Latest bowl projections all point to the same state for the Tennessee Vols
A number of pundits see the Vols heading far south for postseason play.
The Tennessee Vols had a golden opportunity at notching a resume-building win on Saturday against the top-ranked Texas Longhorns. However, an overmatched offensive line and an indecisive freshman quarterback were driving reasons behind a 20-17 loss. The Vols’ defense was elite, holding Texas to 1.7 yards per carry and generating six sacks, but the offense could get next to nothing going.
Despite the loss, the path is still there for the Vols to get to the postseason. Tennessee avoids Georgia, Ole Miss, and resurgent Florida and Mississippi State teams. They get Alabama and LSU at home, Texas A&M looks vulnerable, and road trips to normally challenging Arkansas and South Carolina look as winnable as ever.
But in the minds of most pundits, the Vols won’t find a way to reach 10-2 and into the playoff with that remaining schedule. In the post-Week 4 bowl projections, the major outlets/writers all point Tennessee towards the same state: Florida.
College football pundits project Tennessee to a Florida bowl game
ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura and Mark Schlabach project Tennessee to face Nebraska and Michigan, respectively, in the ReliaQuest Bowl on Dec. 31 in Tampa. On3 Sports’ Brett McMurphy projects Tennessee to take on Pittsburgh on Dec. 30 in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl in Jacksonville. CBS Sports tabs Tennessee to face Iowa in the Citrus Bowl on Jan. 2.
All of those bowl games would have Tennessee in the 9-3 or 8-4 range, depending on where those records land in the final SEC pecking order. All are bowl games that don’t really move the needle terribly, but would still be far better landing spots than the Music City Bowl, the Duke’s Mayo Bowl, or any bowl game in Texas not named the Cotton Bowl.
The path is there for a better result for the Vols, but they’re going to have to play much, much better offensively than they did in order to get through the rest of the season with just one loss. We’ll find out if they can do that starting on Saturday against Auburn in Knoxville.
