Following another great slate of games across college football, the weekly Coaches Poll has been refreshed. Tennessee football is now at No. 20 in the country.
This is no change from last week after the Vols beat New Mexico State in Neyland Stadium, 42-9. Tennessee got off to a slow start, leading just 21-3 at the half, but powered its way to an effective third quarter to put the game away.
UT’s position in the rankings is the eighth-best mark in the SEC. This is behind No. 3 Texas A&M, No. 4 Georgia, No. 6 Ole Miss, No. 8 Oklahoma, No. 10 Alabama, No. 13 Vanderbilt and No. 18 Texas.
Leading the poll is Ohio State, followed by Indiana. Oregon is who rounds out the top five.
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Now, Tennessee turns its attention back to SEC play. The Vols will play at Florida this Saturday with kickoff set for 7:30 p.m. ET on ABC. Then, it’s a matchup at home with Vanderbilt to round out the regular season.
If Tennessee does beat Florida on the road, it’d mark the first win in Gainesville for the Vols since 2003. Under Josh Heupel, UT is 2-2 in the series, but both wins have come in Knoxville.
His first trip to play Florida came in his first season in 2021. The Gators, still with Dan Mullen, won 38-14. In 2023, Tennessee went in with a better chance to win, but dropped the game 29-16 with Joe Milton III at quarterback.
Now, Florida is under interim head coach Billy Gonzales. So far, he steered the Gators to losses to Georgia, Kentucky and Ole Miss.
After uncertainty about who would play quarterback, it was DJ Lagway sticking as the starter against Ole Miss. He threw for 218 yards with one touchdown and interception in the defeat. On the year, Lagway has tossed for 1,980 yards, 12 touchdowns and 13 interceptions.
