There are all kinds of opinions flying around about Tennessee football after the Vols’ tough 20-17 loss to Texas in Knoxville this past Saturday.

Some folks are down on the Volunteers due to Tennessee’s offensive struggles against Texas.

Others see a Tennessee team that lost by just three points to a top national championship contender and feel optimistic going forward.

I think the latter opinion is the right place to be.

That’s because — and this is something we preached before the start of the season — Tennessee’s national championship window isn’t expected to open until 2027. The Vols obviously want to win as many games as possible this season, but 2027 is when this team will have a legitimate shot to win it all.

ESPN’s Greg McElroy drops a perfect take about who Tennessee is right now

ESPN’s Greg McElroy shared an excellent take on Monday about who Tennessee is right now.

“Tennessee is a football team right now that is still in the infancy phases — because you’re limited (with a young QB),” said McElroy on McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning. “You are so connected now in college football to your quarterback’s performance. If your quarterback doesn’t play well, then you’re gonna have your hands full. It’s gonna be hard to win games. It’s hard to win games if your quarterback doesn’t play well. So if your quarterback doesn’t play well, overcoming that is very tough — you better have someone else that can step up. Arch (Manning) didn’t have his best stuff (against the Vols), but guess what? His D-line was dominant, and they did a lot of good things. And the two drives where they had to have it for him, they had it for him.

“So, I think it’s very important to look at Tennessee and think this is like a bonus year in some ways. You’re going young at quarterback — just weather the storm. Maybe you pull off some upsets. Maybe you surprise some folks. But anything achieved this year is a year ahead of schedule in my eyes. … I know their fans don’t want to hear that. They want to win now. But you’re closer than any of us thought you’d be, at least at this point. It’s not going to be long before they get rolling again.”

ESPN’s Cole Cubelic echoed those sentiments.

“I came away from the Texas vs Tennessee game thinking Tennessee might be pretty good if they get a few things figured out,” said Cubelic. “The offensive line did not play well. The quarterback did not play well. I mean, he was seeing things. But I saw some things that could easily be repaired and could easily be managed differently. And you’re not going to play as good of a front (as Texas) each and every week.”

College football is as competitive as ever in the NIL/portal era — I don’t know if we’ll ever see another SEC team go undefeated in the regular season. Losses are going to happen. And fans have to accept that. It’s not about “being ok with a loss,” it’s about understanding that it’s just life in the SEC.

Josh Heupel is trying to build Tennessee’s program the right way. And unfortunately, the right way means that some years need to be development years. The Vols are still trying to win at a high level this season, but they are clearly building toward a run at a national championship in 2027. Let’s let this season play out and see how the team progresses (and how they deal with key injuries) before offering up any more hot takes.