Published February 23, 2012 - 9:16am
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Derek Dooley enters 2012 needing a season that surprises to the upside. While the Vols have 3 likely top ten teams on their schedule with two of them on the road, the rest of their schedule is somewhat manageable. There are a number of winnable games on the schedule. The Vols need to win the games they’re supposed to win, and see if they can knock off an unexpected victory or two. Add it up and you have yourself a nice 2012 if your a Vols fan. Let’s take a look at the 2012 schedule.
2012 Tennessee Volunteers Schedule
- Aug 31 – NC State Wolfpack (Georgia Dome)
- Sep 08 – Georgia State Panthers
- Sep 15 – Florida Gators
- Sep 22 – Akron Zips
- Sep 29 – at Georgia Bulldogs
- Oct 06 – BYE
- Oct 13 – at Mississippi State Bulldogs
- Oct 20 – Alabama Crimson Tide
- Oct 27 – at South Carolina Gamecocks
- Nov 03 – Troy Trojans
- Nov 10 – Missouri Tigers
- Nov 17 – at Vanderbilt Commodores
- Nov 24 – Kentucky Wildcats
The Numbers
- 7 Home Games
- 4 Road Games
- 1 Neutral Site Game (NC State in Atlanta, GA)
- 1 Legitimate non-conference game (NC State)
- 3 Cupcakes (Georgia State, Akron, Troy)
- 4 top 25 opponents (#2 Alabama, #5 Georgia, #10 South Carolina, #25 Florida) using ESPN’s early top 25 estimate
- 3 top 25 opponents (#1 LSU, #7 South Carolina, #9 Georgia) using an early SI poll
Rank
- SEC East: 3rd
- SEC: 9th
Notes
The Vols have a tough SEC East schedule with road games at Athens and Columbia. They do get Florida and Missouri at home. Alabama in Knoxville will of course be difficult to say the least. Road games against Mississippi State and Vanderbilt are not guaranteed wins. Overall, it appears difficult for the Vols to win the east, but they should absolutely improve upon last year’s performance assuming the team can stay healthy.
A win over ACC team NC State to start the year would be a great boost to Dooley’s squad and bring confidence into the Florida rivalry game on September 15th.
The three week stretch with at Mississippi State, Alabama and at South Carolina will be a tough, physical stretch of games that will show you what this Tennessee team is made of.
Stay tuned as we break down each team’s schedule counting up to the toughest schedule. If you want a sneak peak at the full list, you’ll have to add SDS to your “Circles” on Google Plus here then view the recent posts.
