The Calm Before the Orange

A country music group named Blackhawk had a hit in 1994 entitled “I Sure Can Smell the Rain” in which the lead singer eerily foresees his girlfriend ending their relationship, even though she shows no signs of doing so.

In it’s chorus “I can’t see a single storm cloud in the sky, but I sure can smell the rain” he reinforces what we all feel sometimes about life. Sometimes you just know.

If you poll the majority of the head coaches in the SEC you will find that the Ole Miss Rebels are the sexy pick to crash the party, the Alabama Crimson Tide is a contender again after licking its wounds, and the road to Georgia Dome goes through the Florida Gators swampland.

Dig a little deeper with your questions and you’ll hear how the LSU Tigers will still throw their weight around, and the Georgia Bulldogs are going to prove to its critics that they can win the big games.

But the elephant in the room isn’t representative of the Crimson Tide, and the growl you hear isn’t coming from a Dawg.

Few coaches will admit it to their fan base, but in addition to acknowledging the heavyweights in the conference, they are at least keeping an eye on the storm that is brewing up on the hill in Knoxville, TN.

For most fans around the south, there are other things to worry about than the Tennessee Volunteers. After all, Tennessee doesn’t have a quarterback and their head coach, Lane Kiffin, has never coached a college game, much less one in the shark infested waters of the SEC.

The reality is...that they are right.

Tennessee for all its bark should have little bite, at least this year. Even an optimistic fan can only find nine wins on the schedule and that would have to include an upset over Ole Miss on the road or Georgia at home.

Critics of the Vols will look to a returning 5-7 team that lost to Wyoming at home last year. They will argue that the weather on the hill is sunny without a cloud in the sky for the rest of the conference. There isn’t the fear of marching into Neyland Stadium like there used to be.

Even Vanderbilt fans were pointing to the empty seats in the stadium that usually holds a tenth of a million people in orange on any given Saturday. You know it’s bad when your manhood is being challenged by Vanderbilt fans.

Tennessee has been knocked down, and it hasn’t been pretty. In the past few years they have had two losing seasons, lost to Vanderbilt for the first time in over two decades, and allowed apathy to replace Rocky Top.

That being said, teams that have overlooked Tennessee in the past have been left behind scratching their heads.

In 1985, the Vols shocked the world and the heavily favored Miami Hurricanes to win the Sugar Bowl.

In 1998, they lost All World Peyton Manning to graduation and proceeded to surprise their critics by winning the National Championship.

Following their first losing season under Phillip Fulmer in 2006 they responded with an appearance in the ‘07 SEC Championship game.

The lesson here is an overlooked Volunteer team can be a dangerous one.

Kiffin has been criticized for what he hasn’t done. He hasn’t been a head coach at the college level. He hasn’t faced the type of teams the SEC has to offer. He hasn’t kept his mouth shut.

What he has done however, is put together an all-star recruiting staff, backed it up with a top 10 recruiting class, and energized an entire fan-base with an intensity that has been lacking for years.

There is no more of an “aw shucks” kind of attitude at head coach. Kiffin brings high intensity to practice and it has rubbed off on the staff, the players, and even the fans.

There are no more politics. Every man, senior or freshman, has a chance to make an impact based on performance.

There is a new attitude in Knoxville and if you thought hearing Rocky Top 40 times a game was annoying, Kiffin just may make them double that.

It doesn’t mean anything if he can’t win games, and there are a lot of people who think he won’t. Vol fans think he will.

Sometimes in life you just know. I think Vol fans know.

The rest of the SEC may not see a single storm cloud in the sky, but soon they will smell the rain.