There’s no way to sugarcoat it.
Tennessee football’s national championship aspirations came to a disastrous end when it lost to Oklahoma and picked up the a dreaded third loss. Now, the Vols want to keep the right side of their record column stagnant as they stare down the barrel of some tough games to close out the season. Finishing strong is the memo inside of the Tennessee locker room, a notion that each member of the Vols had plenty of time to ponder over through the bye week.
The SEC’s annual late-season tune-up game slots itself into Tennessee’s Week 12 slot, a matchup with New Mexico state that will feature this year’s iteration of the Vols’ Smokey Grey uniforms. Aside from the different look, Tennessee is going to have to find a way to get up for its first game out of the College Football Playoff race.
“I want to see growth,” head coach Josh Heupel said. “That’s a lot of different things in a lot of different areas. This is our next opportunity. We’ve got good work in the middle part of last week. What happens after, you can’t control any of that. So it’s the same thing we’ve talked about consistently in our program, all phases of the year, control and win right now.”
While this week’s main focus is on New Mexico State, the real meat left in Tennessee schedule comes with a pair of rivalry battles in the last two games of the year. A road bout with Florida and the season finale with Vanderbilt in Neyland Stadium give the Vols a chance to get some last laughs on some of their oldest foes.
Tennessee hasn’t sniffed a road victory against the Gators since the 2003 season, and if it can’t take care of business in Gainesville on Nov. 22, it will have to wait until 2029 to try again. Florida didn’t make the cut to be one of the Vols’ three permanent rivals in the new SEC scheduling format, so a imminent brief delay in the series brings extra juice into the programs’ 54th meeting.
“There’s a lot of pride on this team,” quarterback Joey Aguilar said. “Saturday wasn’t what we wanted, but we still have a lot to play for. We’re blessed to have three more games on our schedule and two of those games are super exciting games, big rivalry games, super fun environments. We’re gonna attack it week by week and face the opponents as we see them.”
Despite speculation, Aguilar is among a Tennessee leadership group playing their final snaps of college football. With some NFL futures uncertain, this stretch run could contain some of the last meaningful reps for a number of names on the roster.
Even for those with remaining eligibility, ending the season on a high note is of utmost importance.
“Leadership is very good,” Aguilar said. “All three sides of the ball, offense, defense, special teams, a team that stays together and still unites as one after games like we’ve had, losses like we’ve had. Just little simple mistakes. To play for a team, be on a team that still fights, everybody still encourages each other and has each other’s back is something you don’t see a lot.”
