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Tennessee's best 2015 win, most intriguing 2016 game

Butch Jones and the Vols celebrate their comeback victory over Georgia. Jim Brown/USA TODAY Sports

We continue our look at the best 2015 win for each SEC team and the most intriguing 2016 matchup by focusing on Tennessee:

Best 2015 win: That 45-6 throttling of No. 13 Northwestern in the Outback Bowl was a pretty nice way to cap Butch Jones' best season at Tennessee, but the best win of the year came when the Vols battled back to upset No. 19 Georgia 38-31 in October. Let's face it, after double-digit collapses in losses to Florida and Arkansas, we all thought Tennessee was done for the year. There was just no way this team was going to do much of anything after two emotionally draining losses. But after falling behind 24-3 in the second quarter, the Vols raced back to to take a 31-24 lead in third quarter. Tennessee really got things going when Joshua Dobbs threw a 39-yard touchdown pass to Josh Smith with 1:04 left in the second. On the ensuing kickoff, Georgia's Sony Michel fumbled and the Vols recovered at the Bulldogs' 25 yard-line. Five plays later and Tennessee was only down seven going into the half. Tennessee owned the third quarter and after Georgia tied the game on 48-yard touchdown in the fourth, the Vols went ahead for good with a 5-yard touchdown run by Dobbs with 5:48 left. The win put the Vols back in the SEC East race and dropped the Dawgs even further down the East ranks.

Most intriguing 2016 game: This is a program that has to make a major statement in 2016. With so much experience coming back on both sides of the ball, the Vols are the trendy early pick to win the SEC East. But in order to make it to Atlanta for the first time since 2007, chances are they'll have to beat Florida. The Gators have won 11 in a row over Tennessee, including a 28-27 comeback win in 2015 in which the Gators erased a 13-point deficit with less than five minutes remaining inside the Swamp. This game not only stands as a physical roadblock for the Vols in the East, it's also a mental obstacle for this entire team. It would be very easy for this team, which will likely have the talent advantage in just about every area over the Gators, to really get down on itself if it loses at home to Florida in 2016. This game is as much of a must-win for the Vols as any other, as they try to take a major leap under Jones in his fourth year in Knoxville.