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Could the 2015 Tennessee Vols Football Team be the 2014 Mississippi State Bulldogs?

By Caleb Calhoun

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The Tennessee Vols are in a similar situation that the Mississippi State Bulldogs were in going into the 2014 season. Could they be this year’s MSU?

Midway through the 2014 season, the outlook of the Tennessee Volunteers football program was extremely bleak. The loss to the Florida Gators earlier in the year set in motion a path to an extremely low point in the season, bottomed out with a 27-3 loss to the Ole Miss Rebels.

Then came the second half of the Alabama game, and everything turned around, as the Vols after that game won three of their last four games and then capped off the season by blowing out Iowa in the TaxSlayer Bowl. But we know that story.

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Did you know the Mississippi State Bulldogs were going through the same thing the year before?

In 2013, Dan Mullen appeared to be reaching an end point with the Bulldogs at 4-6, but two overtime wins against Arkansas and Ole Miss followed by a dominant Liberty Bowl win over Rice completely changed the mood of the program.

Then came 2014, and with 16 starters back, including all of the key players, Mullen’s Bulldogs burst onto the scene by spending the better part of the middle of the season at No. 1.

A close loss to Alabama and then late-season injuries that depth could not fix made for the 10-3 finish, but Mullen had already shown what the Bulldogs could be.

Could Tennessee be the Bulldogs of this year?

They have more returning starters than Mississippi State and also had a strong finish to the season. And, just like Dak Prescott at Mississippi State going into last year, Josh Dobbs has shown flashes of brilliance and is a mobile quarterback running a form of the spread offense.

There is a good chance Tennessee is the Mississippi State of last year or even the Auburn of 2013. Cautious expectations are there, but an ahead-of-the-curve offense with a perfect quarterback settled in to run it could work wonders for the program.

Dobbs and Jalen Hurd could be the Prescott-Josh Robinson combination of last year, and fortunately, a big difference is that Jones has recruited well enough to at least have raw talent for depth. That means injuries are not as sure of a bet to cause a late-season collapse.

Up to that point, this is the best case scenario for Tennessee. And we will have a good read through the first six games if they truly are last year’s Mississippi State, the 2013 Auburn Tigers, or once again just another disappointment.

Next: Five Things We Learned from the Vols at SEC Media Days

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