Patrick Kinahan: BYU faces must-win scenario in Tennessee

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SALT LAKE CITY — One game into the season, crazy as it sounds, the BYU football team faces a must-win situation against Tennessee.

After a lackluster performance in suffering their ninth consecutive loss to Utah, considering the difficulty of the upcoming schedule, the Cougars desperately need to beat Tennessee. Another loss creates the real possibility of starting the season 0-4, accounting for the following games against USC and Washington.

“In hopes to get eight or nine wins, this is a must-win,” former BYU quarterback and current radio analyst Riley Nelson during an interview on The Zone Sports Network.

In a direct way, the Cougars face more pressure to win in Knoxville than they did before last Saturday, when Tennessee lost at home to Georgia State. If an unheralded program, which finished 2-10 last season and 1-7 in the Sun Belt Conference, can beat Tennessee, then the thinking goes BYU should be able to do the same.

Obviously, this version of Tennessee is not the same as the program that won 45 games over a four-year span beginning in 1995 and owns six national championships. Since 2008, which was the last of Phillip Fulmer’s 16 seasons as the head coach, the Volunteers have endured seven losing seasons and another two in which they went 7-6.

With Butch Jones in his last season as the coach in 2017, Tennessee started 4-0 and then lost all eight Southeastern Conference games. Jeremy Pruitt’s first season was slightly better at 5-7 last year, but the Georgia State result suggests the program’s return to glory is a long way from reality.

Tennessee head coach Jeremy Pruitt watches from the sideline in the second half of an NCAA college football game against Georgia State, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2019, in Knoxville, Tenn. (Photo: Wade Payne, AP)

“For whatever reason, Week 1 is crazy,” said BYU coach Kalani Sitake. “I think Tennessee, they’re going to be ready this game.”

Still, as BYU coaches are prone to point out, Tennessee competes in the powerful SEC, which is known for recruiting speed. BYU traditionally has had trouble matching up with fast teams.

And there’s the matter of desperation. The Volunteers can’t afford to start 0-2, either.

“All I know is they’re great athletes and really well-coached. It’s hard for those teams to have two bad performances in a row,” said Sitake.

“When you watch (the) film, you notice there’s a lot of athleticism, size, strength — there’s great-looking athletes on the field. It was just like a lot of bad things that happened at the wrong time for those guys” Sitake said of Tennessee's performance against Georgia State.

The same can be said for BYU, which failed to stay competitive in the second half of their game against nationally ranked Utah at LaVell Edwards Stadium. The Utes dominated over the final two quarters, including eating up the last 9 minutes of the game with a run-heavy offense.

Watching most of the second half from the sidelines, the BYU offense never came close to finding a rhythm. Three turnovers, two of which Utah returned for touchdowns on interceptions, doomed any chance of the Cougars pulling an upset.

The lack of a good running game was perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the latest loss against Utah. But, as Sitake pointed out, the defense struggled to get off the field to give the offense an opportunity.

Even if the players and coaches deny it, the repeated losses to Utah have contributed to a negative energy hovering over the program. As with Tennessee, although on a smaller level, BYU had a strong tradition for 40 years and is not used to consistently losing games.

Losing to the downtrodden Volunteers, which probably ranks in the bottom half of BYU’s schedule, would lead to a new series of doubt for BYU. Conversely, a win could infuse much-needed confidence going into the next two games.

Without being overly dramatic, the Cougars could lose and still find a way to get the six wins required for bowl eligibility. The problem is, with another loss, the first win might not come until October.

“If the ball doesn’t bounce your way, the sky is not falling — but you have to show improvement,” Nelson said.