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Is Tennessee Football the most overrated team in the SEC?

By Colton Pickard

GAINESVILLE, FL- SEPTEMBER 21: Head coach Jeremy Pruitt of the Tennessee Volunteers looks on during the first half of the game against the Florida Gators at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on September 21, 2019 in Gainesville, Florida. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)
GAINESVILLE, FL- SEPTEMBER 21: Head coach Jeremy Pruitt of the Tennessee Volunteers looks on during the first half of the game against the Florida Gators at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on September 21, 2019 in Gainesville, Florida. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images) /
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Tennessee Football has high expectations going into the 2020 season, but are they the most overrated team in the SEC?

The words Tennessee football and overrated have gone hand in hand in the past decade or so as the Vols have been overhyped leading up to the football season just to let down the fanbase.

It has increased in recent years, which has led to more disappointment. Throughout the summer, Tennessee fans have refrained from overhyping the Vols for the most part, at least until Tennessee’s new ten-game schedule was released.

Now, Tennessee fans are expecting a winning season from six wins to eight. Those are some fair expectations, but it could lead to more disappointment if the Vols are only able to win five games or barely get to its sixth win.

I think it’s fair to say that over the past decade, the Vols have been one of the most overhyped teams in the country. Expectations were the sky for the 2016 season, and the Vols even started the season ranked in the top-ten.

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The Vols have snuck into the top-25 again this season and sit at No. 25 in AP’s preseason poll. I think that’s a fair spot for the Vols, but CBS Sports’ Dennis Dodd doesn’t seem impressed by Tennessee, and he thinks that the Vols are the SEC’s most overrated team this year.

"“I’m just not there with the Volunteers yet,” Dodd said. “That was a fine six-game winning streak at the end of last season, but the SEC has proven you need a quarterback to win. I don’t know if Jeremy Pruitt has one. When the standard is Shawn Robinson at Missouri — that’s who Jarrett Guarantano is ranked behind by some in the SEC — then there is a problem. Even with the loss of Joe Burrow, this one of the SEC’s best collection of quarterbacks. The Vols aren’t going anywhere meaningful without inspired quarterback play.”"

Dodd has a fair point. A lot of Tennessee fans think that Jarrett Guarantano will have a redemption season, while the minority don’t see it. Tennessee fans thought that JG was going to have a really good season last year, and we saw what happen, so I can’t blame Dodd or anyone else for thinking that Guarantano simply doesn’t have what it takes to be a dominant SEC quarterback.

If Guarantano can’t have the redemption season that some fans are hoping for, then the Vols might be the most overrated team in the SEC. Especially if they start the season like they did last year.

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The Vols won’t have Chattanooga to warm up with at the beginning of the season, so if Tennessee wants to have a successful season, they have to be prepared to play at a high level starting Week 1. If not, then they could be chasing everyone else again in the second half of the season.

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