8. Kentucky
Tennessee doesn’t lose to Kentucky in football. And when they do, it usually means a head coaching change is coming for the Vols. And that’s exactly what happened last season.
The Vols lost 29-26 to Kentucky in Lexington last year after a Hail Mary ended up two yards short for Tennessee as time expired. Tennessee should be the better team in this year’s match-up, and the Vols will be coming off a tune-up game against Charlotte the week before. Kentucky, meanwhile, will have just faced Vanderbilt, Missouri, and Georgia in succession before traveling to Knoxville.
The Wildcats should be a decent team this season, but the Vols should be the better team unless they’ve sustained a ton of injuries by the time these two teams play in November. The Vols will be making a push for a bowl berth at this point, so you could argue that the Kentucky game could be even higher up on this list. But it’s hard to place the Wildcats above some of the other teams on UT’s schedule this year.
