This first appeared in Kevin Scarbinsky’s weekly newsletter. Subscribe to get it in your inbox every Thursday, $5/month or $50/year.

Who’s more comfortable being uncomfortable?

Just win, baby. That’s the bottom line, right? Whether you play field position and embrace the beauty of a well-placed punt or push the envelope on fourth down because no lead is safe, you play to win the game.

Saying it is simple. Believing it, bending to the needs of that game on that day, is a bigger challenge, especially when you’ve built your rep as an assistant and earned your shot as a head coach on one side of the ball.

It sounds counterintuitive, but Tennessee is a different kind of dangerous on this Third Saturday in October because the Vols slogged past Texas A&M 20-13 last Saturday. The UT MVPs were punter Jackson Ross, who pinned the Aggies at the 1-yard line midway through the third quarter; the Vols defense, which forced a three-and-out and an A&M punt from the end zone’s edge; and return man Dee Williams, who took the short boot 39 yards for the go-ahead touchdown.

This is not the Tennessee high-wire act of Hendon Hooker throwing felt-tip darts to Jalin Hyatt. This is not the scoring machine that hung half a hundred on Alabama a year ago in a 52-49 fireworks display that torched the Crimson Tide’s 15-year winning streak in this storied series. This may not be exactly what Tennessee offensive guru Josh Heupel wants football to be, but you don’t get to the next level as a head coach unless you let go of the notion of style points.