Top 10 Ways to Define Success for the 2015 Tennessee Vols Football Season
Nov 29, 2014; Nashville, TN, USA; Tennessee Volunteers players celebrate with a team photo after becoming bowl eligible following a win against the Vanderbilt Commodores at Vanderbilt Stadium. The Volunteers won 24-17. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
4. Winning Record Against Rivals
This is one of the loftier goals this year we should have for the Vols that also may be one of the more important ones. For each of the past five seasons, the Vols have lost to the Florida Gators, Georgia Bulldogs, and Alabama Crimson Tide.
In three of those five seasons, they either lost to the Vanderbilt Commodores or Kentucky Wildcats.
Those are the five official rivalries that the Vols would recognize, even if Vanderbilt and Kentucky are technically not competitive rivalries.
But still, against those five, they went 2-3 in 2010 and 2015 and 1-4 in 2011, 2012, and 2013. Sorry, but that is simply awful and cannot happen at Tennessee. Going into this year, beating Vanderbilt and Kentucky has to be a guarantee, or else this season is going to turn into an automatic failure.
But you also have to add in at least one win against Florida, Georgia, and Alabama. That’s what this really comes down to.
Losing to all three the same year always means a terrible season, and each of the past five years have been terrible years. Going 2-1 or 1-2 is okay depending on how the rest of the year goes. If the Vols are back, they need to get one of those wins. Otherwise, this season is a loss as well.
Winning one of those games means that Tennessee will at least be 3-2 in its official rivalry games this year, and that is what matters more than anything else. In the past five years, the overall record is 7-18, which is terrible.
From 2000 to 2009, they were 32-18 in those games, including 13-17 against Florida, Georgia, and Alabama, a record skewed by the final two years in which they went 1-5.
So Tennessee is not back until they get back to winning these games and having winning records during rivalry years. This is also a transition to our next important factor.
Next: #3: Beating Florida