If Tennessee is not careful, it might accidentally make a bowl game and close the 2014 season as an early frontrunner for 2015 SEC East supremacy.
The Vols clicked on all cylinders in a 50-16 thrashing of Kentucky at Neyland Stadium on Saturday and crept within a game of bowl eligibility.
UT (5-5, 2-4 SEC) looked dangerous, nothing like the last three Tennessee teams that faltered in similar late-season situations.
But UT fans should not allow what happened on Saturday, and what happened in an unlikely overtime win over South Carolina two weeks ago, to cure the skepticism they’ve adopted over the last several years to deal with their team’s stomach-twisting shortcomings.
It would certainly be easy to let infatuation with the recent play of Joshua Dobbs and Jalen Hurd break you down into making tentative travel plans for UT’s bowl game.
That infatuation might even persuade some into doing speculative math on UT’s chances of winning the SEC East in 2015.
You’ve been here before, though. You’ve thought the Vols – even these Vols – would cure your heartache and bring lasting jubilation.
Lest you forget how great you felt when UT led Florida 9-0 on Oct. 4: As the afternoon sun beat down on Neyland Stadium, a raucous crowd started to believe the Vols were going to end a nine-game losing streak to the Gators and compete for the SEC East title.
Instead, fans left in pain, wondering how UT football could possibly let them down to a greater degree.
The Vols of recent memory have a way of raising hopes only to squash them in inexplicable ways. That was the story of last year’s senior class.
What could be more excruciatingly painful for this senior class and for the fans that have cheered it on than for UT to falter against Missouri (the Tigers are 8-2, by the way) and then lose to Vanderbilt for a third straight season.
There is little evidence from UT’s last two victories to suggest the Vols are capable of allowing that to happen.
Pause, though, and think how many times Tennessee has snagged defeat from the jaws of victory in the last five years before you dismiss it from the realm of possibility.
Reflect on the suffering, the anguish.
This week, instead of musing about who will replace fired Florida coach Will Muschamp, recall the fury you felt when Lane Kiffin deserted Knoxville after the 2009 season.
Recall how an untimed down in 2010 allowed No. 12 LSU to escape an inspired upset bid by the Vols in Baton Rouge.
Allow yourself to remember the Music City Bowl later that season when similar circumstances robbed UT of a win over North Carolina.
Don’t forget about a truly bizarre loss to Kentucky in 2011 that kept the Vols out of a bowl game, a momentum-squashing loss to Florida in 2012 and the embarrassment of a 23-point defeat at the hands of Vanderbilt in Derek Dooley’s last game as coach.
Remember those things this week, because a somber appreciation of the frustration they brought will make the jubilation of Tennessee’s sixth win all the more sweet.
If the sixth win actually comes.
David Cobb is a senior in journalism and electronic media. He can be reached at [email protected].
