Predicting the 2023 record for Tennessee, Josh Heupel

Tennessee took a huge leap last season in their second year under head coach Josh Heupel, finishing the season 11-2 as the No. 6 ranked team in the nation.

Many expect yet another successful season out of the Volunteers in 2023, including On3’s JD PicKell, who recently predicted the final win-loss total for Tennessee with the season right around the corner. But first, he prefaced the Volunteer fanbase with a warning.

“I’m going to be conservative here and it’s gonna ruffle some feathers, it’s gonna make people upset, but we have to be conservative here because I would love for nothing more than to pick Tennessee to go 11-1 and be a shoo-in for the College Football Playoff,” PicKell said. “I would love to do that, and heck, we’re going to get closer and closer to prediction season and give your actual College Football Playoff picks. Who’s to say we won’t maybe end up doing that?”

PicKell has some reasoning behind his well-warranted cautiousness surrounding the Vols, worried about their unproven quarterback and a difficult four-week stretch of the season in October and November.

“11-1 is absolutely attainable, it definitely is, but here’s what concerns me,” PicKell said. “You have a new quarterback who we have a really strong sample size from, but a very small sample size from. The defense I still have concerns. But you look at the schedule and in a four-week stretch you play at Bama, at Kentucky, at Missouri, I don’t love that. I don’t love that, I think especially Kentucky and Missouri are sneaky, Bama’s going to be Bama. I don’t think there’s any guessing about what you’re going to get there.”

Both Kentucky and Missouri had fairly underwhelming seasons a year ago, with the Volunteers defeating both teams by a combined 80 points in 2022. But PicKell would still rather be safe than sorry when he revealed his prediction for Tennessee’s 2023 regular season record.

“The schedule itself is gonna be a little bit brutal to Tennessee, and so as much as I want to pick them to go 11-1, I’m going to be conservative here. I’m going to pick them to go 9-3 in 2023,” PicKell revealed.

Whether you believe 9-3 is a conservative or aggressive outlook on the Volunteers’ upcoming season, there’s no question that if they can erase the areas of doubt heading into the year, they could find themselves in the double-digit win category and the College Football Playoff conversation when the regular season is all said and done.

“I’ll just say this, the formula for them is very very clear,” PicKell said. “Like Tennessee doesn’t need a ton of things to fall in place, they need two things. Joe Milton to be that dude. And I said it on our Tik Tok for those of y’all that watch that, if Joe Milton plays at a Heisman caliber level and the defense improves 10% they’re going to be in the College Football Playoff, they’re going to be a double-digit win team.”

Ultimately, the preseason questions regarded the Vols won’t get answered until the fall, but PicKell still has high hopes for Rocky Top as they head into year three of the Heupel era.

“But what I don’t know right now is what I don’t know. Is that fair to say?” PicKell asked. “We don’t know 100% without a shadow of a doubt what Joe Milton’s gonna be, and so, I’m gonna leave it short and say 9-3. But for Tennessee if they were to win double-digit games that would not surprise me in the slightest. I’ll say this too, I think the floor for Tennessee is pretty high.”