With it only being week fuor of the college football season, this might be a crazy question to be asking, but as of right now for whatever it may be worth the answer is a resounding yes. Yes, the Vols haven't exactly played a daunting schedule to this point, but what they have done in those three wins is very impressive.
Nico Iamaleava has lived up to the hype coming into the season, the running game has been impressive, and the defense has been lights out through the first three weeks of the season. Folks will say they haven't played anyone yet, but what we can see is this team has done exactly what a top tier team should be doing with inferior opponents. The fact that last Saturday against Kent State the Vols could have hung 100 on them says a lot.
Of course business picks up this weekend as Tenneessee travels to Norman to face the Sooners in their first SEC conference game. We all know the storylines surrounding this game with Josh Heupel's return after his unceremonious firing as OU's offensive coordinator. Of course, he is saying all the right things about that not being a focus for him, but we all know deep down Heupel would love nothing more than to embarrass his alma mater Saturday night in front of a national audience.
The Sooners also enter this game as an undefeated team but have a few struggle wins to start the season. The offense led by Jackson Arnold seems to still be finding itself, but the Sooners defense has looked like a traditional Brent Venables defense through the first three weeks of the season.
Oklahoma should be a very solid team by the end of the season, but as of right now there are far more questions than answers with this Sooners team. With that being said this looks like the perfect week for Tennessee to get an impressive road win on the road in a hostile environment.
The current line has the Volunteers as a seven-point favorite, but don't be shocked if they win by two or three touchdowns and there isn't much drama once the game gets started. Saturday night will put nation on warning that Tennessee is a serious early season National Championship contender.