5. Favorable Schedule
Over the last few years, Tennessee has played some brutal schedules. The Vols have had non-conference games against California, UCLA, Oregon and Oklahoma in the last decade, and over the last few years it seems like the Vols have had the bad luck of catching the hottest team from the SEC West division along with their annual rivalry game against Alabama.
But for the first time in many, many years, the Vols may have actually caught a break in their schedule. Well, as much of a break as you can catch in the SEC.
Arguably Tennessee’s two toughest matchups, games against Florida and Alabama, will be at home. In fact, the Vols will play nine games in the state of Tennessee in 2016. The Vols will have their usual seven home games at Neyland Stadium and will play in Nashville when they take on Vanderbilt, and in Bristol when they play Virginia Tech in the Battle at Bristol.
Tennessee will have tough road games against Georgia and Texas A&M, but the Vols will truly have a much more favorable schedule this upcoming season than they have in recent memory. The gauntlet of Florida, Georgia, Texas A&M and Alabama is daunting to say the least, but overall the schedule does favor the Vols when it comes to when and where their games will be played.
