Following up the football weekend that was for our area’s college and pro teams:
The Vols are finding a way. Say that, at least, for an inscrutable Tennessee football team.
It hasn't been pretty, but the Vols are 5-1, ranked No. 14 in the USA Today coaches poll and still within reach of the College Football Playoff, and yet, they've provided few definitive clues about what's ahead in the second half of its season.
The Vols could easily be 6-0 had a winnable home game against Texas fallen differently. They could also be 3-3 had they not pulled out tense wins over Auburn and Arkansas that were a lot scarier than they should’ve been, largely because of continued inexperience and instability at quarterback.
(The Vols might go an entire season without
Josh Heupel settling for good on Faizon Brandon, who apparently was injured after all against Texas, or George MacIntyre, who threw two picks against Arkansas).
Whether Tennessee is contender or pretender in this weird SEC year of 2026, we still don’t know.
Feels like we’re about to find out, though.
Seventh-ranked Alabama (5-1) is either going to show up in Knoxville deflated or angry, given the way the Tide lost a marquee showdown to Georgia. I'd expect the Tide’s best in a contest that's creeping toward must-win territory for each team’s playoff hopes.
As for the Vols? Following their 24-17 survival in Fayetteville on Oct. 10, David Paschall of the Chattanooga Times Free Press asked Heupel an interesting question about the similarities between Tennessee’s 2024 playoff team and this season.
“The style of play, yeah, there’s some similarities,” Heupel acknowledged.
It’s true. To an uncanny extent, in some instances.
In 2024, the Vols stumbled at Arkansas, but they otherwise survived an unsightly midseason stretch by beating Oklahoma, Florida, Alabama and Kentucky without scoring more than 28 points in any of the games.
In 2024, the Vols’ defense allowed 293.2 yards per game and 16.1 points per game. This year, it is allowing 293.7 and 15.5 points per game.
In 2024, the Vols ran for more yards each game (225.8) than it passed (221.2). Same thing in 2026, with a rushing average of 228.3. The passing numbers (186.5) haven’t been as high, which brings us back to a glaring difference between that UT team and this one:
We knew who the quarterback was in 2024.
Speaking of offensive football
Let’s check on how the Tennessee Titans’ offense is doing under coordinator Brian Daboll in the aftermath of a 26-3 whupping by the Houston Texans:
The Titans are dead last in the NFL in total offense and scoring offense. They are next to last in the NFL in passing offense, ahead of only Miami (hey there, Malik Willis).
They are a little better – 27th – in rushing offense. Of course, that was after spending much of the preseason praising how well they’d been able to run the ball during practices.
“The offense from OTAs to training camp until now has kind of evolved into a different form,” Titans coach Robert Saleh said, “which isn’t always a recipe for success.”
I’m not sure what that quote means, but it doesn’t sound encouraging.
Extra Points
I’d say reports of an unfortunate collarbone injury to Vanderbilt quarterback Blaze Berlowitz put to rest any lingering questions about Jared Curtis’ job security on West End. But that may have already happened anyway, courtesy of Diego Pavia’s live-streaming. … Tough weekend for Austin Peay, which fell 40-32 at home to a good Tarleton State team in a matchup of Top 10 FCS teams. The Govs allowed 481 yards and fell behind 23-3 before fighting back to within one score twice in the fourth quarter. Jeff Faris’ team is 5-2 (the other loss was at Vandy) and still within sight of an FCS playoff spot. … Also among top FCS teams, Tennessee Tech rebounded from its first loss this season and improved to 5-1 with a 20-15 win over Furman.
Reach Tennessean sports columnist Gentry Estes at gestes@tennessean.com and hang out with him on Bluesky @gentryestes.bsky.social
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Is Tennessee football pretender or contender? We're about to see vs Alabama | Estes
