Opinions are very mixed on where Tennessee will land in the new AP Top 25 Poll after a win at home against unranked Auburn
The Tennessee Volunteers earned a hard fought 24-14 win over the Auburn Tigers in Neyland Stadium on Saturday afternoon in Knoxville.
Tennessee bounced back from a tough loss to Texas with a win over Auburn on Saturday afternoon in Knoxville.
It wasn’t pretty, but the Vols’ defense was dominant in a 24-14 win.
Tennessee entered the game ranked No. 17 in the AP Top 25 Poll.
Opinions are mixed, however, on whether the Volunteers will move up in this week’s poll.
Three teams ranked above Tennessee lost on Saturday — No. 14 Iowa, No. 16 Mississippi State, and No. 8 Florida.
CBS Sports, though, has Tennessee remaining at No. 17 this week.
“While freshman quarterback Faizon Brandon was benched in Saturday’s win against Auburn, running back DeSean Bishop was there to carry the load with a career day, rolling up 220 rushing yards and three touchdowns on 34 carries,” wrote CBS Sports’ Chip Patterson. “The week ahead will bring questions about the outlook for Josh Heupel’s quarterback room.”
CBS Sports has Florida and Mississippi State staying ranked above Tennessee (they actually have Mississippi State moving up to No. 14 despite getting blown out at home by Alabama). They also have Missouri passing the Vols.
On3, meanwhile, has Tennessee climbing to No. 15 this week.
“It wasn’t the prettiest game, particularly offensively, but Tennessee managed to get the job done,” noted On3’s Thomas Goldkamp. “A quarterback change helped a bit after Faizon Brandon was picked off once and generally wasn’t firing on all cylinders in the early going. Tennessee relied heavily on running back DeSean Bishop in the win. He carried the rock 34 times for 220 yards and three scores in the big win. For the Volunteers, it’s win and move on. Definitely a nice bounce-back off the Texas loss.”
On3’s Brett McMurphy, who is an AP Top 25 voter, has Tennessee at No. 16 on his ballot this week.

