As the Memphis Grizzlies finished up practice on Monday morning, rookie point guard Kennedy Chandler turned to someone nearby and asked about the latest college football rankings, which had just been released.
“We’re number three?” asked Chandler, who played college basketball at the University of Tennessee Volunteer. “We’re number three,” he confirmed a moment later, this time more of a statement than a question, with just a touch of awe in his voice.
Yes, they’re number three. Because on Saturday, the Tennessee Volunteers, the same college football program that a few years ago couldn’t give away its head coaching job, knocked off the mighty Alabama Crimson Tide, 52-49, thanks to a late field goal that sent the Neyland Stadium goalposts on a journey across campus and eventually into the Tennessee River. The Vols are currently 6-0 and the third-ranked team in America. Good ol’ Rocky Top, indeed.
I think we can all agree to offer a little leniency to fans of Tennessee who find themselves in disbelief. After all, this is heady stuff, hanging around the top of the charts. It was just two seasons ago that the Vols lost 7 of their last 8 games. Last year they were barely bowl eligible, and then lost their bowl game to Purdue.
Heading into the game against Alabama last week, the Vols had lost 39 consecutive games against teams ranked in the top ten. Heck, Alabama themselves had beaten Tennessee 15 times in a row. But all those bumbling days, back when Jarrett Guarantano was scrambling for his life while Butch Jones or Jeremy Pruitt screamed at anyone within earshot, are long gone.
The quickest route between two points may be a straight line, but getting back to the SEC elite was a squiggle for the Vols, and that’s being charitable. They last won a national championship in 1998, but were in the mix for an SEC crown a few times in the ‘00s, losing in the SEC Championship game three different times. Phil Fulmer left after a 5-7 campaign in 2008, which is when Tennessee football really went on its rumspringa. Lane Kiffin came in for one season, and then Derek Dooley and his orange slacks posted three consecutive losing seasons. Butch Jones seemed to have things pointed the right direction, but he wore out his welcome and after a hilarious coaching search was eventually replaced by UGA defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt, who won one bowl game and not much else, before the Vols finally brought in Josh Heupel.
These days, Heupel’s Tennessee offense hums along briskly, with real purpose and flair. Heupel showed up last season with a clearly-defined plan and system, and while there were flashes of brilliance, mostly we saw Tennessee suffer self-inflicted wounds. This season, it seems like the Vols have cleaned up their errors and are playing the kind of high-octane football Heupel promised to deliver. Quarterback Hendon Hooker is a genuine Heisman candidate, and even with WR Cedric Tillman out with an ankle injury, the Tennessee offense has seemed to be able to easily plug-and-play with whoever is healthy at the time.
“It’s such a hard conference,” Chandler said after Grizzlies practice. “I feel like they’ve been good every year, it’s just such a hard conference, and they’ve never been undefeated. So for us to be undefeated right now is really good.”
Chandler, who grew up in Memphis and was born four years after Tennessee’s last national championship, played just one season of basketball at Tennessee, but he stays connected to Knoxville thanks to his two closest friends, who are on the Vols’ football team (RB Jabari Small and DT Omari Thomas, who wore a Kennedy Chandler hoodie at the Vols media day this week).
Tennessee’s preseason over/under was set at 7.5 wins, a number they should now hit with no problem, considering South Carolina and Missouri remain on the schedule. But if you’re Tennessee, suddenly you’re playing for a lot more than just that 7.5 number, and it doesn’t get any easier. Yes, they play UT-Martin this week, but next week they host Kentucky, who finally has their elite QB/RB combo healthy with something to prove. A week later, the Vols travel to Athens to play the undefeated Georgia Bulldogs, who were the last team to beat Alabama. And while Tennessee did beat Alabama, they also gave up 49 points to a Bama team with a banged up quarterback and lacking elite playmakers on the edges. Tennessee scored enough to beat the Tide, but can they outscore a Dawgs offense that has been hitting on all cylinders this season? It’s a real question, and getting past the reigning national champs is going to require perhaps even more magic from the Vols than they used to beat Alabama for the first time in almost two decades.
That game in Athens will be the biggest test for Tennessee in 25 years. But that’s an issue for another day. Right now, Tennessee fans can revel in the knowledge that they have done one of the toughest things to do in sports, and successfully stuck the landing on the leap from being mediocre to being great. At least for now. Still, considering everything they went through to get here? Maybe it’s OK to rip down the goalposts and chuck them into a river. Vols fans deserved a break. And the journey isn’t over yet.
“Being number 3, it means a lot,” Chandler said. “I feel like we were always good at football, but now we are peaking. Look at us now: Undefeated, number three in the country, just working our way toward number one.”