This is as close to a must-win game for Butch Jones as any single game can get. Where some UT fans seem to fail to make a distinction is this: Butch Jones won't be fired if he loses the Florida game (obviously), and those who criticize him won't be criticizing him for losing a single game. It's the cumulative effect. In fact, if Butch had beaten Florida last year or Oklahoma this year, we wouldn't even be having this discussion.
Does it take more than three years to rebuild a program from ashes? Of course it does. That's why no Tennessee fan -- no sensible one, anyway -- is saying that Jones should win the SEC this year. You won't hear anyone saying he should be fired even if he fails to win a divisional championship. But this isn't about winning championships in year three. This is about just OCCASIONALLY beating a team you should be able to beat. If Tennessee loses to Florida, Jones will be 0-4 in 50/50 games over a three-year period. Take a washed-up coach who is about to turn himself out to pasture out of the equation and Jones will not have one a single game of significance in a 3-year period. I'll bet you that no one can find another coach who posted a similar record during their first three seasons at a major school and then went on to have significant success at that school...not in this modern era of college football, anyway. When you lose a game like Vandy '13, it doesn't mean a whole lot. When you lose games like Vandy '13 and Florida '14 with no significant wins to offset them, eyebrows are raised. When you lose games like Vandy '13, Florida '14, Oklahoma '15 and Florida '15 with no wins in 50/50 games in between, red flags start to pop all over the place.
And let's face it: If Tennessee doesn't beat Florida on Saturday, does anyone think this team will beat Arkansas, much less Georgia or Alabama? And if Tennessee heads into late October with a record of 2-5, you better believe that Butch Jones' seat is going to be a bit heated.
No, Butch Jones isn't going to be fired if he loses to Florida. And he isn't going to be feeling heat from fans JUST because he lost to Florida. But if I were a betting man, I'd put money on this: If Butch Jones doesn't win tomorrow, he won't be here in 2017.
You are leaving out some important tidbits.
First, SOS wasn't a coach on the way out when we beat them in 2012. They were ranked in the top 10. That's a legit big win whether USC jr has the brand name recognition of uga/uf/bammer or not.
Second, if you going to include vandy 2013 then you need to include vandy 2014. Yes, Franklin was gone in 2014 but it was largely the same team and they got up for our game, which is what vandy has always done. Both games were also played for bowl eligibility and we won the second one, which at least is moving in the right direction.
Third, USC jr was a 50-50 game last year. They were about at our same level last year, way down from 2013 but by far still good enough to give us a game. And our team showed enormous balls coming back to win that one.
There are question marks about Jones, for sure, but he has done better than some give him credit for.
