Josh Heupel’s Tennessee Volunteers did not move from their No. 15 spot in the Coaches Poll or the AP Rankings after suffering an overtime defeat to Georgia this past weekend in Knoxville. While a win likely would’ve boosted Tennessee up and into the Top 10, the lack of movement with the loss suggests that coaches and voters respected the Vols’ play enough to keep them put heading into Week 4.
One ESPN analyst has Tennessee much higher in his personal rankings, though.
Joey Galloway, a former collegiate and professional football player, is going off the merit system for his power rankings heading into the fourth week of the season. Without “having to play by anybody’s rules,” Galloway listed his Top 5 based on what he’s seen on the field without any influence from preseason rankings or assumptions for what a team could be.
While speaking with Kirk Herbstreit on his ‘Nonstop’ YouTube show, Galloway went through his Top 5 rankings. In order, he listed Ohio State, Georgia, Tennessee, Miami, and Texas A&M. Galloway said that Tennessee is right behind Georgia because it was a field goal away from going the other direction, pointing out how good a game it was on Saturday.
“My mindset is, I’ve seen these five teams play somebody,” Galloway said in the conversation with Herbstreit. “And now I’ve got something to go off of.”
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Herbstreit mentioned that he was “impressed” that Galloway had Tennessee that high after a loss. He even said he appreciated that. Herbstreit had a first-hand look at the game while hosting College GameDay and on the call Saturday evening.
“I’m impressed you got Tennessee up there coming off of a loss, still at (No.) 3,” Herbstreit said. “I appreciate that. In the AP, they went in last week at (No.) 15. I was curious to see what the AP would do with them after that loss. They ended up staying at (No.) 15. So they didn’t go up, they didn’t go down.”
“Well, good,” Galloway said in response. “Yeah. It makes sense.”
Herbstreit believes that Tennessee can still do big things if they don’t let the Georgia loss hang over its head.
“They got a quarterback that I think we’re all excited about with Joey Aguilar,” Herbstreit said on the show. “His accuracy downfield. Nico (Iamaleava), for as good as he was, it was missing last year in their offense. It was more about Dylan Sampson and them pounding the football. Now, they can still run it, but now they can get back to being who Heupel wants to be, throwing the football downfield. So that’s Tennessee. If they can regroup, realize what’s still at stake, they still can have a great year.”
Check out Kirk Herbstreit and Joey Galloway on ‘Nonstop’ here.
.@Joey_Galloway’s Top 5 after Week 3#nonstop
LIVE every Monday 11-12 ET on YouTube pic.twitter.com/RYQVYBmhZ1— Kirk Herbstreit (@KirkHerbstreit) September 15, 2025
