How many can Tennessee win?
The votes are in from this week’s poll, and the majority of Tennessee fans think that a few more losses are coming down the pike this year. 41 percent of you believe that the Volunteers will finish the year with an 8-4 mark. That number took the majority of the votes in the poll.
28 percent of you think Tennessee will still go 9-3, while 17 percent of you think that the bottom falls out and the Volunteers end up at 7-5.
Tennessee is currently on a bye week, but they face a brutal schedule to finish. The Vols host Texas A&M on October 14th, then head south to Alabama on October 21st. Road games at Kentucky and Missouri are left, along with the big meeting in Neyland Stadium with No. 1 Georgia in late November. Vanderbilt and UConn round out the rest of the schedule.
Although Tennessee looked good last weekend in their win over South Carolina, that flat performance on the road against Florida has plenty of fans spooked. The lack of a vertical passing game is also worrisome, even though the defense appears to have stepped things up. Tennessee will also have to do it without Bru McCoy, who they lost for the year to injury last weekend against the Gamecocks.
ESPN’s FPI agrees with the 8-4 prediction. The metric gives the Volunteers 8.3 wins and 3.8 losses, slotting them in 18th overall through five games. We’ll have a pretty good idea of which record prediction will be right after these critical next three games.