Where Tennessee is ranked in ESPN's preseason Football Power Index
Tennessee football is ranked No. 12 in ESPN’s Football Power Index entering the new season. Ohio State is the No. 1 team in the country according to the metric, ahead of Alabama, Georgia, LSU and Texas in the top five.
Others ranked ahead of the Vols are No. 6 Michigan, No. 7 USC, No. 8 Clemson, No. 9 Notre Dame, No. 10 Penn State and No. 11 Oklahoma.
ESPN’s FPI projects Tennessee to go 8-4 this season and gives the Vols a 92.9-percent chance to win six games.
Tennessee has a 9.1-percent chance to win the SEC East, a 2.7-percent chance to win the SEC championship, a 4.3-percent chance to make the College Football Playoff, a 1.5-percent chance to make the national championship and an 0.5-percent chance to win the national title.
Four Tennessee opponents ranked in ESPN FPI Top 25
Four Tennessee opponents are ranked in the FPI Top 25. Behind No. 2 Alabama and No. 3 Georgia are No. 18 Florida and No. 19 Texas A&M.
The FPI projects both Alabama and Georgia to win 11 games. It projects both Florida and Texas A&M to go 7-5.
Kentucky is No. 28, Missouri is No. 40, South Carolina is No. 42 and UTSA is No. 61. Virginia is No. 72, just ahead of No. 73 Vanderbilt. UConn is No. 119.
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Tennessee opens the season on September 2 against Virginia at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, a Noon Eastern Time start on ABC. The Vols open their home schedule on September 9 against Austin Peay at Neyland Stadium, a 5 p.m. ET kickoff on ESPN+/SEC Network+.
Vols are 28-point favorites in season-opener vs. Virginia
The SEC schedule opens at Florida on September 16 (7 p.m. ET, ESPN) and UTSA comes to Knoxville on September 23. The SEC home schedule starts with South Carolina on September 30.
The bye week falls on October 7 and Texas A&M visits Neyland Stadium on October 14. Tennessee has back-to-back road games at Alabama (October 21) and Kentucky (October 28), hosts UConn for homecoming on November 4 and closes with a trip to Missouri (November 11) and home games with Georgia (November 18) and Vanderbilt (November 25).
The Vols in may opened as an early 28-point favorite against Virginia. Tennessee also opened as a 7.5-point favorite at Florida and the Vols are a 13-point favorite against South Carolina. Tennessee is a touchdown favorite against the Aggies according to the current DraftKing odds.
