We’re 1-0 and moving on to the next week.”
That’s 1-0 in a November that should eventually make them 9-3 and representatives of the Southeastern Conference’s East Division in the league title game the first Saturday of December at the Georgia Dome.
And should that happen – should the Vols win their three remaining regular-season games against Kentucky this Saturday, Missouri the following week and Vanderbilt on the Saturday after Thanksgiving – it’s almost inconceivable that Florida will knock off South Carolina this weekend in Gainesville and win at LSU the following Saturday to win the East.
When you’re humbled 31-10 at Arkansas – which the Gators were this past weekend – there should be no way you can emerge from Death Valley with a win. Then again, how many folks thought Mississippi State would beat Texas A&M two days ago? Attempting to go 1-0 on any given Saturday isn’t as easy or certain as it used to be.