Tennessee football: 3 takeaways from Vols No. 24 ranking in 2017 preseason Coaches Poll
Tennessee football came in at No. 24 in the 2017 preseason Amway Coaches Poll. Here are three takeaways from the Volunteers’ Top 25 ranking.
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It’s not near where they were last year, but Tennessee football is in the preseason Top 25 once again…at least in one poll.
The Vols came in at No. 24 in the 2017 preseason Amway Coaches Poll, just ahead of the Utah Utes and just behind the Texas Longhorns. That’s the exact same spot in the poll where they finished last year.
Tennessee joined five other SEC teams in the Top 25, including the Alabama Crimson Tide at No. 1. Three others, the Texas A&M Aggies, Arkansas Razorbacks and Mississippi State Bulldogs all received votes.
You can see the full set of rankings here.
The AP Poll will come out later this month, and it’s still a question as to whether or not the Vols will be ranked there. However, here are three takeaways from their ranking in the Coaches Poll.
1. It’s Tennessee football’s third straight year in the preseason Top 25
You can say what you want about Butch Jones being on the hot seat, but after two straight nine-win seasons and Top 25 finishes, he has the Vols in their third straight preseason Top 25. Whether or not that last is a mystery to everybody.
However, the last time the Vols were in at least three straight preseason Coaches Poll Top 25 rankings was nine years ago. Of course, that’s a different story. They entered 2008 in the preseason Top 25 for the 19th straight year, dating back to 1989. After that year, though, the Vols went six straight years without being in either preseason Top 25. And they were only in it for one week during those entire six seasons. Those numbers show how far the program has come.
2. The Vols have one of the toughest SEC schedules based on this ranking
The SEC East and SEC West have the same number of teams in the Top 25: Three each. And while Tennessee is one of the six teams in there, it plays four of the remaining five teams on the slate. The only team who plays that many is the LSU Tigers.
Given those facts, it’s safe to say that Tennessee football appears to have the toughest SEC schedule among teams in the East and may have the second toughest SEC schedule overall. LSU’s is likely the toughest, especially since they get an extra road game against the Florida Gators this year.
But on top of that, the Vols could have a tough non-conference opponent in the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, who received 10 votes for the Top 25.
3. Tennessee football’s 2017 outlook is a complete mystery
The Vols lost their most productive quarterback since Peyton Manning in Joshua Dobbs, their best defensive end n school history in Derek Barnett and numerous other key players. And they are coming off an under-achieving 9-4 season with numerous new staff members and their head coach in Butch Jones potentially on the hot seat.
However, the Coaches Poll has them ranked in the same spot as where they finished last year. What does that say?
Next: 4 Reasons Tennessee football could be better in 2017
The Vols are still respected as a program. They are supposed to be in the Top 25. And to be fair, they do have quite a bit of talent, albeit unproven. So they secured a spot in the Top 25 just barely, significantly behind SEC East foes the Florida Gators and Georgia Bulldogs and also behind three SEC West teams, two of whom they play. So this suggests what we all knew: Nobody knows anything about what the program will do this year.