Updated bowl projections for Tennessee Football after the loss to Oklahoma

Tennessee’s College Football Playoff hopes are seemingly over after the 33-27 loss to Oklahoma Saturday night at Neyland Stadium, so now it’s time to move on to bowl projections for the Vols entering the final four weeks of the regular season. 

There’s far from a consensus on where Tennessee will end up or who the Vols will play.

The only common projections this week come from On3’s Brett McMurphy and Athon Sports, with both having Tennessee and Miami matching up in the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville. 

The Vols and Hurricanes have only met three times on the football field, with the two sides splitting a home-and-home in 2002 and 2003 and Tennessee winning 35-7 in the Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Day in 1986.

The away team won both games in the home-and-home, with No. 1 Miami winning 26-3 at Neyland Stadium in November 2002 and the Vols winning 10-6 at the Orange Bowl in November 2003. 

Up Next: No. 23 Tennessee vs. New Mexico State, November 15

Miami (6-2) has dropped tow of its last three, losing 24-21 at home to Louisville two weeks ago and 26-20 in overtime at SMU on Saturday. 

Tennessee (6-3) lost 44-41 in overtime at home against Georgia in September, 37-20 at Alabama two weeks ago and then 33-27 at home against Oklahoma. 

The Vols are off this week, then return home to host New Mexico State on Homecoming on November 15 in a 4:15 p.m. Eastern Time start on SEC Network.

Tennessee closes the regular-season schedule with a road trip to Florida on November 22 and Senior Day at home against Vanderbilt on November 29.

Other bowl projections: Citrus, ReliaQuest, Duke’s Mayo and Music City

Another common bowl projection is the ReliaQuest Bowl in Tampa. Both ESPN’s Mark Schlabach and College Football News has Tennessee in the ReliaQuest Bowl, with Schlabach matching up the Vols and Iowa while Illinois is the projected opponent from College Football News.

Tennessee has won three of its four games against Iowa, dating back to a 28-22 loss to the Hawkeyes in Atlanta in the 1982 Peach Bowl. The Vols won 23-22 in the Kickoff Classic in August 1987 in East Rutherford, N.J., then 45-28 in the Tax Slayer Bowl in January 2015 and 35-0 in the Citrus Bowl on New Year’s Day 2024. 

USA Today has a Tennessee-Illinois matchup in the Music City Bowl and ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura has the Vols facing SMU in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl in Charlotte.

The Vols have never played Illinois in football. Tennessee and SMU have played just once, with the Vols winning 28-3 in Knoxville in September 1970. 

CBS Sports has Tennessee and Michigan in the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, a rematch of a 45-17 Tennessee win on New Year’s Day in 2002, the only time the two teams have played.