There are two very strong trends facing off against one another as Tennessee prepares for the Kentucky game on Saturday. One is good. The other? Not so much.
Let’s start with the good: the Vols are quite adept at coming off of a loss under head coach Josh Heupel. Sure, scheduling is a part of that, but Tennessee’s football team deserves some credit for picking itself off of the mat when another opponent comes calling.
The Vanderbilt game last season was the best example of scheduling and pride working in the Vols’ favor. After a heartbreaking loss to South Carolina, Tennessee hammered Vanderbilt like it was, uh, Vanderbilt.
Even before that, Tennessee was accused of running up the score against Missouri after a thrashing by Georgia the week before, which brings up the not-so-good trend that has undermined Tennessee. The Vols have not been very good on the road under Heupel. In fact, they’ve been horrid at times. Tennessee is 5-6 since Heupel took over the Vols’ program in 2021. That won’t do if Tennessee is to ever have any realistic championship hopes.
Some of those losses have been downright ugly, like the 38-14 loss at Florida or the 52-24 loss to Alabama. Then, there was the 27-13 loss to Georgia last season, which was even more one-sided than the score indicated, and the devastating 63-38 loss to South Carolina that robbed the Vols of any chance of making the College Football Playoff.
As for this season, the Vols lost to Florida 29-16 in September and failed to show up for the second half against Alabama on Saturday, losing 34-20.
Tennessee hasn’t completely crapped out on the road. One of the Vols’ most impressive wins of the Heupel-era occurred last season when the Vols completely dominated LSU in Baton Rouge, winning 40-13. That, however, has been the exception to the rule. The Vols under Heupel just don’t beat quality teams outside of Neyland Stadium. That’s a problem.
The LSU game was a bit of an odd situation. The game was held at 11 a.m. CST and the Tigers regularly practice in the afternoons unlike Tennesssee, which practice in the mornings. For those wondering, Kentucky practices in the afternoon and this week’s game is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET. Night games are fun in Neyland Stadium but having to wait around in a hotel for a night time start is no fun for any team, especially one that practices in the morning as the Vols do.
No matter when the games or practices are held, the Vols will never take another step forward as long as they regularly play so poorly on the road. Now, the Vols have the bounce-back factor in their favor so maybe that can offset the travel woes this week against the Wildcats. If not, the Vols, who are just about a four-point favorite, could certainly lose to the Wildcats, which would be a major setback for the program.
There have been times in which Heupel has seemed like a genius when it comes to rebuilding the Vols’ offense and program. There have been other times in which Heupel has seemed in over his head, especially on the road.
