Could this be Tennessee's first eight-loss team?

The Butch Jones Era of Tennessee often has been defined by numbers. And the coach frequently has pointed out those numbers.

For example, the Vols have won three consecutive bowl games. For another example, they won 11 consecutive games from the second half of the 2015 season through the first five games of the 2016 season.

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Those favorable numbers now seem like they occurred in another decade.

UT is 3-5 overall, 0-5 in the SEC and has won just one conference road game since November of 2015. And that victory required a Hail Mary pass on the final play to beat Georgia on Oct. 1 last season in Athens, Ga. While it was frittering away a realistic chance of a victory against Kentucky on Saturday, it raised the question: Could this be Tennessee's first eight-loss team?

Coach Phillip Fulmer's last UT team lost seven games in 2008. So did Jones' first Tennessee team in 2013. And all three UT teams on Derek Dooley's watch lost seven games.

But none of them lost eight. Thanks to a shorter schedule, neither did the worst teams in school history. The 1906 and 1909 Vols went 1-6-2 while combining for a grand total of 26 points.

The brevity of the schedule didn't save either coach's job, though.

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J.D. Depree was fired after his 1906 team failed to score in its last five games. In 1909, an 11-0 victory over Transylvania in the regular-season finale couldn't prolong coach George Levene's stay.

With Jimmy Sexton for an agent, Levene could have converted that one victory into a contract extension. But things were different then.  

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Compared to those Tennessee teams, this one isn't so bad. It's just disadvantaged by the modern era's 12-game schedule.

Before Saturday's 29-26 loss to Kentucky, Jones curiously referred to the rest of the season as a five-game playoff and said the Vols still had plenty to play for. If you subscribe to the same line of thinking, then you probably would characterize what's left of the regular season as the Final Four. 

However, no one that has followed this team's misfortunes would anticipate its season ending on a four-game winning streak. Avoiding an historical eight-loss season would be a more realistic goal.

The Vols certainly have more talent than their 3-5 record suggests. But as they proved again against Kentucky, they have an uncommon knack of finding ways to lose.

Never mind that Kentucky fumbled the ball UT's way four times. Or all of Tennessee's scoring opportunities from short range. It came up 3 yards and three points short at the end.

You still should expect the Vols to beat Southern Mississippi at Neyland Stadium on Saturday night. But that alone wouldn't prevent an eight-loss season.

As bad as Missouri has been in SEC play, it has enough offense to defeat Tennessee in Columbia, Mo. LSU, which has perked up after a slow start, should be favored at Neyland Stadium on Nov. 18. Given the recent history of the series, the Vols can't count on Vanderbilt as a sure win. The Commodores have won three of the past five games in the series.

Now, it's up to the Vols to find a way to win at least two of their last four games. And avoid making school history.

John Adams is a senior columnist. He may be reached at 865-342-6284 or john.adams@knoxnews.com. Follow him at: Twitter.com/johnadamskns.