If you've been following college football for as I long as I have, you hopefully would agree with me in saying that Phillip Fulmer has been one of the most recognized faces in the game for the past decade or so.

His years coaching Peyton Manning, for one, unquestionably shaped the image of Tennessee's football program as a perennial national power.

And even when Manning took off for the NFL, Fulmer had his best season yet of his career, winning a national championship with a perfect 13-0 record behind an offense that featured Jamal Lewis, Travis Henry, Al Wilson and Peerless Price.

But Fulmer didn't have a quarterback of Manning's caliber that year.

If you can remember without having to look at Tennessee history books like me, it was Tee Martin who took the ball under center.

Yes, Tee Martin, who after short stints in the NFL and CFL, now just happens to be the quarterback coach at North Cobb High School in Kennesaw, Ga.

Not exactly a name most of us sportswriting-types remember.

That 1998 season for the Volunteers, nonetheless, was special, capping off a perfect 13-0 year with a 23-16 national championship win over No. 2 Florida State in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl.

And from that point forward, Fulmer has been the face stamped on Tennessee's football program.

Manning may be the legend, but Fulmer is the face.

In Fulmer's first full season at the helm, the Volunteers finished tied for first in the SEC East with a 10-2 overall record and a 7-1 mark in conference play.

Furthermore, his 147-45 record speaks for itself, while his back-to-back SEC championships in 1997 and 1998 eventually led to honors such as the Eddie Robinson Award and Home Depot Coach of the Year Award.

For as good as tradition and history are, though, it's quite possible that Fulmer won't be wearing Volunteer orange by the time we hit the month of December.

That may be hard to believe, but just look at Tennessee's schedule if you're not with me.

Because after a 30-6 embarrassment last weekend at home against Florida with 106, 138 fans on hand, the prospects don't get any easier this Saturday with a trip to Auburn inside Jordan Hare Stadium, where Tiger fans will be anxious to witness a victory after having LSU break their hearts less than a week ago.

"That loss is on me," Fulmer admitted after being outcoached and outplayed by the Gators. "I've got big shoulders, and I take responsibility. That wasn't us."

How quickly the Volunteers improve, though, could ultimately determine whether Fulmer keeps his job or not by as early as December.

"As a coach, last year's team was one of those teams that drove you nuts, but they got better and better," the former SEC Coach of the Year said. "We played with effort, we responded and we won. We played for the [SEC] championship in Atlanta when a lot of other people had given up on us early. We won't give up, and we have a chance to be there again. It's just a little bit harder road."

The Volunteers might feel like they're making some more progress the next week in what should be another win as Northern Illinois comes to Knoxville, but a trip to Athens, Ga., on Oct. 4 could most likely have Fulmer's team sitting at 2-4 with Mississippi State and Alabama coming to Neyland Stadium for back-to-back weekends.

It's quite likely that the Volunteers will get a win from one of those two games - my guess being against Mississippi State - but I wouldn't expect two wins over tough SEC opponents.

Not with this Tennessee team, at least.

Not after a 30-6 drubbing by the Gators and an even more hideous OT loss to UCLA, who's hinging its season on a third-string quarterback that threw four picks in the first half of that game and has thrown for only 311 yards in two games since - and both of those games being blowout losses (59-0 to BYU and 31-10 to Arizona).

"It seems like we've got to learn things the hard way," Fulmer explained. "And so I think everything we do, we learn from and get better from it."

Still, if Tennessee could figure out how to pull out a win over Alabama, the Volunteers would at least be carrying some momentum on the road for the next week against South Carolina, which despite a 2-2 record at the moment, showed it can play with the big boys in a 14-7 loss to Georgia.

So at this point in the season, the Volunteers could very likely be staring at a 3-6 record, but hey, at least Homecoming will be a pleasant one for Tennessee fans.

Is it just me, or does anyone else think it's funny that Fulmer just happened to schedule big and mighty Wyoming for the weekend when alumni are back in town?

Or is a Mountain West team that got slaughtered 44-0 by BYU last weekend just a regular non-conference opponent that makes the Volunteers' schedule every year from here on out?

With the SEC schedule that Tennessee faces each year, I understand that the Volunteers shouldn't have to play tough non-conference games, which Fulmer obviously didn't schedule this year.

But a team that scored a measly three points against Air Force and only beat South Dakota State by three points won't pose much of a challenge in preparing Fulmer's players for SEC competition the following two weekends, when the Vols head to Nashville to take on Vandy and then play Kentucky at home Nov. 29 in their regular-season finale.

And while Fulmer should be able to get one win out of those two games - most likely against Kentucky with Vanderbilt off to a 4-0 start after promising wins over both South Carolina and Ole Miss - a 5-8 season looms large for Tennessee and its loyal fans.

Sure, let's not forget that Fulmer sneaked the Volunteers into last year's SEC Championship game, and every season understandably can't be 12-0, 11-1, or 10-2, but an 8-5 showing in 2002, a 5-6 disappointing finish in 2005 and now this season's nightmare could just have Tennessee fans ready for a change.

It's been a 16-year marriage with Fulmer, and sometimes that's tough to let go.

But as the SEC grows stronger and stronger and top-rated recruits keep passing on the Volunteers to play for other conference foes, there may be trouble for Fulmer.

That is, if there isn't any by the end of this season.