Tennessee Football listed as a potential 'cinderella' in 2022
Could the Tennessee Vols find a glass slipper that fits in 2022? It seems highly unlikely — Cinderellas are nearly non-existent in college football — but 247Sports thinks enough of the Vols to put them on their "College football teams capable of making a 'Cinderella' run in 2022" list. From 247Sports: Let’s start with Hendon Hooker, […]
Could the Tennessee Vols find a glass slipper that fits in 2022?
It seems highly unlikely — Cinderellas are nearly non-existent in college football — but 247Sports thinks enough of the Vols to put them on their "College football teams capable of making a 'Cinderella' run in 2022" list.
From 247Sports:
Let’s start with Hendon Hooker, who has the potential to enter the Heisman conversation next season. Hooker was quietly elite in 2021 (2,945 yards, 31 TDs, 3 INTs, 68.2 CMP%). Some of that is the veer-and-shoot system he plays in, but you also still have to complete the passes. Hooker, and weapons like Cedric Tillman and Jabari Small, make this offense among the most exciting in the sport. And while the defense is going to take its lumps (that will happen to every unit forced to play opposite an offense with that fast a tempo) there were some signs last season (56th nationally in yards allowed per play, which was up 20 spots from 2020) of respectability despite built-in difficulties. And with the majority of that unit returning, the defense should remain feisty.
In college football, I'd say a Cinderella run for Tennessee would either be making the College Football Playoff or at least reaching the SEC Championship game.
Both of those outcomes would likely require the same thing — beating one of either Alabama or Georgia.
There's really no way around it — the Crimson Tide and the Bulldogs are the obstacles in front of Tennessee's Cinderella run.
The Vols showed me enough last season, that I think they're capable of beating every team on their schedule except for those two teams. Alabama and Georgia simply have too much talent and too much depth. It's hard to out-scheme speed in football.
But if Tennessee can catch one of those programs on an off week, then possibly they could knock one of them off and make a Cinderella-like run. It's unlikely. But nothing is impossible.
If that happens, the rest of the college football world better watch out — because Vol nation is going to be off the hook.
Featured image via Calvin Mattheis/News Sentinel via Imagn Content Services
