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Showdown with No. 17 WVU is 'a statement game' for Tennessee

It’s been 358 days since Tennessee beat a Power 5 football team.

The Vols’ thrilling 42-41 overtime win over Georgia Tech seems even longer than that, though.

But with Phillip Fulmer now in the AD chair and Jeremy Pruitt as the team’s new head coach, Tennessee is looking to exorcise a year’s worth of demons and misery Saturday against No. 17 West Virginia (3:30 p.m., CBS).

“I feel like this will be good for us. A new season, new coach, new system, a Top 25 ranked team,” wideout Marquez Callaway said.

“You couldn’t ask for more.”

Well perhaps, but a patsy probably would suffice too after a winless season in SEC play and the Big Orange faithful hearing Rocky Top postgame just once in the last 11 months.

Instead, the Vols will travel to Charlotte as a 10-point underdog facing an All-American quarterback in Will Grier. There’s legitimate optimism about Tennessee’s chances on Saturday, but we’ll find out if the team has truly learned ‘how to strain’ under new leadership.

“It’ll be a good challenge,” tight end Eli Wolf said.

“It’s a good way to tell-tale of how we’ve done this offseason.”

No matter what unfolds over the next few months, the Vols have objectively had a very productive summer. Trey Smith was cleared from his medical issue and locked down the left tackle job. Jarrett Guarantano took a step forward and cemented his place as the team’s quarterback. The infusion of both youth (Alontae Taylor, Trevon Flowers, Jerome Carvin) and impact veterans (Brandon Kennedy, Dominick Wood-Anderson, Madre London) happened seamlessly. The team made gains in in the weight room and has clearly bought into a new staff.

None of that guarantees immediate success though for a team still riddled with depth issues and flaws. Pruitt is just as interested as everyone else in “seeing what our team is going to be like.”

With 2018 not projected to be kind to the Vols, upsetting the Mountaineers could be a nice teaser for the future. Win or lose, the true trajectory of the program will remain unknown, but hope may once again make its way down the Tennessee River if the Vols can snap an ugly streak.

“This will be a statement game,” Callaway said.

“Whether we want it to be or not … a lot of eyes will be on us.”

In four days, we’ll find out what all Tennessee has to say after a long year on The Hill.

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