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Tennessee football: Five bold predictions for 2020 season

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TN - OCTOBER 29: A general view of Neyland Stadium during the South Carolina Gamecocks game against the Tennessee Volunteers on October 29, 2011 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - OCTOBER 29: A general view of Neyland Stadium during the South Carolina Gamecocks game against the Tennessee Volunteers on October 29, 2011 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
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Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images
Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images /

3. One of the Vols’ two new SEC West opponents will lose to them.

Obviously, it was frustrating for Tennessee football fans to see the Auburn Tigers and Texas A&M Aggies added to their schedule when the SEC went to 10 games. The Vols already had the Alabama Crimson Tide, so adding Auburn and A&M, two of the projected top four teams in the West along with Bama, makes it extremely difficult to have a winning record.

However, we’re going with the prediction that Rocky Top will pull off the upset against one of them. Jeremy Pruitt has a history of owning Gus Malzahn and the Auburn Tigers. As a defensive coordinator or head coach, he is 5-1 against Malzahn dating back to 2013, when he beat them in the national title game as the Florida State Seminoles’ DC.

Speaking of FSU, though, Pruitt is familiar with Jimbo Fisher and the system he ran there. He’s so familiar with it that he’s 2-0 as a head coach against his predecessor, Kentucky Wildcats head coach Mark Stoops. As a result, he has another advantage against him when the Aggies come to town, and Fisher, unlike Nick Saban, hasn’t seen real success without Pruitt.

As a result, Pruitt and the Vols will beat one of those teams. We’re not sure who it will be, but with a much worse team, Pruitt beat Auburn on the road just two years ago, and he’s got them down there again. UT fans would love revenge against Texas A&M for when Kevin Sumlin beat Butch Jones in 2016, and a school from Texas heading to the Mountains in November could help the Vols.

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