Randy Smith: Vols' Three Game Stretch Tougher Than Ever

We've heard a lot about the infamous three game stretch the Tennessee Volunteers football team has gone through for several years. According to ESPN, the 2018 version of "Death Valley" for the Vols is from October 13 through October 27, when they face Auburn, Alabama and South Carolina. That three game stretch is currently rated as the third toughest in the country but it could also cover the period from September 22 through October 13 as the Vols play Florida, Georgia and then Auburn. That wasn't considered by ESPN but that stretch may be tougher than the one chosen. The bottom line is this-Tennessee once again has one of the very toughest schedules in America and the chances of the Big Orange winning six games and going to a bowl game are no better than fifty-fifty.

As Jeremy Pruitt enters his initial season as the Vols' head coach, there are questions about talent and depth that weren't being asked for the past several years. The biggest questions for the last few seasons regarding Butch Jones' teams involved coaching decisions. Coaching decisions are now an unknown factor as nobody really knows about Coach Pruitt and his staff. The good news there is everyone trusts Coach Pruitt to do a better job of putting the right players in the right positions and then coaching them up. 

The only real winnable games I see on Tennessee's 2018 schedule are ETSU, UTEP and Charlotte. They will be solid underdogs in their season opener against West Virginia in Charlotte and that just leaves their eight SEC games. The same SEC that handed the Vols an 0-8 league mark a year ago will be just as tough as ever this fall. Tennessee had the worst season in school history in 2017 with a 4-8 overall mark. It led to the firing of Coach Butch Jones and later the firing of athletic director John Currie when he fumbled the coaching hire. In other words, things can't get much worse.

While the Big Orange fan base seems to be sold on Coach Jeremy Pruitt, they have proven time and time again they can turn on you in an instant.  The biggest positive working in Pruitt's favor is current athletic director Phillip Fulmer. Fulmer knows the Tennessee fan base well, because a good portion of them turned on him almost a decade ago. Coach Fulmer however loves the University of Tennessee more than he loathes the ones who turned on him. That's a good thing because Tennessee needed one of its own to settle things down and right the ship, so to speak. 

As we stand in early June, Tennessee is 0-0 for the 2018 season. The Volunteers have enough talent in place to win six games but there are still too many unknowns, and then there is that horrific schedule. The Big Orange needs a little luck as well as finding players to get things done. I've heard some fans predict eight or nine wins for the Vols this season, however all the luck in the world couldn't produce eight wins if the talent isn't there. We'll find out in eighty-nine days when they hook up with West Virginia.