All for Tennessee
Fansided

Tennessee football: Ranking games on Vols 2019 schedule by importance

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TN - SEPTEMBER 08: Head coach Jeremy Pruitt of the Tennessee Volunteers brings his team onto the field prior to a game against the East Tennessee State University Buccaneers at Neyland Stadium on September 8, 2018 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Tennesee won the game 59-3. (Photo by Donald Page/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - SEPTEMBER 08: Head coach Jeremy Pruitt of the Tennessee Volunteers brings his team onto the field prior to a game against the East Tennessee State University Buccaneers at Neyland Stadium on September 8, 2018 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Tennesee won the game 59-3. (Photo by Donald Page/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
11 of 13
Next
Photo by John Sommers II/Getty Images
Photo by John Sommers II/Getty Images /

3. At Kentucky Wildcats

One of Tennessee football’s biggest wins last year was a 24-7 dominating outing over a Kentucky Wildcats team that was the best in years. It was a major testament to Jeremy Pruitt and what he was building. That team was very good and proof of Mark Stoops’s years of work finally paying off, as he went 10-3 and had his team finish off in the top 12.

This year, the Wildcats have to replace half their starters on offense and a ton of their guys on defense. They relied on deep rotations last year defensively, so there are players back, but that lack of depth that carried them is gone.

As a result, you would think the Vols should win by an even greater margin. But this game is in Lexington, and it’s worth noting that Stoops has already gotten better with previous Wildcats teams in seemingly rebuilding years. His first bowl appearance with them, in 2016, was supposed to be a rebuilding year.

That makes this game difficult just like the BYU Cougars game. And just like the BYU game, losing it means the Vols have to upset somebody somewhere else to have a winning record in the regular season this year. As the third to last game of the year, though, scheduled for Nov. 9, we will already mostly know how crucial this game is for UT.

We have the Wildcats ahead of the Cougars because conference games, and in particular divisional games, always are more important when there’s a tiebreaker needed. Add in the fact that UK is technically a rival, and they are clearly a more important game for the Vols than BYU.

Home/Vols Football