Tennessee football: Ranking every 2020 game by difficulty

4. Nov. 14 – Texas A&M Aggies

Although the Texas A&M Aggies do play Tennessee football in Knoxville this year, we have already said home-field advantage doesn’t mean much. Jimbo Fisher’s team appears to have underachieved to this point in his tenure, and he’s looking for his third year to be the year his program bursts onto the scene. He’s in much better shape for that to happen with Kellen Mond.

Last year, A&M and UT both went 8-5, which would seem to mean that they are on similar playing field. However, all five of Texas A&M’s losses were to teams that finished in the top 15, four of them were to teams in the College Football Playoff race in the final week of the regular season, and two of them were to teams who actually made the playoff.

Simply put, the Aggies had a brutal schedule. They didn’t lose to the Georgia State Panthers or BYU Cougars like the Vols. As a result, they appear to be the far superior team at this moment, and the only thing giving the Vols a chance is them playing in Knoxville, even if that’s a factor.

One other factor is Jeremy Pruitt, who was Fisher’s defensive coordinator when the two won the national title with the Florida State Seminoles in 2013. He could have some tricks up his sleeve for his old boss. A&M plays UT between the South Carolina Gamecocks and Ole Miss Rebels, though, so they won’t be a trap game at all. That certainly doesn’t help.