Their football stadiums famously bound by water, perhaps it's fitting that Tennessee and Washington are increasingly popular choices to rejoin college football's high seas this season.
The hype is understandable when you survey the two rosters. The Vols return 18 starters from a team that won its last six games a year ago and bring back experienced playmakers at most of the key positions, including nine players earning preseason All-SEC mention. The Huskies return 16 starters from one of the youngest teams in the country a year ago, led by super sophomores Jake Browning at quarterback and Myles Gaskin at running back, and bring back most of the key pieces from the Pac-12's top scoring defense.
Both schools won national championships in the 1990s and bring back long (and painful) losing streaks to divisional rivals that span a combined 23 games. Tennessee has lost 11 in a row to Florida, the Vols' last win coming back in 2004 when Ron Zook was coaching the Gators and future Hall of Famer Phillip Fulmer had yet to be forced out by his alma mater. Washington has lost 12 in a row to Oregon. The Huskies haven't beaten the Ducks since 2003, and most of those games haven't been close. Oregon's 12 straight wins have come by an average margin of 23.5 points per game.
