All for Tennessee
Fansided

Tennessee Vols Ranked Far Too High in Both Top 25 Polls

By Caleb Calhoun

Sep 17, 2016; Knoxville, TN, USA; General view during the first half of the game between the Ohio Bobcats and Tennessee Volunteers at Neyland Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 17, 2016; Knoxville, TN, USA; General view during the first half of the game between the Ohio Bobcats and Tennessee Volunteers at Neyland Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit

Tennessee football moved up in both the AP and Coaches Top 25 rankings after their win over Ohio. But the voters have been inconsistent with the Volunteers.

It looks like the Top 25 pollsters don’t know how to gauge the Vols. To be fair, nobody can at this point after their 3-0 start. After all, they blew out what looks to be a good ACC team and struggled against two Group of Five teams.

However, voters have gone above and beyond in their inconsistency with the Vols.

Tennessee opened the year in the Top 10 in both polls. They dropped out after struggling with the Appalachian State Mountaineers. Fair enough.

Then, after blowing out the Virginia Tech Hokies 45-24 in the Battle at Bristol, they somehow dropped a spot in the Coaches Poll. Then they only rose two spots in the AP Poll. At that point, they were No. 15 in both polls.

A week later, after struggling to put away a MAC team at home that lost to the Texas State Bobcats, they moved up one spot to No. 14 in the AP Poll and moved up three spots to No. 12 in the Coaches Poll.

Related Story: 5 Vols Who Really Need to Improve for SEC Play

So if you’re keeping score, Tennessee dropped one spot in the Coaches Poll after blowing out the Virginia Tech Hokies but moved up three spots after struggling with the Ohio Bobcats. What?

At this point, Tennessee is ranked far too high in both polls.

Every team ahead of them in the Coaches Poll deserves to be ahead of them. However, they have earned the right to be ahead of the Florida State Seminoles, a team ahead of them in the Coaches AP Poll.

But right now, the Vols have no business being ranked ahead of the Texas A&M Aggies, Arkansas Razorbacks, Miami Hurricanes, and Nebraska Cornhuskers.

Texas A&M has beaten the UCLA Bruins at home and the Auburn Tigers on the road. Both victories are tougher than any Tennessee victory.

Arkansas and Tennessee looked equally ugly in their openers against Group of Five teams. But the Razorbacks beat the TCU Horned Frogs in Week Two. That’s a quality victory beyond Tennessee’s at the Battle at Bristol. Oh, and they blew out Texas State in Week Three 42-3, the same team that beat Ohio, which Tennessee struggled with.

Nebraska earned the right to move ahead of Tennessee this past weekend with a thrilling victory over the Oregon Ducks. They also looked more impressive in wins over Fresno State and Wyoming than Tennessee did against Appalachian State and Ohio.

And finally, we bring you Miami. On schedule strength alone, the Vols probably deserve to be ranked higher. However, both teams did play Appalachian State. While Tennessee needed overtime to win that game 20-13, Miami destroyed the Mountaineers 45-10.

Sorry, the Hurricanes should be higher.

Tennessee at this point should not be any higher than No. 16 in either poll. That’s not to say they can’t move up later, but their body of work doesn’t justify their ranking at this point.

Butch Jones’s team has plenty of opportunities coming up to change that. If they beat the Florida Gators this week, we can start talking about a return to the Top 10.

Until then, they don’t deserve the respect they are getting.

Home/Vols Football