Adams: Vols must run gauntlet to complete 8-4 season

By John Adams
Published Sunday, October 25, 2009

Tennessee could have practically made its season by beating Florida or Alabama. Now, it can make its season by beating everybody that's left.

The consensus best-case scenario for UT in preseason was 8-4. It's still attainable. But there's little margin for error and no room for a letdown following a last-second loss to previously No. 1-ranked Alabama on Saturday.

Another UT team made the best of a 3-4 start and a close loss to Alabama. The 1994 team won its last four regular-season games by a 172-35 margin, then beat Virginia Tech by 22 points in the Gator Bowl.

Putting that late-season surge in perspective: Peyton Manning was the quarterback, and the last four regular-season opponents were comprised of South Carolina, Memphis, Kentucky and Vanderbilt - none of which finished better than 6-5.

This team's stretch running is considerably more daunting. Kentucky is proof of that. So are Ole Miss and South Carolina, which are both ranked in the top 25.

The 1994 Kentucky team, which UT beat 52-0, belongs in the conversation when you're discussing the worst SEC teams of the last 25 years. It went 1-10, was outscored 405-149 and lost to Florida 73-7.

The current Kentucky team is 4-3 and only two victories away from a school-record fourth consecutive bowl game. And its losing streak to UT (24 and counting) has to end sometime, doesn't it?

Ole Miss fans might be asking the same question. The Rebels haven't beaten the Vols since 1983. Their losing streak in the series is 12, including nine losses by double-digit margins.

A popular top-10 pick in preseason, the Rebels stumbled to a 3-2 start but have played better in winning their last two games. Like Kentucky, they will have the home-field advantage against the Vols.

UT's more immediate concern is South Carolina on Saturday in Neyland Stadium (TV: ESPN, 7:45 p.m.).

South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier no longer has the intimidating sideline presence he once did at Florida. But the Vols usually bring out the best in the East Tennessee native.

Spurrier was 8-4 against UT as Florida's head coach. More relevantly, he's 2-2 at South Carolina. The Gamecocks handled UT with relative ease last season, 27-6, and were statistically dominant in the overtime loss to UT two years ago.

South Carolina and UT have a couple of things in common. They have improving quarterbacks - Stephen Garcia for the Gamecocks and Jonathan Crompton for the Vols - and are better defensively than offensively.

The biggest difference is in the running game. UT has one.

And this is the game to use it.

South Carolina ranks second in the SEC in pass defense. Not only does it have another in a long line of solid secondaries, it has two of the conference's most feared pass rushers in linebacker Eric Norwood and end Clint Matthews, who are both having All-SEC seasons. Norwood leads the SEC in sacks with six, and Matthews is tied for second with five.

Attacking the middle of the South Carolina defense offers more promise. The Gamecocks rank eighth in the league in rush defense and lack depth in the middle of their defense.

Running the ball is sometimes as much about effort as talent. And you have to wonder how much effort UT can summon after a last-second loss to Alabama.

Arkansas came out flat against Ole Miss on Saturday, a week after a last-minute loss to No. 1-ranked Florida. South Carolina struggled to beat Vanderbilt following a hard-fought loss to Alabama.

Such lapses become more and more common in the second half of the season in a conference as taxing as this one. UT's challenge is to put the Alabama game behind it while maintaining the same emotional edge it had for both the Tide and the Gators.

If it can accomplish that, it might beat more than South Carolina. It might beat everybody else on its schedule as well.

Sports editor John Adams may be reached at 865-342-6284 or adamsj@knoxnews.com.