11. South Alabama Jaguars
Saturday, Nov. 20; Neyland Stadium; Knoxville, Tenn.
Want to know what type of program is almost as easy for Tennessee football to beat at its worst as an FCS program? Well, it’s a Group of Five program that hasn’t had a winning record since it joined FBS play a decade ago, is undergoing a new head coach, has suffered through seven straight losing seasons and gone four seasons without even making a bowl game.
The South Alabama Jaguars are one of the worst Sun Belt programs and should be extremely easy for the Vols to handle this year. New head coach Kane Wommack will try to rebuild the program after three years of Steve Campbell, and he did make a splash move to bring in Major Applewhite as offensive coordinator.
Wommack himself has spent the past few years helping Tom Allen build up the Indiana Hoosiers as the program’s defensive coordinator, so he certainly has some credentials. However, it’s not likely any of those will work in his favor this year.
UT faces this team after the Georgia Bulldogs. By this point, the Vols will have played every sure loss and tossup game on their schedule, so they’ll likely know exactly what’s in store for them as the season ends. That could have a negative effect here, but it really doesn’t matter.