Where Tennessee Football is ranked in ESPN's updated SP+ ratings
Tennessee Football enters the summer as the 13th best team in the country, according to ESPN’s updated SP+ projections. The Vols are ranked No. 7 on defense, No. 21 on special teams and No. 34 on offense in SP+ grades.
The SP+ score for Tennessee at No. 13 overall is 18.4. The Vols are had a 31.4 score on offense, ranked No. 34 overall, and a 13.0 score on defense, ranked No. 7 nationally. The special teams score was 0.2, ranked No. 21.
Ohio State topped the ranking with a score of 29.5, ahead of No. 2 Alabama (27.9), No. 3 Penn State (27.7), No. 4 Georgia (26.9) and No. 5 Texas (26.4). Also ranked ahead of the Vols are No. 6 Notre Dame (24.9), No. 7 Oregon (24.7), No. 8 Clemson (23.3), No. 9 LSU (22.1), No. 10 Michigan (21.5), No. 11 Ole Miss (19.8) and No. 12 Miami (18.8).
Where Tennessee opponents are ranked in ESPN’s SP+
Alabama and Georgia are the only 2025 opponents ranked higher than Tennessee in the SP+ projections.
Ranked behind the Vols are No. 14 Florida (17.3), No. 16 Oklahoma (16.5), No. 38 Arkansas (7.0), No. 43 Kentucky (4.7), No. 55 Vanderbilt (1.7) No. 56 Syracuse (1.6), No. 71 Mississippi State (-1.4), No. 112 UAB (-13.8) and No. 122 New Mexico State (-16.0).
The SP+ preseason projections are based on returning production, recent recruiting and recent history.
ESPN also notes that the SP+ “is a tempo- and opponent-adjusted measure of college football efficiency. It is a predictive measure of the most sustainable and predictable aspects of football, not a résumé ranking, and along those lines, these projections aren’t intended to be a guess at what the AP Top 25 will look like at the end of the season. These are simply early offseason power rankings based on the information we have been able to gather.”
Tennessee vs. Syracuse: Saturday, August 30, Noon ET, ABC
Tennessee’s season-opener is set for August 30 against Syracuse at Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta in the Aflac Kickoff Game. The game will be a Noon Eastern Time start and will be televised by ABC.
After the neutral-site opener, Tennessee hosts ETSU in its home opener on September 6 at Neyland Stadium, then have Georgia in town to start SEC play a week later. The Vols host UAB on September 20.
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Tennessee goes to Mississippi State on September 27 in the first road SEC game of the season, plays at Alabama on October 18 and goes to Florida on November 22.
After the Arkansas game on October 11, the Vols go back on the road to Kentucky on October 25. The two bye weeks are scheduled for October 4 and November 8. New Mexico State will be the Homecoming opponent on November 15 and the regular-season schedule will end November 29 at home against Vanderbilt.
Tennessee is a 12.5-point favorite against Syracuse. The Vols were a 13.5-point favorite when the line was initially released in January.
The updated win total for Tennessee this season is set at 8.5, according to odds from FanDuel. The total for the Vols was previously 9.5, before losing Nico Iamaleava to the NCAA Transfer Portal.
Over 8.5 wins is -122 in the new odds while under 8.5 wins is +100. Tennessee also went from the eighth best odds to win a national championship, at +1800, to 12th, at +3000.
