KNOXVILLE - After Saturday's big win over previously 12th-ranked Kentucky, Tennessee football coach Jeremy Pruitt said his program "is supposed to be in bowl games."
With one more victory and two chances to get it, the Volunteers indeed will advance to a bowl after missing out last season. They will play at home this Saturday against Missouri, followed by the regular-season finale at Vanderbilt.
For the fan base, the extra month of football could provide excitement as well as a sign that the Vols are back on track. For the players and the coaches, it means more opportunities to improve this season's team and continue to build the culture Pruitt would like around the program.
"The only way you can get better at something is to repeatedly do it over and over, so you get extra practices, you get an extra game," Pruitt said Monday. "So I think if you go about your business the right way and work hard during those practices, you have a chance to improve."
The Vols entered last weekend out of the bowl picture in most projections. Saturday's win changed that, with Tennessee now being projected to three separate bowls. The blog site SB Nation has Tennessee in the Belk Bowl against North Carolina State in Charlotte, while ESPN also has the Vols playing the Wolfpack but in the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, Louisiana.
The website 247Sports has Tennessee facing Baylor in Memphis at the Liberty Bowl, which had representatives in town when the Vols defeated Charlotte 14-3 on Nov. 3.
The Vols won't reach the main goal they had set before the season - winning the SEC East - but in light of the situation Pruitt and his staff entered, and coming off last season's 4-8 season that included zero SEC wins, two league wins already against ranked opponents and a bowl appearance would show that Pruitt has started to turn things around.
"Last year didn't go as planned, so this year we had a new agenda," receiver Marquez Callaway said. "We wanted to win the SEC East, but now we're trying to become bowl-eligible, take it one game at a time and go into Missouri expecting to win."
Tennessee defensive back Baylen Buchanan said that after not reaching bowl eligibility last season, making it this season would "mean a lot."
"We know what it feels like to not go to a bowl game," he said. "We're just going to take it one game at a time and hopefully make that goal."
Vols notes
Pruitt on Darrell Taylor's four-sack performance, which tied Reggie White for the second-most sacks in a game in UT history: "Well, twice they didn't block him. When they don't block you, you need to sack the quarterback." He added that Taylor - announced Monday as the SEC defensive player of the week - has ability and has been working to improve his consistency.
Defensive back Bryce Thompson is in wait-and-see mode after what Pruitt called "getting his bell rung" in the Kentucky game. Thompson went up high to defend a pass intended for Benny Snell in the end zone and came down hard, briefly lying motionless on the field.
"I'm not a doctor, so he'll go through the standard precautionary deals," Pruitt said. "He came in and saw me today and he's fine, so we'll see."
The Vols got safety Micah Abernathy back last week and could addTrevon Flowers back into the secondary mix against Missouri. Flowers has been practicing but has not yet been cleared to play.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3.