Few, if any, college football experts were predicting Tennessee to make the College Football Playoffs ahead of the 2025 season. But the Vols’ impressive performance in their 45-26 season-opening victory changed the opinion of at least one college football analyst.
ESPN’s Heather Dinich predicted what the College Football Playoff top 12 rankings would look like after the first week of the season. Dinich pegged Tennessee as the No. 8 team in the country, the same-spot they ended the 2024 regular season at.
“New quarterback Joey Aguilar looked comfortable executing coach Josh Heupel’s offense against a respectable Syracuse team, notching a nonconference win that would earn respect in the committee meeting room,” Dinich wrote. “This was a complete performance, evidenced by an offensive AND defensive touchdown in the first quarter. The Vols made an early statement that they’ll be just fine without quarterback Nico Iamaleava — at least against an average opponent.”
As the eight-seed, Tennessee would host nine-seed Notre Dame in the first round of the College Football Playoffs at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville. The seven teams ranked ahead of Tennessee includes LSU, Ohio State, Miami, Penn State, Florida State, Georgia and Oregon.
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With a relatively light schedule, Tennessee needs to go 10-2 in the regular season to give themselves a legit chance to make the College Football Playoffs. The Vols must split their four matchups against Georgia, Alabama, Oklahoma and Florida while taking care of the rest of their schedule.
Tennessee hosts Georgia and Oklahoma at Neyland Stadium while traveling to Alabama and Florida. Alabama looked gettable in the first week of the season, suffering a multi-score loss at Florida State. Florida, Georgia and Oklahoma all took care of lesser opponents.
The Vols have suffered upset losses on the road throughout Josh Heupel’s tenure. Besides Alabama and Florida, the Vols’ road trips are at Mississippi State and Kentucky. Tennessee also hosts Arkansas and Vanderbilt at Neyland Stadium for home conference games.
Josh Heupel’s fifth Tennessee team hosts ETSU in its home opener this week at Neyland Stadium. But things get real a week later when Georgia comes to Neyland Stadium looking to extend its winning streak to nine games in the rivalry series.
