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CBS Sports predicts Tennessee football to go 9-3 in 2020

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) /
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Barrett Sallee has high expectations for the 2020 Tennessee football Volunteers.

If Tennessee football went 8-5 in 2019 and expects to be a lot better in 2020, it does follow logically that going 9-3 should not be too far off the table for Jeremy Pruitt’s team. That must be what one analyst is thinking.

Rocky Top is projected to go 9-3 in 2020 by Barrett Sallee of CBS Sports. Their projected losses are the Oklahoma Sooners, the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Georgia Bulldogs. However, they are projected to beat the Florida Gators at home in an upset.

Despite that 6-2 SEC record in the forecast, Tennessee football is still picked to finish third in the East. Sallee has Florida going 11-1, only losing to the Vols, and the Georgia Bulldogs going 10-2, losing to Florida and Alabama. Here’s a bit of what Sallee said about UT.

"The Volunteers should be stout along the offensive line, have firepower in the backfield and a defense that has taken on the mentality of coach Jeremy Pruitt. The quarterback position might not be completely set, but Jarrett Guarantano at least provides some experience unless the potential of another contender is enough to unseat him."

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If Pruitt pulled off a 9-3 season, he’d have a lot to sell going forward. It’s on the table but is probably a best-case scenario situation. Right now, the ESPN FPI projects the Vols to match their 7-5 record, largely due to their much tougher schedule.

After all, UT is behind Florida, Georgia, Alabama and Oklahoma in the Pro-Football Focus Too-Early Top 25 power rankings despite being ranked No. 19. One spot behind them are the Kentucky Wildcats, and they also have to face the South Carolina Gamecocks and Arkansas Razorbacks on the road, so based on probabilities, they are likely to lose one of those games.

At the same time, though, they could also run the table, and probabilities could make them likely to pull off an upset or two. Sallee has them upsetting Florida, and they do play Dan Mullen and the Gators in Knoxville at home this year.

Meanwhile, another CBS Sports analyst, Tom Fornelli, had UT upsetting Alabama, whom they also play at home, in a recent article he wrote. So right now, the only two sure losses for the Vols are Oklahoma and Georgia since both are on the road.

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Now, 10-2 is obviously ambitious, but 9-3 is the best-case scenario of realistic options. That is Sallee’s projections for Tennessee football, and fans would be thrilled if Pruitt was able to pull that off in 2020.

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