SEC Power Rankings after Week 1 of 2019: Yes, Vols are tanking

Is this any surprise? Of course the Vols are going to be at the bottom of our SEC Power Rankings. They just lost to a 2-10 Sun Belt team for heaven’s sake! And by the way, they didn’t just lose that game off a couple of fluke plays. The Georgia State Panthers flat-out owned UT. They were up 38-23 with less than 10 seconds on the clock.

Simply put, Jeremy Pruitt’s team was embarrassed. The offense didn’t score one second-half touchdown. They could not stop Dan Ellington and the GSU offense at all. Both the offensive and defensive lines, which were major concerns entering the season, were atrocious. And now it’s panic time on Rocky Top.

This week, the Vols have to host a BYU Cougars team that lost to the Utah Utes but is very dangerous. They then have the Chattanooga Mocs, but SEC play starts right after that with a road trip to the Florida Gators and a home game against the Georgia Bulldogs. They could easily fall to 1-4 to start the year.

Now, what’s good for them is the whole SEC East struggled, and they get an SEC West team who looked ugly on Saturday too. So if they can somehow turn things around, they have a chance to be decent. But this loss is definitely worth panicking over.