CW I hear you about Minnesota and how the Vols might go that route, but I think Minnesota's success in football is in the very distant pass. The school closer to home that scares me is Ole Miss. They were an SEC power up through the early 70s, but other than a few above average seasons with Eli and a couple of actually top ten type seasons a few years ago, they have been a has-been for over 50 years. Something the Vols are IMO at the crossroads of.
My hope is that the Vols of the last decade are like LSU of the 90s. LSU was ranked pretty high preseason in 1988, but were upset early in the season multiple times, then went into a decline that lasted the entire 90s until Saban broke them out of it in 2001 (at our expense!
). I am hoping we are LSU 2000, ready to have a good season leading to a great one and then maybe an NC.