Can Tennessee finally get over the hump and win the SEC East?
HOOVER, ALA.—Tennessee football boasts 13 SEC championships, six national titles—including one BCS National Title—and five trips to the SEC Title Game in Atlanta.
The only problem is none of those things have happened in the last eight years. The Volunteers’ last trip to the SEC Title Game was 2007. Their last SEC Title? 1998. Their last national title? 1998.
Since then, they’ve had more head coaches (three) than trips to Atlanta for the SEC Championship Game (one).
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Tennessee has seen an uptick in play since the arrival of head coach Butch Jones, increasing its win totals each of the three seasons he’s been in Knoxville, but still haven't finished atop the division.
This year, they return a core group of guys including starting quarterback and running back Josh Dobbs and Jalen Hurd, and could be the team to beat in the East.
“I don’t look at it like that. I believe in us controlling the controllables and following the process and working every day to be better. You follow that, the rest will take care of itself,” Jones said. “Once you get outside your lane, you start becoming distracted and that’s where you have to rely on the maturity and the leadership we have in our program to win the day.”
Dobbs threw for 2,291 yards last season and 15 touchdowns. He also rushed for 671 and 11 touchdowns. He became only the third SEC quarterback in 20 years to have 300 passing yards and 100 rushing yards, joining Cam Newton and Tim Tebow.
Star running back Hurd, who rushed for almost 1,300 yards and caught for another 190 with 12 total touchdowns, returns as well. The Vols also return seven more starters on offense and eight on defense, making them one of the more experience-laden team in the SEC.
“We feel like we have a great team offensively, defensively, on special teams,” Dobbs said. “We’re still focused on how we can get better today. That’s our mindset this offseason: what can we do today to be great? This season will be a fun season, an exciting season.”
That exciting season starts on Sept. 1 against Appalachian State before Tennessee plays Virginia Tech and Ohio. So before the Volunteers get into the the teeth of their schedule, they'll play an FCS team and two opponents who combined to go 15-11.
So a 3-and-0 start could be in the cards for this team, making the bandwagon get just a little bit bigger. But it’s the fans that are already buckled in Dobbs and Company are worried about.
Tennessee fans are avid football fans, and expect a competitive and SEC-Championship-caliber team annually, but that’s not new. What is new, however, is the team being able, on paper, to meet those expectations. And for Dobbs, his expectations are the exact same.
“Our fans want to see a team that is hungry,” Dobbs said. “They want to see us go out and play hard and step away with a victory. And every time we step on the field we expect the same thing. Obviously those two expectations can meet in the middle.”
The preseason predictions for the SEC East (as voted on by the media) are revealed Friday, and most likely Tennessee will top the standings. Now, it’s about translating the on-the-paper succeed to on-the-field.
“We know the expectations around us because those things are going to come,” Sutton said. “But at the end of the day it’s what we do internally, the expectations we have internally with the team. We know what we can do as a team, what we’re capable of. It’s a matter of showcasing that.”
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