The Athletic projects that Tennessee will play in a non-playoff bowl game that would actually be a lot of fun for Vols fans
The Tennessee Vols likely aren’t going to reach the College Football Playoff this season, but they can still play in a fun bowl game.
The Tennessee Vols likely won’t be playing in the College Football Playoff this season.
There’s been some chaos this month, but probably not enough to put the Volunteers into a realistic position to sneak into the 12-team playoff.
Tennessee, however, can still play the role of spoiler — a win this weekend against Vanderbilt would almost certainly knock the Commodores out of College Football Playoff contention. The Vols are also trying to get to 10 wins for the third time in four seasons. Tennessee needs to beat Vanderbilt and win their bowl game to get to that mark.
Beating Vandy will be no easy task. The Commodores are dangerous with Diego Pavia under center.
Winning a bowl game won’t be easy, either — you never know who will play, who will transfer, or who will sit out to protect their NFL draft stock.
The Athletic makes a fun bowl game prediction for the Tennessee Vols
The Athletic updated its bowl game projections on Monday, and it has the Vols playing in a fun matchup — Tennessee vs. Michigan in the Citrus Bowl.
Now, obviously, the Citrus Bowl wasn’t the goal for the Vols coming into the season. But the season has played out the way it has. There’s no changing the missed field goal against Georgia, the ill-timed pick-six against Alabama, or Oklahoma’s scoop-n-score. Those games happened. It is what it is.
A Citrus Bowl matchup between the Wolverines and the Volunteers, though, would make for a compelling game — two programs loaded with pageantry and tradition facing off for the first time since Tennessee beat Michigan 45–17 in the Citrus Bowl to close out the 2001 season.
There are also some intriguing connections between Michigan and Tennessee.
Wolverines head coach Sherrone Moore was teammates at Oklahoma with Vols offensive coordinator Joey Halzle (UT head coach Josh Heupel was a Sooners assistant coach at the time). Additionally, Michigan linebackers coach Brian Jean-Mary previously served on Tennessee’s coaching staff under Heupel.
Playing in the Citrus Bowl isn’t a magical way to end the 2025 season, but a win over Michigan would certainly be a nice consolation for Tennessee if it misses the playoff as expected.
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