Tennessee football earns respect in AP Poll but not Coaches Poll

What did Josh Heupel do to other coaches in the NCAA? Their disdain for Tennessee football has ben evident from the start. Last week was the first time the Coaches Poll caught up with the AP Poll when it came to ranking UT. That legitimately lasted for a week.

Rocky Top blew out a top 25 team, the LSU Tigers, 40-13 on the road this past weekend. Still, they remained No. 8 in the Coaches Poll, exactly where they were after their bye week. How could they be that dominant in a game and not move up?

Well, at least media voters felt that way. Tennessee football was also No. 8 in the AP Poll last week but managed to move up to No. 6 in that poll this week. To be fair, LSU was No. 25 in the AP Poll and unranked in the Coaches Poll, so the AP Poll values this win a bit more.

Still, LSU was two spots out of the top 25 in the Coaches Poll. As a result, the Vols should’ve gained lots of respect for blowing them out the way they did. It’s hard to overstated just how impressive that was over the weekend.

Sure, Tennessee football was coming off a bye. However, people don’t just coast to victory in Death Valley like that. Josh Heupel’s team should’ve more than proven that it’s top five caliber. Only the Alabama Crimson Tide have been that dominant at LSU over the past two decades.

Funny enough, Alabama remained No. 1 in the Coaches Poll, but they fell to No. 3 in the AP Poll after struggling to put away the Texas A&M Aggies. Either way, the combined ranking for next week’s matchup between the Vols and Tide is No. 9, or 4.5 per team, the highest combined ranking in the series’ history.

The difference between the AP Poll and the Coaches Poll came down to two teams: the Oklahoma State Cowboys and USC Trojans. UT moved ahead of both teams in the AP Poll but stayed behind both teams in the Coaches Poll. It made no sense for either to be ahead of them.

USC may have beaten the Washington State Cougars at home, but it was only 30-14, and they only led 17-14 i the third quarter. That was also at home, so anybody who saw the Vols and LSU both play would’ve put Rocky Top ahead of them.

Oklahoma State, meanwhile, beat the Texas Tech Red Raiders 41-31, but they were up 34-31 in the fourth quarter, struggling to put the game away. Taking that into account, UT looked way more impressive than they did over the weekend.

Of course, it doesn’t really matter what happens. If Tennessee football wins against Alabama this weekend, they’ll clearly be top five. That AP ranking is their highest since 2001, the last season they finished in the top 10. As a result, there are still lots of positives, even if they are being disrespected overall.