Opinions seem to be very mixed on the Tennessee Vols following their 20-17 loss to the Texas Longhorns.

Some fans and media are down on the Vols after the offense struggled to move the ball against the Longhorns’ defense.

Others are actually higher on Tennessee than they were going into the game because of the way the Vols’ defense played.

ESPN’s Cole Cubelic is among those who feel better about Tennessee after the loss to Texas.

Cole Cubelic shares thoughts on Tennessee

Cubelic shared his thoughts on the Vols on Thursday during the latest episode of The Cube Show.

“I came away from this game thinking Tennessee might be better than a lot of people believe,” said Cubelic. “I think I kind of thought that going in. And this is not taking anything away from Texas. The reason I’m saying that is because I think this is a better win (for Texas) than people may be giving them credit for.”

“There’s a lot of good takeaways for Tennessee,” continued Cubelic. “Yes, the offensive line was disappointing. Some of the play calling and some of the play by the quarterback was tough to watch. I get that. I understand that. But like I said, the (Texas) linebackers and safeties were playing down — they clouded the picture late. They made the run game a little bit more difficult. And there were some layup throws that were there that weren’t connected on for whatever reason. That wasn’t the quarterback every time. Some of that was the timing out of the route. Some of them were drops. Some of them, you’ve got to go make a contested catch.

“The missed assignments in the run game also can’t happen. You can’t have a guard go in the wrong direction. That’s just that’s uncalled for. We can’t have that. Not when you’re the home team, too. I thought (Vol defensive coordinator) Jim Knowles had a good plan. … They did some of the things you needed to do to win the game on defense. They were disruptive enough up front to win that game.”

I think I side with Cubelic in feeling pretty good about Tennessee coming out of the Texas game. I think the Vols will bounce back offensively (though I do think there are some real concerns about the offensive line going forward).

This weekend against Auburn, however, will tell us a lot more about who this Tennessee team really is this season. If they win big, then it’s game on for a playoff push. But if they struggle, or even lose, then it could be a long two months.