Butch Jones’ second year at Tennessee begins with a tremendous amount of hope from the faithful. The Volunteers had a very productive offseason, as Jones assembled another nationally ranked recruiting class focused on in-state and legacy players. And the program effectively fires up the fan base with an aggressive and well executed social media campaign. Life in the SEC, however, is never easy, and Tennessee desperately needs to be bowl eligible at the end of this season.
Tennessee is still a young squad and the extra 25 practices will help them going into the 2015 season, and Jones still needs to land a big-time quarterback prospect. And let’s face it: team performance has more impact on recruiting quarterbacks than any other position.
To get to a bowl, Tennessee will face arguably the toughest schedule in the nation. When non-conference opponents are factored in, Tennessee has the toughest strength of schedule in the SEC. How will they fare with the schedule? Let’s take a look.
Tennessee Volunteers Schedule Analysis: Games 1-6
August 31st (Sunday) – vs Utah State, 7:00 P.M. EST, SEC Network
This is the most important game of the season for the Vols. They open their campaign at home under the lights on a Sunday night on the new SEC Network’s showcase game with a national audience. If they lose this game, the rest of the schedule becomes that much harder and the fan base will lose interest early. Utah State, while not from an AQ conference, is coming off three straight bowl seasons and a 9-5 2013 season. This one will be tough, but Tennessee’s athleticism and home field advantage will allow them to start the season off right.
Prediction: Tennessee 24, Utah State 20
Record: 1-0 (0-0 in SEC)
September 6th – vs Arkansas State, 12:00 P.M. EST, SEC Network
Tennessee can’t look past Arkansas State either, as they are coming off of three straight bowl seasons as well. The Vols will have a chance to work out their first game issues and work on their Georgia and Florida game plans. The young Tennessee squad will be prepared well and have the game jitters out of their system as they easily take care of the Red Wolves in front of an increasingly optimistic Neyland crowd.
Prediction: Tennessee 34, Arkansas State 13
Record: 2-0 (0-0 in SEC)
September 13th – @ Oklahoma, 8:00 P.M. EST, ABC/ESPN
Tennessee travels to one of the consensus favorites for a spot in the inaugural College Football Playoff in the third week of the season. Oklahoma is the better team and “Big Game” Stoops will enjoy taking his anti-SEC position onto the field with a rebuilding team. Tennessee’s young secondary will allow several big plays, but their offense will develop and grow against a suspect Big 12 defense. In the end, Oklahoma wins, but it won’t be as bad as Vegas thinks.
Prediction: Oklahoma 38, Tennessee 27
Record: 2-1 (0-0 in SEC)
September 27th – @ Georgia, Time TBD, Coverage TBD
Call me crazy, but this is the match-up that most supports an upset for the Vols. They will have a bye week between the Oklahoma defeat and this game, the young players will already have big game road experience, the Vols traditionally play well in Georgia, and Georgia will be coming off of tough games against Clemson and South Carolina in the first three weeks of the season. It’s possible this match-up will be a 2-1 Tennessee versus a 1-2 Georgia. Dawg fans and players could already be dismayed if that’s the case. Early season injuries could affect this game, as it did in last year’s tilt. In the end, Jones gets a win that sets the stage for a successful season.
Prediction: Tennessee 27, Georgia 23
Record: 3-1 (1-0 in SEC)
October 4th – vs Florida, Time TBD, Coverage TBD
Tennessee fans will be absolutely rabid to be 3-1 and hosting the Gators in Neyland Stadium. And as good as they felt leaving Athens a week before, they will feel that bad when they let the Gators get away with one in Knoxville. Tennessee shows the athletic gap is closing, but key miscues on special teams, especially coverage and kicking, lead to another Florida win between the checkerboards.
Prediction: Florida 34, Tennessee 24
Record: 3-2 (1-1 in SEC)
October 11th – vs Chattanooga, Time TBD, Coverage TBD
Tennessee gets a welcome non-conference game against the Moccasins and makes quick work of the inter-system rivals. Jones continually preaches about mindset and outlook, and he will not let his squad overlook this game. They use this game to make a point about being as good as they claim.
Prediction: Tennessee 42, Chattanooga 10
Record: 4-2 (1-1 in SEC)
Tennessee goes into the halfway point of the season just two wins shy of being bowl eligible. But as we’ll see in the next installment, getting those two wins will be no easy task in a brutal SEC second half schedule.
Thank you for reading. You can follow me on Twitter – @mikeloveall – and support LWOS by following the site on Twitter – @LastWordOnSport – and by “liking” our Facebook page.
For more on sports injuries, check out our friends at Sports Injury Alert.
Football fans…check out our two partnered NFL podcasts – Thursday Night Tailgate Radio and Overtime Ireland. Both shows bring you interesting commentary, critical analysis and fantastic guests including former and current NFL players, coaches and personalities.
Main Photo:
