ESPN lists Tennessee Football as a team 'most likely to rebound from 2023 stumble'
Tennessee Football is one of the teams ‘most likely to rebound from a 2023 stumble,’ according to ESPN. College football writer Bill Connelly listed the Vols as a bounce-back candidate alongside Minnesota, Baylor, Cincinnati, UAB and East Carolina.
“You know your program is in pretty good shape when winning nine games and finishing 14th in SP+ is a solid drop-off,” Connelly wrote. “Josh Heupel’s Volunteers indeed saw their number slip, primarily because of an offense that fell from first to 18th in offensive SP+. The Vols still scored plenty of points, but the big-play well dried up, at least temporarily.”
Tennessee went from an 11-2 season in 2022 with the highest-scoring offense in college football to 9-4 last season. The Vols averaged 31.8 points per game last season after averaging 46.1 two years ago, with the transition from Hendon Hooker to Joe Milton III proving to be a tough one.
Now redshirt freshman Nico Iamaleava takes over at quarterback, the former five-star prospect and No. 1 overall player in the 2023 recruiting class according to the On3 ratings.
“There’s no certainty that blue-chip (redshirt freshman) Nico Iamaleava is ready to quarterback a top-five offense this fall,” Connelly wrote, “and as their No. 16 overall projected ranking suggests, improvement is not guaranteed.”
But, he added, “the ceiling is immensely high” for the Vols on offense. Tennessee is deeper and more talented on the defensive line, too.
“The defense has played at a solid top-25 level for two straight years and boasts maybe the best defender in the country in James Pearce,” Connelly wrote. “By SEC standards, the schedule is manageable with only four projected top-25 teams on the docket.”
Tennessee Football’s 2024 Schedule
Tennessee opens the season against Chattanooga on August 31 and faces North Carolina State on September 7 in Charlotte. After hosting Kent State on September 14, the Vols open SEC play with road games at Oklahoma (September 21) and at Arkansas (October 5).
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Tennessee hosts Florida and Alabama back-to-back on October 12 and October 19, respectively, then has home games against Kentucky (November 2) and Mississippi State (November 9) before going to Georgia on November 16.
The regular season closes with the home finale against UTEP on November 23, then a trip to Vanderbilt on November 30.
ESPN Bet sets Tennessee’s win total, SEC and College Football Playoff odds
ESPN Bet has Tennessee as the sixth best team in the SEC entering the 2024 season, according to ESPN’s ‘SEC Betting Preview’ last week. The Vols have a win total of 8.5 with 14-1 odds to win the SEC championship and 35-1 odds to win a national title.
ESPN also set Tennessee at +180 to make the new 12-team College Football Playoff and -240 to not make it.
Georgia was the pick to win the league, at +200. The Bulldogs came in ahead of Texas (+325), Alabama (+700), Ole Miss (+700) and LSU (10-1). Missouri also had 14-1 odds to win the league, matching the Vols, with the same playoff and national championship odds. Georgia and Texas have win totals set at 10.5. Alabama, Ole Miss and LSU all have 9.5 win totals.
Georgia is +325 to win the College Football Playoff title and Texas is +850. Alabama has 15-1 odds, Ole Miss is set at 16-1 and LSU at 18-1.
