The Tennessee Vols are still mad about the disrespect from last season
The Tennessee Vols ended the 2022 season as the No. 6 ranked team in the AP Top 25, behind Georgia, TCU, Michigan, Ohio State, and Alabama. Tennessee finished with the same record as Alabama and the Vols also beat the Crimson Tide 52-49. Additionally, Tennessee boat raced LSU — the Vols won 40-13 in Baton […]
The Tennessee Vols ended the 2022 season as the No. 6 ranked team in the AP Top 25, behind Georgia, TCU, Michigan, Ohio State, and Alabama.
Tennessee finished with the same record as Alabama and the Vols also beat the Crimson Tide 52-49. Additionally, Tennessee boat raced LSU — the Vols won 40-13 in Baton Rouge — while Alabama lost to the Tigers.
Alabama being ranked above Tennessee at the end of last season reeked of sportswriter bias.
And it's something the Tennessee's players haven't forgotten about.
Vols redshirt senior tight end Jacob Warren bemoaned the rankings shortly after the end of the 2022 season.
Earlier this month, Tennessee senior Cooper Mays shared a similar sentiment during an appearance on "Off the Hook Sports"
Mays was asked how he feels about Alabama and LSU being ranked above Tennessee in most preseason top 25 polls.
The Knoxville native hearkened back to the end of last season when Alabama was ranked above Tennessee while answering the question.
"Even at the end of the year, they (Alabama) were ranked above us — that made no sense to me personally," said Mays. "Because, I mean, I don't know how you beat two teams and then in the same year, they're considered better. I mean, maybe if you beat those two teams and you lost every single other game or something like that."
"But I mean, our record, you know, we dropped the game to South Carolina that we shouldn't have lost, but other than that, there weren't really many chinks in our armor," added Mays. "If you go down to Georgia at home and lose by a touchdown, I mean, that's about as respectable of a loss as you can take with it still being a loss. So I don't really know how we got disrespected so [much] at the end of the year. But I think we went out versus Clemson and we showed a lot about who we are and what we're about."
It sounds like the Vols have plenty of motivation to prove the doubters wrong in 2023. The only way to get respect is to leave analysts and opposing fans with no choice but to give that respect. And the only way to do that is by continuing to win at a high level.
Featured image via Calvin Mattheis/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK