Reigning national champs Tennessee predicted to finish second in Southeastern Conference

Tennessee won it all last season, but the party ends here as Opening Day is nine days away. With that comes the predicted order of finish for the 2025 Southeastern Conference and the league coaches voted the Volunteers second.

The league announced the predicted order of finish on Wednesday. With the new conference layout, each SEC team will continue playing 10 conference three-game series. The Vols will not play the two new additions to the 16-team conference – Texas or Oklahoma – during the course of the regular season but kickoff the league slate on March 14 against the Florida Gators at home.

Tennessee’s second-place prediction follows only Texas A&M, who the league coaches voted to win the conference with a total of 228 points and 10 first-place votes. The Vols earned 215 total votes and one first-place vote, edging Arkansas who garnered three first-place votes and 214 total points. LSU and Florida both picked up a first-place vote, finishing in fourth and fifth with 204 and 183 total points, respectively.  

No other team earned a first-place vote. Georgia, Vanderbilt, Texas, Mississippi State and Kentucky rounded out the top-10. Oklahoma, Auburn, Alabama, South Carolina, Ole Miss and Missouri finished No. 11-16, respectively.

The Vols held on to defeat the Aggies 6-5 in Game 3 of the College World Series Finals last summer for the program’s first-ever national championship. A rematch of the 2024 College World Series Finals boasts Texas A&M and Tennessee in Knoxville from April 4-6.

Tennessee, who capped the 2024 conference schedule with a 22-8 record while sweeping both the regular season and SEC Tournament championships, will take on eight NCAA Tournament teams from a season ago (in conference) while three of the five home series feature 2024 CWS programs.

The SEC Tournament, that will feature a new single-elimination format, will once again take place at the Hoover Metropolitan Complex in Hoover, Ala. from May 20-25.

The Vols (60-13) finished the 2024 season with the first national championship in program history and became the first team from the Southeastern Conference to eclipse the 60-win marker in a single season. Tennessee went an impressive 10-2 in the NCAA Baseball Tournament and snapped the ‘curse’ of No. 1 overall seeds not winning the title, a streak that dated back to Miami in 1999.  

Tennessee’s 60 wins last year were the most of any team since Florida State in 2002 and the most of any national champion since Wichita State in 1989. It was the second straight trip to the College World Series in Omaha for Tennessee, the third in four years and the first time the Vols played for a national title since their first trip there in 1951. 

The Vols won everything they could in 2024 – winning the SEC’s regular-season championship, the SEC Tournament championship, Knoxville Regional and Knoxville Super Regional. The team lost back-to-back games on March 16 and 17, then never lost consecutive games again. They went 7-0 while facing elimination in the SEC Tournament and NCAA Tournament, including coming back from down 0-1 in the best-of-three College World Series championship series against Texas A&M. 

Tennessee opens the 2025 season at home against Hofstra on Friday, February 14.

2025 SEC Baseball Preseason Coaches Poll  

1. Texas A&M (10) – 228
2. Tennessee (1) – 215
3. Arkansas (3) – 214
4. LSU (1) – 204
5. Florida (1) – 183
6. Georgia – 165
7. Vanderbilt – 156
8. Texas – 146
9. Mississippi State – 112
10. Kentucky – 102
11. Oklahoma – 101
12. Auburn – 100
13.  Alabama – 98
14. South Carolina – 61
15. Ole Miss – 60
16. Missouri – 31