Losing nine starters on offense, including quarterback Nico Iamaleava to the transfer portal, along with their best defender in James Pearce Jr. from a team that got blown out in the first round of the College Football Playoff last year makes it understandable for Tennessee football to be in the bottom half of a preseason top 25 ranking. It doesn’t justify where other teams are, though.
The Vols came in at No. 18 in the preseason Coaches Poll, released on Monday. That makes sense, as they finished last year 10-3, No. 9 in the AP Poll and No. 8 in the Coaches Poll. Given their losses, you could have made the case that they shouldn’t have even been in the top 25, but reputation alone earned them a top 20 ranking to this point.
What should really upset Tennessee football fans, however, are the teams ahead of them, starting with the Florida Gators, who came in at No. 17. How could anybody believe Florida is better than the Vols? Even if you think Florida will beat them this year since the game is in The Swamp, there’s no way to justify them being ahead of UT to start the year.
Okay, so it took overtime for Josh Heupel’s team to beat Billy Napier’s team in Knoxville last year, and yes, they did finish the season strong, on a four-game winning streak that included top 25 wins over the LSU Tigers and Ole Miss Rebels. That came after D.J. Lagway settled in as their starter, and he’s back this year.
LSU had quit on the season, though, after Brian Kelly’s team lost to the Alabama Crimson Tide, eliminating themselves from CFP contention, a week earlier. Ole MIss expended all of its energy beating the Georgia Bulldogs two weeks before visiting Florida and rested on its laurels.
Beating the Florida State Seminoles and Tulane Green Wave at the end of the year was nothing to brag about either. On top of that, while Lagway may have galvanized the team, his play was overrated. his stat line was highly mediocre in all three regular season wins, and who cares about playing well in a bowl game? It means nothing these days.
Beyond Florida, though, Ole Miss themselves are ahead of the Vols at No. 15. How? They went 9-3 last year and also lost their quarterback. Also, Lane Kiffin hasn’t shown any ability to consistently meet expectations for teams and make sure they maintain any sort of success they were already enjoying.
Between those two teams are the SMU Mustangs at No. 16, who have a strong case since they and Tennessee football lost in the first round of last year’s CFP while SMU has its quarterback back. However, SMU got blown out by the Penn State Nittany Lions. UT lost to the eventual national champion Ohio State Buckeyes. Who really thinks they were on the same level?
It only gets worse. The Michigan Wolverines went 8-5 last year, Sherrone Moore’s first season as the full-time head coach, and they came in at No. 14. Why? They’re riding the coattails of their wins over Ohio State and then the Alabama Crimson Tide to close out the season. OSU was resting for the CFP. Alabama was in a meaningless bowl game.
The South Carolina Gamecocks are the first team ahead of the Vols to really have a case. One game separated the two last year, and Shane Beamer has LaNorris Sellers back. Given how they finished the season, South Carolina has every reason to expect a potential CFP berth. However, Tennessee football should have proven enough to be in the top 15 based on who else is ahead of them.
