Where do you see us in the preseason polls?

#26
#26
B81 said:
Since most voters don’t actually pay attention to games, our decisive bowl victory over a “fabulous” Iowa team, where our up and coming qb “scored at will” will more than likely have us rated higher than we normally would be. They won’t realize that Iowa sucks and we scored 14 points on defense. They will only see the 35-0
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Everyone hates TN. They'll probably go something like:
Iowa was over-rated and sucked, thus negating everything from the Bowl Game. We are Young and "Untested" in secondary, receiving corps, QB, RB, no depth, and our fans are classless.
We'll drop out of the Top 25.
 
#27
#27
After all the Spring/Summer recruiting and Nico Hype leading up to it...
12th or better.
 
#28
#28
RDU VOL#14 said:
I’ll go 13. It will be so much fun to see everyone lose their mind when we’re predicted to be the 13 th ranked team in the first year of the 12 team CFP.
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HaHa! Whoever that #13 is at playoff time - NO COMPLAINTS !!! Even if it’s us. This year was tough to leave out an undefeated. But I seriously doubt that will happen at #13. My gripe would be if we were a 2 loss team and lost those 2 by poor officiating or something crazy.
 
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#32
#32
Winchester73 said:
HaHa! Whoever that #13 is at playoff time - NO COMPLAINTS !!! Even if it’s us. This year was tough to leave out an undefeated. But I seriously doubt that will happen at #13. My gripe would be if we were a 2 loss team and lost those 2 by poor officiating or something crazy.
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I think the biggest gripe that will occur is when an undefeated G5 gets the nod over the 12th ranked team. This year Liberty would’ve gotten in over a 2 loss Oklahoma team(who had beaten a CFP Texas team) . Liberty was dead last in Strenght of Schedule, but bc they’re the highest rated G5 squad they get in . I think that’s a crock. Not only is that spot stolen, there are 3 other guaranteed spots to the ACC, Big 12 and the B1G. So our options are win the SEC (very difficult) or go 10-2 or 9-3 (unlikely to get in) to make the CFP. There cannot be anymore no show games like Florida.

I think we have to at least go 2-2 in some combination of @ Oklahoma, vs UF, vs Bama and @ UGA to make the CFP, and obviously w/o any slip ups to make the CFP. Hosting a home CFP game at Neyland would be a bucket list moment for me.
 
#34
#34
Hawkeye4588 said:
With our excellent performance in the Citrus I really am tempted think we make the Top ten. However, we have a lot of SEC teams that could be ranked above us. I fully expect UGA and Bama of course to be higher. Ole Miss finished pretty well too and we now have Texas in the conference. Missouri also looked pretty dang good in their takedown of the Buckeyes. If we start 5th or 6th in our own conference then I bet we are somewhere around #15. Which is fine btw, we will still control our own destiny.
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10-15
 
#35
#35
I think that we get ranked higher than one might think. Why? I think the media will really be enamored with Nico. Plus they want us ranked as high as possible when we play Oklahoma.
 
#37
#37
Hawkeye4588 said:
With our excellent performance in the Citrus I really am tempted think we make the Top ten. However, we have a lot of SEC teams that could be ranked above us. I fully expect UGA and Bama of course to be higher. Ole Miss finished pretty well too and we now have Texas in the conference. Missouri also looked pretty dang good in their takedown of the Buckeyes. If we start 5th or 6th in our own conference then I bet we are somewhere around #15. Which is fine btw, we will still control our own destiny.
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Missouri didn't score a single point until the 4th qu.
 
#39
#39
Yeah with both lines of scrimmage returning and Nico hype I think we can get as high as 10 or 11 but will likely be somewhere in the low to mid teens… won’t matter at all though just go win…
 
#40
#40
vol94fan said:
Will start around #15, but I think the team will surprise a lot of folks. The secondary will be upgraded with better athletes. The front 7 will be better. The QB will be improved. The receiver group will be improved. The 2024 team will be better than the 2023 team. Maybe a lot better.
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I think a majority of pundits will look at Nico and the returning veterans on offense and say “they should be fine, if not stellar.” But then they’ll look at that defense and say “but that secondary…”. All that to say, I feel most will pick us at 9-3 and a definite bubble team for the playoffs, which is respectable and worthy of praise and excitement.
 
#41
#41
We will be underdogs in at least 3 games next year. On road against Oklahoma, home against Bama and on road against Georgia. If voters think we are no better than a 9-3 team that is around 17-19 range in preseason. In the SEC, all these teams will be ranked ahead of us in my opinion. Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Ole Miss, Missouri (who has a very convenient schedule), Oklahoma, and Texas.
 
#42
#42
Hawkeye4588 said:
With our excellent performance in the Citrus I really am tempted think we make the Top ten. However, we have a lot of SEC teams that could be ranked above us. I fully expect UGA and Bama of course to be higher. Ole Miss finished pretty well too and we now have Texas in the conference. Missouri also looked pretty dang good in their takedown of the Buckeyes. If we start 5th or 6th in our own conference then I bet we are somewhere around #15. Which is fine btw, we will still control our own destiny.
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Unfortunately, I doubt anyone is going to be impressed with the win against Iowa, who had a historically atrocious offense. I think there will be at least 7 SEC teams ranked ahead of us and frankly all of them make sense to be ranked above us. Beat Oklahoma on the road and any pre-season projections are irrelevant.
 
#43
#43
Didn't pay close enough attention to even know who it was, but I saw a 'way too early' top 25 come out yesterday and didn't even have Vols in it.
 
#44
#44
Top 25 for sure, bottom 3rd of top 20 maybe. Nico looking good against Iowa is not going to impress many voters to start the season. Beat OK and everything changes.
 
#45
#45
LAVol1 said:
Teams ahead of us:
SEC: UGA, TX, Bama, LSU, OM, OU, Mizzou
B10: UM, OSU, PSU
ACC: FSU, maybe Clemson, maybe Louisville
P10: UO, WU, maybe AZ, maybe USC
ND

So, not higher than 14, as low as 19.

If the secondary is shored up with more transfers, we deserve to be top 10, but that won't happen due to B10 and ND bias.
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FSU? They are losing a ton .... I know they just signed a great class and they are probably doing well in the portal too, but still .... That will be a completely different team next season, than the team which went 13-0. No way are they ahead of Tennessee.
 
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#46
#46
I think the more astute poll voters (maybe half to two-thirds of those who get votes) who are watching all the games and not just those in their favorite conference/region (now it's down to probably a quarter of all voters) will understand that Nico's emergence is a sea change for the Vols and the SEC.

I think THOSE voters will put us somewhere in the #6 to #10 range. They'll want to learn more about our OLine and Dbackfield before they go further than that, but a QB like this one doesn't come along every day. Teams like Clemson and Auburn have won recent national championships just finding a guy this good. These voters will recognize that possibility.

But the majority of voters won't have noticed, or if they did won't understand how profound the implications are. They'll put the Vols in the 15-20 range.

And since there are more of the latter than the former, I expect we'll start the year anywhere between #12 and #17. Three to five other SEC schools could be ranked ahead of us (UGa, Bama, Texas, maybe also LSU and Oklahoma). A few B10 schools (the usual suspects). One or two B12, one or two ACC, probably Notre Dame (lol). Something like that.

But when we beat Oklahoma, then most of the poll voters will wake up to the potential. Top 10 from then on, as long as we keep winning.

Go Vols!
 
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#47
#47
thebane5 said:
Didn't pay close enough attention to even know who it was, but I saw a 'way too early' top 25 come out yesterday and didn't even have Vols in it.
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Link? They've been in everyone of those that I've seen. Anywhere from 17-24. I did see one which had Colorado ahead of Tennessee, which I think is ridiculous ....
 
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