The 2005 College Football season has been over for a while now, but the dissapoitment of last season for my Tennessee Volunteers still hasn't gone away. Predicted to challenge for the National Title with USC, the Vols ended up challenging Kentucky for last place in the SEC East. The Vols failed to make a bowl game for the first time in 19 years, and lost to in-state rival (?) Vanderbilt for the first time in over twenty years. All in all it was embarrassing, dissapointing, anything but successful.

Let's be honest with all those predictions by the alleged experts, were pretty much without merit. They entered the season with 2 quarterbacks (again), this time it was different. Whereas in the year before, Schaffer and Ainge had different styles, Schaffer being a scrambling QB, and Ainge being more of a pocket passer. Last season the QB battle was between two guys with very similar styles, and also no experience. While Ainge stepped up in his limited time (both due to rotation, and injury) his Freshman year, he definatley didn't have the sort of experience that the leader of a National Title contender needs. Same goes for Claussen, despite the legacy of his older brother Casey (which varies widely depending on who you talk to), Rick had played decent football but definatley not enough, and definatley not against the level of competition he would be asked to face if the Vols were going to make it to Pasedena. This led to one of the most in-ept offenses to ever grace Knoxville. The fact that Gerald Riggs went down with an injury, and the numerous fumbles and turnovers in the red-zone also didn't help.

Not only was the talent overrated, the schedule last season was brutal, even harder than a typical SEC schedule. The Vols had to play all of their hardest games on the road, with the exception of Georgia (Florida, LSU, Alabama, Notre Dame were all road games). This is not the ideal situation for a young offense to gain any confidence.  They managed only  one win, a miraculous comeback at LSU, but the easily could have gone 0-4 in that stretch.

I don't know how familiar you are with the South Eastern Conference, it is easily the hardest conference to play in. Not only because of the talent level, but it is comparable to the ACC in basketball, every road game you are going into an extremely hostile atmosphere. This year the Vols have the Neyland advantage. They will play Cal (opening weekend), Florida, LSU, and Alabama all at home.  While last year wasn't sucessful on the field, you could argue that by playing all those road games the Vols learned a lot about what it takes to win those sorts of games. Eric Ainge (I am assuming he wins the starting job from Jonathan Crompton, a promising red-shirt freshman) will have another year (or so) of experience under his belt. David Cutcliffe, the new Offensive Coordinator who has coached both Peyton Manning,at UT, and Eli Manning, at Ole Miss, should bring some new energy and insight to the disgrace of an offense he inherited.

The one upside of last year was the defense. However, most of those guys are gone (Kevin SImon, Jesse Maholouna, Jason Allen etc...). So this season could be the exact of oppisite of last season, if everything goes to plan. Expect some shootouts at Neyland next year.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not predicting a miraculous run, circa 1998, but I won't be surprised to see the Vols turn the ship around dramtically this year and finish near the top of the SEC, and back to the level of football that all of Rocky Top has come to expect.

So come September, look out for the Big Orange.