I agree that this Tennessee team, healthy, is good enough to beat any team in America. And this isn't one of those "on any given Saturday" arguments like we were making last year, where you have the audacity to envision that your team can play its best game, catch a few breaks, and sneak away with an upset win. This Tennessee team can legitimately go toe-to-toe with anyone. It's a legitimate Top 5 football team.
Healthy.
Unfortunately, because of the injuries, I think we're catching Alabama at the worst possible time.
I know injuries are a part of the game. But damn- are we EVER going to have a season where we stay mostly healthy? Last year, we were decimated before we even broke fall camp. This year, Butch dialed back the contact in camp, and it worked (though I have a feeling that it contributed greatly to our lackluster start, especially against App State). But then the season started, and the injuries piled up again. Let's see- we're now down both starting DTs, both starting LBs (who both had All-SEC potential), our All American cover corner, and two more key rotational guys in the secondary. And that's just the defense. On O, we're down one All SEC RB, and our lone senior on the OL. We're also probably losing our All American kick returner for a while.
And every year this happens, someone brings up the "silver lining":
Hey, at least we're getting some younger guys some work, so they'll be ready to take over next season.
In theory, that's true. Except next season will come, and those younger guys will get hurt, too. Every. Damn. Year.
Unless you're bammer and you
buy recruit 5*'s on top of 5*'s, I don't see how ANY team could overcome this.
