Tennessee is hoping to have a bounce-back season in 2018, but the Vols have a challenging schedule. So if they’re hoping to have success in the first year of the Jeremy Pruitt era, they may have to pull off some upsets along the way.

Out of the 12 games on Tennessee’s schedule, the Vols have a less than 50 percent chance of winning seven of them, including six of their first eight games, according to ESPN’s Football Power Index.

Tennessee opens the season with a matchup against West Virginia at Bank of America Stadium, a game that FPI predicts Tennessee has a 40.9 percent chance to win.

After lighter matchups against East Tennessee State and UTEP, the Vols have five consecutive SEC games, which includes a four-week stretch that features Georgia, a bye week, Auburn and Alabama. FPI predicts that Tennessee has an 11.3 percent or less chance to win any of those three games.

However, if the Vols can reach their Nov. 3 matchup against Charlotte with only one or two losses, it could be a potentially great season for them. Even if they make it to that point with three or four losses, it could still end as a successful year in Pruitt’s first season as coach.

FPI gives Tennessee a better than 50 percent chance of winning three of its final four games.