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Tennessee football: Could 2019 Vols really play in a New Year’s Bowl?

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TN - OCTOBER 5: The Tennessee Volunteers mascot Smokey runs through the end zone after a score against the Georgia Bulldogs at Neyland Stadium on October 5, 2013 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Scott Cunningham/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - OCTOBER 5: The Tennessee Volunteers mascot Smokey runs through the end zone after a score against the Georgia Bulldogs at Neyland Stadium on October 5, 2013 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Scott Cunningham/Getty Images) /
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Early bowl projections for Tennessee football are now coming in. One now has the Volunteers playing in a bowl game after the new year. Is that feasible?

Two separate developments on Wednesday and Thursday have altered the outlook for Tennessee football heading into 2019. After a 5-7 season, talk of a New Year’s Bowl is now in the works for the Vols.

It all started on Wednesday when The Sporting News projected the Vols to face the Nebraska Cornhuskers in the TaxSlayer Bowl in Jacksonville this upcoming year. Of course, that was once the famous Gator Bowl, so it’s definitely a prestigious bowl game and one of relevance.

But then the full bowl schedule for ESPN was released on Thursday. And that schedule just happened to have the TaxSlayer Bowl scheduled for Jan. 2, 2020. It would be the same day as the Birmingham Bowl at Legion Field.

This particular bowl game fluctuates between late December and the day after New Year’s Day. But this year, being on Jan. 2, the news now clear. There is a legitimate college football media outlet projecting Tennessee football to play in a bowl game after the new year.

Hey say what you want, but that has always counted for something. And heading into Jeremy Pruitt’s second season, doing such a thing would be a major accomplishment. It would also be a huge selling point for a program already recruiting way beyond what it should be doing given its most recent success.

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So here’s the real question: how possible is this? Considering the circumstances going into next year, it’s not completely crazy. Tennessee football could feasibly finish No. 3 in the SEC East behind the Florida Gators and Georgia Bulldogs.

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After all, they get the South Carolina Gamecocks and Vanderbilt Commodores at home and blew out the Kentucky Wildcats last year. Meanwhile, the Missouri Tigers are a program in limbo, and the Mississippi State Bulldogs head to Knoxville. Their biggest non-conference threat is the BYI Cougars at home.

Best-case scenario, this team could potentially finish 8-4 and 4-4 in the SEC with Mizzou being a loss but also remaining on probation. That would open lots of postseason opportunities for the Vols, and one of them would certainly be the TaxSlayer Bowl.

And if Sporting News is correct, they’d have a chance to even the series with Nebraska, a team that had their number with two dominant wins to end the 1997 and 1999 seasons, when both programs were much more prestigious. After all, their last bowl appearance was a win over the Huskers in the Music City Bowl to close out 2016.

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Simply put, this is a very optimistic projection for Tennessee football. And it’s opened the conversation of what they could possibly do this year. A splash second season would work wonders for Pruitt and co. given the momentum they have already established. Playing in a 2020 bowl game would make it a splash.

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