Tennessee football is ranked No. 18 in the preseason Coaches Poll and No. 20 in both the preseason Associated Press Top 25 and On3 Top 25. The Vols aren’t a ranked team in ESPN’s preseason power rankings, though.
ESPN’s Mark Schlabach left Tennessee out of his preseason top 25 this week, after the Vols had been ranked No. 25 in ESPN’s Way-Too-Early Top 25 rankings during the offseason.
Ohio State is ESPN’s No. 1 team in the updated power rankings, ahead of No. 2 Georgia, No. 3 Notre Dame, No. 4 Oregon and No. 5 Texas.
The Longhorns are the highest-ranked of four Tennessee opponents that made ESPN’s power rankings, coming in ahead of No. 10 LSU, No. 11 Texas A&M and No. 16 Alabama.
“After a disappointing 2025 season,” Schlabach wrote in June, “Volunteers coach Josh Heupel made a big move on defense by firing coordinator Tim Banks and replacing him with former Penn State coordinator Jim Knowles, who helped Ohio State win the 2024 national title. The Vols ranked 14th in the SEC in scoring defense (28.8 points) and total defense (397.2 yards) last season.”
Where the Vols are ranked in ESPN’s SP+
Tennessee is ranked No. 14 in ESPN’s final SP+ preseason projections. The Vols are ranked No. 4 on offense, No. 44 on defense, No. 34 on special teams and No. 20 in strength of schedule. The SP+ has Tennessee’s average win total being 7.9.
Ohio State is No. 1 in the preseason SP+, ahead of No. 2 Oregon, No. 3 Notre Dame, No. 4 Georgia and No. 5 Indiana. The rest of the top 10 is No. 6 Texas, No. 7 Miami, No. 8 Texas Tech, No. 9 Texas A&M and No. 10 LSU.
Others ranked ahead of Tennessee are No. 11 Oklahoma, No. 12 USC and No. 13 Alabama.
The Vols face three top-10 teams in the preseason SP+ this season and four in the top 13 in Texas (6), Texas A&M (9), LSU (10) and Alabama (13). South Carolina is the next highest-ranked opponent at No. 24, ahead of No. 26 Auburn, No. 29 Vanderbilt, No. 42 Georgia Tech, No. 44 Arkansas and No. 47 Kentucky.
Tennessee in July was ranked No. 16 in the first College Football Power Index update from for the 2026 season. The model projects the Vols to go 7-5 record this season.
ESPN’s FPI analytics gives the Vols a 20.5% chance to make the 12-team College Football Playoff Field and a 1.0% chance to win the national title. The FPI’s specific win-loss projection in the Vols is 7.3-4.7. It gives Tennessee an 80.8% chance to win six or more games, along with the 20.5% chance to make the playoff.
The FPI gives Tennessee a 3.3% chance to win the SEC, a 3.0% chance to go the national championship game, a 1.2% chance to win the national championship and a 0.1% chance to go undefeated. ESPN noted that the College Football Playoff selection committee will like Tennessee’s strength of schedule, which is No. 14 nationally in the Football Power Index.
