Do The Vols Have A Realistic Chance To Beat Oregon?

Dec 2, 2011; Eugene, OR, USA; General view of the exterior of Autzen Stadium before the Pac-12 Championship game between the UCLA Bruins and the Oregon Ducks at Autzen Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-USA TODAY Sports

It’s easy to be optimistic right now if you’re a Tennessee Volunteers fan.

Butch Jones has brought renewed energy to the program, a program that’s trending in the right direction.

Unfortunately, the place where Tennessee is trying to arriving, is where Oregon is already at.

The Ducks are a perennial top five team. They’ve finished in the top five of the final AP poll the past three years.

That folks, is what we call consistency. That’s what Tennessee fans are hoping Butch Jones can deliver on Rocky Top.

While he’s well on his way there, it’s a long ride, and he’s at least a couple of years away from the program arriving to it’s destination.

As far as beating Oregon on Saturday, well anything is possible. All a team has to do is catch lighting in a bottle and anything could happen.

The likelihood, however, of that happening on Saturday is slim to none.

The Vols will face a ton of obstacles they’ve yet to face this season. The speed and tempo that Oregon brings to the table will be an issue for the Vols, something Butch Jones addressed on Monday.

"Jones:  We’re going to have to be able to withstand without substituting seven, eight, nine plays in a row. Can our defensive front play mean football for eight, nine plays in a row without substituting? Can we get lined up fast and decipher the call and execute our assignment when you can’t hear, you can’t communicate?"

Tennessee does have an ace in their pocket though. They also run an uptempo no huddle offense, which the Vol defense has obviously been practicing against all spring and fall. That will no doubt help the Vols in their preparation for Oregon.

"Jones: Each offense has it’s little nuances and little differences in their style of play. Our defense has been practicing against it since spring but they do a great job of mixing their tempos up. I think the thing they do a great job with is they create space in everything that they do. It’s space and pace. That’s the way they play. It’s pace and space, pace and space. So, we’re going to have to be great one-on-one tacklers"

On top of the tempo, the team will have to deal with playing in a hostile environment for the first time under Butch Jones.

"Jones: We just have to continue to use the tools that we use you know and communication again is going to be at a premium and that’s one of the loudest stadiums in the country so I think it’s a great opportunity and I think it’s a great deal in developing this football team to be able to go on the road in a place like Oregon. It’s extremely difficult in the venue that it is and perform at a championship level and everyone has to bring their A game so we’ll prepare our players just like we do each and every week and we’ll have the controlled chaos."

So is there any way the Vols can overcome the odds that are stacked against them?

Probably not.

Oregon is simply too fast and too polished. When you combine that with an inexperienced team playing in a hostile environment, you’ve got a recipe for disaster.

Tennessee’s only real chance to pull the upset, will be if they can be disruptive in the backfield and force Ducks quarterback Marcus Mariota to make some bad decisions. If the Vols can control the turnover differential, in turn controlling the crowd noise, then there’s a chance they can upset the Ducks.

If the Volunteers do manage to go to Eugene and steal a win, well you might as well find a street on campus that you can rename “Butch Jones Boulevard”