COMMENTARY: Don't get caught looking past the Vols

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I’m not buying the fact that the Southeastern Conference media predicted that Tennessee is the eighth best football team in the league, according to a preseason poll.

The Volunteers are better than that.

I don’t have a problem with Georgia and Texas as the top two, though the Longhorns will have to play Ohio State and Tennessee in the first four weeks in order to establish themselves.

Lose one or both of those and who knows what could happen?

Ole Miss as No. 3 in the league is a little hard for me to take. Trinidad Chambliss may be returning at quarterback, but remember, Pete Golding is going to be a head coach in his first full season. Growing pains are going to happen, no matter how long he’s been an assistant coach. That first season is a tough one.

Texas A&M had its run last year, but fell flat at the end of the season. That negative finish had to leave a lot of questions with the Aggies throughout the offseason. How that plays out will have a significant bearing on the start of this year.

I’m not sold on LSU being No. 5, either. The Tigers had a big enough collapse last year that Lane Kiffin and Sam Leavitt weren’t going to solve it overnight.

I can see Oklahoma moving up to No. 3 and Tennessee following at No. 4. Alabama, No. 6 in the poll, has a chance of being somewhat average this year.

My inclination is that too many people in the SEC are sleeping on the Vols. They look at the quarterback quandary and see an entire team that is in flux. 

That’s not the case. The quarterback is just about the only unsettled position Tennessee will have to deal with offensively. You need a game manager, not a stud.

Defensively, there has to be some benefit of the doubt given to coordinator Jim Knowles in order to believe his unit will be much better than the one that was victimized by Vanderbilt last year in the final straw that sent Tim Banks packing.

Maybe being picked to finish eighth is a good thing for the Vols. Absolutely no pressure comes with the mention. 

I have a gut feeling that Tennessee is going to rise above the prognostication and actually play its way into the College Football Playoff. I like the way the Vols’ schedule breaks down — they get Texas after Ohio State; they get Alabama after Georgia; LSU will come into a wild environment in Neyland Stadium; Texas A&M in College Station will be tough, and the game at Vandy will have enough payback juice to carry the day.

Go ahead, leave the Vols at No. 8 — but keep your eye on ‘em.

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