University of Tennessee Athletics
The Power Of One, One More Time
November 18, 2014 | Football
By Brian Rice
UTSports.com
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Butch Jones' message all season has been consistent: Goal number one for Team 118 was to be the best football team they could be, with the tangible evidence of achieving that goal being a bowl bid.
With two games remaining on the schedule, Tennessee stands one win away from that goal. But the Volunteer players and coaches don't see it that way.
Sure, making and winning a bowl game is still the goal. But they do not see two chances to get there, they only see the game in front of them. It is a one-game season to earn an additional chance to play with their brothers in the month of December.
"We're fighting for our lives right now," running back Jalen Hurd said. "Like coach says, we have to get the sixth win and we're not looking forward at all. We're looking at it as this is our last game and we have to get this win. Just like any game, we're going to be fighting for a `W'."
The pressure, if you want to call it that, is nothing new. The players could do the math when the team was 2-3 in mid October with seven games left. They knew the numbers when the record was 3-5 when the calendar turned to October.
"It's definitely the same as the last couple of weeks where we go in knowing what's at stake, trying to get to six," quarterback Joshua Dobbs said. "We're one closer this week. This is a big game, Missouri is a good team coming to town, we're going to be ready to play and we're definitely excited for the opportunity."
The opponent is different than the last two weeks with the Tigers entering the game ranked in the top 20 of both polls. But Tennessee is different as well, very different from the team that began the journey on the final day of August. The quarterback-running back tandem that began the pursuit of the bowl bid was Justin Worley and Marlin Lane. Lane has been slowed by a myriad of injuries, Worley out for the season with a shoulder injury.
In their place, the sophomore Dobbs and the freshman Hurd have stepped up to excel in the roles they have earned. Though the personnel has changed and now the opponent changes, one constant has been the preparation each week.
"We're played ranked opponents in the past and our preparation is consistent," Dobbs said of the challenge posed by the Tigers Saturday. "We're taking the same steps toward the game, so we'll be ready."
Jordan Williams has been another constant, starting all 10 games of his senior season on the defensive line. He expects a battle on Saturday night with Tennessee fighting for a bowl bid and Missouri in need of wins in its last two games to clinch the SEC Eastern Division.
"The way I see it, they're in our way to get to a bowl game and we're in their way to get to the SEC Championship," Williams said. "It's going to be a good game."
Dobbs, as one would expect, is more analytical on the topic. He is focused on just one number: Six. And he wants win number six for his seniors in their final Neyland Stadium experience.
"It would mean a lot to us and to the seniors to become bowl eligible and to clinch that in Neyland Stadium on Senior Night," Dobbs said. "We're fighting for that every day."
