Bowl Projections: A look at where Tennessee could land after five games

Tennessee football is 4-1 through five games, but we’re about to learn all we need to know about this group over the next three weeks. The Volunteers will host Texas A&M this Saturday, then hit the road to face Alabama and Kentucky. From there they’ll have a home test left against Georgia, as well as a road game at Missouri.

How many of those games they’re able to win will determine where they play in December or January. Tennessee, of course, returned to the Orange Bowl last season, where they thrashed Clemson. It seems like they’ll be taking a step backwards this year, meaning they’ll likely land in the Citrus or somewhere in the pool of six (Music City, Houston, Gator, Liberty, Reliaquest, Las Vegas).

That, at least, is the common line of thinking with most outlets projecting bowl matchups. Below is a round-up of where the projections stand heading into this week.

Latest Tennessee College Football Bowl Projections

ESPN (Schlabach): Citrus vs. Iowa

ESPN (Bonagura): Music City vs. Iowa

USA Today: Citrus vs. Wisconsin

Action Network: Gator vs. Duke

CBS Sports: Gator vs. Louisville

Athlon Sports: Citrus vs. Wisconsin

Tennessee hasn’t played in the Citrus Bowl since 2002. However, they’re no stranger to the Music City and Gator Bowls, both of which they’ve appeared in multiple times over the last decade.

We’ll know more after this weekend, but currently the Volunteers are slotting in behind Georgia and Alabama — in that group with Ole Miss, Kentucky, Missouri, Texas A&M and LSU. That’s going to sort itself out over the next several weeks.