Tennessee is officially halfway through the regular season schedule with the open date in the rearview mirror and a 5-1, 2-1 SEC record to boast.
The Vols’ second half of the slate is nothing short of challenging, though. Out of the six games left on the schedule, Tennessee has three games against current AP Top 20 opponents, four games against opponents that have been ranked in the Top 25 this season, and three road games against ranked opponents.
Tennessee will face back-to-back road games against No. 11 Alabama and Kentucky in the next two weeks, followed by a Homecoming game in Knoxville against UConn. The Vols then head to Columbia for a game against No. 20 Missouri before returning to Rocky Top for back-to-back games against No. 1 Georgia and Vanderbilt to close out the season.
We looked at a few ESPN bowl projections about two weeks ago, with both Kyle Bonagura and Mark Schlabach projecting Tennessee to face Iowa in the Music City Bowl and Cheez-It Citrus Bowl, respectively.
Schlabach’s projection, two weeks later, remains unchanged looking at Tennessee to take on Iowa in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida’s Camping World Stadium. That game will take place at 1:00 p.m. on Monday, January 1.
Bonagura still has Tennessee in the Music City Bowl but against Maryland instead of Iowa. The Music City Bowl will take place in Nashville’s Nissan Stadium at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, December 30.
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Let’s expand the search a little bit.
Erick Smith of USA Today has a familiar projection with Tennessee vs Iowa in the Citrus Bowl on January 1.
247 Sports’ Brad Crawford has Tennessee headed back to the Sunshine State after a trip to the Capital One Orange Bowl last season. Crawford is projecting Tennessee to land in the ReliaQuest Bowl against Notre Dame, which would be an incredibly fascinating matchup.
“ReliaQuest Bowl organizers know the Vols would bring a crowd to Tampa and Notre Dame is always a major draw in the postseason,” Crawford wrote. “Based on early conversations, we’re expecting Tennessee to play in a Florida-based bowl game since the Vols are expected to request not playing at Nissan Stadium (Nashville, Music City Bowl) for a second time this season. Notre Dame and Tennessee haven’t met since 2005.”
One thing to watch this week is how Saturday’s game between Tennessee and Alabama impact the bowl projections as the Vols and Tide are both looking to avoid their second loss of the season. Alabama, though, is projected to the Cotton Bowl according to ESPN and 247 while USA Today has the Tide in the Peach Bowl. Tennessee could make a big jump forward with a win over Alabama this weekend in Tuscaloosa.
