I have been feeling guilty about ignoring Tennessee’s game with UTEP on Saturday at Neyland Stadium.

So to ease my conscience, I now set aside the Tennessee-Florida game Sept. 22 and focus on UT’s next opponent.

Since the Miners went 0-12 last season, outsiders might think the program has hit bottom. Not hardly.

More astute followers of UTEP football will point out that the Miners were 4-8 in 2016. That qualifies as good times given the program’s history.

You want bad times? Check out UTEP football from 1975 through 1985 when the Miners won 15 of 126 games. They went 11 seasons without winning more than two games and had four consecutive one-win seasons.

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OK, that's enough. Now let’s get back to Tennessee vs. Florida, which is close to a must-win situation for the Vols if they hope to win the required six games to qualify for a bowl.

One of the most intriguing matchups could be UT’s defensive line versus the Florida offensive line.

Based on recruiting rankings, Tennessee’s defensive front seven should be the team’s strength. All seven starters were at least four-star recruits.

You never would have guessed that watching the Vols fail to mount more than a hint of a pass rush in a 40-14 loss to West Virginia in their season opener.

The Vols managed only four tackles behind the line against the Mountaineers. Outside linebackers Jonathan Kongbo and Darrell Taylor had one tackle apiece. Defensive tackle Kyle Phillips had two tackles.

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A weaker opponent didn't produce stronger results. In Saturday's 59-3 rout of ETSU, Kongbo, Taylor and Phillips combined for two tackles.

Tackle Shy Tuttle played well against West Virginia, and inside linebacker Darrin Kirkland had 10 tackles. Against ETSU, junior-college transfer Emmit Gooden had a game-high eight tackles and three tackles for loss.

But Tennessee will have to get more production from its ends and outside linebackers against the Gators, whose quarterback, Feleipe Franks, has a history of making poor decisions when pressured. Florida’s offensive line will have something to say about that.

Most of those offensive linemen weren’t ranked as highly as UT’s defensive linemen coming out of high school. Senior tackle Martez Ivey was a five-star signee, but he’s surrounded by three-stars.

What Florida’s line lacks in recruiting stars, it makes up for in experience. Before this season, Florida had three linemen with 20 or more college starts, and five with 14 or more starts.

Former Florida coach Jim McElwain had high expectations for his line last season. He was disappointed.

The Gators ranked 123rd of 129 teams in sacks allowed. And their running game was an underwhelming 75th. The suspension of lead running back Jordan Scarlett contributed to that.

This season, Scarlett is back; the Gators have considerable depth at running back; and the offensive line is even more experienced than last season’s. However, there’s no guarantee they can run against Tennessee, which hasn’t been tested so far.

West Virginia was so successful passing that running was an afterthought against the Vols. ETSU didn’t have the manpower to challenge Tennessee's defense.

You can better evaluate Tennessee’s run defense when two lines with something to prove match up next week in Neyland Stadium.

John Adams is a senior columnist. He may be reached at 865-342-6284 or john.adams@knoxnews.com. Follow him at: twitter.com/johnadamskns.