Hmmm, are you mostly glad that the Vols are now out of bye weeks? I don’t believe it is unreasonable to say that bye weeks just don’t seem to work well for this Tennessee team. Let’s see, three missed field goals from a kicker that reportedly had not missed inside 50 yards all season. Three dropped TD passes by veteran receivers. That’s 30 points left on the field by the Tennessee offense and special teams. Would a 40 point Tennessee win significantly alter your view of the Kentucky game?
It just seems to me that the Vols do not come out of a bye week clicking on anywhere close to all cylinders. How bad does their loss to Arkansas after the last bye week now look? Arkansas has played two home games since knocking off the then #4 ranked Vols. They lost to LSU 34-10 and then were completely blown out by Ole Miss 58-25 this past GameDay. The Hogs lost their next two home games by a combined 57 points after their season highlight game of defeating Tennessee.
So, no more bye weeks to be concerned about. Just four straight GameDays that will determine how the 2024 season winds up for this Tennessee Football team. I went through all the remaining games on the Tennessee schedule in last week’s From The Stands column. I thought Kentucky had the potential to be a problem game for the Vols but not because the Vols would leave 30 points on the field. And now we get the last remaining SEC home game this week with a visit from a pretty bad 2-7 Mississippi State team. The Bulldogs picked up their second win of the season Saturday with a 45-20 thumping of UMass. Their only other win came in their first game of the season, a 56-7 rout of Eastern Kentucky. Their last SEC game was a home blowout loss to the aforementioned Arkansas by 58-25. HOWEVER before that game, their last two SEC games were very competitive losses, a 34-24 home loss to TAMU and a 41-31 loss to UGA in Athens.
So the game coming up this Saturday looks very much like the matchup this past Saturday. The Vols are playing a team that they should take care of handily as long they take care of their business. Otherwise, you could wind up with another 4th quarter game that causes unnecessary stress to a sold out Neyland Stadium crowd. Remember the word I’ve used previously, parity. The SEC has displayed a serious level of parity so far during the 2024 football season.
Mississippi State does have an advantage this week with the schedule. They catch the Vols the week before the all important road trip to Athens in what very well may determine the CFP futures for both teams. UGA did not look great Saturday against Florida. Without a key injury to the UF starting quarterback, that game looked like a possible last possession decision. The backup Gator QB, a transfer from Yale, then got a first hand schooling in SEC Football.
The UGA game is two weeks out. In the interim, Vols need to efficiently deal with the Mississippi State Bulldogs this week during their visit to Neyland Stadium and then get ready for a significantly important SEC road trip.
