Where Tennessee football is ranked in On3's SEC Preseason Power Rankings
Tennessee football was picked fourth in On3’s SEC Preseason Power Rankings, with the Vols trailing Georgia, Alabama and LSU, respectively. Josh Heupel and his team are looking to build on the 11 wins last season, Tennessee’s most since 2001.
“Fresh off their best season in more than two decades,” On3’s Jesse Simonton wrote, “the Vols have no intention of taking a step backward in 2023 — openly declaring a “win the east” or bust type season. Tennessee must replace a ton of offensive production, but there’s confidence that Joe Milton, a trio of solid tailbacks and wideouts Squirrel White and Bru McCoy will just keep the Big Orange offensive locomotive humming.
“If the defense, particularly the secondary, shows signs of improvement, Tennessee could win double-digit games for just the second time since 2007.”
Tennessee opens season September 2 against Virginia in Nashville
Tennessee in the power rankings came in ahead of No. 5 Texas A&M, No. 6 Arkansas and No. 7 Ole Miss. Kentucky is No. 8 and South Carolina is No. 9. Auburn is ranked No. 10, Mississippi State came in at No. 11 and Florida is ranked 12th in the 14-team league.
Missouri, at No. 13, and Vanderbilt, at No. 14, are at the bottom of the power ranking.
Tennessee opens the regular-season schedule on September 2 against Virginia in a neutral-site game at Nissan Stadium in Nashville. It’s a Noon Eastern Time kickoff on ESPN.
The Vols open their home schedule on September 9 against Austin Peay, a 5 p.m. ET start streaming live on SEC Network+/ESPN+, and the SEC schedule opens at Florida on September 16, a 7 p.m. ET kickoff on ESPN.
“If you look at recruiting rankings, the Gators look like they’re poised for future success under Billy Napier & Co., but peek at the oddsmakers’ preseason 2023 win-total — 5.5 — and alarm bells start to go off.
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“Fresh of a 6-7 season, Florida cannot miss going to a bowl game this fall, and yet the schedule is brutal (opener at Pac-12 champs Utah, plus games against likely Top 25 foes Georgia, Tennessee, LSU and Florida State).”
Vols host Georgia on November 18 at Neyland Stadium
Tennessee comes back from Gainesville to play three straight home games against UTSA (September 23), Texas A&M (September 30) and Texas A&M (October 14), with the bye week falling on October 7.
The Vols go to Alabama on October 21 and Kentucky on October 28, host UConn on November 4 and are back on the road at Missouri on November 11, before ending the regular season with back-to-back home games against Georgia on November 18 and Vanderbilt on November 25.
“With a cupcake schedule,” Simonton wrote, “Georgia likely won’t be challenged until the SEC Championship on the first weekend of December.”
