With the calendar turning to July, we’re one step closer to the start of the 2026 College Football season. Conference media days will take place later this month before fall camps get going across the country in August.
Now is as good a time as any to start locking back into the sport, because it’ll be here before you know it.
There’s been no shortage of storylines for the Tennessee Volunteers this offseason. The Vols went 8-5 overall in 2025 and had the second-best statistical offense in the SEC. On the flip side, though, Tennessee lost three of its final five games, including the Music City Bowl, and had the third-worst team defense in the conference.
In an effort to get the defense back on the right track, Tennessee brought in defensive coordinator Jim Knowles from Penn State. Knowles brought multiple defensive coaches with him, and a handful of Nittany Lions players also transferred to Rocky Top to stick with their coaches. The other big offseason hire that Tennessee made was the addition of strength coach Derek Owings, who most recently built the Indiana Hoosiers’ national championship-winning roster.
The big talking point on the offensive side of the ball is Tennessee’s quarterback situation. With Joey Aguilar exhausting his eligibility, the Vols will likely be turning to a freshman quarterback with either redshirt-freshman George MacIntyre or true freshman Faizon Brandon. While both were blue-chip recruits, it’s undoubtedly a question mark for the offense. Aside from that, though, Tennessee still has a strong receiver group, a returning thousand-yard rusher, and an experienced offensive line.
So with all of that considered, how is the national media viewing Tennessee before the season? CBS Sports’ Brad Crawford dropped his SEC win-loss predictions last week, with a game-by-game assessment of each team. There are some interesting picks on the list for the Vols.
Crawford has Tennessee going 8-4 with a 5-4 record in the new nine-game SEC format.
The CBS analyst has Tennessee beating all three of its annual rivals, with wins over Alabama, Kentucky, and Vanderbilt this fall. Another major prediction is that Crawford has Tennessee beating LSU in Lane Kiffin’s return to Neyland Stadium in the penultimate week of the season. Crawford also has Tennessee beating Furman, Georgia Tech, Kennesaw State, and Arkansas.
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Those who have memorized the schedule can pick out the losses pretty easily now. Crawford has Tennessee losing to Texas in the SEC opener, losing to Auburn and head coach Alex Golesh in Knoxville the following week, and also taking road losses at South Carolina and at Texas A&M.
“Losses to Texas and Texas A&M wouldn’t be surprising given the talent level of both opponents, but the swing games against Auburn and South Carolina are what ultimately could keep the Volunteers from reaching double-digit wins — the necessary threshold we see in guaranteeing a CFP appearance,” Crawford writes. “Those are the kinds of matchups that often define a season in the SEC.”
Still, though, even in a hypothetical situation that projects wins over arch-rival Alabama and Lane Kiffin’s Tigers, Crawford still has the Vols as “a step below the league’s elites.”
“Heupel’s offense should remain explosive enough to win eight games and secure another respectable bowl destination, but the Volunteers appear a step below the league’s elite,” he writes. “That’s the difference between playoff contention and a solid, yet unspectacular, season.”
This projection would have its exciting moments, sure, but it would cause some severe anxiety within the Vols’ fanbase. Beating Alabama and LSU feels like sure-fire key wins on a CFP resume, but a home loss to first-year coach Alex Golesh and a road loss at South Carolina being the swing games that held Tennessee out of the final dance would create quite the stir online.
One game that might be getting overlooked is the Georgia Tech game. Not only is it the Vols’ first road game of the season, but it’s also the first real test for its new starting quarterback, whether it be MacIntyre or Brandon. Having Furman to start the year will be a nice warm-up, but a night game at Bobby Dodd Stadium will be the first real challenge. Tennessee should be the favorite in that game, and it is winnable, but it feels like that’s the contest that’s being overlooked with all the hoopla around the nine-game SEC slate.
Check out Brad Crawford’s full SEC football predictions here.
