re: Chips are down: Is Tennessee "Back"?

Define “back”. Everyone acts like Tennessee of the 1990s is the norm and the standard for Tennessee football to get back to, but that’s not really the case.

Sure last year ended a streak of 14 consecutive seasons with zero Top 20 finishes, but did you know that from 1975-1988, Tennessee football had another 14-season stretch with just two Top 25 finishes?

The period from 1989-2007 was really more the outlier period for Tennessee since integration.

Since 1975, Tennessee ranks #19 nationally in weeks ranked in the AP Top 25…. That’s behind programs like Texas A&M and even Washington.

•From 1975-1988, Tennessee ranked 38th nationally in weeks ranked in the AP poll (14 seasons)
•From 1989-2007, Tennessee ranked 4th nationally in weeks ranked in the AP poll (19 seasons)
•From 2008-2022, Tennessee ranked ranked 49th nationally in weeks ranked in the AP poll (15 seasons)

So what’s the norm? The 19 great years mainly during the Fulmer era or the 29 seasons that surrounded that era?

My take is that Heupel is a good coach who will have some success there. I don’t expect Tennessee to be competing for titles most seasons like they did in the mid to late 90s…. That’s just not the norm up in Knoxville.