Tennessee football fans don’t expect to be overly-joyed by a victory over Southern Miss, but that is what has become of the program this year.
The Volunteers used a strong third quarter to put the Golden Eagles away Saturday, winning 24-10 and moving one game closer to becoming bowl eligible.
Will a victory over Southern Miss silence the doubters surrounding head coach Butch Jones? Of course not. But it should be enough to give him another week around Knoxville and maybe even allow him to coach out the remainder of the season.
It is definitely going to take some work for Tennessee (4-5, 0-5 SEC) to qualify for the bowl, as they finish out with three conference foes in Missouri, LSU and Vanderbilt. They are likely to be underdogs in all three, with two of them coming at Neyland Stadium.
This win, as unpleasing as it is to the hardcore Vol faithful, stopped a four-game losing streak in which Tennessee scored double digits just once.
Here are three key takeaways from Saturday’s game between the Volunteers and Golden Eagles.