Greg McElory takes victory lap on preseason ranking of Tennessee

Five weeks into the season, ESPN analyst Greg McElroy is taking a look back at some of his preseason rankings, and assessed whether he was right or wrong with where he slated Tennessee ahead of the year.

He claims the Volunteer faithful were quite worked up when he put their team in the late-teens in terms of preseason ratings. “Tennessee was our No. 18 team in the preseason and their fans were Big Mad, they were not happy,” explained McElroy, noting the exaggerated confidence Tennessee fans had in their ball club.

“‘This is a playoff team!’ It was what we were told, and that Joe Milton was going to win the Heisman,” he said. But… “fast forward through the first month of the season, I think we’re pretty close to being about right with Tennessee at the moment.”

McElroy took up for his preseason breakdown, noting that this a really good Tennessee team, though it does have enough flaws and holes to justify keeping them outside of the top-10.

“I still have concerns a little bit about Joe Milton being sporadic. They’ve now lost Bru McCoy, who I think was probably their most reliable pass catcher at the moment. The run game has been the area in which we did not anticipate such growth. They’ve been awesome running the football. I do think Cade Mays being back along the offensive line is going to help that group play a whole lot better down the stretch.”

McElroy fully admits that this group could unlock an even higher ceiling as the season progresses. But for right now, that No. 18 range is perfectly appropriate given what this Vols team has shown.

“So this thing might change pretty quickly as Tennessee might get going as the season goes along. But I think No. 18 in the preseason and where they’re at right now is probably about right.”

So far, Tennessee has taken care of business in the games you’d expect, and just put together their best performance of the season by trouncing South Carolina 41-20 in Neyland Stadium. However, UT did fail their one big test and lost their only road game to date, falling 29-16 vs. Florida in The Swamp in a game that the Gators controlled from start to finish. The same Gators who got their skulls mashed in vs. Kentucky last weekend.

This week, it’s a bye followed by another pair of big tests — home for Texas A&M and then on the road vs. Alabama. If they’re going to reach a different level, as McElroy believes is possible, then Tennessee will have to figure it out during their break this week.