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Analyst: Tennessee football will upset Alabama in 2020

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TN - OCTOBER 20: Head Coach Jeremy Pruitt of the Tennessee Volunteers and head coach Nick Saban of the Alabama Crimson Tide shake hands after the second half of the game between the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Tennessee Volunteers at Neyland Stadium on October 20, 2018 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Alabama won 58-21. (Photo by Donald Page/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - OCTOBER 20: Head Coach Jeremy Pruitt of the Tennessee Volunteers and head coach Nick Saban of the Alabama Crimson Tide shake hands after the second half of the game between the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Tennessee Volunteers at Neyland Stadium on October 20, 2018 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Alabama won 58-21. (Photo by Donald Page/Getty Images) /
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One person is picking the Tennessee football Volunteers to beat the Crimson Tide.

Now this is a stretch. It looks like Tennessee football is getting some early love for 2020 in a big way. Tom Fornelli of CBS Sports is picking the Vols to upset the Alabama Crimson Tide, assuming the season takes place as scheduled this year.

UT is on a 13-game losing streak to its hated Rival dating back to when Nick Saban took over the program back in 2007. Fornelli said he doesn’t even expect the Vols to contend for the SEC East this year. So what could make him project such an upset?

The answer lies in the schedule and the location. Fornelli noted that Tennessee football will have multiple chances at an upset this year and should be significantly improved. Alabama, he says, is their best chance. Here’s a look at his reasoning.

"Not only are they playing the game in Knoxville, but Tennessee has a bye the week before. Alabama does not. Alabama’s game against Tennessee will be its eighth contest in as many weeks. It will also be Alabama’s third road game in four weeks. All the ingredients are there for a major Tennessee upset, so don’t forget who told you it was going to happen five months ahead of time."

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Other candidates on the list were the Oklahoma Sooners, Florida Gators and Georgia Bulldogs. However, the Vols play Oklahoma and Georgia on the road, and Florida will face the Vols one week after a home game against the South Alabama Jaguars. Simply put, there aren’t a lot of things working against them at that  point.

As a result, it makes sense on paper for Alabama to be Jeremy Pruitt’s best chance at an upset, but it still seems like a crazy proposition. Shouldn’t Nick Saban have to lose to one of his former assistants at least one time before people start picking upsets?

To be fair, last year, Tennessee football played Alabama much closer than people expected. If not for a ridiculous late hit on one touchdown drive by the Tide and then Jarrett Guarantano’s decision to go rogue on a 4th and 1, Rocky Top would have been within one point of or even tied with the Tide late in the fourth quarter.

Now, you can say that they would only be in the game because Tua Tagovailoa was knocked out, but Tagovailoa won’t be playing in the game this year either since he’s going to the NFL. And the game is in Knoxville. So plenty of other things are working in Rocky Top’s favor.

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However, it’s just too insane of a stretch at this point to say that Tennessee football is in position to upset Alabama. Florida, despite its ownership of UT dating back to 2005, is probably a better choice. Georgia and Oklahoma are all but impossible, but the Gators in Knoxville against a much-improved Vols team should make things interesting, at least on paper.

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