🏈 Can Tennessee win the national championship?

Hello. This is the Josh and Swain Newsletter, a quick roundup of the week’s top stories and topics involving Tennessee and the sports world.

Here’s what we have for you today:

• Tennessee Football’s chance to outperform the numbers in 2023

• How Tennessee can beat Southern Miss to reach the College World Series

• An emotional farewell for a standout Tennessee athlete

• Guidance from past VFLs to help future standout athletes

TENNESSEE HAS A TREND TO BREAK

Can Tennessee Football win the national title this fall?

That’s a bit of a trick question.

Bud Elliott of 247Sports updated the list of teams with the proper Blue-Chip Ratio required to win the national championship.

What’s the Blue-Chip Ratio?

It’s simply the percentage of four- and five-star recruits on a roster.

And according to Elliott, no team has won the national title with a Blue-Chip Ratio below 51 percent since the start of the internet recruiting era.

Here are the 16 teams that hit the positive side of the ratio in 2023.

As you can see, Tennessee didn’t make the list. The Vols are just below the cut line.

So does that mean Tennessee is out?

No, not necessarily.

First of all, winning the national title is hard.

Everyone knows that. Which means the odds are against Tennessee.

But the Vols have top-15 odds to win the title this season, according to the sportsbooks.

That’s better than multiple teams on the blue-chip list.

*cough Auburn and Florida cough*

Bill Connelly of ESPN ranks Tennessee No. 6 in the nation in his SP+ rankings.

Even 247Sports put together a list of teams with the best chance to break the blue-chip trend.

The top two choices: Florida State and Tennessee.

Tennessee has an offense that projects to be one of the nation’s best.

The Vols have added defensive personnel that should make that side of the ball better.

And the potential — yes, it’s still potential — of Joe Milton III is sky-high at quarterback.

Will Tennessee win the national title this year?

Who knows?

But don’t rule them out today.

The Vols can still do it.

TENNESSEE’S SUPER OPPORTUNITY

Tennessee’s baseball team is back where last year’s team left off.

A year ago, the Vols were the favorites to win the national title.

The 2022 Tennessee baseball team had a chance to be remembered as one of the best teams of all time.

Instead, the Vols were eliminated by Notre Dame in the Super Regional.

But Tennessee is back.

And what have we heard about the team AFTER the team that was supposed to get it done?

The Vols are on the road this week thanks to the NCAA’s decision to have Southern Miss host the Super Regional.

Fair or unfair decision?

It doesn’t really matter at this point.

Tennessee will have to win away from home – just like it did last weekend – in a best two-of-three series for the right to go to Omaha for the College World Series.

Southern Miss may not be a big college sports name. But don’t sleep on the Golden Eagles.

D1Baseball ranks Southern Miss as the nation’s 13th-best team.

The Golden Eagles just won at Auburn to advance to the Super Regional, which Southern Miss hosted last year.

How about three keys for Tennessee to win this weekend?

1. Winning Saturday is a priority. Not just because starting 1-0 is better than 0-1. If Tennessee can top Southern Miss ace Tanner Hall, the pressure is on the Golden Eagles. Southern Miss has other quality arms, but Hall is their top guy. The Vols need to beat him.

2. Get Dustin Dickerson and Matthew Etzel out. They are the best hitters and base runners for Southern Miss. Keep Dickerson and Etzel off the base paths, and the Vols won’t have to worry as much about Southern Miss stealing bases.

3. Just hit. Southern Miss is prone to fielding mistakes — so put the ball in play and force their hand. Christian Moore, swing away. And if Blake Burke can find his power, Tennessee should find its way to Omaha.

Here’s something worth noting: last year, Southern Miss lost the Super Regional at home to Ole Miss.

Last year’s national champion was… Ole Miss.

Can Tennessee find the same luck?

The Vols have been compared to Ole Miss because last year’s Rebels team struggled in the regular season before turning it on in the postseason.

Why can’t this year’s Tennessee team, which was 5-10 in SEC play at one point, do the same?

Allan Bell of SportsLine said Thursday on Josh and Swain that he likes Tennessee’s chances at Southern Miss. And he likes Tennessee to win the series in two games.

“I’m going to put my stamp on the Vols now,” Bell said. “I think this team really does have the juice to get to Omaha.”

Saturday’s game time is set:

⏰ 3:00 PM ET
📺 ESPNU
📻 99.1 The Sports Animal

Sunday’s start time is TBD. The same goes for Monday, which will only be played if Tennessee and Southern Miss split the first two games.

Tennessee fans have made plenty of jokes about Hattiesburg this week. But the Vols will have to be ready.

“That is going to be a very unwelcoming crowd,” ESPN’s Tom Hart said this week on Josh and Swain. It’s going to be smaller than a big SEC crowd, but generally speaking louder. They’re going to be out for blood.”

Sounds like the right kind of setting for Tony Vitello’s baseball team.

SPORTS NUGGETS

🏈 Here’s one story from this week as the NIL World continues to turn in college sports.

🏈 Speaking of NIL, Arkansas AD Hunter Yurachek made the case that NIL causing athletes to stay in college is a BAD thing. Okey-doke.

🏈 Could the Tennessee Titans land free-agent wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins? He’s set to visit the Titans in a few days.

⚾ Here’s a rundown of the Super Regional schedule across college baseball.

⚽ Manchester City will go for the treble on Saturday (3:00 PM ET) facing Inter Milan in the Champions League final.

🏌️ Kevin Clark of The Ringer weighed in on the blockbuster PGA/LIV news this week.

💰💰 Quick plug: Want to save money on future gas purchases? Download the Upside app and use promo code KH45C to get an extra 15¢/gal bonus the first time you make a purchase.

ATTAGIRL, ASHLEY

Tennessee’s softball team lost to Florida State on Monday, ending the Lady Vols’ season without a national title.

But what a season it was.

Tennessee won the SEC regular season and tournament championships.

And Ashley Rogers was spectacular.

Check out this video of Rogers explaining what her time at Tennessee meant.

ONE LAST BYTE OUT THE DOOR

We had a chance to talk to multiple VFLs this week about camps they’re hosting in East Tennessee.

This is camp season and it’s a great opportunity for young athletes to learn from people who’ve competed at collegiate and professional levels.

Former Tennessee running back Jabari Davis joined us to discuss Legends of Tennessee’s three-day camp in Sevierville.

The camp will take place Friday-Sunday and will have a bunch of past and present Tennessee players there for instruction.

Learn more here and check out our interview below.

We also talked to VFL Jacob Gilliam, a former Tennessee offensive lineman, and Nate Gilliam, a former Wake Forest lineman now with the Cincinnati Bengals.

You might remember Jacob Gilliam’s story: he tore his ACL early in his senior season in 2014 and returned that year to play and help Tennessee reach a bowl game.

The Gilliam Brothers will host their offensive line camp at Farragut High School on Saturday. Here’s info for their O-line camp.

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