Tennessee football is set to get its season started in just 24 hours when it meets Syracuse in Atlanta. The Vols and Orange will square off inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium at noon ET with the game airing on ABC.
Before kick-off, I dove into the numbers, with the help of UT’s game notes, to get a better look at what to expect in the game.
Here are three numbers to keep in mind as you’re watching the opener.
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14
Tennessee football has won 14-straight non-conference regular-season games under Josh Heupel. The last loss was all the way back in 2021 when the Vols dropped the second-ever game under Heupel to Pitt.
Overall, Tennessee is 17-3 against non-SEC competition under Heupel. Along with the loss to Pitt, UT has dropped the 2021 Music City Bowl in controversial fashion to Purdue and the 2024 College Football Playoff game at Ohio State. In these 20 games, the Vols have out-scored their competition 967-288.
Including postseason games against out-of-conference opponents, Tennessee has won 14 of its last 15, as well. The Vols’ loss that ended the 14-game streak was the loss to the Buckeyes. The two wins it adds to the mix were the Orange Bowl victory over Clemson in 2022 and the Citrus Bowl win over Iowa in 2023.
397
Since Josh Heupel and his defensive coordinator, Tim Banks, got to campus, nobody has been better at slinging down ball carriers behind the line of scrimmage. Since 2021, the Vols have recorded 397 tackles for loss. This leads the SEC in this time period.
In the four seasons under Heupel and Banks, UT has finished inside the top-15 nationally and top two in the conference in TFLs. These four years are all inside the top-12 seasons in tackles for loss in program history, as well. The best mark of the quartet was in 2023, which featured 101 TFLs, the seventh-most in program history.
While there are some missing pieces from Tennessee’s defensive line, the Vols do return a good bit of production. UT brings back five of its top seven TFL leaders, including Joshua Josephs (9.0), Bryson Eason (7.0) and Arion Carter (6.5).
20
There are 20 players on Tennessee’s roster that will be returning to their home state to play on Saturday. With the Vols playing in Atlanta, there are 15 players returning to nearby their home towns.
This number is the second-most players from a state on the entire roster, only behind the state of Tennessee itself. Atlanta area natives feature Ty Redmond, Sham Umarov, Ethan Davis, Dylan Lewis, Travis Smith Jr., Jadon Perlotte, Jordan Burns, Christian Gass, Tyree Weathersby, Josh Josephs, Andre Stewart, Mike Matthews, Colton Hood, Caleb Herring and Justin Baker.
The last time UT played in Atlanta was in 2017. The Vols opened the season with a 42-41 double-overtime win over Georgia Tech. This was the second-ever college game played inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
