I mean this is always a fun one. Bonus points if you're brave enough for score projections. I'll start for Tennessee.
- UVA: W
- Austin Peay: W
- Florida: W*
- UTSA: W
- SCAR: W
- TAMU: W*
- Alabama: L*
- Kentucky: W
- UConn: W
- Mizz: W
- UGA: L
- Vandy: W
Florida, Texas A&M, and Alabama are my swing games. Florida looks like a favorable match up for us as it stands, but having grown up through the early 2000's I just know that uf has some of that swamp magic. ATM is just a massive question mark for everyone from every perspective right now, certainly glad they play Alabama the week before they play us. Unfortunately we play Alabama in ttown the next week. Speaking of if there are any other vols reading this please help me flood Danny White's inbox with requests to return TSIO to a color clash game by wearing orange in Tuscaloosa this year. If that game looks good, or if we even pull out a win, we can start talking about the UGA game. Until then let's take this one game at a time. Overall I've got us going 10-2 with 8-4 being the absolute worst case for us to still have a 'decent' season. Also shout out to the scar game, I bet that one's going to be a barn burner.
I’ll bite. Arkansas Razorback fan here. It’s been a tough stretch of 10 years or so being a hog fan. Hoping for good things this year.
I’m going with an optimistic 9-3
W - West Carolina W - Kent State W - BYU L - @ LSU W - Texas A&M (Jimbo gets fired and Petrino takes the reins) W - @ Ole Miss L - @ Bama W - Miss State (they can’t put it together with the loss of Leech. RIP) L - @ Florida W - Auburn W - FIU W - Mizzou
I recognize that 9-3 looks really optimistic but if they put it together, it can be a special team. If you haven’t watched our QB KJ Jefferson, look up his highlights. National media is sleeping on him. Idk what his future in the NFL might be but he is a special college player. Same goes for our RB1 Raheem “Rocket” Sanders. He likely would have rushed for 1600 yards last year if he didn’t get injured late in the year. Our guys backing him up are legit too. Dominique Johnson, who is coming back from a second knee injury, averaged for over 6 yards a carry as a freshman a few years ago. If modern medicine and athletic trainers get him back to 100% (big if, I know), our stable of running backs rivals most in the SEC. The big questions are receiving (lost all but 170 yards from last year), O-line, and defense. We brought in a really nice transfer class to address those questions, so it remains to be seen if we found any answers. All that being said, it is Arkansas so 7-5 is more realistic in all likelihood. A guy can dream. Go hogs.
The fallout from that southwest classic gonna rock the whole nation
Yes! It’s generally a crazy freaking game which Arkansas finds a way to give away. At least that’s a hog fan’s perspective.
Weird thing about Arkansas is they only really have a few TRUE home games every year. The Southwest Classic played in Dallas is cool, but never an actual home game and they play one game every year in Little Rock instead of Fayetteville. I don’t know of another program that does anything like it. There have been some cool games in Little Rock in the past, but that dream just needs to die. The stadium is garbage and it’s a home game that the home team has to travel three to four hours for.
Look at the stretch from LSU to Florida. @ LSU, “home” against A&M, @ Ole Miss, @ Bama, actual home game against Miss St, and @ Florida. I think the bye is in there too, giving them ONE true home game in almost two months. It’s crap.
9-3 for Arkansas felt a little aggressive until I saw that schedule. I think that is very possible.
Also, I can still hear the announcer at Razorback Stadium calling Rocket’s name as he ran it down our throats
It is a much more favorable schedule than the absolute gauntlet we faced the last couple years. The stretch with only one true home game will really define their ceiling.
Rocket is pretty good! I’m ready to see Rattler put it all together. If he doesn’t try to do too much, he can be great.