TAMPA, Fla. -- The Tennessee football season ended as it began. The crowd was chanting "over-rated."

Only this time, the chant was aimed at the Vols, not their opponent. And this time, it came from Penn State fans, as they counted down the seconds on their team's 20-10 upset victory over the 17th-ranked Vols in the Outback Bowl on Monday.

The first game and the last couldn't have been more different.

In the season opener, UT knocked off ninth-ranked Cal to the delight of the Neyland Stadium crowd, which shouted "over-rated" at the Golden Bears.

The Vols made big plays on both sides of the ball in routing Cal 35-18. They didn't make enough big or little plays against the unranked Nittany Lions.

Last week, UT coach Phillip Fulmer said the season had been a success regardless of what happened in the bowl game. Based on last season, he's right.

Once you go 5-6 at a program with UT's tradition, even if you fall on your face, you can't help but fall forward. So compared to the 2005 season, this was a step in the right direction.

But when you compare the last third of the season to the first eight games, the step doesn't seem nearly as significant.

After beating South Carolina on Oct. 28, the Vols were 7-1 and in contention for both the SEC championship and a BCS berth. Since then, they're 2-3 with losses to nationally ranked LSU and Arkansas. Moreover, the Vols were outplayed in the last regular-season game by unranked Kentucky and again by Penn State.

Not only did they lose. They were beset with off-the-field problems.

Three players were suspended after they were arrested for under-age drinking and disorderly conduct in early November. Star running back LaMarcus Coker missed the last five bowl practices in Knoxville and was in Fulmer's doghouse for undisclosed reasons. Then, wide receiver Bret Smith was ruled academically ineligible for the bowl game.

Yes, this team got the program turned in the right direction. But no, it didn't finish the way it started.

As good as a much-improved offense was for most of the season, it faded down the stretch. In three of its last four games, the Vols scored 17 points or fewer.

And its defense was hanging by a jersey thread at the end.

Penn State running back Tony Hunt hammered the Vols for 158 yards on 31 carries. And there was nothing mysterious about it. Even when the Vols knew Hunt was coming, they couldn't stop him. With Penn State leading 17-10 in the last nine minutes, Hunt carried seven consecutive times for 39 yards.

Making runners look good is nothing new for this defense. Kentucky's Rafael Little rushed for 122 yards on 23 carries in the last game.

Two games before that, Arkansas' Darren McFadden rushed for 181 yards on 30 carries. And the week before that, LSU amassed 231 yards rushing.

Despite its defensive shortcomings, UT found ways to prevail against inferior opponents during the regular season. That changed against Penn State.

The Nittany Lions were unranked for a reason. They lost four games and only beat one Division I-A team with a winning record in the regular season.

But they were better prepared and more resourceful than the Vols, who proved to be underrated at the beginning of the season and overrated at the end.