ESPN lays out the best case, worst case scenarios for Tennessee football this season
The ceiling for Tennessee football in 2023 is a trip to the College Football Playoff, according to ESPN. And the floor for the Vols this season? Eight wins to go with a handful of key losses.
ESPN this week laid out the best case and worst case scenarios for each team in its preseason top 25. Tennessee came in No. 11 in the rankings, one spot behind where the Vols were voted in the USA Today Coaches Preseason Poll and one spot ahead of where they were voted in the Associated Press Preseason Top 25.
Tennessee is coming off an 11-win season, its first in 21 years, and a flirtation with the College Football Playoffs. The Vols started the season 8-0 and were ranked No. 1 in the first CFP Top 25 of the season on November 1, but stumbled with a pair of November losses at Georgia and South Carolina.
‘Their season could vary wildly depending on they fare in the Swamp’
ESPN’s Chris Low detailed why the upside for these Vols is to reach college football’s final four.
“The Vols would have been in the playoff a year ago had it not been for the November debacle in Columbia where South Carolina won in a 63-38 rout,” Low wrote. “So Josh Heupel’s club wasn’t too far off in just his second season, as Tennessee won 11 games for the first time since the 2001 season.
“Despite losing (Hendon) Hooker and some other key players, Heupel thinks this will be the deepest and most talented roster he has had, and on defense, he anticipates the Vols being able to play more players.
“Tennessee gets Georgia at home in the next-to-last game of the season,” Low added, “so there’s a chance the SEC Eastern Division title could be on the line that Nov. 18 day in Knoxville.”
Top 10
- 1New
14-team playoff
2026 CFP could have different look
- 2
Nebraska AD
Explains canceling series vs. Vols
- 3Hot
Lincoln Riley
USC coach sits down with J.D. PicKell
- 4
Michigan State
Spartans troll Michigan
- 5
Paul Finebaum
Calls out SEC, Big Ten
Get the On3 Top 10 to your inbox every morning
By clicking "Subscribe to Newsletter", I agree to On3's Privacy Notice, Terms, and use of my personal information described therein.
Before the Vols face Georgia in Knoxville, though, they have to go to Gainesville to open the SEC schedule at Florida on September 16, host South Carolina on September 30 and Texas A&M on November 14 and go to Alabama on October 21. Tennessee goes to Kentucky on October 28, too.
Countdown to Kickoff: Tennessee vs. Virginia, September 2, Noon ET, ABC
Losses to Florida, A&M, Alabama, Georgia, on top of a loss in a bowl game, would leave Tennessee with an 8-5 record, which was the worst-case scenario laid out by Low.
“Even though Tennessee avoids a stout non-conference test,” he wrote, “the SEC schedule tilts against the Vols this season with trips to Florida, Alabama and Kentucky. This is the most excitement surrounding the start of a Tennessee football season in two decades, and the Vols aren’t going to catch anybody by surprise starting the season ranked so highly and with Heupel’s offense putting up record-setting numbers a year ago.
“If the offense falls off some with Joe Milton at the helm, is the defense good enough to make up the difference? The pivotal game is Florida. The Vols haven’t won in Gainesville since 2003. Their season could vary wildly depending on they fare in the Swamp.”
