Is Tennessee football going to be a fun watch in 2025?
Kelley Ford of KFordRatings made a model to find out exactly that for every team in college football. He went through every game and weighted them by projected quality and competitiveness. The result was a ranking of which teams will have the most ‘watchability’ this year.
The Vols check in at No. 24 on the list with a ‘watchability’ score of 7.76. This is the 13th-highest mark of any program in the SEC. In fact, the first nine schools listed are all in the conference.
Leading the country at a score of 8.54 is South Carolina. The Gamecocks are followed by Florida, LSU, Texas A&M and Alabama to round out the top 5.
These are the 30 teams with the greatest average Watchability Score* for all regular season games, per my v1 preseason power ratings!
*defined in the graphic’s fine print pic.twitter.com/ELk68aG5uP
— Kelley Ford (@KFordRatings) June 30, 2025
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Ford also took a look at the same model, but just for home games. In that, the Vols slipped all the way down to No. 30. The SEC as a whole took a hit, as well. Instead, it is Iowa State jumping up to the top spot of the best home slate. The Cyclones are followed by Oklahoma, Notre Dame, South Carolina and Oregon in the top 5.
Tennessee’s home schedule will begin Sept. 6 against ETSU. Kick-off is slated for 3:30 p.m. ET with the game airing on SEC Network+/ESPN+. The SEC home-opener will be against Georgia the following weekend, on Sept. 13. That will air on ABC at 3:30 p.m. ET.
Other home games on the schedule include UAB, Arkansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico State and Vanderbilt. Away games will be played at Mississippi State, Alabama, Kentucky and Florida. The season-opener is a neutral-site clash with Syracuse on Aug. 30 at noon ET. That game, played in Atlanta, will air on ABC.
