Tennessee football’s difficulties explained by outlet’s 10 best programs the past decade

It’s no secret that Tennessee football has suffered a dramatic decline over the past 15 years. That can be attributed to bad coaching hires and other regional programs emerging to create more recruiting competition. However, a huge part of this is what the Vols have to face annually.

Brad Crawford of 247Sports just listed the top 10 programs of the past decade, and one look at it shows just how difficult the road has been for the Vols. The factors for this list include championships, winning percentage and NFL Draft picks.

Using that metric, Tennessee football is the only team that has to play two of the top five programs since that time every single year. One of them is obvious. The Alabama Crimson Tide are No. 1, and they have to face them every year. Meanwhile, the Georgia Bulldogs came in at No. 4.

Now, the Vols aren’t the only team to face multiple foes on this list. With the Oklahoma State Cowboys at No. 10 and the Oklahoma Sooners at No. 5, every Big 12 school has to face two of the teams twice annually. However, No. 10 and No. 5 is not No. 4 and No. 1.

ACC Atlantic teams probably have it the next most difficult, as the Florida State Seminoles are No. 8 and the Clemson Tigers are No. 3 on the list. The other five teams in that division have to face those two schools every year, and they also periodically have to face the ACC affiliate Notre Dame Fighting Irish, who came in at No. 7.

Again, though, No. 8 and No. 3 annually with No. 7 periodically is not the same as No. 4 and No. 1 annually. That’s even more clear when you look at who the Vols have had to play periodically themselves, as those two annual opponents aren’t their only foes.

Four other times the Vols had to face one of the other top 10 teams on the list. They had to face the Oregon Ducks, who came in at No. 9, in 2013, Oklahoma in 2014 and 2015 and then the LSU Tigers in 2017. That combined with Georgia and Bama every year explains a lot.

Only one team has a case over the Vols: the Florida Gators. They are the only team on this list that had to face three teams on here annually: Georgia, LSU and Florida State. Combine that with just their regular SEC schedule, and they may have Tennessee football beat.

However, Florida has also fallen off the map over the past 10 years, so you can explain it with them just as you can explain it with anybody else. If you went back 10 years and did this ranking, the Gators would be a top five team still along with Bama, so it would be difficult on the Vols no matter what.

Taking all of this into account, it’s hard to ignore how brutal the road has been for Tennessee football. Yes, they are down as a program. It’s much harder to rebuild from being down, though, when your annual opponents are riding as high as they ever have been. That’s the situation for the Vols right now, and this list proves it.