Tennessee is halfway there.
And its bowl chances are living on a prayer.
The Vols have won just three of their last 19 SEC games but must win three of their next six if they wish to snap a three-year bowl drought.
At the season’s midway point, that looks like a tall task for a 3-3 UT team without a win against a power conference team.
Especially when you look at its next two opponents and what they are capable of doing to UT’s delicate morale.
First up is a trip to No. 3 Ole Miss this week followed by a date with No. 7 Alabama at Neyland Stadium on Oct. 25.
Ole Miss is playing better than anyone in the country except its Magnolia State brethren at Mississippi State (there’s something I thought I’d never write).
Alabama is more vulnerable than it has been in years, but it’s hard to envision the Crimson Tide falling on its face in Knoxville – though UT fans would love nothing more than to snap a seven-game losing streak to Alabama in Lane Kiffin’s return to Neyland Stadium.
Barring a monumental upset against one of those two, the Vols will enter the season’s final month needing to win three of four games to become bowl eligible.
They’re capable of doing it. It’s just difficult to believe they will.
The situation is almost identical to the one UT found itself in at the halfway point of last season.
Last year, the Vols got a monumental upset, though, by beating South Carolina 23-21.
Ultimately it didn’t matter because they squandered the advantage it gained them by losing four straight games, capped by a deflating loss to Vanderbilt that sealed UT’s fate.
The Commodores should be a pushover for UT this year. If they aren’t, the Vols don’t deserve to go bowling anyway.
But unless UT improves its deficiencies on the offensive line that were again evident in Saturday’s 45-10 win over Chattanooga, late-season opponents South Carolina, Kentucky and Missouri should have no problem containing UT’s offense.
If those teams watch 10 minutes of film from any game in UT’s season so far they’ll realize a four-man pass rush is all that’s needed to ruffle the Vols and create game-changing turnovers.
And it’s not fair to expect the UT defense to repeatedly shoulder the same load it did in a 10-9 loss to Florida.
Something needs to give.
Otherwise, the class of 2015 will become the first group of seniors since the class of 1978 to spend four years at UT and never see a bowl team.
Extra point: In the unlikely scenario that UT beats Alabama at Neyland Stadium in a couple of weeks, students would certainly rush the field.
At that point, what would happen to Kiffin?
The former UT head coach and current Crimson Tide offensive coordinator coaches from the sideline, not the press box, meaning he would need at least 30 armed guards to prevent a field-rushing mob from snatching him up and tossing him in the Tennessee River.
David Cobb is a senior in journalism and electronic media. He can be reached at [email protected].
