ESPN college football writers have different trips to Florida for Tennessee Vols, but not what fans are hoping for in latest bowl projections
The Vols have a golden opportunity to change the narrative on Saturday against Georgia.
Fans of the Tennessee Volunteers have to have liked what they’ve seen so far from the Vols in this early 2025 season. The offense appears to be potentially explosive this season with Joey Aguilar under center after two years of struggles in creating big plays. Granted, the opponents were Syracuse and ETSU, but 117 points in your first two games with a Power Four opponent mixed in is nothing to sneeze at.
With Georgia coming up this Saturday, the Vols saw a newfound respect in the polls from the voting public, jumping up to 15th in both the AP and Coaches Polls. Tennessee leapt up 7 spots in the AP, which is quite the jump.
However, most pundits still have Tennessee on the outside looking in as far as the College Football Playoff is concerned, and that includes the duo over at ESPN.com.
ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura and Mark Schlabach have Tennessee outside the CFP and going bowling in Florida
Although the playoff has two games in the Sunshine State this year with the Orange Bowl and the national championship game, Schlabach and Bonagura see other postseason destinations for Tennessee in Florida at this point. Schlabach has the Vols in Tampa in the ReliaQuest Bowl (formerly known as the Outback Bowl) and facing the Indiana Hoosiers, a team that late last year appeared as a potential playoff matchup for the Vols before the final rankings came out.
Bonagura sees an all-orange clash in Orlando at the Citrus Bowl, with Tennessee facing off against the Illinois Fighting Illini. The schools have never faced off against each other.
In one sense, it’s a bit head-scratching why the Vols haven’t gotten all that much respect after making the playoff as a 10-win team last year. Through two weeks, despite the losses, they look even better on that side than they did in 2024 – by a substantial margin, even. And there’s still plenty of talent in the cupboard on the defensive side of the ball despite some losses.
But the narrative can firmly change on Saturday afternoon in Knoxville, when the Vols and Bulldogs face off in the biggest SEC game of the early 2025 season. Win that game, the Vols should be well in the field of every pundit moving forward.
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It’s going to be a loud environment in Knoxville on Saturday.
