3. 8-4, 9-3 or 10-2
- Beat all three non-Power Five teams, Vanderbilt and Missouri
- Lose to Georgia and Alabama
- 3-2, 4-1 or 5-0 vs. Pitt, Florida, LSU, Kentucky or South Carolina
If Tennessee football fans are to be happy at all about the way this season goes, 8-4 is a minimum. That assures that they will have been better than they were their first year under Josh Heupel, and depending on what they do in their bowl game, it puts a top 25 finish back on the table, which is a huge deal.
Going 8-4 would match their two best regular seasons since firing Phillip Fulmer, which came in 2015 and 2016. If they won their bowl game after that, it would still match those two seasons. A 9-4 campaign is basically par for the Vols entering Josh Heupel’s second season.
Once again, this scenario involves winning all four circled win games and their likely-win game. They also lose their two circled loss games. Then they would go 3-2 in their five toss-ups. At 8-4, that most likely means beating Florida, Kentucky and South Carolina.
However, this season could start to exceed expectations if they win both home toss-up games, Florida and Kentucky, and then have a winning record in their road toss-up games. That would assure them their best regular season since Phillip Fulmer was fired and put them in line for 10 wins. Winning all five toss-up games puts a top 10 campaign on the schedule.