Where Tennessee Football's opponents are ranked in ESPN's SP+ ratings
ESPN last week updated its college football SP+ ratings, with Tennessee Football bumping up a couple spots to No. 16 overall. The Vols on the 2024 schedule face five opponents in the top 30, seven opponents in the top 50 and also play three teams ranked No. 97 or lower.
“These projections aren’t intended to be a guess at what the AP Top 25 will look like at the end of the season,” ESPN’s Bill Connelly wrote. “These are simply early offseason power rankings based on the information we have been able to gather to date.”
Here’s where all 11 of Tennessee’s Division I opponents are in the SP+ ratings:
No. 1 Georgia: Georgia has won seven straight against Tennessee. The Vols won back-to-back games in the series in 2015 and 2016, winning 38-31 in Knoxville in 2015 and 34-31 in 2016, when Jauan Jennings hauled in the Hail Mary touchdown from Joshua Dobbs on the last play of the game.
No. 5 Alabama: Alabama overcame a 20-7 halftime deficit in October to beat Tennessee 34-20. The 52-49 win for the in October 2022 at Neyland Stadium broke the Crimson Tide’s streak of 15 straight wins in the series. Tennessee won seven in a row between 1995 and 2001 and won 10 of 12 between 1995 and 2006.
No. 15 Oklahoma: The two teams have met only four times, with Oklahoma winning the last three. Tennessee beat the Sooner 17-0 in the 1939 Orange Bowl, capping an 11-0 season. Oklahoma won 26-24 in the 1968 Orange Bowl, won 34-10 in Norman in 2014 and won 31-24 in overtime at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville in 2016.
No. 25 Kentucky: Tennessee has won ten of its last 12 games against Kentucky, dating back to 2012, including the 33-27 win in Lexington in October. The Wildcats won at Neyland Stadium in 2020, their first win in Knoxville since 1984, and in Lexington in 2011 and 2017.
No. 29 North Carolina State: Tennessee is 2-1 against N.C. State. The Vols lost 16-0 in Raleigh in 1911, won 13-0 in Raleigh in 1939 and beat the Wolfpack 35-21 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta in 2012.
No. 33 Florida: Tennessee lost a tough one in Gainesville last September, 29-16. Tennessee’s 38-33 win at Neyland Stadium the previous September snapped a five-game losing streak in the series.
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No. 46 Arkansas: Tennessee and Arkansas have played only 19 times dating back to 1907, with Tennessee winning 13 times. Arkansas has won three straight and four of the last five going back to 2006.
No. 68 Mississippi State: Tennessee is 29-16-1 in the all-time series against Mississippi State, dating back to 1907. The Vols have won 10 of the last 12, including a 20-10 win at Neyland Stadium in 2019.
No. 97 Vanderbilt: Tennessee has won five straight in the series after Vanderbilt had a run of five wins in seven years between 2012 and 2018. The Vols won 22 straight between 1983 and 2004.
No. 125 UTEP: Tennessee is 3-0 against UTEP in a series that dates back to 1986, with the two most recent games being shutout wins. The Vols won 24-0 in 2018, 56-0 in 1990 and 26-16 in 1986.
No. 129 Kent State: Tennessee has never played Kent State in football. The Golden Flashes went just 1-11 this season, with the lone win coming at home against Central Connecticut State in September.
