The Ugly
The Schedule: Ok, it’s not a position group, but the biggest reason that Tennessee is likely to struggle in 2014 is the incredibly difficult slate of games laid before them. This thing is just brutal.
-Second toughest according to Phil Steele.
-Third toughest according to Football Scoop.
-Third toughest according to Saturday Down South.
-Fifth toughest according to Brian Fremeau of ESPN.
-Seventh toughest according to Bleacher Report.
…you get the point.
The Vols open with three bowl winners in Utah State, Arkansas State and Oklahoma in Norman. Then, after a bye week, hit a six game stretch that includes Georgia in Athens, Florida, Ole Miss in Oxford, Alabama, and a revenge game against South Carolina in Columbia. By the time the Vols get to their second bye week after facing the Gamecocks we should know a lot about the direction of the season. They then face Kentucky and Missouri in Knoxville before closing the season in Nashville against Vanderbilt.
That’s a lot of words to say that the Vols will face six teams ranked in the preseason top-10, three of which are inside the top-10. All told, the Volunteers will face nine bowl teams from 2013 and one of the teams that didn’t make a bowl last year, the Florida Gators, appear to be vastly improved and will almost certainly be favored to win in Knoxville this year and extend their winning streak to 10 over Tennessee.
The Vols should be an improved team in 2014, but this schedule means that they are faced with an uphill climb to get back to bowl eligibility.
