Vols Football: Game-by-Game Season Prediction

Will the Vols be able to spring another upset and string together enough wins to make it to their first bowl game appearance since 2010? PHOTO: Jim Brown-USA TODAY Sports

The Tennessee Volunteers kick off the 2014 season on August 31st against Utah State, and while head coach Butch Jones may preach a “one game at a time” approach for his team, we here at All For Tennessee don’t necessarily hold that same value.

This article will seek to predict every game of the 2014 season for the Vols, from Utah State to Vanderbilt and every game in between.

The Vols have not reached a bowl game since 2010 and haven’t experienced a winning season since 2009, Lane Kiffin’s lone season as Tennessee’s head coach. In fact, the Vols haven’t even won a bowl game since the 2008 Outback Bowl against Wisconsin. Butch Jones has stated that no player on the current roster has even played in a bowl game, and getting back to one this season will take a lot of work.

Adding to that difficulty is a grueling schedule that makes earning six wins a daunting task.

The Vols face one of the toughest schedules in all the NCAA, and Butch Jones and his team cannot afford to overlook a single team on their schedule.  According to the recently released AP Poll, the Vols have 6 teams in the top 25 on their schedule, with 4 of those teams ranked in the top 15.

In order to win six games and make it to a bowl game, the Vols will need to improve in several key areas from 2013, including team speed, more playmakers on offense, and better depth overall.

Thanks to a 32-man recruiting class, the Vols have optimism heading into this season that their bowl drought can be ended.

Will the Vols return to relevance and earn a spot in a bowl game in 2014? Here are our game-by-game predictions for the 2014 season.

All stats via either UTSports.com or cfbstats.com unless noted otherwise