Tennessee predicted to win double-digit games in 2023 by Phil Steele

Tennessee posted a dream season over their first eight games and closed out with bowl victory over Clemson. Now, as they look to build off that run, Phil Steele expects a similar finish for the Volunteers.

Steele went in depth on the Vols in his preview of the upcoming college football season. He wrote about how the schedule and shift in quarterback are big changes for them this time around. Even so, he sees Tennessee as the only program in the division that can reasonably make a run at the reigning champs and, in doing so, expects them to reach 10+ victories for a second consecutive campaign.

“This year, they do draw both Alabama and (Texas) A&M out of the West but got Georgia at home,” wrote Steele. “The Vols lose their QB, who was in contention for the Heisman last year, but strong-armed Joe Milton takes over. And they are No. 47 on my experience chart.

“This is the one team in the East that can challenge Georgia,” Steele continued. “The majority of my power ratings are calling for another double-digit win season.”

Before last season, Tennessee has gone 14 seasons without reaching double-digit wins. However, Josh Heupel’s high-octane offense took hold in his second year on Rocky Top. After going 7-6 with a Top-10 offense in his first year, the Vols won four more games at 11-2 in 2022 with the No. 1 offense averaging 46.1 points per game.

Much of that success came from the incredible play of quarterback Hendon Hooker as he threw for over 3,100 yards and 27 touchdowns, with only two picks, on a near 70% completion rate. With that said, Milton, his substitution this fall, proved he’s more than capable of making that offense go himself, especially in the Vol’s 31-14 closing win over the Tigers in the Orange Bowl.

Matching the excitement of Tennessee’s last season is going to be a tough and tall task. Despite that, though, Steele has enough positives to buy in on the Volunteer’s picking up back-to-back double-digit win seasons for the first time since 2003 and 2004.

Tennessee’s pulse in 2023: ‘Why not us?’

In the Tennessee Volunteers‘ minds, they’re not the dark horse. They’re the shining knight ready to be crowned.

“To me, the pulse that Tennessee has is, ‘Why not us?’ Because, the internal versus external feel around Tennessee with that fan base is very, very different. The external feel, you’re going to hear things like this: ‘Look at what they lost. No more Hendon Hooker. No more Jalin Hyatt. You’ll also hear, ‘Well, the defense is still a problem,’” On3’s own JD PicKell said on a recent episode of ‘The Hard Count’.

Despite outsiders’ understandable concerns, PicKell believes Tennessee will be just fine this season, especially with QB Joe Milton III leading the charge.

“Joe Milton could be a top 10 pick if Tennessee does what they’re supposed to do this coming season. You’ve seen him have viral highlight after viral highlight this past offseason. I know it’s not 11-on-11. But heck, it’s the offseason we got to be excited about stuff.

“(The Volunteers) understood (last year’s success) wasn’t the destination. It was a nice feather in the cap. It’s a nice way to cap off the 2022 season. That wasn’t the destination for the good folks in Tennessee. For them, they’re looking to continue to build off last year. They’re not satisfied with last year. They’re looking to make the CFP, they’re looking to win the SEC,” PicKell said.