Where Tennessee football finished in the final Associated Press Top 25 of the season
Tennessee football finished the season ranked No. 17 in the Associated Press Top 25, moving up eight spots in the final poll after the 35-0 win over Iowa in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl on New Year’s Day.
Michigan finished at No. 1 after beating No. 2 Washington 34-13 Monday night in the College Football Playoff National Championship game. Texas finished at No. 3, ahead of No. 4 Georgia and No. 5 Alabama.
Missouri finished No. 8 after an11-2 season ended with a win over Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl and Ole Miss finished No. 9 after an 11-2 season and a win over Penn State in the Peach Bowl. LSU finished at No. 12 after a 10-3 season.
The Vols have won 20 games over the last two years, the most in back-to-back seasons since winning 20 in 2003 and 2004. After going 11-2 in 2022, Tennessee finished 9-4 this season, with losses at Florida, at Alabama, at Missouri and at home against Georgia.
Way-Too-Early Top 25s looking ahead to the 2024 season have Tennessee ranked anywhere from No. 11 to No. 21.
Athlon has Tennessee at No. 11, the Sporting News has the Vols at No. 14 and On3 has Tennessee at No. 15. ESPN, Action Network and Pro Football Focus all have the Vols at No. 17 and Bleacher Report has them at No. 21.
Top 10
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AP Poll Shakeup
New Top 25 shows big fallout from Saturday
- 2Breaking
JuJu Lewis
Elite QB decommits from USC
- 3New
5-star QB flip
Texas A&M commit Husan Longstreet flips to USC
- 4
Coaches Poll
Big changes to updated Top 25
- 5
Head coach fired
Temple to fire Stan Drayton
“Volunteers fans got a sneak peek into the future in a 35-0 rout of Iowa in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl,” ESPN’s Mark Schlabach wrote after ranking Tennessee 17th. “With (Joe) Milton opting out of the bowl game, freshman Nico Iamaleava got the start. He completed 12 of 19 passes for 151 yards with one touchdown and three more scores rushing.”
Tennessee finished the 2022 season at No. 6 in the AP Top 25 after beating Clemson in the Capital One Orange Bowl to finish 11-2.
The Vols started the season ranked No. 12 in the AP Preseason Top 25 and dropped as low as No. 25. The Vols moved up three spots to No. 9 overall in Week 2, after the 49-13 win over Virginia in Nashville, then dropped 12 spots in the AP poll after the 29-16 loss at Florida.
The Coaches Poll had Tennessee at No. 10 in its preseason top 25 released on August 7. The Vols were ranked as high as No. 9 in the Coaches Poll and dropped as low as No. 23.
