Tennessee football’s 2025 regular season came to a close with a disappointing 45-24 loss against instate rival Vanderbilt at Neyland Stadium.
The Vols ended the regular season 8-4 (4-4 SEC) which was not a crazy outcome based on preseason expectations. But the overall record does not tell the entire story of what a disappointing regular season it was for Tennessee.
Here’s four jarring stats that show the disappointment of Tennessee’s regular season showing.
More From RTI: Everything Tennessee HC Josh Heupel Said Following Loss Against Vanderbilt
Tennessee Was 1-3 In SEC Games At Neyland Stadium
In Josh Heupel’s first four seasons as Tennessee’s head coach, the Vols lost three SEC games at Neyland Stadium. The Vols lost to Georgia and Ole Miss during the 2021 season and lost to Georgia in the 2023 season. Tennessee was unbeaten at Neyland Stadium in both 2022 and 2024.
Entering the season, it felt like Tennessee was going to be an extremely difficult out at home. Yet the Vols went 1-3 at home in SEC play with losses against Georgia, Oklahoma and Vanderbilt.
The downfalls in Heupel’s first four years were losing on the road against teams they were better than. Tennessee avoided that pitfall this season but tripped up at home.
Tennessee’s Four SEC Wins Came Against Teams That Combined To Win Five SEC Games
Tennessee went 4-4 in SEC play. The four losses came against good teams who all remain in the College Football Playoff hunt as the regular season ends. None of those were bad losses on paper.
But Tennessee’s four SEC wins were against terrible teams. Arkansas, Mississippi State, Kentucky and Florida combined to go 5-27 in SEC play. Mississippi State’s lone SEC win came against Arkansas. One of Kentucky’s two SEC wins came against Florida. One of Florida’s two SEC wins came against Mississippi State.
On top of that, Syracuse went 3-9 this season though they were definitely a much worse team after quarterback Steve Angeli tore his ACL.
Of Tennessee’s Eight Wins, Three Opponents Fired Their Coach
Building off that last point, three of Tennessee’s eight wins came against teams who either fired their coach before the game or later in the season. Arkansas fired Sam Pittman before traveling to Neyland Stadium. Florida fired Billy Napier a month before the Tennessee game while UAB fired Trent Dilfer after the Tennessee game.
It’s also not out of the realm of possibility that Kentucky and Mark Stoops part ways though that seems less likely after the Wildcats won two SEC games in November.
Tennessee Was 2-2 In One Score Games
With wins against bad teams and multiple losses in games Tennessee let get away from them, it’s easy to think this was a season where the Vols just had some bad luck and lost close games.
However, Tennessee was 2-2 in one-score games this season. The Vols came from behind to force overtime and win at Mississippi State. Tennessee’s three-point win over Arkansas is a bit misleading because the Vols led by 17 points in the fourth quarter. While things got dicey, Tennessee mostly controlled that game.
On the other side, Tennessee lost by six points against Oklahoma but never had the football down one score in the fourth quarter. The Vols lost a thriller against Georgia in overtime.
4 Responses
Tennessee will NEVER be a CFP threat under Heupel. Basically just an even worse James Franklin.
No points in the second half. Not against Oklahoma,Florida,Vanderbilt. I love the deep ball threat that Joey brings but need to get back to running the football. Oh and the defense is horrible too
This team’s record met expectations as predicted. The frustrating part of the season is that the team did not play up to its potential. Where are all those great players that were recruited?? They were on the team but not properly developed or coached. This season did not produce one “big” win and a terrible SEC home record.
I thought that bringing in a transfer quarterback was a mistake when it was announced, especially one with one year of eligibility left. Coach Heupel wasted a year developing his young quarterbacks. He starts next season with an unexperienced one. Check next years schedule. It is harder than this years, and we play 9 SEC teams next year.
Coach Heupel should and will review his staff and release those that haven’t performed. If he doesn’t he will be definitely on the hot seat next season.
Losing to Vanderbilt is not good and being crushed by the Commodores is inexcusable.
The fan base will remember this one for quite a while. If next season mirrors this one. I believe that Heupel will be gone before the end of it. If you don’t think that it can happen, just look around the college football landscape! I hope that Coach Heupel can reverse the trend and have a great season next year. Go Vols!!!
Can’t say for sure but would be willing to bet that the NIL money represented by orange jerseys was 2 to 3 times that which was represented by those helmets with a V on the side. Heupel needs to start getting more bang for the buck if he wants to stay on White’s good side.