Can Tennessee outperform sinking national-level expectations and live up to strong preseason metrics to return to the College Football Playoff in 2025? Only 11 teams in college football have more wins than the Vols (30) over the past three seasons with Georgia and Alabama the lone SEC teams for that entire span winning more games than Tennessee, but the external expectation for Josh Heupel’s fifth team on Rocky Top appears to be a step back from last season’s 10-win effort – the Vols were picked to finish ninth in the SEC preseason poll and barely ranked in the Preseason AP Top 25. Tennessee will open the new season against Syracuse in Atlanta in just five days, which means it’s time for the GoVols247 staff of Patrick Brown, Ben McKee and Ryan Callahan to unveil its record predictions for Tennessee’s 2025 season.
Our record predictions a year ago were an even split between 10-2 and 9-3. The former was a hit as Tennessee started fast, overcame an upset loss at Arkansas by beating Alabama and Florida and held its nerve in the stretch run (outside of a loss at Georgia) to make the Playoff. It was a short stay for the Vols, though, as eventual national champion Ohio State quickly dismissed them in the first round.
Tennessee’s offseason was upended in April by the messy public split with quarterback Nico Iamaleava. The Vols wound up landing UCLA transfer and two-year Appalachian State starter Joey Aguilar out of the portal, and he handled his business in winning the preseason quarterback competition and being named the starter. He’s part of an offense full of unknowns with turnover at wide receiver and offensive line and a backfield replacing 2024 SEC Offensive Player of the Year Dylan Sampson, but 2024 Broyles Award finalist Tim Banks should have another strong defense after Tennessee boasted statistically its best unit since 1999.
Without further ado, here are GoVols247’s predictions for Tennessee’s 2025 season.