With the college football regular season coming to a close in the next few weeks, Tennessee football’s bowl projections have taken a shift (and have been somewhat ironed out) now that the Vols look to be projecting as an 8-4 team rather than a 9-3 team with the loss to Missouri last Saturday in Columbia.
The projections have been fairly diverse over the last month but are now narrowing out. The two most common projections for Tennessee this December are the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Florida, and the Music City Bowl in Nashville, Tennessee.
Five of the six projections being looked at today involve one of those two landing spots, just with an array of potential opponents. The Gator Bowl would have Tennessee taking on an ACC opponent for a second straight year while the Music City Bowl would put a Big Ten team in Tennessee’s path to a postseason victory.
Bowl projections will continue to straighten out as teams finish their final two games of the regular season over the next two weeks leading to conference championship weekend. College football’s Selection Sunday will close out championship weekend on Dec. 3.
Tennessee will look to overcome the odds and put themselves back into a 9-3 position with a daunting matchup against AP No. 1 Georgia this Saturday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. ET in Neyland Stadium. The reigning back-to-back National Champions are currently a 10.5-point favorite over Tennessee according to ESPN heading into the SEC rivalry matchup this weekend.
More from RTI: Kickoff Time, Broadcast Details Set For Tennessee’s Regular Season Finale Against Vanderbilt
Here’s a look at some of the top bowl projections from experts in the industry:
USA Today – Erick Smith
- Bowl: TaxSlayer Gator Bowl
- Opponent: Miami (FL) (6-4, 2-4 ACC)
- Location: EverBank Stadium – Jacksonville, Florida
- Date/Time: Friday, Dec. 29 at 12:00 p.m. ET
ESPN – Kyle Bonagura
- Bowl: TransPerfect Music City Bowl
- Opponent: Rutgers (6-4, 3-4 Big Ten)
- Location: Nissan Stadium – Nashville, Tennessee
- Date/Time: Saturday, Dec. 30 at 2:00 p.m. ET
ESPN – Mark Schlabach
- Bowl: Duke’s Mayo Bowl
- Opponent: Virginia Tech (5-5, 4-2 ACC)
- Location: Bank of America Stadium – Charlotte, North Carolina
- Date/Time: Wednesday, Dec. 27 at 5:30 p.m. ET
CBS Sports – Jerry Palm
- Bowl: TaxSlayer Gator Bowl
- Opponent: North Carolina (8-2, 4-2 ACC)
- Location: EverBank Stadium – Jacksonville, Florida
- Date/Time: Friday, Dec. 29 at 12:00 p.m. ET
247 Sports – Brad Crawford
- Bowl: TransPerfect Music City Bowl
- Opponent: Northwestern (5-5, 3-4 Big Ten)
- Location: Nissan Stadium – Nashville, Tennessee
- Date/Time: Saturday, Dec. 30 at 2:00 p.m. ET
Action Network – Brett McMurphy
- Bowl: TaxSlayer Gator Bowl
- Opponent: North Carolina (8-2, 4-2 ACC)
- Location: EverBank Stadium – Jacksonville, Florida
- Date/Time: Friday, Dec. 29 at 12:00 p.m. ET
