4. Tennessee Volunteers
2020 Preseason Ranking
AP 25, Coaches NR (26)
Final Record: 3-7
What Went Wrong?
Offense. There wasn’t any.
For all of the issues under Jeremy Pruitt, he managed to put together a decent enough defense to get by. It gave up way too many passing yards and had a hard time getting off the field, but that wasn’t the issue.
The offensive side was miserable in pass protection, didn’t have anything that consistently worked, and scoring was like pulling teeth. It was good early, ripped up Vanderbilt late, and did next to nothing against everyone else, scoring fewer than 20 points in six of the last seven games.
How do you fix a struggling offense? Say what you will about the hire of Josh Heupel as the new head coach, but the man knows how to crank up an attack. (By the way, in terms of deserving a break and the benefit of the doubt, his UCF team was missing a whole lot of parts last year.)
Why 2021 Will Be Better: Returning Talent
Yeah, this is an issue with seemingly all of the key parts gone or transferring out. However, Hendon Hooker is good.
QB Jarrett Guarantano left to go wing it around for Washington State, and JT Shrout is gone to Colorado, but bringing Hooker from Virginia Tech gives Heupel a big-time all-around playmaker who should be a great fit for his offense if Harrison Bailey doesn’t grab the gig.
Just about the entire linebacking corps is leaving, the offensive line needs an overhaul, and not having top two running backs – Eric Gray is going to Oklahoma and Ty Chandler left for North Carolina – certainly doesn’t help.
So how is any of this a positive? It’s not, but the receiving corps should be okay, the defensive front will likely be fine, and …
Why 2021 Will Be Better: Schedule
– 2021 Tennessee Football Schedule Analysis
Tennessee will go bowling.
No, it’s not going to be good enough to take over the SEC East, and it’s not going to beat Alabama, but it’ll beat Bowling Green, Tennessee Tech, South Alabama and Vanderbilt.
Start there, assume a win at home over South Carolina is this is going to be any sort of a return to decency, and it’s not asking a lot to at least split with Pitt and Ole Miss at home. The Vols could pull off a win at Missouri, and the Kentucky game is after an off week.
Again, it might not be a massive year, but think more 8-5 2019 than 3-7 2020.
And the offense will work.