National media outlet names worst case scenario for Tennessee Vols in 2023
Despite losing key players like Hendon Hooker, Jalin Hyatt, and Darnell Wright to the NFL, the Tennessee Vols are still hoping to compete for a championship in 2023. "At the end of the day, we’ve got to get to Atlanta," said Vols head coach Josh Heupel with a hint of urgency earlier this month. Ultimately, […]
Despite losing key players like Hendon Hooker, Jalin Hyatt, and Darnell Wright to the NFL, the Tennessee Vols are still hoping to compete for a championship in 2023.
"At the end of the day, we’ve got to get to Atlanta," said Vols head coach Josh Heupel with a hint of urgency earlier this month.
Ultimately, the most important thing for the Vols to accomplish in 2023 is to not regress. If Tennessee goes 10-2 again during the regular season, it will prove that last year's impressive 11-2 season wasn't a fluke.
On Monday, 247Sports named the worst-case scenario for each SEC program, and for the Vols, they think that the worst-case scenario is an 8-4 season while their best-case scenario is going 11-1.
As for a prediction? 247Sports thinks the Vols could start the season 6-0 before going 3-3 in their final six games of the season.
From 247Sports: Predicting what happens: Josh Heupel has this program rolling and it's a matter of time before Tennessee gets to the playoff under his guidance. It's not going to happen in 2023, though. The Vols will be 6-0 and ranked inside the top 10 going to Alabama before being humbled with a 3-3 record during the second half of the campaign. A potential unexplainable loss could come at Missouri in November, which comes right before the all-important home game with Georgia. That has trap written all over it for the Vols. Remember the faceplant at South Carolina in 2022? This would feel similar.
It's far too early to make any sort of predictions about how the second half of the season will go for the Vols. Who knows what the state of the SEC will be at that point in the season.
The good news for Tennessee with this prediction, however, is that the Vols' floor has apparently gone from disappointing 5-7 seasons to respectable 8-4 seasons. That's the Heupel effect. And it shows that the program has made significant progress, which appears to be sustainable, over the last two years.
