Head coach Josh Heupel laid it out simply. Tennessee football can only rely on in-house focuses with three games remaining.
“Ultimately, we’re not in control of any of those things,” Heupel said. “We’re in control of what we do. Disappointed. Thought they prepared extremely hard.”
And ‘disappointed’ is the easiest adjective to describe the Vols’ 33-27 loss to Oklahoma. Tennessee (6-3, 3-3 SEC) committed three turnovers, failed to convert a timely fourth-and-one and left plenty of opportunities on the table in a game that all but solidified an elimination from the 12-team College Football Playoff.
The Vols outgained the Sooners 456 yards to 351 yards, and held them in check in the first half with under 100 total yards and five first downs. A deficit on the scoreboard was a direct result of three turnovers that resulted in 13 points.
“There’s some things that were really good defensively early tonight,” Heupel said. “I thought they played really good football. Got a choice to make. Life, how you going to respond? This group has competed, continued to try to get better every day. Expect and demand that as we get going here on the back end of the season.”
Last season, Clemson was the only three-loss team to make the field. That is, of course, because it earned an automatic bid as champions of the ACC.
A three-loss SEC team has never made the field. While the 12-team bracket has only existed for a season, the rest of the sport has its pairings of perennial powerhouses to compete. That is where Tennessee is going to see itself as the odd man out.
The Vols’ current best win is over an at-the-time undefeated Mississippi State in overtime. Since then, the Bulldogs squad had lost four in a row before picking up its first conference win on Saturday against Arkansas. Meanwhile, Tennessee also has a win over Arkansas — who is the only winless team left in the conference.
That is because Kentucky, the Vols’ third and only other SEC win, picked up its first conference victory over Auburn on Saturday as well.
Tennessee’s resume rivals nobody in the sport. Normally, that is said due to strength, but if the committee were presented with that today, it would laugh.
The Vols’ wins in conference have come over teams that are a combined 10-16 on the year. When expanded to non-conference, that tally adds another 10-16 mark — making it a combined 20-26 record of opponents that the Vols have beaten.
That means they’re taking care of business, right?
Meanwhile, Tennessee’s losses have come to teams that are a combined 21-4 on the year. That suggests that the Vols are still struggling to get over the hump. And that will become more of a concern with the teams remaining on the schedule.
Tennessee must still travel to The Swamp, taking on a Florida team it hasn’t beaten on the road since 2003. Then, the Vols host a Vanderbilt team that has gained relevance in 2025, starting 7-2.
Those formulas together create a chemical mix, where if the Vols are not careful, the science experiment will end up on national headlines.
“I feel like we’re just going to grow from everything,” defensive back Edrees Farooq said. “We’re just going to learn from our mistakes and just move on and go every week by week and just take on every week. Take it on slowly every week.”
