Tennessee Football has fallen out of the AP Rankings following a loss to Vanderbilt in the regular season finale on Saturday afternoon in Knoxville. It’s the first time this year that Tennessee has not had a landing spot in the AP Poll.
Tennessee was close to making the final spot. The Vols received 71 votes, which was the most of any team not in the rankings, but fell short of Missouri’s 73 votes for the final spot in the rankings.
The Volunteers finish the regular season with an 8-4 record. Tennessee’s wins came against Syracuse, ETSU, UAB, Mississippi State, Arkansas, Kentucky, New Mexico State, and Florida, with losses against Georgia, Alabama, Oklahoma, and Vanderbilt.
Tennessee is barely hanging on to its spot in the USA Today Coaches Poll, as well. The Vols land at No. 24 in that publication. It’ll be interesting to see where the College Football Playoff committee ranks Tennessee during the fifth reveal on Tuesday night.
Here is a week-by-week look at Tennessee’s ranking in the AP Poll:
- 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
- Week 11: No. 23 (CFP Ranking: No. 25)
- Week 12: No. 21 (CFP Ranking: No. 23)
- Week 13: No. 20 (CFP Ranking: No. 20)
- Week 14: No. 18 (CFP Ranking: No. 19)
- Week 15: Unranked (CFB Ranking: TBD)
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With the regular season in the rear-view mirror, the final task left for the 2025 Tennessee football team will be its bowl game next month. Potential options include the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, FL, the Music City Bowl in Nashville, TN, and the Duke’s Mayo Bowl in Charlotte, NC. The College Football Playoff rankings will also have a lot to do with Tennessee’s eventual bowl site, considering what happens with CFP hopefuls such as Vanderbilt and Texas.
Stay tuned to Rocky Top Insider throughout the week for some in-depth bowl option breakdowns before conference championship games next weekend.
Falling out of the rankings is a disappointing, yet unsurprising way to end the Vols’ regular season. Missouri, the No. 25 team in the AP Poll, was the only team to have four losses in the rankings. Both teams lost against four ranked opponents and beat up on the back-half of the SEC standings, but Missouri ended the season with a win over Arkansas while Tennessee fell to Vanderbilt. The Vols, ultimately, just didn’t have enough good wins to make up for the losses and stay in the rankings.
The fifth edition of the College Football Playoff rankings will come out Tuesday night on ESPN.
Stay tuned to Rocky Top Insider for more Tennessee Football coverage.
