Plenty for LSU to play for vs. Vols

Published 7:59 pm Friday, November 17, 2017

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Statistics are notorious for flat-out lying and taking obscene liberties with reality.

But a quick glance at Tennessee’s numbers gives you a pretty good indication of how you end up with an interim coach for your final two games of the season.

Take your pick.

It’s all ugly, tinted in Big Orange.

Tennessee has the worst scoring offense in the Southeastern Conference (20.4 points per game), along with the worst total offense (296.8 yards per game) and the daily double of worst passing offense (165.2) and worst pass efficiency offense (55.9) — also tied for giving up the most sacks.

On the other side, Tennessee has given up the most yards rushing of any SEC team, including 433 last week to Missouri.

In all of the above — and I know numbers are no fun; fear not, we’re about to get something juicier — the Vols rank somewhere beyond No. 100 nationally among the 129 Football Bowl Subdivision teams.

In layman’s terms, Tennessee has scored just five offensive touchdowns in six SEC games.

But that’s not even the worst of it.

The Vols had to get really creative with this last one.

The SEC is a big, bulky league, sometimes too large when it comes to scheduling. It is often accused of being too big for its britches.

If it ever expands again, the explosion may cause shock waves in China, where, contrary to the old wive’s tale, somebody probably cares about the Auburn-Alabama Iron Bowl.

But, for now, with 14 teams and 13 possible conference opponents for every school, there ought to be something for everybody on that buffet.

Yet, right now, as we speak, in late November of 2017, with LSU heading here for a Saturday night game, the Vols have lost the last game they played against all 13 possible SEC candidates.

How in the world does that happen? Let it sink in. It defies imagination.

What we’re saying is that Tennessee’s most recent game against all 13 possible SEC opponents was a loss.

This is unprecedented, although you might want to check with Vanderbilt first. No, the Commodores are off the hook on this one.

It includes the six SEC teams Tennessee has played this year, ranging from a Hail Mary loss to Florida to last week’s 50-17 embarrassment at Missouri.

LSU has been the longest innocent bystander in this streak.

You have to go back to 2011 for the last LSU-UT game, a 38-7 Tigers’ victory.

Yet, heading into Saturday’s possibly cold, drizzly home game with LSU, the Big Orange battle cry — such that Tennessee has one — is that the 4-6 Vols are still chasing after the faint hope of bowl eligibility for the seniors.

OK, go ahead. Just try to tell me this isn’t a wonderful country.

Or what?

Something or another for sure.

Maybe that a team that in late November hasn’t won a conference game still has a chance to go bowling.

And, as you may know, I’m not one to complain about too many bowls. The more the merrier.

Not sure many Orange fans care. Most of them seem to be camped out at the airport right now on the odd chance there’s a Jon Gruden sighting (or rumor of one).

But go for it, Vols.

This isn’t just to pile on Tennessee, either.

But it does show just how bad things can get for a once-proud program — and make no mistake Tennessee is one.

It could also be a lesson for the more aloof LSU fans who think the Tigers (7-3, 4-2 SEC) have nothing to play for since the carrot of the College Football Playoff was yanked away.

LSU should aspire to be in that national discussion. The Tigers got used to it for a while.

Everything is in place.

But it doesn’t mean a season is over.

One of the debates is whether Ed Orgeron & Co. should go ahead and toss quarterback Danny Etling aside just to get freshman backup Myles Brennan ready for next year.

They shouldn’t.

That would be like a petulant child pouting at not getting his way.

This year’s Tigers will always wear that loss to Troy like a Scarlet Letter. But the turnaround since then has been impressive, encouraging for the Orgeron regime that, from the beginning, was dealing with a team with some flaws.

You surely can’t say they haven’t gotten better.

Earlier this week, in the standard one-game-at-a-time monologue, Orgeron said he wanted to see LSU “lock in on to Tennessee to finish a great season,” before he quickly corrected himself — “Not a great season, a good season.”

So he knows the expectations.

From where this team looked in September, a 9-3 record wouldn’t look bad at all — with a bowl option on the first 10-win season since 2013.

For that matter, not since 2012 have the Tigers been 6-2 in the SEC.

For now, though, you just don’t want to be the first SEC team that didn’t beat Tennessee last.