Tennessee Vols Picked Second in SEC East; Seventh in SEC

The media at SEC Media Days picked the Tennessee Vols to finish seventh in the SEC for the 2015 football season and second in the East.

With SEC Media Days drawing to a close, the Tennessee Volunteers were picked to finish only behind the Georgia Bulldogs in the SEC East this year.

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Deemed the dark horse team in the East, the Vols received 36 first place votes in the East while the Dawgs had 166. Missouri was picked third, South Carolina came in fourth, Florida came in fifth, Kentucky came in sixth, and Vanderbilt came in seventh.

The Vols also received two points in the overall SEC predictions as they are picked to finish seventh in the conference. The conference is the state of Alabama this year, with the Auburn Tigers and the Alabama Crimson Tide picked to finish first and second respectively in the SEC overall, but that order was reversed for the SEC West predictions.

With Georgia picked to finish third, the Vols were also behind the LSU Tigers, the Arkansas Razorbacks, and the Ole Miss Rebels.

See the full predictions here.

The biggest question in all of this is how the Vols could be picked to finish behind Arkansas. Both had similar finishes to the season last year, and Tennessee has scored way better recruiting classes. How does that make sense?

At the same time, they should not be ahead of the Texas A&M Aggies, who are picked sixth in the West and eighth in the conference. That also makes no sense given their success of the past three years, but they continue to be disrespected.

Everybody but Missouri, South Carolina, Kentucky, and Vanderbilt received a point in the overall SEC Standings predictions.

By the way, that’s also disrespectful. After two solid seasons, it would be fair to have Missouri and Gary Pinkel getting more respect than they are getting.

But shoving all that aside, Tennessee is clearly a team where analysts have cautious optimism, as was predicted all summer. That showdown with Arkansas this year is now an even bigger game. But Florida, Georgia, and Oklahoma matter too.

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The media at SEC Media Days picked the Tennessee Vols to finish seventh in the SEC for the 2015 football season and second in the East.

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