College Football 2015 Preview No. 22: Tennessee Volunteers
By Ty Duffy
Regular Season Records: 6-6, 5-7, 5-7, 5-7
SRS Rankings: 32, 52, 53, 45
Talking Point: So much hype. Tennessee has looked plucky under Butch Jones. The Vols have recruited very well. They have a quarterback. They return a number of players. They have strong social media game. Talking season has vaulted Tennessee from sleeper to second favorite in the SEC East. That may be premature, for a team that has beaten one SEC team that finished above .500 in the regular season this decade.
Why To Like Them: The Vols bring back 10 starters on offense. Josh Dobbs has upside at quarterback. They have a potential star at tailback in Jalen Hurd, a more experienced offensive line and a talented receiver corps. On defense, the Vols are solid along the defensive line (Derek Barnett) and in the secondary (Cameron Sutton).
Why Not To Like Them: Everything is projection with Tennessee, not a proven track record of success. Tennessee also made a questionable offensive coordinator hire in Mike DeBord. DeBord has deep ties with Jones. That said, he had been out of football since 2012, working in Michigan’s athletic administration. DeBord last held a coordinator position at Michigan in 2007. He was best known in his second run there for getting mediocre production from elite talent.
The Schedule: Difficult. Four of the Vols’ first six games are Oklahoma, Arkansas, Georgia and a road trip to Florida. It gets easier after the bye, but not easy. The Vols still have road trips to Alabama, to Kentucky and to Missouri, not to mention home games with South Carolina and Vanderbilt.
Reasonable Projection: We see a lot of one-score games and the record there determining how the season goes. Tennessee picks off at least one of their betters. They get picked off by someone they should beat. Even if they are a Top 20 team, it will still be hard to crack 7 or 8 wins in the regular season with that schedule.
Random Alum: Cormac McCarthy
23. Arizona State Sun Devils 24. Oklahoma State Cowboys 25. Wisconsin Badgers