Tennessee Football Moves Back to Top 15 AP Poll Ranking After Beating Kentucky

Tennessee AP Poll
Braylon Staley (14) celebrates against Kentucky at Kroger Field in Lexington, Ky., Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025. Cole Moore/RTI

Tennessee Football jumped three spots in the Week 10 AP Poll on Sunday afternoon, moving the Volunteers back into the Top 15 of the national rankings for the seventh time this season.

Josh Heupel’s team moved up from No. 17 to No. 14 in the rankings on Sunday. It’s the third-highest ranking that Tennessee has had this year, behind the No. 11 ranking in Week 8 and the No. 12 ranking in Week 9.

Tennessee’s spot at No. 14 is the same position as its landing spot in the Week 10 Coaches Poll.

Tennessee got back into the winning column on Saturday night in Lexington with a monster 56-34 win over Kentucky at Kroger Field. Tennessee jumped out of the gates with three touchdowns in the first quarter, staved off a Kentucky run in the second quarter, and cruised to victory in the second half of the game. Coming off a big loss to Alabama in the previous week, this was a much-needed opportunity to get some swagger back before hosting Oklahoma for a Neyland at Night game next weekend in Knoxville.

Here’s a look at Tennessee’s AP Poll history so far this season:

  • Week 1: No. 24
  • Week 2: No. 22
  • Week 3: No. 15
  • Week 4: No. 15
  • Week 5: No. 15
  • Week 6: No. 15
  • Week 7: No. 12
  • Week 8: No. 11
  • Week 9: No. 17
  • Week 10: No. 14

 

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Tennessee comes in as the sixth-highest ranked team from the SEC in the rankings behind No. 3 Texas A&M, No. 4 Alabama, No. 5 Georgia, No. 7 Ole Miss, and No. 9 Vanderbilt. Also featured in the Top 25 from the conference are No. 18 Oklahoma, No. 19 Missouri, and No. 20 Texas.

Tennessee opened the season with a non-conference win over Syracuse, following that up with a home-opening win over East Tennessee State. The Vols dropped their first game of the season against Georgia in Week 3, but bounced back with three straight wins over UAB, Mississippi State, and Arkansas to get the wheels back on track. Tennessee suffered its second loss against Alabama in Tuscaloosa, but followed that up with a big win over the Kentucky Wildcats this past weekend.

“Proud of our guys, the way they competed, coming on the road, getting a win,” Heupel said on Saturday night. “It’s a (Kentucky) team that took Texas to overtime a week ago, has lost some close ones. So in that way, really pleased with the performance. Offense, defense, both units, there’s things that we can certainly clean up as well. And we’ll need to as we keep going through conference play. You look at the turnovers early defensively, changed the way the game was played. Some of the explosive plays in the pass game certainly did that as well.”

We’re getting close to the final stretch of the regular season slate for Heupel’s group. Tennessee will host No. XXX Oklahoma in a prime-time night game at Neyland Stadium next weekend, and then will have its second and final open date of the season. The Vols will close the regular season with a home game against New Mexico State, a road trip to Florida, and a home game against Vanderbilt.

No. 14 Tennessee will host No. 18 Oklahoma at 7:30 p.m. on ABC this Saturday night in Neyland Stadium. Stay tuned to Rocky Top Insider for full coverage leading up to the home game this weekend.

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