A Tennessee football season hasn't featured this high of expectations since 2016. We have no idea exactly who will and won’t be able to play for either team. Then comes the return game. There are legitimate reasons to think this team will just be OK. There’s a lot of familiarity between these two staffs, and this is a game I think Tennessee can win. A mental block exists for the Vols in this series, and I don’t know how anyone in their right mind could argue otherwise. To be fair, going 4-6 would be underachieving. I didn’t see Tennessee’s win at Auburn coming in 2018, but then again who did? No excuses. The Vols overcame a tough start to rip off seven wins in eight games, including six a row, to finish 8-5 in 2019, but Tennessee faces a challenging SEC-only schedule that presents them opportunities to move further up the conference pecking order after climbing the ladder in the SEC East last season. 1 2023 QB, Tennessee football: Trey Smith jumps 11 spots in website's top 50 players, Tennessee football: Anonymous coach hints Butch Jones better than Jeremy Pruitt. 4, opens at Arkansas then has a home showdown with rival and eighth-ranked Auburn before the Vols come to town. Powered by Minute Media © 2020 All Rights Reserved. But I don’t expect them to go down to Sanford and win. Ryan Callahan: Vanderbilt has won five of its past eight meetings with the Vols, but Tennessee rolled to a comfortable win over the Commodores last year and now has a chance to regain the upper hand in the series. Wes Rucker: You’re probably tired of me saying this, so apologies on the front end, but I’m nothing if not honest. Your favorite teams, topics, and players all on your favorite mobile devices. After the spring and summer everyone had, who knows what the product on the field will look like in 2020, especially in the opening weeks. Instead of dealing with Florida and Georgia in late September (or early October) and getting Kentucky and Vanderbilt in November, the Vols get to come home to the Wildcats after a tough game at Georgia. Two Power Five conferences not playing will vault the bowl status for lots of other teams. Grant Ramey: Tennessee fans weren’t happy when A&M and Auburn were added to the schedule after the non-conference games were axed. Better days are ahead for the Razorbacks under Pittman, but the Vols shouldn't have too much trouble with Arkansas this year. The personnel at running back and on the offensive line make it so, and the Vols will have the most rushing yards of any SEC team. Prediction: Been there, done that, why not do it again? And rightfully so. Tennessee should be able to work through any early issues this season in time to take care of the Tigers without too much drama. The Alabama Crimson Tide, Georgia Bulldogs, Florida Gators, Auburn Tigers and Texas A&M Aggies are all projected to go to New Year’s Six bowl games. And that’s something that could happen again. We'll never pass along your email address to spammers, scammers, or the like. But Florida should be favored in this game, and without a full crowd at Neyland Stadium, home-field advantage won't be enough to help UT upset the Gators. But that one win isn’t going to suddenly make this game automatic again moving forward. Of course, Auburn (much like Tennessee) is often a soap opera where you never know what to expect heading into any season — Is Malzahn near .500 and getting fired? 2020 will bring us a unique season, kicking off on September 26th with unique openers across the country.