All for Tennessee
Fansided

Tennessee football in top half of SEC Power Rankings for Week 1 of 2022

By Caleb Calhoun

Volunteers gather and sing the alma mater after the Tennessee vs Ball State football game in Neyland Stadium, Knoxville, Tenn. on Thursday, Sept. 1, 2022.Utvsballstate 2461
Volunteers gather and sing the alma mater after the Tennessee vs Ball State football game in Neyland Stadium, Knoxville, Tenn. on Thursday, Sept. 1, 2022.Utvsballstate 2461 /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
1 of 14
Next

Until Sunday, it was a historic Week 0 and Week 1 for the SEC. After the Vanderbilt Commodores kicked things off by blowing out the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors two Saturdays ago, Tennessee football and the Missouri Tigers both blew out their Group of Five opponents Thursday. That was but a taste of what was yet to come.

On Saturday, all three SEC teams playing ranked foes won their games, including two wins against Pac-12 opponents. One was a shocking blowout, and the other was a shocking upset. That had a huge impact in our first slate of SEC Power Rankings for the 2022 season, and nobody from the conference lost a game that day.

Things changed Sunday, as the league lost its last game of the opening weekends, but that doesn’t change the success it had Saturday. Right now, the Southeastern Conference looks as brutal as ever. See where Tennessee football stands in our Week 1 SEC Power Rankings.

The Tennessee football Volunteers look like one of the better teams in the Southeastern Conference right now.

Sep 4, 2022; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; Louisiana State Tigers defensive tackle Maason Smith (0) celebrates a play during the first half against the Florida State Seminoles at Caesars Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Melina Myers-USA TODAY Sports

0-1. . Tigers . 14. team. 817.

Lost to Florida State Seminoles 24-23

They played a much tougher opponent than most of the league, but by nature of being the only team to lose, the LSU Tigers have to be at the bottom of our SEC Power Rankings. Winning and losing takes precedence over everything else. Schedule strength and margin of victory follow in these power rankings

There’s also a recency bias, and preseason projections and last year’s results don’t matter. Head to head is also a factor, but that won’t matter here. Anyway, LSU suffered a heartbreaking loss to the Florida State Seminoles, and it was due to two fumbled points, a blocked extra point and a blocked field goal, making Brian Kelly’s debut frustrating.

However, this team showed a lot of talent beyond the kicking game, enough to make Tennessee football fans nervous when the two face off in Death Valley in October. By that point, they should move up these rankings, but they have to win first. They’ll get a chance Saturday against the Southern Jaguars, and then they face the Mississippi State Bulldogs.

Home/Vols Football