Surprise! ESPN drops us in the FPI for 2023 after finishing 5th last year.

[orangebloodgmc]

I have no problem with any of the teams ahead of us except LSU. They beat bama last year, but didn’t look good down the stretch after that.

Wow! I had overlooked that. We beat their azz last year, and surpass them in every unit of the team for the upcoming season.

 

[Volintheswamp]

I honestly don’t mind it. We seem to do better in the underdog role playing with a chip on our shoulder. Time to go to work and prove them wrong. Nothing better than making ESPN eat a big sh!tburger.

 

[EasternVol]

We did lose a lot of talent so that's a factor. But we seem to have restocked well and should have a good year.

 

[orangebloodgmc]

Am shocked they didn't rank Syracuse over us. But at least they pumped their other maisisi yankee teams, OSU, Mich, PSU and ND.

 

[titansvolsfaninga]

Yes, no surprise that ESPN is showing their love for us as usual.

Where Tennessee is ranked in ESPN's College Football Power Index for 2023 season

Vols come in at #12
View attachment 547082

8-4 prediction after winning 11-2 last year. Clearly they are not exactly sold on Milton taking the reins just yet. Hope we prove them wrong.

That loss to the cocks last year really screwed us. I hope this year we put a score on them so bad that 50 years from now, old timers who were there will still fall hushed when they mention that game.

We lost a ton of talent on offense. Defense was trash.

 

[snarcks]

ESPN favors the Big Ten and the Gumps.

It’s all political no matter how hard you try to defend their nonsense.

I would respectfully disagree with the bias notion, considering that basically one third of the rankings are SEC teams. Nine of ‘em total in the FPI top 30.

2) Bama
3) UGA
4) LSU
12) UT
16) Ole Miss
18) Florida
19) Texas A&M
28) Kentucky
30) Arkansas

 

[Voldog1998]

Lol! We ain’t losin 4 games.

We could easily lose to A&M, Bama and Georgia then get upset like we did last year to a South Carolina or Mizzou or Kentucky. We could def lose 4 games if things don’t go right at QB. I see us going 10-2 or 9-3. 8-4 or 7-5 would be a disappointing year.

 

[Woodlawn VOL]

Makes no difference where we start, 12 is plenty high. If we take care of business on the field the rankings will take care of themselves. I would rather earn my ranking than start out all propped up by the media. The Oklahoma’s and Notre Dame’s can have them early lofty rankings the media loves to give them, actually earning the upward moves us much more rewarding!!!! GBO!

 

[Adam Sandler]

We could easily lose to A&M, Bama and Georgia then get upset like we did last year to a South Carolina or Mizzou or Kentucky. We could def lose 4 games if things don’t go right at QB. I see us going 10-2 or 9-3. 8-4 or 7-5 would be a disappointing year.

Don’t forget uf. Just bc we won by 5 pts last year doesn’t mean we won’t slip up this year. We almost did last year. And we have a habit of doing that against them.

But also, we ain’t losin 4 reg season games.

 

[Volwonder1]

Some of this is based on other teams and how easy their schedules are cause they are going to have a high win projection every year. Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State all play in a horribly weak conference. ND - doesn't play anyone. Clemson, USC, Texas, and Oklahoma are the same. Very weak conferences.

Throw Georgia onto that list.

 

[jim pique]

SomewhereI saw that espeen had us not being able to make the 12 team college football playoff.They,as usual suck large mule organs.

 

[Vol423]

I have no problem with any of the teams ahead of us except LSU. They beat bama last year, but didn’t look good down the stretch after that.

You don’t have any issue with Clemson being ranked significantly higher than us? We just finished kicking their teeth in the last time they stepped on the field against an opponent.

 

[Jravol78]

Y'all understand that this is a computer formula, right?

So...they created a computer algorithm to screw Tennessee?

Man, this conspiracy runs deep. Wonder what we did to make these people so mad at us?

Man screw this Al Gorithm dude … he obviously hates us.

 

[VolFanNC09]

I am ok with starting at number 12.

If we have a better D the sky is the limit.

The toss ups to me are Bama, A&M, Georgia as they are better on talent.

The rest we should win unless we have a complete meltdown. I am betting on another 11 win season. If Milton is more consistent and the DBs are better we have a chance to win the SEC. I would put us at 25% chance to win the SECe and the SEC. It means we beat Georgia and Bama at least once.

 

[tennesseeduke]

Yes, no surprise that ESPN is showing their love for us as usual.

Where Tennessee is ranked in ESPN's College Football Power Index for 2023 season

Vols come in at #12
View attachment 547082

8-4 prediction after winning 11-2 last year. Clearly they are not exactly sold on Milton taking the reins just yet. Hope we prove them wrong.

That loss to the cocks last year really screwed us. I hope this year we put a score on them so bad that 50 years from now, old timers who were there will still fall hushed when they mention that game.

 

[Gandalf]

Unless you believe they incorporated “we hate Tennessee” mathematically into their loss function I don’t know what to tell you lol.

Parameter tuning isn’t the same as turning the knobs until you get the result you want.

I am very well aware of what it is and how it works. I am sure you know however that humans absolutely can skew AI results in multiple ways if they intend to.

Do I think ESPN wakes up every day saying piss on UT? no, but I do think their models favor certain things over others (weak ass conferences for example), that do not provide an accurate reflection of true strength between teams.

In my OP, I was having a bit of fun (besides, I said they love us!) but there is no denying they forecast 4 losses and with that schedule, there is no way to arrive at anything less than 9-3 based what is known and with recent history without bias of some sort.

Again, the only reason I can imagine we are where we are at is because of USCjr - otherwise, our loss to GA and wins over UAB, LSU and Clemson could not in any way come out to a #12 without an error.

 

[volfanhill]

We are the bitchiest fan base.

 

[joevols89]

Lol! We ain’t losin 4 games.

We could very easily lose 4/5 games or win 10/11 games.

 

[BigOrangeTrain]

Name the 4 losses:

UGA, BAMA, ?, ?

Question for you. Did you have us getting absolutely dismantled by a mediocre SC team last year?

 

[BigOrangeTrain]

We could very easily lose 4/5 games or win 10/11 games.

Very easily? That’s a stretch. If we lose 5 games there would have to be major injuries

 

[joevols89]

Very easily? That’s a stretch. If we lose 5 games there would have to be major injuries

Or teams are just better than expected and we are worse than expected. Games like UF/USCjr/UK/TAMU are far from locks. You could even have a bad day and lose to Missouri.

We still don’t know what we are going to get with Milton at QB even after the orange bowl.

 

[NighthawkVol]

Man screw this Al Gorithm dude … he obviously hates us.

Sounds like we already did…or maybe his wife. He’s out for blood!

 

[maxorange]

Projected W/L 8.2 -3.9...not sure I see 4 losses

Could anyone image the baseball team with 14 already?

 

[CAVPUT]

Yes, no surprise that ESPN is showing their love for us as usual.

Where Tennessee is ranked in ESPN's College Football Power Index for 2023 season

Vols come in at #12
View attachment 547082

8-4 prediction after winning 11-2 last year. Clearly they are not exactly sold on Milton taking the reins just yet. Hope we prove them wrong.

That loss to the cocks last year really screwed us. I hope this year we put a score on them so bad that 50 years from now, old timers who were there will still fall hushed when they mention that game.

Gotta say that's my prediction as well. I'm hopeful with Milton, but I remain a skeptic. It's going to take more than a game or 2 for me to be convinced that he's turned the corner. Given the losses of key producers and our schedule, my prediction is 8-4 as well. No anti UT bias in this one. Just a reasonable prediction by ESPN IMO.

 

[Gandalf]

Gotta say that's my prediction as well. I'm hopeful with Milton, but I remain a skeptic. It's going to take more than a game or 2 for me to be convinced that he's turned the corner. Given the losses of key producers and our schedule, my prediction is 8-4 as well. No anti UT bias in this one. Just a reasonable prediction by ESPN IMO.

So ESPN is just going with a normalized NegaVol prediction?

That makes me feel so much better

yeah, there is still some questions about JM but he has had a lot of time in and if anyone can fix him it’s CJH. Our utter dismantling of Clemson is evidence that he may have made the turn.