Desperate times call for desperate measures.

The Tennessee Volunteers, currently 1-4 this season under Jeremy Pruitt, are coming off a 43-14 loss to Georgia.

Now, a Tennessee radio personality isn’t coming off a roof until the Vols get that much-needed win.

In order to move forward, sometimes you have to reach into your past.

Thirty-one years ago, radio show host Duncan Stewart spent 33 days on a Nashville billboard after Johnny Majors’ 1988 team started 0-6.

“This team is worse than that team in 1988,” Stewart told The Tennessean last month. “This team’s horrible and quite frankly the coaching’s a lot worse. This guy (Pruitt) doesn’t deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence with Johnny Majors. Jeremy Pruitt is not a good football coach. And I just feel so bad because the Vols fan base is one of the most loyal in the country.”

Stewart said it was time for another to take up the cause.

Cue Tyler Ivens.

The co-host of “The Startling Lineup” on WNML is now atop a local business and is strapped in for the long haul. He won’t come down until the Vols win.

Ivens, who moved to his modest living space Monday, is in a camping tent, which is set under a tailgating tent. He has power, a lantern, an air mattress and Wi-Fi that “is not the best.”

“I’m a man of my word," Ivens told AL.com on Tuesday from his perch just feet from the Interstate. “This is something I am passionate about and something I believe in and willing to back up.”

Sticking to his word. @TylerIvens is in fact living on @ToyotaKnoxville’s roof. He’s vowed to stay up here until UT wins a football game. He says they’ll beat Mississippi State this weekend. pic.twitter.com/fGjmkfS4Ks — Casey Wheeless (@WVLTCasey) October 8, 2019

Essentially, this all started on his show as a form of a bet. His co-host, Will West, said he just doesn’t see another win on the Tennessee schedule. For weeks, the debate raged on.

Finally, it was time for Ivens to put his money where his mouth was.

“I just said, ‘Dude, name your price,’" he said. "You’re telling me they just have to win one out of four, and I think Mississippi State and South Carolina are winnable games. I like my odds.

“Of course, as some guys do, I overstepped that line and said, ‘What do you want me to? My corporate offices aren’t going to let me get on a billboard. It’s 2019. I don’t think there is any insurance from a billboard company that’s going to let me stay up there. I’ll stay on top of a building until Tennessee wins.'"

He admitted he never thought it would manifest into this.

The reaction, he said, has been overwhelmingly positive, though it is split on whether Tennessee will actually win a game this season.

“It is 50-50, ‘I can’t believe you’re doing this. They are going to beat Mississippi State,’” Ivens said. “To ‘Ivens, I can’t believe you are doing this, you are a man of your word, but they are not winning another game the rest of the year.’”

The Vols host Mississippi State on Saturday for an 11 a.m. kickoff. The Bulldogs are a 6.5-point favorite, per Las Vegas Insider. Then, he was reminded, the Vols travel to Alabama.

“I’m not an idiot,” he said. “I can read the schedule. I am completely confident that Tennessee is turning a corner. The bet was October. So, your telling me I have between now and Halloween to get a win? I’m very very very confident that Tennessee can get a win between now and the month of November. And, if it goes into November, guess what? Kids are coming up to the roof to get candy from me on Halloween.”

So, he is up there for a long as it takes.

He admits he is already missing the things we take for granted on a daily basis: microwaves, stoves, showers, and, of course, bathrooms.

“They lock the doors to the facilities at night,” Ivens explained. “There is a bucket and a drain, and I’ll just leave it at that.”

And, don’t forget the quiet.

“I am literally 10 yards from the interstate, and that’s not an embellishment,” he said. “It sounds like I’m at Bristol or Talladega. It sounds like it is a 24-hour NASCAR race.”

With that said, restaurant and establishments have reached out asking if he needs food or toiletries. He is getting meals brought to him a couple of times a day.

“In fairness, I’ve had more people wanting to bring me alcohol more than food,” Ivens said.

After Mississippi State and Alabama, the Vols get South Carolina, UAB, at Kentucky, bye, at Missouri and Vanderbilt.

Surely, he’ll come down at the end of the season if the team lays a goose egg, right?

“I have full confidence in the University of Tennessee to win a football game.”

Stay tuned.

Mark Heim is a sports reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim.