Sunday, July 3, 2011

Tennessee Volunteers open 2011 season in exactly two months against Montana

Right now, it is blazing hot in July, but relief is just around the corner. The Tennessee Volunteers open their 2011 football season on Sept. 3 against the Montana Grizzlies in Knoxville. The Grizzlies are from the Big Sky Conference and play in the FCS subdivision. If Tennessee is going to play an FCS team, I wonder why they chose to play a team of Montana's caliber.

Last year, the Grizzlies went 7-4. It was not a good enough record to make the playoffs, but the program has a tremendous tradition. Before last year, the team had made the playoffs 17 seasons in a row and won the national championship in 1995 and 2001. If we are playing a team from the FCS, shouldn't we be playing a weaker team than this?

Last year, we opened against a weak Tennessee-Martin team and won 50-0. I don't see this happening against Montana. We should win, but this game will be tougher than most expect.
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2 comments:

  1. AnonymousJuly 3, 2011 at 2:14 PM

    Montana, huh? What happened to Tennessee? You guys used to play some big time nonconference teams. Those days are gone.

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  2. Chris MartinJuly 3, 2011 at 4:45 PM

    True, Tennessee does not play a high profile non-conference opponent this year, but let's not lose our heads. Last year, we played Oregon. In '09 and '08, we played UCLA.

    I haven't seen future schedules yet, but I'm sure we'll play some big names.

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