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Tennessee football: Vols fans 2019-2020 bowl game rooting guide

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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Photo by Joe Sargent/Getty Images
Photo by Joe Sargent/Getty Images /

7. Ticketsmarter Birmingham Bowl

Boston College Eagles over No. 23/22 Cincinnati Bearcats

Thursday, Jan. 2, 2020 at 3 p.m. ET; Legion Field; Birmingham, Ala.; ESPN

Here we are with another one of the most obvious games for Tennessee football. As a Group of Five team clinging to a top 25 ranking, the Cincinnati Bearcats would certainly drop below the Vols if they lost their bowl game and UT won theirs, even if it was against the Indiana Hoosiers. Rocky Top needs some teams to fall out to get into the ranking.

Cincinnati is one of those teams. At 10-3, Cincinnati would then fall to 10-4 and clearly belong outside of the top 25. The Boston College Eagles, meanwhile, are 6-6. As a result, there is no way they move ahead of the Vols simply due to a win over a Group of Five team, even if it is one against a top 25 program.

That would still move them to 7-6 as an ACC team, and the Vols would be an 8-5 SEC team with a win. So they will remain ahead of Boston College regardless of what happens. All that happens with BC winning is UT moving ahead of Cincinnati, Butch Jones’s former school, in both polls and getting one step closer to a top 25 ranking.

BC may be motivated to play with interim head coach Rich Gunnell after parting ways with Steve Addazio, even if they do have to travel all the way to Birmingham. However, Cincinnati is favored by seven, so this is another upset the Vols have to hope for.

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