Leadership is the difference between 7-5 and 9-3 for the Tennessee football team.

Over the years, coach Josh Heupel has preached about the culture of the program that he has built with the 23rd-ranked Volunteers.

This is the time when the talk is done and the action kicks in.

Fans aren’t privy to the inner sanctum. How the locker room functions, for the most part, is a secret. All we see are the results on Saturday. How the team got to that point is largely a mystery.

When a team is going well, there’s usually not a lot of stress involved. When adversity crops up, like when a program that’s become conditioned to compete for a playoff spot suddenly finds that goal no longer works, leadership is all that’s left to keep the season from dissolving.

Even a cupcake like New Mexico State can signal a concern that can carry over into Florida and Vanderbilt.

Transient players can impact leadership

The current state of college football has been constructed to impede that demanding presence that can get the ears of even the most tone deaf players.

What it takes to find someone who can step up and command a room is a quality veteran who is invested in the program. Problem is, most of those quality veterans haven’t been around long enough to consider themselves invested.

Quarterback Joey Aguilar could have a voice in this situation. However, his time at Tennessee is measured in months rather than years. And, when the season ends, he’ll take his NIL cash and check out of Knoxville.

Same goes for defensive back Colton Hood.

Left tackle Lance Heard could qualify. He spent his freshman year at LSU, then has been with the Vols for the last two. After injuries last year, he blossomed into a consistent performer this season.

Linebacker Arion Carter is a junior with all three seasons in Knoxville. Him speaking up would carry some credibility.

This isn’t a time when coaches can yell and cajole to light a fire under the players. This has to come from within. 

Without it, going through the motions would do more damage than just three poor performances in the rest of the games.

It could put the culture of Heupel’s program in question.

Three losses can’t be sugarcoated

What’s particularly funny is listening to and reading from fans who take notice that Tennessee, ranked No. 25 in the first College Football Playoff poll, is considered the top three-loss team in the country.

What?!?!?!

That’s like saying you have the fastest three-legged horse in the country, but there are 24 four-legged horses that are much faster and are being considered for the Kentucky Derby.

Please, folks. The CFP selection committee had to put some team there at No. 25, it really didn’t matter which team it was.

It’s still a ticket to the Music City Bowl, or some such dismal destination.

Forget the polls. The only numbers that count are the three losses next to Tennessee’s name. Beyond that, it’s all fluff that someone dreamed up.

Over the next three weeks, the culture of the Tennessee program will be on trial.

That’s more important than anything else going forward.