Throughout head coach Butch Jones' first three seasons on Rocky Top, the Tennessee Volunteers' football schedule was riddled with potholes and stumbling blocks that made it more difficult to make any monumental breakthroughs in the win column.
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Despite playing hated rival and schedule staple Alabama every year along with nonconference powers such as Oregon and Oklahoma, the Vols have improved their win total each season from five to seven to nine last year.
This season, the out-of-conference schedule gets much easier, at least on paper. UT's marquee nonconference battle comes in Week 2 in the "Battle at Bristol" against Virginia Tech.