RTI)
SEC Media Days has officially come to an end and the conference’s media has predicted the order of finish for the 2026 season. The conference’s media predicts Tennessee to finish eighth in the conference and right in the middle of the 16-team league.
Tennessee comes in directly behind Alabama and Oklahoma and directly ahead of Florida and Missouri.
The Vols’ nine-game conference schedule appears largely balanced based on preseason expectations. Tennessee plays home games against Texas (No. 2), LSU (No. 5), Alabama (No. 6), Auburn (No. 12) and Kentucky (No. 14).
Josh Heupel’s sixth Tennessee team has four SEC road trips and will face off against Texas A&M (No. 4), South Carolina (No. 11), Vanderbilt (No. 13) and Arkansas (No. 16). In total, Tennessee will play four teams predicted to finish higher than them ands five teams predicted to finish lower.
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It’s a year of transition for Josh Heupel and Tennessee football. The Vols return seven of 11 starters from a productive offense a season ago. However, there’s major questions at quarterback where true freshman Faizon Brandon and redshirt freshman George MacIntyre are battling for the starting job.
Defensively, Tennessee has undergone a major overhaul after a poor showing a season ago. Heupel fired defensive coordinator Tim Banks and most of his defensive staff, hiring Penn State’s Jim Knowles and three other new defensive assistants.
The Vols overhauled much of their defensive roster. With a solid returning and incoming linebacker core as well as a revamped secondary, Tennessee could be sneakily good in the back seven. But the defensive line remains a major question mark, especially after Chaz Coleman stepped away from the Tennessee program earlier this offseason.
The 2026 season will be the SEC’s third season with 16 teams. Tennessee finished third (tied for second) during the 2024 season and ninth (tied for eighth) during the 2025 season.
Here’s a look at the full SEC preseason predicted order of finish.
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- Georgia
- Texas
- Ole Miss
- Texas A&M
- LSU
- Alabama
- Oklahoma
- Tennessee
- Florida
- Missouri
- South Carolina
- Auburn
- Vanderbilt
- Kentucky
- Mississippi State
- Arkansas
