When the SEC media ranks the teams this week in Birmingham, Tennessee likely will be third behind Florida and Georgia in the East; Auburn and LSU will be one-two in the West.

But don't let the rankings fool you. The Vols have a great opportunity this season.

Forgive them if they don't realize it. They're so focused on correcting what went wrong during last year's 5-6 season, they probably haven't taken notice of the competition.

First thing to notice: There's no dominant team. Auburn, LSU and Florida -- the three teams getting most of the attention in preseason -- are hardly solid at every position.

Auburn lost its top three receivers, its sack leader, five defensive players off its starting front seven, and its best offensive lineman. LSU lost its leading rusher, four starters in the offensive line, five starters on the defensive front seven, and has the potential for a quarterback controversy. Florida lost most of its starting offensive line, its leading receiver, two starting cornerbacks and still isn't sure if it has a dependable running back on hand.

There's also the matter of quarterbacks. UT likely will be one of five teams who start the same quarterback in this year's opener as last year. Florida, LSU, Auburn and South Carolina are the others.

So there's an opportunity for a perceived middle-of-the-road team to win a championship. Capitalizing on the opportunity is another matter.

Tennessee's 1998 national championship team knows as well as anyone that success is all about capitalizing on opportunities.

The team was blessed with a run of luck that few national champions could match. But the good fortune would have been meaningless if UT hadn't been capable of capitalizing on it.

Most UT fans have committed the favorable breaks to memory: The fourth-down penalty against Syracuse, Florida's missed field goal in overtime, the fumble by Arkansas quarterback Clint Stoerner, and Florida State having to start a third-string quarterback in the national championship game.

UT also benefited from the SEC state of affairs. For example, how many times will you win the SEC championship game by outscoring Mississippi State?

That same season, Auburn was 3-8, LSU was 4-7, Alabama was 7-5 and Georgia was 8-3. Last year, they were a combined 40-10.

Few programs have been as opportunistic as UT was in 1998. But since then, the Vols repeatedly have failed to capitalize on opportunities.

The first example was 1999 when the Vols returned many prominent players from their national championship team. Despite having one of the most talented teams in the country, the Vols lost to Florida, were upset by Arkansas, and hammered by Nebraska in the Fiesta Bowl.

In 2001, UT was a solid favorite to beat LSU in the SEC championship game and qualify for the national championship game in the Rose Bowl against Miami. Instead, it faltered in the second half against an LSU team playing without its starting quarterback and tailback, both of whom were injured in the first half.

After finishing fourth nationally in 2001, UT appeared set for an outstanding season in 2002. The schedule was accommodating with seven home games and two more games in Nashville; the Vols played only one winning team (Georgia) outside the state. Again, UT wasn't up to the opportunity. It finished 8-5, losing four games by 17 or more points, including a 30-3 embarrassment against Maryland in the Peach Bowl.

UT's next big opportunity was last season when it seemed to have the right mix of talent and experience to contend for conference and national championships following a 10-3 season in 2004. Instead, you had the worst season of the Phillip Fulmer era.

A year later, there an opportunity for a dark-horse team to win a division title. But as UT knows, it takes more than an opportunity to win a championship.