100 Days of Vols #6 - Game Week

The offseasons have been longer than usual the last two years.  No bowl game, no ending the season on a high note, little tangible proof that things were going to get better in the immediate future.  But they haven't been boring.  They never are around here.

This offseason hasn't been boring either, but it's been the best kind of entertainment:  watching a new head coach vault out to the number one overall recruiting class despite five years of on-field frustration and four head coaches.  It hasn't been about bar fights, recruiting violations, kicking players off the team or deciding what it will take to keep your coach from getting fired.  We've enjoyed a long summer in the sun.

But now the autumn skies roll in, and the air gets just crisp enough to let you know:  it's time.

Nevermind the projections, we'll get to those later in the week.  Right now, fans of every college football team are soaking in a new opportunity and an untainted record.  Everyone is undefeated for one more week.  And with kickoff on the tail end of this week, the offseason moves to its unofficial close.

Because game week is here.

Get out your car flags.  Find your orange to wear to the office this week.  Break out the fine tailgating china.  Football is coming.

We'll do our part here too, as podcasts and a heavy dose of stats and x's and o's and narrative storytelling are coming.  Mondays will get a little longer, but Fridays will get a little sweeter, because you know what's coming on Saturday.

So here's to everything good about Tennessee Football, as we've celebrated over these last 94 days and will carry home to kickoff.  No matter the outlook, no matter the summer, no matter the coach, there's nothing like game week.  And after almost nine months, it's here.

Go Vols.