Tennessee football had an open date this past week, but the Vols still moved up in ESPN’s FPI rankings. The list of teams uses analytics to sort teams and has been consistently high on UT throughout the year. Now, Tennessee clocks in at No. 11 in the country.
This is a two-spot bump from a week ago. The Vols passed Penn State and Michigan to get to this spot. The top spot in the rankings goes to Ohio State, which jumped Oregon to swap positions. Then, it’s Alabama, Indiana and Notre Dame, who has two losses, to round out the top five.
The remainder of the top 10 is Georgia, Ole Miss, Texas, Miami and USC. This makes Tennessee the fifth-highest-ranked team in the SEC in these rankings.
Arkansas, the next team on the Vols’ schedule, is at No. 41 in the FPI rankings.
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The Vols are given a projected record of 8.8-3.3. To win out and go 11-1, the chances are listed at 2.3%. To win two more games and make a bowl game, Tennessee is given a 99.8% chance.
The odds to win the SEC are at 3.2%. This is the seventh-best mark in the conference.
To make the playoffs, Tennessee is given a 27.7% mark. To move on to the national title game is at 3.4%. The chances of the Vols winning that title game are at 1.5%.
As of Sunday morning, FanDuel has Tennessee as a 13.5-point favorite in the game. So far, bettors like the Vols’ odds, as well. 87% of the money has come in on UT covering, and 86% of the bets are on Tennessee. Kickoff is scheduled for 4:15 p.m. ET and will air on SEC Network.
Through five games, the Vols are 3-2 against the spread. These past two weeks, against UAB and at Mississippi State, Tennessee did not cover. On the other hand, Arkansas is just 1-4 against the spread. The Razorbacks’ last outing against Notre Dame was so poor that head coach Sam Pittman was fired and Bobby Petrino was named the interim coach.
