The Tennessee Vols’ 29-16 loss to the Florida Gators on Saturday night in Gainesville provided a reality check for UT football.
Tennessee isn’t going to compete for a championship in 2023 just because they nearly reached the College Football Playoff in 2022.
If the Vols are going to play on a big stage in December, they’ll have to find this year’s identity. And they’ll have to do it in a hurry as they have no room for error after the loss to Florida.
Whatever that identity proves to be, it’ll be different than last season’s identity, which is something that Florida head coach Billy Napier subtly pointed out on Saturday night after the Gators’ win.
Napier was asked by a reporter about the importance of scoring early against Tennessee. The Florida head coach acknowledged that it’s important to not be down at halftime against the Vols, before noting that this is a “different Tennessee team”.
“Well, we knew we needed to start fast,” said Napier (via 247Sports). “If you look at the analytics, if you’re down at halftime against this crew — now, it’s a different Tennessee team, but I think just in general the importance of starting fast.”
Napier is right. This isn’t the same Tennessee team from a year ago. And fans shouldn’t put the same expectations from last year on this year’s team.
The Vols lost some serious talent to the NFL. Hendon Hooker is a first round pick if not for his torn ACL. Jalin Hyatt, last year’s Biletnikoff Award winner, was a steal in the third round. Cedric Tillman would’ve been a first round pick if not for an ankle injury that plagued him last season. Darnell Wright is starting at right tackle as a rookie for the Chicago Bears. And Byron Young is a starting edge rusher for the Los Angeles Rams.
That kind of production is tough to replace. And while Josh Heupel’s offensive scheme gets a lot of credit for putting players in a position to win, it’s still up to the players to make plays. It’s not a plug-n-play system.
That’s not to say that Tennessee’s current players aren’t capable — they absolutely are capable of great things. But this is really the first version of this year’s team, while last year’s team was born in 2021. They had time to work out their issues in 2021 before hitting their stride in 2022. This year’s team, for the most part, hasn’t had that same opportunity (at least not with Joe Milton under center).
Tennessee might turn things around this year and finish 11-1. Or they might continue to struggle and it could be an 8-4 season. If that happens, it’s okay. It’s not a sign that Heupel is in over his head. And it’s not a reason for questions about Heupel’s ability to win at Tennessee. Instead, it should just be viewed as “one of those years”.
Even during Tennessee’s glory days, there were some “down seasons” where the Vols only won eight or nine games (1999, 2000, and 2002, for example).
Injuries, less-than-elite quarterback play, and losing key players to the NFL can be a lot to overcome. And not every team is going to overcome every single obstacle to win a championship. That’s incredibly rare in college football (and it seems like there’s only enough elite talent in the country for one program at a time to be at that level…for years it was Alabama and now it’s Georgia).
Tennessee still has a lot of positive momentum. The loss to Florida is a bump in the road, but the path to success is rarely smooth and without setbacks here and there. The Vols need to continue investing in the culture they’ve built under Heupel. And the UT fan base should continue to believe that a championship is possible with Heupel at the helm, it just might not come this season.
