Tennessee football: Experts catching on to just how great Vols can be in 2022
It won’t be any surprise if Tennessee football enters the season unranked. Despite the overachieving first season under Josh Heupel and tons of talent back on offense, there are plenty of questions surrounding a defense that was already struggling last year.
However, while those questions leave open the possibility of an awful season and may turn people away from betting on the Vols, the talent coming in and the schedule sets up nicely for UT to make a shocking run. It looks like people are finally figuring that out.
Just this week, two separate analysts listed their best and worst case scenarios for Tennessee football. Dan Harralson of VolsWire had the range from 8-4 to 11-1. Still, he covers UT. Well, Brad Crawford of 247Sports, a national analyst, had them as bad as 5-7 but as good as 10-2.
Meanwhile, Steve Lassan of Athlon Sports listed the Vols as the best long-shot best to win the SEC Championship along with the Texas A&M Aggies in his post on the best value best for each conference champion earlier this week. Yes, he shot that high.
A month ago, the WynnBET betting odds set the Vols’ over/under win total at 8.5 with over -105 and under -115. Lassan then had a post pretty much suggesting to take the over in that scenario. Here’s a bit of what he said.
"Outside of road games at LSU and Georgia and a home date versus Alabama, Tennessee could be favored in its other nine games next fall. The Volunteers also have a road trip to Pitt in non-conference play on tap, but 9-3 is within reach for coach Josh Heupel’s team."
That quote is the key. The schedule favors Tennessee football in a way that it usually doesn’t, which is why the Vols could be favored in nine games. The only other game in question will be the second week against the Pittsburgh Panthers.
However, Pitt just lost quarterback Kenny Pickett to the NFL and wide receiver Jordan Addison to the transfer portal, and those were the two catalysts for Pitt’s offense last year, which led it to the ACC Championship. As a result, there’s a great chance UT is favored in that game.
At the same time, if Pitt reverses to more of a likely loss, you could reverse the LSU Tigers to a likely win. Although that game is at LSU, Brian Kelly is in his first year with that team, which went 6-7 a year ago. As a result, they could be rebuilding.
Of course the sticking point is the Florida Gators, but if the Vols can’t beat them this year, they’ll never beat them. Florida is undergoing a coaching change after a 6-7 season and has to face UT in Knoxville, so there’s no way they shouldn’t lose that game.
Based on what Lassan said, if those are the only three games in which UT is an underdog, then they’ll be favored the first four games, where Pitt and Florida are the only two Power Five foes. Should they win all four of those, they have a chance of actually being favored in their fifth game at LSU.
dark. Next. Ranking Vols position groups by 2022 spring practice play
See why 10-2 is realistically on the table now? Vegas and national analysts are all putting 10 wins on the table for Tennessee football in Heupel’s second season. Alabama and Georgia would obviously be the two losses in that scenario, but that could be a great sign for the state of the Vols entering the future.