Something I never expected to write: Tennessee enters the last two weeks of the football season in a battle with Kentucky and Vanderbilt to avoid finishing last in the SEC East.

Sure, it's a battle UT should win. But just the possibility is a stunning development for a program that began the season with national championship aspirations.

Even in a UT season as dreadful as this one, I never considered the Vanderbilt-Kentucky possibility until Memphis took an early 13-0 lead against the Vols on Saturday at Neyland Stadium. If the Vols could lose to a talent-challenged, injury-riddled team like Memphis, they also could lose back-to-back games against Vanderbilt and Kentucky.

But they didn't lose. Instead they rallied for a 20-16 victory, proving there are depths to which even this team won't sink.

How reassuring that must be for a team that had lost four consecutive games. Now, rather than fear the possible embarrassment of losing to both Vanderbilt and Kentucky, UT should embrace their most accommodating rivals with more fervor than ever.

Quarterback Rick Clausen isn't the only one who can rescue UT. Vanderbilt and Kentucky have been doing it for years.

General Neyland was heading for the worst season of his career in 1947. The Vols were 3-5 with Kentucky and Vanderbilt yet to play.

A 3-7 season wasn't just a possibility; it was a probability. The Wildcats had won seven of nine games, and one of their two losses was by only seven points to Ole Miss. The same Ole Miss team beat UT by 30.

Vanderbilt entered the UT game with a 6-3 record and victories over Ole Miss and Alabama, two of the teams that had beaten the Vols.

So what happened? What usually happens when UT plays Kentucky and Vanderbilt? It won both games to finish 5-5 and save UT's legendary coach from a losing season.

Former UT coach Johnny Majors also could appreciate the safety-net effect of Kentucky and Vanderbilt. His 1980 team was in freefall, having lost four consecutive games, when the Wildcats and Commodores saved it from a crash landing.

After losing six of its first nine games, UT beat Kentucky by 31 points and Vanderbilt by 38 to end the season.

His 5-6 1988 team didn't have it that easy. It edged Kentucky by four points and Vanderbilt by seven to finish the season on a five-game win streak.

UT's 2002 team, which finished 8-5, was -- until this season -- the worst of the Phillip Fulmer era. But you couldn't prove it by Vanderbilt and Kentucky. The Vols beat both teams 24-0.

The identical scores underscore the nature of the rivalries. From a UT perspective, it often has been difficult to distinguish Kentucky from Vanderbilt. You might as well call them "Kenderbilt" and "Vandertucky."

The Vols have won 20 consecutive games against Kentucky and 22 consecutive games against Vanderbilt. They haven't lost to both teams in the same season since 1964.

There are more encouraging numbers available to the Vols. Statistics so often used to document the Vols' failure now offer hope.

UT ranks 107th out of 117 Division I-A teams in points per game. It ranks 100th in yards per game.

This team's 4-5 season isn't solely related to its offensive ineptitude. The Vols rank 95th in turnover margin.

But other statistics indicate there's help on the way. Vanderbilt ranks 89th in defense against scoring; Kentucky ranks 106th. Moreover, the Commodores and Wildcats aren't that much more careful with the football than the Vols. Vanderbilt ranks 79th in turnover margin; Kentucky is 100th.

Vanderbilt's defense is especially inviting. In the last five games, it has given up 200 points. And in the last two, it has given up 97.

This is one of the worst teams in recent UT history. It's Fulmer's worst team.

But it's not bad enough to lose to both Vanderbilt and Kentucky.