A popular college football podcaster has a Tennessee hot take that had social media stirring on Wednesday, yet he’s not even sure it’s that hot of a take.
During Wednesday’s episode of That SEC Podcast, host Michael Bratton gave his Tennessee hot take for the preseason: The Vols will make the College Football Playoffs in 2026. And he’s taking that prediction all the way to SEC Media Days later this month in Tampa, FL.
“Them Tennessee Vols are making the College Football playoff this year,” Bratton said. “That’s my hot take that will be on my media days ballot when we cast those votes here in a couple weeks.”
Depending on who you ask, it may or may not be. The analytics would say it’s pretty scorching, but Bratton’s got his reasons why he believes it.
“You can laugh at it all you want,” Bratton said. “Toughest games they got on the schedule? Texas, possibly ‘Bama, LSU, all at home. Maybe Auburn. Again, maybe, but you get Auburn at home. Their most difficult road game is at Texas A&M. (Speaking to co-host) You just said A&M is winning seven games. I don’t necessarily believe that, but if that’s the case, and there’s a path where that happens, all of a sudden the schedule opens up even more.”
One of the biggest questions around Tennessee this offseason – perhaps the biggest question for the Vols – has been around the quarterback position. Redshirt freshman George MacIntyre and true freshman Faizon Brandon will continue their QB battle during fall training camp next month, and while both lack any sort of meaningful collegiate experience, Bratton isn’t all too concerned.
“All this BS of ‘they don’t have a quarterback,’ even though they’ve got a five-star and a four-star competing for the job – whoever it is, Shane, they’re going to literally be coached as well as you could possibly be coached, according to Dave Bartoo. Again, who is just looking at data and how these guys produce at that position,” Bratton said.
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Bratton finishes his point by emphasizing that while Tennessee’s quarterback remains a mystery, the offensive players around him do not. The Vols return thousand-yard rusher DeSean Bishop, a strong offensive line with significant experience, and “two stud receivers” including SEC Freshman of the Year Braylon Staley.
ESPN’s analytics have Tennessee with a 7.7 projected win total, meaning that the data has 8-4 or 7-5 as the likeliest outcomes. Obviously, that wouldn’t be good enough for the College Football Playoffs. It does have Tennessee with the fourth-best projected offense in the nation, with the 49th-projected defense.
To Bratton’s point about the scheduling, though, Tennessee does have the third-lowest strength of schedule projection in the conference behind only Georgia and Vanderbilt.
What do you think? Does Tennessee have a shot at the College Football Playoffs this year?
Tennessee is making the College Football Playoff this season.
I’m not even sure this is a hot take
Full hot take show: https://t.co/lSRfvteTKd pic.twitter.com/xJxYPMQpd5
— SEC Mike (@MichaelWBratton) July 8, 2026
