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Tennessee football is in a much better position now than it was a week ago. After defeating Missouri 66-24, the No. 5 Vols have restored their confidence for the remainder of the regular season.

After defeating Missouri 66-24, the No. 5 Vols have restored their confidence for the remainder of the regular season. South Carolina (6-4, 3-4) will host Tennessee (9-1, 5-1 SEC) on Saturday at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN. To remain in the running for the College Football Playoffs, the Vols must defeat the Gamecocks and Vanderbilt on the road in their final two games.

Josh Heupel took over a UCF team that won a national championship and went unbeaten in 2017. In 2018, he was undefeated in the regular season before losing to the LSU Tigers in the bowl game. But in his first year, he showed that he could coach.

His sophomore year should have been filled with big things. But the driving force behind those unbeaten seasons, McKenzie Milton, was sidelined for 2019 due to a knee injury he sustained late in 2018. After that, Heupel started Dillon Gabriel at quarterback, and he performed admirably. With an average of more than 43 points per game, the offense was explosive.

Nevertheless, UCF was unable to duplicate their performance from the previous year. Their record was a dismal 10-3. They lost each of the three games by less than a field goal, to be fair. That continued into 2020, when they finished 6-4 in the season cut short by COVID. They lost all three of their regular season games by a single touchdown, but it was still a drop-off.