The American Football Coaches Association has released its 2025 Preseason Coaches Poll ahead of this college football season.
In the rankings, Tennessee football clocks in as the No. 18 team in the country.
This is good for the eighth-highest mark in the SEC. The Vols sit behind No. 1 Texas, No. 4 Georgia, No. 8 Alabama, No. 9 LSU, No. 13 South Carolina, No. 15 Ole Miss and No. 17 Florida in the conference. The only SEC team to make the cut behind Tennessee is Texas A&M at No. 21.
Other teams in the conference receiving votes were Oklahoma, Missouri, Auburn, Arkansas and Vanderbilt, in order from most to least votes. Tennessee’s opening opponent, Syracuse, also received a handful of votes.
Of the ranked teams, UT will play Georgia at home and Alabama and Florida on the road.
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This comes after a turbulent offseason for Tennessee. After the spring window, the Vols lost returning starting quarterback Nico Iamaleava in a messy divorce, leading to the signal caller transferring to UCLA. In response, Tennessee picked up UCLA quarterback and App State transfer Joey Aguilar.
Now, the Vols are in the midst of a quarterback battle between Aguilar, redshirt freshman Jake Merklinger and true freshman George MacIntyre. Tennessee has a little less than a month to iron out its quarterback situation before the season opener. The Vols will head to Atlanta for a neutral-site clash with Syracuse on Aug. 30 at noon ET. That game will air on ABC.
Tennessee’s home-opener will be held the following Saturday on Sept. 6. The Vols will welcome in-state FCS program ETSU to town for a game scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET on SEC Network+ and ESPN+. The following week, Tennessee will begin its SEC slate by hosting No. 4 Georgia at 3:30 p.m. ET on ABC.
The Vols’ other ranked matchups are set for Oct. 18 on the road at No. 8 Alabama and Nov. 22 on the road at No. 17 Florida.
