Robert Meachem can't help but think of the consequences.

Every dropped pass is a wasted opportunity.

Every ball thrown his direction is a chance to secure his future.

Each game, there's an opportunity to make a big play and dig his Tennessee team out of the offensive doldrums.

That's why last Saturday's loss at Notre Dame was so hard on Tennessee's sophomore wide receiver.

"My thing is, you drop a ball, you're dropping money for your mom," Meachem said after staying late catching passes at practice Wednesday.

"You play the game to have fun, but in other ways you want to help your mom and help everybody in your family get to do some things they'd love to do."

He's talking about the NFL. He's talking about dreams and consequences.

He keeps thinking about two deep passes going just out of his reach in the 41-21 loss at South Bend.

"To me it was like I really lost the game because if I had caught those two passes we would have had a chance to win at Notre Dame," he said. "I replay those plays in my head every day thinking about what I could have done different."

Dive. Keep running. Go get it.

That's what he keeps telling himself.

That's what he has always done. He was a high school All-America coming out of Tulsa, Okla.

As a freshman, he led the Vols in receiving yards (459) and yards per catch (18.4).

He has played most of this season on a bad ankle, but he knows the passes from UT quarterback Erik Ainge were there for the taking.

"Guys say forgive and forget," Meachem said. "I can forgive myself, but I just can't forget those two plays.

"Both those balls Erik threw, he couldn't have thrown them any better. I should have laid out for the first one, and the second one I should have just run through and got it."

Watching replays of the game earlier this week didn't help Meachem get over the disappointment.

"I'm probably my own worst critic," he said. "I've put a lot of pressure on myself ever since I was in elementary school.

"I used to play running back, and if they pitched it to me and I fumbled it I would be so mad at myself."

Nothing has changed except the consequences.

It's easier to forgive and forget in the sixth grade. It's a lot tougher in the SEC.

Every Tennessee player has done his share of soul searching after a disappointing 3-5 start. Meachem is no different.

He leads the Vols with 24 catches. He's the only UT receiver with multiple receptions in every game.

But it's the absence of big plays haunting Meachem and the rest of the Vols.

"When the ball's in the air, you're supposed to go get it," he said. "That's what PW (receiver coach Pat Washington) teaches us all the time.

"You watch T.O. (Terrell Owens), Randy Moss, Chad Johnson, you watch all those big-name guys, when the ball's in the air -- on the fade or whatever it is -- they go get it."

Meachem, like a lot of people, has tried to figure out the difference between last year's success and this year's failures.

"It's really frustrating because last year we had the same team," he said. "The only thing different is we're a little bit better than we were last year.

"It's a break here and there in every game. We're still the same guys. We still want to make those same plays. Just right now, it's not going our way."

Maybe that changes this weekend.

The Vols have put themselves in a position where they have to win their final three games of the season to finish with a winning record and become bowl eligible.

Memphis (4-4) is the next test 2 p.m. Saturday in UT's homecoming game.

The last thing Meachem wants is another Notre Dame replay.

"I love catching the ball, blocking and having fun with my teammates," he said. "That's just two passes, but to me that's 100 yards you might have had.

"I've got a lot of games to play, but maybe one day I'll make those catches. Then maybe I'll be making those catches in the NFL that I dropped at Notre Dame."