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Five Burning Questions Surrounding the Tennessee Vols at SEC Media Days

By Caleb Calhoun

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Jan 2, 2015; Jacksonville, FL, USA; The Tennessee Volunteers team takes a group photo with their trophy after their 2015 TaxSlayer Bowl game against the Iowa Hawkeyes at EverBank Field. The Tennessee Volunteers beat the Iowa Hawkeyes 45-28. Mandatory Credit: Phil Sears-USA TODAY Sports

1. How are the Vols handling expectations?

Relative to the success of the time, the Tennessee Volunteers have gone in with huge expectations in the past. And since the 1998 national title, they came up grossly short.

In 2012, Derek Dooley’s final year, it appeared clear that the Vols had everything needed to turn around the program, and with Tyler Brady guaranteeing an SEC Championship and Dooley saying you won’t have Tennessee to kick around anymore, fans were excited for a turnaround then. They stumbled to 5-7 for a second straight year, though.

In 2005, the Vols started the year No. 3 with tons of starters back and coming off of a 10-3 season. They fell to 5-6 for the first time since 1988.

In 2002, they started the year No. 5 after a terrible upset away from the national title a year before. They stumbled to 8-5 and their first unranked season in 14 years.

In 1999, coming off the national title, the Vols started the year No. 2. They fell to 9-3, the first time in five years they were short of six wins.

All of this leads to the question of how they will handle expectations this year. It appears Tennessee should be on its way back up and a Top 25 contender, and they are a dark horse to win the East according to many analysts. Can they live up to those expectations?

Managing them is a major question you ask people from any program on the cusp of turning the corner. We want to find out how the Vols are handling it.

Next: Why Vols Can Win SEC East

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