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
3 of 14
Next
Sep 3, 2022; Auburn, Alabama, USA; Auburn Tigers quarterback Robby Ashford (9) carries against the Mercer Bears during the first quarter at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Reed-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 3, 2022; Auburn, Alabama, USA; Auburn Tigers quarterback Robby Ashford (9) carries against the Mercer Bears during the first quarter at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Reed-USA TODAY Sports /

12. team. 842. . 1-0. . Tigers

Defeated Mercer Bears 42-16

Bryan Harsin’s dramatic offseason with the Auburn Tigers is over, and it’ll be hard for the season itself to be more eventful than that. There’s a reason Tennessee football ended up surpassing Auburn as the team that had the most reason to be excited about its first-year head coach toward the end of last year.

Still, Auburn was able to beat the Mercer Bears and give their fans a bit of fun to open the year. It wasn’t a clean performance, and it was against an FCS school, which still puts them near the bottom of our SEC Power Rankings. Still, amidst all the drama, they are 1-0.

Auburn isn’t just dealing with the drama surrounding Harsin, though. They also have to deal with the distraction of losing athletic director Allen Greene, and that just happened. Given all of those issues, winning in a blowout is worthy of celebrating, even against an FCS school.

Still, they have a lot of work to do before rising in these rankings. Next week gives them a chance against the San Jose State Spartans, but their first real test is against the Penn State Nittany Lions on Sept. 17. It’s hard to see this team making too much of a jump before then, but hey, they need some confidence boosters to get ready for such an imposing opponent.

Home/Vols Football