Tennessee football has been picked to finish in the bottom half of the SEC for the 2025 season by the media at this year’s SEC Media Days.
The Vols clock in as the No. 9 team in the conference.
Here is the full list of the SEC preseason rankings, including how many points each team got via votes:
- Texas – 3060
- Georgia – 2957
- Alabama – 2783
- LSU – 2668
- South Carolina – 2109
- Florida – 1986
- Ole Miss 1979
- Texas A&M – 1892
- Tennessee – 1700
- Oklahoma – 1613
- Auburn – 1272
- Missouri – 1170
- Vanderbilt – 936
- Arkansas – 764
- Kentucky – 512
- Mississippi State – 343
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Just one of 204 voters picked UT to outright win the conference. This is less than the amount of votes that came in for Texas, Georgia, Alabama, LSU, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Vanderbilt and Florida.
The predicted winner of the SEC this year was Texas by a wide margin. The Longhorns received double the number of picks to win the championship than Georgia.
This is the worst preseason projection for Tennessee since Josh Heupel’s first season in 2021. The Vols were chosen to finish fourth in the SEC East that season.
In 2022, Tennessee clocked in as the No. 6 team in the conference, predicted to finish third in the East. 2023 saw the Vols being considered the No. 2 team in the East.
Most recently, the 2024 team that ultimately made the College Football Playoffs was picked to finish seventh in the conference.
Tennessee’s schedule stacks up to give it a fighting chance to finish above its projection, though. The Vols will play just Georgia (No. 2), Alabama (No. 3) and Florida (No. 6) as teams ranked ahead of them. The other opponents are Oklahoma (No. 10) and the bottom four teams in the rankings, Vanderbilt (No. 13), Arkansas (No. 14), Kentucky (No. 15) and Mississippi State (No. 16).
Tennessee will get its season underway on Aug. 30, back in Atlanta, where SEC Media Days were held. The Vols will face Syracuse out of the ACC at 12 p.m. ET on ABC. The SEC opener is scheduled for Sept. 13 against Georgia at Neyland Stadium. That game is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET on ABC.
