| #34 Virginia Cavaliers |
| #5 in ACC |
The Bronco Mendenhall hire seemed curious at the time, but the program stuck with him, and the gradual build paid off...sort of. He went from 2-10 in Year 1, to 6 wins and the program’s first bowl in six years in Year 2, to 8 wins in Year 3, to their first ever ACC Championship, and first BCS/New Years Six Bowl since 1990 last year. All of that said, the Cavs still lost 5 games, and finished unranked. In fairness, none of the losses occurred in Charlottesville, with three coming against Top 10 teams. But the flip side is that the best win was? A 39-30 home win over a 5 loss Virginia Tech team thanks to two scores, 22 seconds apart, in the final two minutes? The offense should shift from a pass reliant offense, to more run heavy, with the graduation of quarterback Bryce Perkins, and his top two receivers. That starts up front, where Mendenhall went young on the offensive line, with the hopeful payoff coming in 2020, with not only the entire starting five returning, but the entire two deep. The middle of that line, led by Olusegun Oluwatimi could form one of the best run blocking cores in the conference, after already being a solid run blocking unit last year, despite the lousy run numbers. They really started to come together late in the year, and even though the Cavs finished the year against Virginia Tech, Clemson, and Florida, they averaged 4.6 ypc against those opponents, compared to 3.4 ypc against the prior (lesser) opponents. The problem was the lack of ball carriers. Quarterback Bryce Perkins had nearly twice as many carries and twice as many yards as any back did. The bulk of the carries that Perkins didn’t take, went to Wayne Taulapapa, who wasn’t overly efficient, but did have a nose for the end zone. His 12 touchdowns on just 116 carries was the second fewest carries for any player with 12 or more touchdowns. They also brought in Ronnie Walker, who was a highly touted in state prospect who instead went to Indiana, but has now transferred back home. Sophomore quarterback Brennan Armstrong, who was the #2 last year, was the presumptive starter at quarterback, but just last week they added Mississippi State transfer Keytaon Thompson, with immediate eligibility. He is a major dual threat talent, who was a poor fit for Mike Leach’s offense, but fits in really nicely with what Virginia did last year with Perkins. Particularly considering that aside from Terrell Jana, the receivers are a major question mark, with Joe Reed and Hasise Dubois, and their combined 152 receptions, gone. As solid as the offensive line appears to be, the defensive trenches look to be problematic on the edges. Jowon Briggs was outstanding at nose tackle as a freshman. He probably should have earned at least honorable mention all-conference honors last year, and should be a lock last year. Behind them though, the back eight return nearly in tact, with the one notable exception of Jordan Mack, who led the team in sacks. The linebacker group, even without him, looks to still be very strong. The secondary hinges on how much of their struggles last year were injury and youth related. Starting cornerback Darrius Bratton and safety Brenton Nelson both return after suffering season ending injuries last year, and they return to join the starting four that finished the year. The problem is that was a group that allowed 7.9 ypa on the season, and got worse as the season progressed, allowing over 10 ypa over those final three games. The issue was big plays, allowing an obscene 16.3 yards per completion over that stretch, which if stretched out would have been the third worst mark in the last five years.
| KEY PLAYERS |
| WR | Terrell Jana, Senior |
| C | Olusegun Oluwatimi, Junior |
| K | Brian Delaney, Senior |
| . |
| LB | Charles Snowden, Senior |
| LB | Zane Zandier, Senior |
| S | Joey Blount, Senior |
| #33 Tennessee Volunteers |
| #8 in SEC |
Two weeks into the 2019 season, Jeremy Pruitt looked destined to be the next former Tennessee head coach. From that point on, the Vols didn’t lose another game to a team ranked outside the final Top 8 of the AP Poll. Problem is, in the SEC, when Alabama is your crossover, that is still three more losses. Still, Tennessee fans have reasons to be cautiously optimistic headed into 2020, with plenty of steps left to take before Pruitt has won this bunch (used to winning much more than Gators Bowls) over. This program hasn’t finished ranked in the top 20 since 2007 (1974-1985 was the previous longest drought), hasn’t lost fewer that 4 games since 2004 (1975-1982 being their previous longest stretch), and hasn’t won an SEC title since their 1998 National Championship season (1969-1985 being their previous longest stretch). The improvement on offense likely begins and ends with the offensive line. The job Will Friend has done over the past two years can’t be understated. He inherited a dearth of talent in when hired from Colorado State in 2018, going from what was, by FootballOutsiders metrics, one of the worst lines in the entire FBS, to decent last year, to maybe as good as any in the SEC, if not country, this year. They have also been the beneficiary of good fortune (with perhaps more to come), with Trey Smith, who was a likely Day 2 draft pick, deciding to return for his senior year, where he projects to be a preseason First Team All-American, the #2 OG on Mel Kiper’s 2021 draft board. Smith had his sophomore season derailed by blood clots in his lungs, so the fact he is not only still in Knoxville, but arguably the best guard in the nation is a heartwarming development. Then, if former 5* OT Cade Mays has his transfer appeal approved, and Tennessee signed two 5* players in their 2019 class (2 of the 6 highest rated offensive linemen), they will pair with Smith to give Tennessee as good a left side of the line as exists in football. Senior quarterback Jarrett Guarantano returns, but always seems about to surrender the starting job. The latest challenger is incoming freshman Harrison Bailey, Tennessee’s highest rated quarterback recruit since 2005. His depleted receiver corps won’t help, but he does for the first time in his career have a running game to lean on with the 1-2 punch of Ty Chandler and Eric Gray. Tennessee hasn’t ranked higher than 13th in the SEC in ypc during the past three years. The defense is short on household names, but has more depth than they’ve had in a long time. The one likely breakout star is sophomore Henry To’o To’o, who was the highest rated defensive player in Tennessee’s 2019 class, and more than lived up to that billing as a true freshman, finishing second on the team in tackles. The Vols have plenty of steps to take to re-establish themselves, and the road isn’t easy. Florida looks to have rebounded from their post-Meyer years, Georgia is currently in their best run since the early 80s, and Alabama doesn’t appear to be going anywhere. And that is the problem. Vols went 5-3 in the SEC, with the three losses coming to those three schools. Those three opponents are going to continue to be on the schedule and Tennessee currently has a 13 game losing streak to Alabama (longest in series history), they’ve lost 13 of 14 from Florida, and 8 of 10 from Georgia. Until they figure out a way past the Bulldog/Gator/Crimson Tide roadblock, it’s hard to see them competing for more than third in the division.
| KEY PLAYERS |
| QB | Jarrett Guarantano, Senior |
| G | Trey Smith, Senior |
| K | Brent Cimaglia, Senior |
| . |
| DE | Matthew Butler, Senior |
| LB | Henry To'o To'o, Sophomore |
| S | Shawn Shamburger, Senior |
