Despite an 11-2 season that saw the program rise to No. 1 in the College Football Playoff rankings at one point last season, it feels like the Tennessee Vols are as far away as ever from competing with the Georgia Bulldogs. 

Georgia has been the class of the SEC for the last few years. And Saturday night's 38-10 win against the Vols in Neyland Stadium suggests that won't be changing anytime soon. 

So how does Tennessee close the gap? What's it going to take to beat Georgia for the first time since Kirby Smart's first year in Athens? 

Unfortunately for the Vols, there is no easy answer. It all comes down to one simple thing — Tennessee needs more talent on the roster. 

As boring as that sounds, that's really the only issue. It's not scheme, it's not coaching (though some things could always improve), it's not culture. It's just the level of talent on the roster. 

According to 247Sports, the Vols' roster breaks down as follows: 

5-stars: 2 
4-stars: 33
3-stars: 52
(Note: Tennessee's two five-star players are quarterback Nico Iamaleava, who is in a backup role, and wide receiver Bru McCoy, who is out for the season due to injury.)

Georgia's roster breaks down as follows: 

5-stars: 13
4-stars: 54
3-stars: 22

There's obviously a massive gap in talent between the two programs (and really, the gap is bigger than it looks because many of Tennessee's four-star players are freshmen who either haven't played this season or have seen very little action). 

Vols head coach Josh Heupel basically said after the game on Saturday that closing the gap comes down to adding more talent to roster. 

"We still gotta continue to take steps," said Heupel after the loss to Georgia. "That’s in what we’re doing as a program. It’s our personnel, the depth of our program."

"We started obviously year one, we were way down on a number of scholarships," added Heupel. "We’ve gotten closer to 85. We’re trying to develop some young guys from within. I think that’s important. They’ve (UGA) done that. They’ve added through the portal, too. But a lot of it’s been kids inside of their program, so we have to continue to develop and recruit.”

Until Tennessee's roster looks more like Georgia's roster, it's going be impossible to compete with the Bulldogs. Tennessee's scheme can put players in a position to succeed, but it's not a cheat code to beat teams like Georgia. All the Vols' scheme under Heupel does is ensure that players will have their talent maximized (which is certainly a big selling point in recruiting). 

The Vols need to utilize the portal a bit more. And they need to find a way to ramp up recruiting (that might mean focusing even more on NIL). Tennessee won't consistently compete for championships until they're landing top-five recruiting classes every year. X's and O's are important, but ultimately, it's all about the Jimmys and Joes. 

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It was a rough afternoon for the Volunteers