Tennessee Vols Football: It's 'Bama Week; Whoop-Tee-Do

Search my story archive and you’ll find a similarly-titled article from exactly one year ago today. Except that the headline on that particular article denoted excitement about the Vols annual matchup with then-No. 1 Alabama. “It’s ‘Bama Week!” the headline exclaimed.

Oh, what a difference a year makes.

In October 2009, Tennessee had a brash, young head coach who had just guaranteed his team victory over Georgia and followed that up with a 45-19 spanking of the ‘Dawgs at Neyland.

Senior quarterback Jonathan Crompton snapped out of his one-plus-year identity crisis and was the reigning SEC Offensive Player of the Week heading into the bye week before the ‘Bama game.

It would still be long odds for the Vols to go into Tuscaloosa and defeat the mighty Crimson Tide, but there was enough optimism in the air to logically believe that the game would end up in the typical Third-Saturday-in-October slobber-knocker and that the Vols would at least have a chance.

One year later, the Tide is still mighty.

The Vols, well, they’re bad—really bad. This team is much worse than it was at any point during the ’09 season. In fact, this is easily the worst Tennessee team since Johnny Majors took on the task of rebuilding the program in the late '70s.

This time around, there’s no SEC player of the week to be found on the Tennessee sideline. There’s no 26-point drubbing of Georgia to boast about. In fact, there’s an embarrassing 27-point loss to a Georgia team that was 1-4 going into the early October matchup.

No, this time around Tennessee can only boast of wins against UT-Martin, a 50-0 affair that never was close, and an overtime thriller against Alabama-Birmingham that never should have been close.

Alabama still has a top-10 team that some still consider the best team in the SEC, even with the loss at South Carolina two weeks ago.

The Crimson Tide opened as an 18-point favorite in Knoxville. With that opening line, Tennessee is going into its third-straight game as a double-digit underdog.

Saturday will also feature the third time that Tennessee has been a double-digit underdog at Neyland Stadium this season. When you consider the Vols have been double-digit underdogs at home just a handful of times in two decades-plus, you see just how bad this team really is.

Vols fans are still telling the same old not-so-funny jokes that are annually reserved for "Bama week." The big orange faithful still see this week as an excellent opportunity to remind Tide fans of the '90s when Tennessee dominated the series.

The more grounded Tennessee fans see Saturday for exactly what it will be—just another very bumpy ride on the road to rebuilding.

To say that Tennessee has a legit shot in this game is borderline lunacy. Of course, no one ever confused that group of people called “SEC fanatics” as a sane lot anyway.

One shouldn’t be naïve enough to think it will be this way forever in Knoxville. No, Derek Dooley will do some good things at Tennessee provided those same fanatics don’t run him out of town after what is increasingly beginning to look like a 4-8 season this year.

Go to the game. Support the Vols. Wear the orange and white with pride. But please, Vol fans, for the love of General Neyland, lower the expectations a tad.

There is little to be excited about this weekend, unless you like watching your team get its doors blown off at home by your top rival.

Prediction: Alabama 38-13