Do Tennessee football players believe they're a good team? That's the big question after loss

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Linebacker Aaron Beasley said the Tennessee football season won’t be defined by one loss to Florida.

That’s what he should say. And maybe he’s right.

The Vols have nine games remaining and enough talent to win most of them.

But convincing UT fans to hold back their hot takes after seeing the Vols (2-1, 0-1 SEC) get chomped by the Gators (2-1, 1-0) will be as difficult as winning those games.

“We’re not defined by (a loss) this early in the year,” Beasley said after UT’s 29-16 loss to Florida on Saturday night. “What we want to accomplish this season is still on the table.”

But is it?

The Vols want to win the SEC East. But they’re 0-1 in conference play with a loss to an East Division foe. And more tough SEC games are ahead.

Let’s put that aside and ask a more pressing question: Is this a really good Tennessee football team? I don’t know. Maybe you do.

It had a top-10 ranking entering The Swamp, but that will go away with the updated polls.

It carried preseason projections of challenging for another New Year’s Six bowl, but expect those to be set aside.

Quarterback Joe Milton had the second-longest streak in college football of not throwing an interception. But Florida picked him off to end that.

The Vols are going to slide off the front page of college football, at least for a few weeks. Whether they can get back there and how they could do that are in question.

Here's what we know about Tennessee so far

A week ago, we made an agreement about when to judge these Vols.

The headline said: “Let’s pause expectations for Tennessee football in 2023 until it wins a big game, like Florida.”

Well, UT didn’t win that big game. But there are some things we can see clearly from this big loss.

UT’s offensive line is limited until center Cooper Mays returns from injury. And even then, it’s not clear if the unit can play at a high level against solid SEC defenses.

The tackling problems in the defensive secondary, which plagued the Vols last season, haven’t gone away.

And UT’s offense has more problems than one week of practice will solve. Rest assured, coach Josh Heupel has his work cut out for him.

“They are capable (of playing better). Absolutely,” UT coach Josh Heupel said. "... But at the end of the day, nobody was doing what they needed to do at the level that they need to. We’ve got to be better. We’ve got to go back to work and continue to grow.”

But the Vols’ biggest issue may have nothing to do with X’s and O’s. This team suffers from a lack of confidence, and that could lose more games than any strategy can win.

Vols have a lot to prove to themselves

Wide receiver Bru McCoy summed it up pretty well in describing why the Vols scored a touchdown so easily on their first drive but then struggled to do it again.

They didn’t get back to the end zone until McCoy caught a 55-yard TD pass in the fourth quarter.

“We came out fast and sort of lost our momentum a little bit,” McCoy said. “I think we started thinking that we couldn’t do it again. It’s a mindset thing. It’s a confidence thing.”

And there it is – a confidence thing.

Milton alluded to it, too. He said the players would find out first if they were ready to bounce back from the loss. But fans and media must wait until the Vols show it on another gameday.

"The only people that will find out that is us," Milton said. "We’ll find that out within the team, starting tomorrow, really starting tonight on the plane."

Is this a really good Tennessee football team? I don’t know. Maybe you do.

But the bigger concern is whether these players think they're a really good football team. Judging from this trip to The Swamp, they’re not sure yet.

Adam Sparks is the Tennessee football beat reporter. Email adam.sparks@knoxnews.com. X, formerly known as Twitter@AdamSparks. Support strong local journalism by subscribing at knoxnews.com/subscribe.

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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Is this a really good Tennessee football team? I don’t know.