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Tennessee Football: Week 11 Bowl Projections for Vols

By Caleb Calhoun

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With the Tennessee football team currently 5-4 going into Week 11, here are places where analysts are predicting the Volunteers will play their bowl game.

Following up on a 52-21 victory over the Kentucky Wildcats with a 27-24 scare against the South Carolina Gamecocks, bowl projections for the Vols this week have been met with drastic overreactions.

Last week, Tennessee was overwhelmingly expected to go to the Belk Bowl. Here at All for Tennessee, we had higher excpectations, but the Belk Bowl was a reasonable location given where the Vols were and what they were expected to do.

However, one close win that should have been a blowout has thrown the projections are all over the place. Almost all of the major media outlets making these projections have the Vols going to a different bowl game.

Nobody in their right mind is changing their prediction on how the Vols will finish the season, so to throw your bowl projections in for a loop like this is a drastic change for a minimal thing that happened.

But that is what happened this week. Here is a roundup of where college football experts are predicting the Vols to go bowling heading into Week 11 of the college football season.

Jerry Palm, CBS: Liberty Bowl; Opponent: Kansas State Wildcats

A drop from the Belk Bowl to the Liberty Bowl seems highly unlikely after one close win. But at least this game would be intriguing. Tennessee would be looking to exact revenge on Kansas State after what happened in the 2001 Cotton Bowl following the 2000 season.

However, given that Kansas State is 3-5, predicting these two teams on the same field is an insult to Tennessee. They can do better if they finish 8-4.

Mark Schlabach, ESPN: Belk Bowl; Opponent: North Carolina Tar Heels

At least Mark Schlabach remained consistent with his Belk Bowl prediction. The Vols traveling to Charlotte to play the North Carolina Tar Heels is looking like a more and more intriguing game, as UNC looks better every week.

Tennessee would want to exact revenge for the 2010 Music City Bowl in this one, a game they should have won. But they would at least have a great chance for a thrilling finish to the season if they met UNC.

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Brett McMurphy, ESPN: Music City Bowl; Opponent: Penn State Nittany Lions

Speaking of the Music City Bowl, again, Brett McMurphy at least did not change his prediction. But that bowl game appears as if it should be beneath the Vols should they win out.

However, playing Penn State opens a lot of opportunities. They can make up for three losses they had to the Nittany Lions in bowl games dating back to 1991 and two straight losses to James Franklin while he was at Vanderbilt. So at least the opponent would be exciting.

Phil Steele, PhilSteele.com: Advocare Texas Bowl; Opponent: Baylor Bears

Again, another overreaction, but Phil Steele’s prediction is not one any Tennessee Vols fan would complain about. With or without Seth Russell, Art Briles’s team would be exciting to play if they fell to this spot, which is obviously what is being predicted.

However, the Texas Bowl appears to be a heck of a lot better suited for an SEC West opponent, so Tennessee fans might be thinking something more in their region.

Pete Fiutak, Campus Insiders: Liberty Bowl; Opponent: West Virginia Mountaineers

Pete Fiutak also had an overreaction and demoted the Vols to the Liberty Bowl. Last week, he was calling for the Music City Bowl, though, so this is not much better. Essentially, he does not see Tennessee leaving the state of Tennessee.

Still, the West Virginia Mountaineers would be an intriguing opponent. It would be a game between two similar mascots, Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone, and two programs who embrace the tradition of the Appalachian culture. And they do play in three years, so it would be a nice preview.

Official All for Tennessee Bowl Projection for Vols: Outback Bowl; Opponent: Northwestern Wildcats

Trust me, this is not wishful thinking. Last year, at 6-6, the Vols got a higher bid than expected by going to the TaxSlayer Bowl, and fans filled up the stadium in Jacksonville to watch them leave a great impression with a blowout victory over the Iowa Hawkeyes.

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This year, another bowl in Florida is going to notice that and give the Vols an invite that should make up for something they did in 2003, which we will not go into.

Anyway, finishing the year 8-4 will have the Vols finishing second in the SEC East, and the Outback Bowl has a clear history of giving preference to SEC East teams. With Florida looking at a New Years Six appearance, Tennessee will likely overtake Georgia as second in line, and they will get the nod.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Michigan State, Iowa, and Ohio State are all looking at New Years Six bowl berths. That leaves Michigan and Northwestern as the likely top two teams outside of that group. Michigan will get the Citrus Bowl appearance, leaving Northwestern for the Outback Bowl.

And that will make for a great showdown. For a bit of history, the last time the Vols played Northwestern in a bowl game was in the 1997 Citrus Bowl following the 1996 season.

Peyton Manning was completing his junior season. The next two years, Tennessee had two SEC championships and a national championship.

With a junior quarterback facing Northwestern in the Vols’ bowl game this year, could that also be a sendoff to something special over the next two years? Maybe.

Next: All for Tennessee Official Week 11 SEC Power Rankings

These are the bowl projections surrounding the Tennessee Vols. With whom do you agree and disagree? Feel free to leave comments below and follow us on social media.

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