In your opinion, are Vols even preseason top 25 at this point?

[OffTackleVol]

You forgot a few things you can count on under Heupel (With only a couple of exceptions during his first season) : Beating every team not named Georgia at home, winning all our regular season non conference games, and beating Kentucky and Vandy no matter where we play. So, that would come out to a minimum 8 wins and only needing to beat Mississippi State on the road to get to nine.

Stop it, that's too logical!!

 

[Manchester Vol]

I know people don’t give a lot of attention to preseason top 25 but in your opinion, does Tennessee even make the vote at this point?

We have a lot to prove and some injuries that need clarity. Both offense and defense will drop off this year. We need to keep the faith because seven and five is a possibility.

 

[TJSVOLS]

8-4 is the floor...........

I think some people want them to lose, so they can come back on here and say see I told you…

 

[LegionnaireOfTheMiserable]

You forgot a few things you can count on under Heupel (With only a couple of exceptions during his first season) : Beating every team not named Georgia at home, winning all our regular season non conference games, and beating Kentucky and Vandy no matter where we play. So, that would come out to a minimum 8 wins and only needing to beat Mississippi State on the road to get to nine.

I guess you have identified the inexplicable loss we will have this year

 

[LegionnaireOfTheMiserable]

I think some people want them to lose, so they can come back on here and say see I told you…

I’d love to see Tennessee go undefeated in perpetuity, but I don’t see that happening.

 

[Dansky]

You forgot a few things you can count on under Heupel (With only a couple of exceptions during his first season) : Beating every team not named Georgia at home, winning all our regular season non conference games, and beating Kentucky and Vandy no matter where we play. So, that would come out to a minimum 8 wins and only needing to beat Mississippi State on the road to get to nine.

Well we do get a fairly weak schedule again for a sec team.

 

[B81]

So many teams have question marks heading into next season. We are all just overly aware of our own. Losing an all sec running back, a highly drafted rush end, and your qb are obvious to most outsiders.

What is harder to quantify is wins over replacements, to use a baseball term. It will be hard to replace Sampson, qb and rush end…. Not so much.

 

[TJSVOLS]

I’d love to see Tennessee go undefeated in perpetuity, but I don’t see that happening.

Oh we all know that you don’t see that happening.

 

[VolInNW]

Unofficial numbers say you had 18 players leave in the portal, and signed four (with additional new players added). How can you possibly tell where you ought to be ranked when a quarter of your team goes to the portal and is replaced by transfers-in, plus newbies?

(Note: I'm not provoking you. UF is only in slightly better shape in terms of stability, with 5 incoming portal players, and 13 scholarships players having left).

Pure logic. Like it.

BUT:

[Insert obligatory 'Heupel knows what he is doing' and 'Heupel is a professional, are you?', 'No big deal, next man up', and 'Just improving the roster' statements here]

 

[LittleVol]

I love how 30% of the voters know so well about 25 other college football teams (at least) that are better than Tennessee.

Seriously though. If they don’t even know their own teams talent then how they are supposed to know how good other college teams are?

Of course Tennessee is a Top 25 team.
Strong defense
Running Game
Good coaching
Special teams
Passing game and overall team depth is a bit of a concern. A bit. That’s really just unknown and many think our passing game will be better this year because of Aguilar.

 

[feathersax]

I think some people want them to lose, so they can come back on here and say see I told you…

Agreed. For B.V.S. there is no vaccine. John Majors referred to the as "Legion of the Miserable ".

 

[Oldvoldad]

I know people don’t give a lot of attention to preseason top 25 but in your opinion, does Tennessee even make the vote at this point?

We made the playoffs last year and lost only 2-3 legitimate NFL players. I'd say the answer is a definite yes.

 

[Oldvoldad]

D Line is not getting better this year after losing its 3 best players and replacing them with honorable mention Great Lakes conference guys. It should be a decent line but won’t be close to as good as last year.

I think we are probably ranked in the preseason Top 25 based on being a playoff team last year. I think we will finish the regular season either barely in or barely out of the top 25. I was thinking 8-4 before Nico left. Now I’m thinking 7-5 and 8-4 are equally likely.

I am guessing you picked 7-5 last years at best.

 

[Pride85]

Now might be the time to change your handle. He is neither on the team, nor is he a VFL.

 

[sjt18]

I know people don’t give a lot of attention to preseason top 25 but in your opinion, does Tennessee even make the vote at this point?

With a name like that... you ask these kinds of questions?

UT has a tall hill to climb.

However, go back and compare last year's polling at this time of the year and how things looked after the NC game. Why would you or anyone else take them serious?

 

[BigOrangeTrain]

Not right now. And the reason being we don’t know who the starting QB is.

 

[goldvol]

There's not 5 teams on next season's schedule that will be us..........very doubtful there's 4.

there's not 1 single team that will be us. a few will be our daddy, but they will never be us.

 

[allvol17]

In 2022, we weren't in the preseason top 25, but eventually got to be ranked number one... briefly.

Then SC bought our signals from Michigan and that ended that.... ended up 6th or 7th if I recall correctly.

Point is... it doesn't matter where we are ranked at the start - only where you finish.

New names. New season. Same goals.

I personally love it when people underestimate me...

Go Vols. Believe the Heup...

 

[xpsyclonex2002]

Absolutely. Despite the portal traffic, we are still a team with a lot of talent. We are going to suffer from lack of time played together as a group. I think all teams have that but we are going to be more deeply affected. We likely regress in most categories but overall we will still have a respectable season.

 

[LegionnaireOfTheMiserable]

Oh we all know that you don’t see that happening.

Well I’m not a dumbass, so yeah, I see Tennessee losing games here and there.

 

[LegionnaireOfTheMiserable]

I am guessing you picked 7-5 last years at best.

No, and I didn’t pick 7-5 to be this year’s best case scenario either.

 

[lukeneyland]

D-Line improves every year, and it will this year too. With C-Hood, Gibson, and eventually McCoy, corners still rock solid. Turentine and new blood Beasley coupled with Boo should be tight up the middle, plus hopefully improvement at LB, this defense should carry us. The O-line and run game could be a strength once again this year, which means all we might need under center is game-manager, like last year. Playoffs?

I don’t think playoffs are laughable but I don’t think we should melt down if we fall short. Heupel has obviously been dealt a very difficult hand this year. He will get us there again many times, I just don’t necessarily think it will be this year

 

[HooahVol]

I feel like we have a pretty favorable schedule. We have 6 wins almost built in (Syracuse, ETSU, UAB, Miss State, New Mexico State, Vandy). That already has us bowl eligible. You add Kentucky and the revenge home Arkansas games and that put us at an 8 win season. Oklahoma is a home games and I think OK is very beatable. That just leaves UGA at home, at Bama and at the swamp as 3 likely losses (I know, I hate Florida too but our record at the swamp gives me little hope). I say all that to say just 8 wins almost guarantees a top 25 finish so I would definitely put them in the top 25 preseason. Probably around 18th until we see how the QB situation plays out.

 

[DarkMode]

I refuse to accept the idea that a successful 2025 season required Nico under center. Helpful? Maybe - while not knowing how much of his bulls**t was on display through the course of the season last year that we weren't privy to. This kid Aguilar, through Nico's ignorance, ended up in a MUCH better situation than he had at UCLA (and their 7 fans). I'm going to believe this kid is going to shine. His last season of eligibility, 100,000 Tennessee fans cheering him on, and playing behind an upgraded O-line so that he's not running for his life with each snap (like he would have at UCLA and did at Appalachian State). Nope, this season has all the makings for some pleasant surprises that I, for one, am greatly looking forward to watching. GoVols!

 

[jackaro]

There are question marks at OL, WR and QB. We simply do not know how these positions will perform over the course of the season. I expect the defense to be good but have serious concerns about the offense. Because of that I think the Vols need to earn their way into the top 25.

It is my opinion that to make this offense perform we need a special type of quarterback. The QB needs to be able to get everyone to the line, read the defense, call the play and run the play very quickly. The QB also needs to be a dynamic runner and cannot hesitate to run with the ball. The QB also needs to hit those long passes. The staff went all in on Nico for this and it was a dissaster. That leaves the staff between a rock and a hard place this fall.