Tennessee sits with a 4-5 record on the season, and they need to win at least two of their last three games to even make a bowl game this year. If they don’t, it would mark the first time since 2013 they’ve missed out on making a bowl berth.
Not many people have faith in Tennessee’s ability to make a bowl game. Fans, local media, and national media alike are all very doubtful in the Vols’ ability to get to six wins and make a bowl game.
But one national service still believes the Vols can and will make a bowl game this season.
ESPN, Yahoo, Sports Illustrated, SB Nation, and USA Today all don’t have Tennessee in their projected bowl match-ups for the end of the 2017 season. But CBS Sports does, and they have the Vols playing a former Tennessee coach in their match-up.
CBS Sports projects the Vols to play Wake Forest in the Belk Bowl on December 29th in Charlotte, North Carolina. Wake Forest is currently 5-4 with games against Syracuse, N.C. State, and Duke remaining.
Wake Forest is currently led by Dave Clawson at head coach. Vol fans will remember him as Tennessee’s offensive coordinator during the 2008 season. That Vols offense is notorious for being the worst statistical offense in modern day Tennessee history.
Clawson has gone on to find success as a head coach over the last few years, however. He left Bowling Green after the 2013 season as their head coach to take the same position with Wake Forest. Clawson is 18-28 at Wake Forest, but he went from back-to-back 3-9 seasons in his first two years to a 7-6 record that included a bowl win last year. Now it appears he could be taking Wake Forest to their first back-to-back bowl appearances since they made three straight from 2006-08.
Tennessee is in real danger of not making a bowl game. But CBS Sports still has faith in them even though every other major outlet does not.
