The Tennessee football Volunteers are now in another outlet’s 2020 rankings.
It’s been a consistent theme now for Tennessee football to rise in preseason top 25 rankings, in some cases entering them for the first time altogether, due to the changes happening to the season. With the Big Ten, Pac-12, Mountain West, MAC and four Independents postponing fall sports, leaving only 76 FBS teams left, that was bound to happen.
A recent publication gave UT a surprise leap, however. The Sporting News updated Top 25 moved Rocky Top all the way to No. 15. That’s one spot ahead of the Kentucky Wildcats, who are at No. 16, and one spot behind the Louisville Cardinals, who are at No. 14.
However, Kentucky was No. 23, and Louisville was No. 22, in the initial rankings, while Tennessee football was unranked. So the Vols somehow vaulted over teams who are still set to play. Here’s what was written about UT in the rankings.
"The Vols have been itching to get back on the national stage, and Jeremy Pruitt lead the program to an eight-win season and bowl victory in 2019. Senior quarterback Jarrett Gaurantano returns behind a big offensive line that features future NFL picks Trey Smith and Cade Mays, and the defense should continue to take strides with improved talent through recruiting. Tennessee still needs to prove it against Georgia, Florida and Alabama, and Auburn and Texas A&M are on the schedule, too."
Of course, what stands out more than anything is not where the Vols are ranked but what their schedule now looks like. The rise in some teams’ rankings plus the addition of the Texas A&M Aggies and Auburn Tigers to their 10-game SEC-only schedule has made for half their season to be against top 10 teams in many outlets, despite them dropping the Oklahoma Sooners.
That’s no different here. Texas A&M is at No. 10 in these rankings, Auburn is at No. 8, the Florida Gators are at No. 7, the Georgia Bulldogs are at No. 3 and the Alabama Crimson Tide are at No. 2. Meanwhile, with Kentucky still in there, Jeremy Pruitt’s third team now has six games against programs consistently in the top 20.
This will make for a much more difficult season overall. After all, outside of those games, the Vols opener against the South Carolina Gamecocks is still on the road. This means they could potentially go 3-7 this year.
Simply put, Tennessee football doesn’t have a slate of easy Group of Five non-conference opponents to boost its record this year. Their easiest matchups are the Missouri Tigers, Arkansas Razorbacks and Vanderbilt Commodores. They’ll have a tough road to finishing .500 or better.