After losing to Southeastern Conference rival Georgia again last weekend, No. 11 Tennessee might be licking its wounds a bit.
The Volunteers (8-2) will close out their home slate Saturday afternoon with what will likely be an easier matchup, facing Conference USA foe UTEP (2-8) in Knoxville, Tenn.
The Volunteers are looking to rebound from a 31-17 drubbing at the hands of Georgia last Saturday.
Tennessee sprinted out of the gate and led 10-0 after the first quarter, however coach Kirby Smart’s team found its footing and steamrolled the Volunteers.
“It’s an opportunity for us to grow as a football team and continue to get better,” Tennessee coach Josh Heupel said of facing the Miners on Senior Day. “It’s the next step forward for us.”
Heupel said his players are good enough and have the type of culture to put an eighth straight setback against Georgia behind them.
“They made last week a big game because of what they’ve invested,” he said. “We’re in the arena and we’ve got to go make it happen. … There are areas we’ve got to get better.
“There are just too many instances of Tennessee hurting Tennessee on Saturday, and that’s not taking anything away from Georgia. But the things that we can control, we’ve got to be better at.”
The bad news for the Volunteers was they were tabbed 11th in the rankings, trailing fellow SEC members No. 7 Alabama, No. 9 Ole Miss and No. 10 Georgia.
Tennessee will close out its season against in-state rival Vanderbilt on the road in Nashville next Saturday.
The Miners have not been in many positions where they led from the outset or had a chance to win, but they did two weeks ago against Kennesaw State in a game that went past regulation.
In the second overtime, Kenny Odom caught a 16-yard pass from Skyler Locklear as UTEP earned a 43-35 double overtime win over the Owls.
Locklear fired four touchdown passes, Odom caught three of them and UTEP’s “Orange Swarm” defense forced three straight incompletions to end the contest.
That performance earned Locklear the conference’s Offensive Player of the Week honors, while Kory Chapman was honored as the Conference USA Defensive Player of the Week.
Lockler has completed 67.0 percent of his passes with nine touchdowns and five interceptions this season. Odom, in turn, has 642 receiving yards and seven touchdown receptions.
The team has found itself in tight games lately: The last four outcomes — two wins and two losses — have all been decided by single digits.
“I’m so proud of this team, and I’ve been talking about perseverance all year,” UTEP coach Scotty Walden said after the Senior Day/Homecoming win. “That’s exactly what they did; they persevered through adversity. … We played with a lot of pride and a lot of passion.”
Tennessee and UTEP have only met once, a 24-0 Volunteers victory on Sept. 15, 2018, in Knoxville.
–Field Level Media