Assessing the College Football Playoff hopes of Tennessee following Week 2

Tennessee has gotten off to a 2-0 start to the season in blowout fashion, easily dusting both of its opponents so far. And that includes a power conference opponent in NC State.

It’s been an excellent start to the campaign, but nobody is celebrating prematurely in Knoxville just yet.

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“I think they’re confident, but I also think they know they’ve got to grow,” said Volquest’s Brent Hubbs. “Nico (Iamaleava)‘s going to have some growing pains. He was not at his best (against NC State). I think that’s the blessing and the curse from Saturday night.”

Iamaleavea threw two interceptions and wasn’t quite as sharp as he was in the team’s bowl game last year or in this year’s season opener. He wasn’t bad at all; Tennessee still rolled and hung half a hundred.

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It’s just that there’s more room for growth.

“Tennessee scored 51 points and I don’t think they played close to their ‘A’ game offensively, certainly not in the passing game,” Hubbs said. “So I think there’s continued ability to grow there. They’ve obviously got a lot of bodies on defense to play. So they have all the makings of a team if they stay healthy that can be a playoff-caliber team.”

There are a few factors that could impact how deep Tennessee goes this year. One of them, ironically, is depth.

The Volunteers have made it a point under coach Josh Heupel to play a lot of players across the board, hoping the increased depth leads to better outcomes in the fourth quarter and a roster more capable of rallying through injuries during the course of the season.

But there’s a flip side to that.

“The other thing with this team that will be interesting is does everybody stay hungry and stay satisfied rotating and playing 14, 15, 18 snaps a game, that type of thing,” Hubbs said. “Can they stay focused on the biggest picture, which is winning football games? Leadership on this team seems really good, and they’ve got a lot to work with and a lot of weapons. This is a deep roster. If they stay healthy it’s going to get interesting.”

That said, it won’t be an easy road for Tennessee. Such is life in the SEC.

Before long, the real tests will begin.

“Now you’ve got to go to Oklahoma in two weeks and that’s going to be the first big test,” Hubbs said. “Then it gets real, obviously, in October, with what’s on the schedule. But it’s out in front of Tennessee. I think Tennessee has shown the country from a talent standpoint they can line up and compete with anybody on any given Saturday.”