re: Importance of Tennessee vs. LSU

quote:

---

Tennessee looks to be a program on the up and up

---

Is this 2009?
Or 2015?
Or 2019?

For over a decade Tennessee has managed to have a good year or two here and there, before quickly plummeting back to a losing team. The reason is simple. Tennessee doesn't have the natural recruiting base that school like Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Florida, etc have. Thus, for Tennessee to be successful they MUST get several great players from outside the state. That's difficult when Georgia and Alabama are rolling, and every other school is better a pillaging places like Florida, Virginia, and the Carolinas.

When Tennessee was at their best they were routinely getting great players from Georgia and Florida, as well as places like Louisiana, and California. Once that out of state recruiting started to dry up...so did the wins.