ESPN analyst explains why Tennessee had a legitimate case to be ranked higher in the AP Top 25 poll
The Tennessee Vols will start the 2023 season as the No. 12 ranked team in the AP Top 25 poll. Surprisingly, the Clemson Tigers are ranked No. 9, three spots ahead of the Vols, despite their 17 point loss to Tennessee in last season's Orange Bowl (which was started by Joe Milton, UT's starting quarterback […]
The Tennessee Vols will start the 2023 season as the No. 12 ranked team in the AP Top 25 poll.
Surprisingly, the Clemson Tigers are ranked No. 9, three spots ahead of the Vols, despite their 17 point loss to Tennessee in last season's Orange Bowl (which was started by Joe Milton, UT's starting quarterback this fall).
If you're a Tennessee fan who thinks the Vols had a strong case to be ranked ahead of the Tigers, you're not alone. ESPN's Bill Connelly, a renowned college football analytics expert, agrees that UT had a case to be ranked higher in the AP Top 25.
Connelly explained why during an appearance on 104.5 The Zone's Ramon, Kayla, and Will on Tuesday morning.
"I think maybe the funny thing about the AP poll in specific is some voters are treating it like a power ranking," explained Connelly. "Some are basically trying to project forward to the end of the season. And I mean, you could easily make the case that at the end of the season that Clemson's gonna have a better record than Tennessee — because their schedule is quite a bit easier overall. So, I didn't necessarily read a ton into Clemson being ahead of Tennessee. I did think when you look at my SP + projection versus the AP Poll, Tennessee being 12 was pretty low. We don't completely know what they've got on defense, I guess. But I mean, the SP + still has them (Vols) at eight overall. So comparing those two, it's more about Tennessee than Clemson I think. There's a good case for the Vols to be a little bit higher."
There's definitely a case for the Vols to be ranked higher — specifically higher than Clemson. But this isn't a bad thing for Tennessee. The Vols tend to play better when they have a chip on their shoulder (we saw that in 2022). It doesn't hurt to have a little motivation entering Josh Heupel's third season as the program's head coach.
Peyton Manning shares how he feels about Tennessee’s offense under Josh Heupel
Vols legend Peyton Manning shared how he feels about Tennessee’s offense under Josh Heupel
Featured image via Calvin Mattheis/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK
