When the sun comes up Saturday, it will be six weeks since Tennessee has won a football game.

It's been so long the details of a 27-10 victory over Ole Miss are fuzzy.

My notes from Oct. 1 say something about a nice run by Gerald Riggs and a touchdown-saving tackle by Jason Allen.

Rick Clausen was still No. 16. Erik Ainge was a spectator.

A lot has changed in six weeks.

Times are hard. Questions have been raised.

Like, can the Vols gather themselves and beat Memphis, Vanderbilt and Kentucky in order to get eligible for a bowl?

A harder question for hard times:

Does it even matter whether they beat Memphis, Vanderbilt and Kentucky and go to a bowl?

The answer is yes. It does matter.

At least that's the opinion of a couple of guys who have been through even harder times than these.

"Oh, yeah, it matters big-time,'' said Marion Hobby.

The four-game losing streak is the first in the program since the infamous 0-6 start in 1988.

"It was kind of like a tale of two seasons,'' said Eric Still.

"Everyone calls the '88 team the 0-and-6 team. People forget we won those last five games.''

The guys on that team haven't forgotten that they picked themselves up off the mat and ran the table. Hobby was a defensive tackle. Still was an offensive guard.

And it mattered that they did because of what happened next.

"We all felt like we had our backs to the wall big-time from '88 to '89,'' Still said. "And we came out swinging.''

In 1989, the Vols came out swinging and connected.

They were, in fact, one bad defensive day -- a 47-30 loss to Alabama -- away from being in the national championship race. They finished 11-1, shared the SEC title and won a thrilling Cotton Bowl battle over Arkansas.

Hobby, an assistant coach at Clemson, and Still, a commodities broker in Memphis, concur that it did matter that the '88 team swallowed its frustration and finished on the upbeat.

"It gave us confidence,'' said Hobby. "Confidence was the best teacher.''

Then, as now, the opponent for the First Game of the Rest of Their Lives was Memphis.

"The biggest hurdle,'' said Still, "was winning the first one.''

None of the hurdles was cleared easily. The Vols pulled away from a 10-10 halftime tie and won 38-25 in Memphis.

A Chip McCallum field goal was the margin of a 10-7 verdict over Boston College. The Vols trailed 10-0 at Ole Miss before rallying to a 20-12 win.

They held off Kentucky, 28-24. Finally, they edged Vanderbilt 14-7, thanks to a couple of goal-line stands and an 81-yard quick-kick by Kent Elmore.

They finished 5-6, not good enough for a bowl but good enough for a fresh start.

"I'm not sure a bowl would have been the right thing that year,'' said Still. "Having the month of December off let the coaches recharge their batteries.''

The Vols were bowling again in '89 and haven't missed one since, a nugget of which the current players have been reminded.

The '88 Vols were also hearing a thing or two about the program's history.

"For us,'' said Hobby, "the pride of the program was at stake.

"We were hearing it from both ends, from the coaches and from ex-players like Harry Galbreath and William Howard and Bruce Wilkerson.''

Head coach Johnny Majors loved pithy sayings. Hobby still has one echoing around in his head from the darkness of '88 that became the light of '89.

"I remember it over and over,'' said Hobby. " 'If it is to be, it's up to me.'

"He was telling everybody, don't wait on somebody else to step up. You need to step up.''

The '88 Vols stepped up, better late than never. They say it mattered that they did.

It mattered in the winter workouts. It mattered in spring practice. It mattered when so many players decided to stay on campus over the summer.

"There was,'' said Still, "a lot of attitude of 'I don't want to do that again.' ''

And they didn't.