I sincerely hope coaching is the difference. I might be in the minority on this, but I think the Vols will struggle against all their SEC opponents. We are still a long way from SEC type talent at all positions on the field. I'm just not sure how many SEC teams on our schedule we can beat.
I don't think we will struggle against all of them. Kentucky should be back to being Kentucky this year. That's one I am counting as an easy win.
I also have faith that if Pruitt could beat Auburn and also "good Kentucky" last year, we should have a relatively easy win against one of Vandy, Junior or MSU, not in any particular order, but IMO we can beat two of those three and at least one will be a relatively easy win.
We will see.