ESPN: Vols in Third Tier of College Football

#26
#26
marcusluvsvols said:
Agree with the disrespect angle. Also acknowledge that this is the deepest and most talented team at UT in 20 years....BUT we are so young at WR, Safety, and not sure about QB. This is a 9-3 type season reloading and gaining experience for playoff runs in 2026, 27 and 28
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Does it still work that way? What if we go 9-3 and promising youth hits the portal and then we go 6-6?
 
#28
#28
WillisWG said:
Don't remember anything like this. Did ESPN do this before?

ESPN Places Tennessee Football in Third Tier of College Football | Rocky Top Insider

ESPN put every FBS team into 20 tiers, and Tennessee football clocked in at the third tier alongside other SEC teams.
www.rockytopinsider.com www.rockytopinsider.com

Tennessee football was placed into tier No. 3, dubbed ‘someone in the SEC has to lose games, too.’ The Vols join conference foes Florida, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas A&M in this category.

ESPN noted how thin the margin is between this tier, reaching the playoffs and the bottom falling out, though.

“Now, others might parse the data differently, but the bottom line is inarguable,” Hale wrote in the article. “No one in the SEC has an easy ride to the playoff, which makes Tier 3 likely to include at least two playoff teams and at least two schools that fire their coaches, and the difference between those camps will be a few plays one way or the other.

“The SEC is designed to eat itself, which is one of the reasons it has pushed so hard for increased playoff access. There’s simply not a scenario in which every school that invests in winning, has a playoff-caliber roster and features fans who expect to make a playoff run will actually do so.”
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Seems about right to me. Tennessee really is an unknown this year. We always have ? marks and have only two seasons (2016 and 2023) since the Fulmer era where it seemed as though the stars were aligning headed into a season. Last year could perhaps be added to that group. Two of those seasons ended in 10 wins and both belong to Huepel. I just think 8-4 is a very realistic expectation this year with all of the question marks and added competition to the SEC.
 
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#32
#32
marcusluvsvols said:
Agree with the disrespect angle. Also acknowledge that this is the deepest and most talented team at UT in 20 years....BUT we are so young at WR, Safety, and not sure about QB. This is a 9-3 type season reloading and gaining experience for playoff runs in 2026, 27 and 28
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Disagree. Our 2016 team was STACKED all over the field. The Vols not putting in a better showing that season will always haunt me.

I have us at 8-4 this year. Heupel always has one loss a year that is a real head scratcher. I'm not complaining about what the man has delivered, but just saying that needs some improvement. Win all the games we should and then pick up 1 or 2 wins we weren't expecting and we will be cooking with gas.

Like it or not our season is going to ride on whoever comes out of that Aguilar/Merk battle. Whoever comes out of that is going to have to be better in the SEC than Nico was last year. Putting up 65% of your stats in 4 OOC joke games is not gonna cut it for very long
 
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