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How the Tennessee Vols Can Salvage the Season After their Devastating Loss to the Florida Gators

By Caleb Calhoun

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At 2-2 and 0-1 in the conference, the Tennessee Vols are in serious trouble after losing 28-27 to the Florida Gators. But they can still salvage the season.

Every Volunteers football fan is going through a sickening Monday morning coming off what is arguably the worst loss for the program in a decade.

How do you recover from blowing a 27-14 fourth quarter lead to the Florida Gators to lose for the 11th year in a row? Well, if they are to turn things around, the players have no choice. And they have to respond quickly.

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Getting out of September at 2-2 was the worst-case scenario for the Vols, and they lost their two most important games of the year. But they showed that they can compete with anybody and just have to learn to close games. So the preseason goals cannot change just because of these losses.

In order to save the season, and potentially Butch Jones’s job, Tennessee has to regroup quickly.

Remember, the Vols can still have a great year if they do. They are still not out of any title race.

Here are a few things that could happen the rest of the year that would at least make this a somewhat successful season.

1. Run the Table Outside of Georgia and Alabama

This is the most obvious and likely way to get to 8-4. It would be another rough year to lose your one big out of conference game and then lose to Florida, Georgia, and Alabama, but it would still signify improvement.

Outside of Georgia, Tennessee should not lose another home game anyway. Arkansas has turned into what should be an easy win, South Carolina should be no trouble, and Vanderbilt is, well, Vanderbilt. Add in North Texas, and that is four more wins to at least have six.

The difficult part will be on the road. Tennessee has to end its losing streak to the Missouri Tigers, and they have to maintain their dominance over the Kentucky Wildcats. Both are solid teams, but that is no excuse this year. Tennessee blew any breathing room with these two losses, so both of these games must be wins.

2. Pull an Upset Over Georgia or Alabama, or Both

Tennessee is not likely to win out, but they definitely have the team this year to pull off the upset over Georgia or Alabama. Remember that the Vols are two plays away from being undefeated at this point, so it’s not like they are not a good team who can’t beat anybody.

Georgia in Knoxville is a very winnable game if Butch Jones has his guys prepared. They are on a similar level with the Oklahoma Sooners, and a couple more weeks of practice and another game should give them a better chance to close out games.

If Tennessee runs the table at home the rest of the way and beats Georgia as well, then they have a real chance to get to 9-3 as long as they take care of business against Kentucky and Missouri on the road. Losing to Georgia and beating Alabama would also be nice, but beating Georgia and losing to Alabama would be a better scenario because it would put them back in the SEC East Race. Which brings us to another possible scenario.

3. Finish 9-3 and Win the SEC East

In 2007, the Vols lost their non-conference big game to Cal on the road and also got blown out by Florida and Alabama. But thanks to a series of misfortunes against the Gators and the easy SEC West schedule of Tennessee’s that year, they were able to squeak by and win the SEC East.

The same thing could happen this year.

If Tennessee beats Georgia at home, and they are more than capable of doing so, and they also beat everybody else except for Alabama on the road, that might be enough to win the East. The Vols would have the head to head over Georgia, and if Alabama beats Georgia, then both teams would have two conference losses.

Meanwhile, Florida still has to play LSU and Ole Miss on the year. They could lose both of those SEC West matchups, and then if Georgia beats them, that is three conference losses against them. Tennessee would then cruise onto Atlanta.

Final Analysis

The loss to the Gators hurt, but the Vols are extremely close to turning the corner. There is no reason to quit on them just yet. Plenty of things could happen to once again make this a successful season.

And if Tennessee can learn to close games, they will be in good shape.

Next: All for Tennessee Week Four Game Picks in Review

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