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For the Vols to be "nearly ranked" is pretty good for them for reasons noted.  I think they play at Oklahoma this year.

Yep.  12 September in Norman.
Return trip to Knoxville 7 September 2024.

Tennessee at OU is the second game of the season.  OU will be breaking in a new QB, either a RS freshman or a RS sophomore.  If the Vols have their QB position solidified, they could be in a good position to pull an upset.

They have five opponents ranked higher in this compendium than they are.  I don't know what their fans are expecting.

Tennessee? Probably too much

#32 Louisville Cardinals

#4 in ACC

The job Scott Satterfield did in salvaging Appalachian State, after Jerry Moore had let it slip heading into their FBS transition, qualified him for a better job.  So why he would choose to cash that in at a school that was just five years removed from being a Group of Five school, coming off a 2-10 mess of a season, seemed curious.  The job he did in his first year cannot be given enough credit.  The Cardinals were picked to finish dead last in the Atlantic Division, and it was nearly a consensus.  Instead, after an ACC opening loss in Tallahassee, Louisville won 5 of their 7 remaining ACC games, to finish alone in second.  Granted a 45-10 blowout loss at home to Clemson, where they were outgained by 300 yards, showed just how big the gap was between them and #1.  So what are the expectations for 2020?  They were already second in their division, but if any (reasonable) person thinks the goal is to win at Clemson, and win the division, they are nuts.  The season starts with a bang, opening with a divisional matchup against NC State, before that road game at Clemson.  They also play November road games at Virginia and Notre Dame, before finishing with the annual rivalry game against Kentucky.  So a New Years Six Bowl has to be the goal, and it seems like a reasonable one.  The way the bowl tie ins work, there is room for a mediocre ACC team to grab that second slot, as a 9-4 Virginia did last year.  The Cardinal are flush with exciting, young skill position players, with three underclassmen running backs and receivers earning all-conference honors last year.  Micale Cunningham only averaged 14.8 passing attempts per game, which didn’t qualify him for the ACC stat leaders, but if he had, he would have led the conference in passing efficiency.  They need him to handle more of the load this year, and his 62% completion rate, and 22 touchdowns to 5 interceptions suggest he can.  This was already the #2 offense in the ACC last year, both in terms of scoring and yards per play, even with the handcuffs kept on Cunningham.  The reason the handcuffs have to come off is because the defense has a long way to go to just be mediocre, surrendering ACC worsts 33.4 ppg on 6.3 ypp.  They return seven starters, but this from the lone ACC unit, offense or defense, to fail to register even a single All-Conference player, including honorable mention.  The problems began up front, allowing an ACC worst 5.4 ypc, 9th worst in the FBS, while also failing to get after quarterbacks, with the third worst sack rate in the conference, at 5.11%.  There were some positive developments on that front late in the year, as they at least improved their pass rush, nearly doubling that rate, up to 10.17% over the final quarter of the season, 10th best in the nation, including a season high 4 sacks against Mississippi State in the Music City Bowl.  Granted a good deal of that improvement came from the linebackers, not the line.  G.G. Robinson was the only lineman to rack up more than 2 sacks on the season (4), and he has graduated.

	KEY PLAYERS
RB	Javian Hawkins, Sophomore
RB	Hassan Hall, Junior
WR	Tutu Atwell, Junior
	.
LB	C.J. Avery, Senior
LB	Rodjay Burns, Senior
LB	Monty Montgomery, Junior

Would it be worthwhile to have a cleaned up version of this somewhere without all our commentary?  The comments are often interesting and we obviously should have that, but perhaps in a separate thread?

Drew will do that, and place it on the front page, as a published article.

#31 Indiana Hoosiers

#7 in Big Ten

Peyton Ramsey did the best job as a backup quarterback filling in for an injured starter, since Cardale Jones in the College Football Playoff in 2014.  But Michael Penix is the difference between the Hoosiers having another good year, and maybe being a dark shot candidate to reach Indianapolis.  Can Penix actually stay healthy?  He seemed primed to wrestle the starting job away from Ramsey in 2018, before suffering a season ending injury; and then won the job last year, only to suffer the same.  He has shown so much promise, but has only actually played five games start to finish in two years.  He is inserted into an offense that is loaded with talent, but is likewise one injury away from disaster with very little depth.  The Hoosiers return an All-Big Ten player at running back, receiver and tight end, but had three reserve running backs enter the transfer portal; lost two of their next three receivers; and their second most productive tight end had 36 yards.  If this was Ohio State or Penn State or Michigan, ok.  But this is Indiana.  When you are finding nits to pick with an Indiana offense that returns three all-conference skill position players, to surround a quarterback who set the school record for completion percentage (68.8%), you know you are looking at the most hyped Hoosier team ever.  The offensive line has to improve though, after finishing #98 in line yards.  To that end, Indiana added Stanford grad transfer guard Dylan Powell to strengthen the middle of the line, which really struggled.  The Hoosiers hoped to get 2019 captain Coy Cronk back, who was able to redshirt after suffering a season ending ankle injury in September.  True freshman Matt Bedford stepped in and was a star right away.  The thought was that when Cronk returned he would flip over to right tackle, but instead he elected to take a grad transfer to Iowa to replace Tristan Wirfs at left tackle.  It’s not just the offensive line where instant impact players from Palo Alto are expected to factor in in 2020.  The defensive line from 2019 returns intact, anchored by interior tackle Demarcus Elliott, but Jovonn Swann, from Greenwood, Indiana, who spurned the Hoosiers out of high school, returns from Stanford as a grad transfer, as does Auburn flip Damarjhe Lewis, part of Indiana’s incoming class.  Indiana has had impact skill position players through all of their bad teams, but Tom Allen seems to understand the importance of being able to at least hold up in the trenches to compete in the Big Ten East.  You almost wonder if this group is better suited to play a 3-4.  The four best players are all interior linemen on a 4 man line, but the ends are not getting after the quarterback.  The only end to record a sack last year was James Head Jr., who was fifth on the team with 2.5.  The secondary did a good enough job on a play to play basis, with the fifth lowest opponent completion percentage in the Big Ten, but simply surrendered too many big plays, and didn’t make enough themselves.  They gave up 13.0 ypc, second worst in the Big Ten, while generating the second worst interception rate.  There is a lot of promise surrounding cornerback Tiawan Mullen, who was honorable mention All-Big Ten, but 1st team 247 Freshman All-American, 2nd team by PFF.

	KEY PLAYERS
RB	Stevie Scott III, Junior
WR	Whop Philyor, Senior
TE	Peyton Hendershot, Junior
	.
DT	Demarcus Elliott, Junior
LB	Micah McFadden, Junior
CB	Tiawan Mullen, Sophomore