The 2010s and the 2020s have been very different for University of Tennessee football.
Going 8-4 during a regular season was the high-water mark of the 2010s, which Butch Jones accomplished twice amid a decade that contained six losing records. Going 8-4 under current coach Josh Heupel suddenly seems like a setback, with his Volunteers having gone 11-2 in 2022 with an Orange Bowl championship and 10-3 last year with a trip to the College Football Playoff.
“There has been some disappointment this season, obviously,” Heupel said following Friday’s practice at Nashville’s Montgomery Bell Academy, “but it was a group that continued to compete and get better. We’re not where we want to be, because this isn’t the standard at Tennessee.
“It’s about going and chasing and winning championships.”