Playoff predictions and bowl projections for Tennessee Football this season
Andy Staples is a believer in Tennessee Football this season. On Wednesday On3’s college football analyst predicted the Vols to make the College Football Playoff this season, going on the road in the first round as a No. 11 seed to face No. 6 Oregon.
“Surprised to see the Volunteers here because the (Associated Press Top 25) and Coaches’ polls have them ranked lower?” Staples wrote, referencing Tennessee being ranked No. 15 in both preseason polls.
“My supposition is that this will be the best defense of the Josh Heupel era (led by edge rusher James Pearce Jr. and a deep line) and that (redshirt freshman) QB Nico Iamaleava will allow Tennessee to run a far more diverse offense than last year’s starter Joe Milton did.”
Staples predicted Ohio State to be the No. 1 overall seed, getting a first-round bye along with No. 2 Georgia, No. 3 Florida State and No. 4 Kansas State. The Tennessee-Oregon winner in the bracket would advance to face FSU in the Peach Bowl in Atlanta.
The other first-round matchups were No. 12 Boise State at No. 5 Alabama, No. 10 Notre Dame at No. 7 Texas and No. 9 Michigan at No. 8 Ole Miss.
Penn State was the first team out of the field, ahead of Miami, Missouri and Utah. Other Group of Five contenders were South Florida and Appalachian State.
The Volquest staff made their projections for Tennessee’s regular-season record on Wednesday morning. Here’s a look at other media projections from the outside looking in:
ESPN
ESPN on Tuesday had Tennessee as one of the first four teams out of the 12-team playoff, along with LSU, Missouri and Oklahoma. In ESPN’s bowl projections, ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura predicted Tennessee to play Louisville in the Gator Bowl while Mark Schlabach had the Vols facing Michigan in a return trip to the Citrus Bowl.
“The Vols will show improvement from a year ago,” ESPN Senior Writer Heather Dinich wrote, “but they will be stuck on the bubble because of road losses to Oklahoma and Georgia and a possible home loss to Alabama. The biggest question remains in the secondary, which struggled last season and is under construction this year.”
Athlon Sports
Ready for Tennessee-Iowa Part 2? That’s the matchup Athlon Sports predicted, this time in the Reliaquest Bowl. The Vols beat the Hawkeyes 35-0 in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl on New Year’s Day at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, where Nico Iamaleava made his first career start and combined for 178 total yards and four total touchdowns.
CBS Sports
CBS Sports has Tennessee going back to the Gator Bowl for the second time in five years in a matchup with Virginia Tech. The Vols beat Indiana 23-22 in the Gator Bowl on January 2, 2020. They haven’t faced the Hokies since 2016 in the 45-24 win in the Battle at Bristol at Bristol Motor Speedway. Tennessee lost to Virginia Tech 37-14 in the 2009 Peach Bowl and beat the Hokies 45-23 in the Gator Bowl in December 1994.
The Action Network
The Action Network has Tennessee bound for the Las Vegas Bowl on December 27. It would be a pair of firsts for the Vols. Tennessee has never been to the Las Vegas Bowl and has not previous matchups with Arizona in football. Florida in December 2022 was the first SEC team to play in the Las Vegas Bowl after it added an SEC affiliation. The Gators lost 30-3 to No. 17 Oregon State in their Vegas appearance.
