Despite morale being a bit low surrounding the quarterback drama for Tennessee and Josh Heupel, it seems like the AP voters strongly believe one player behind center won't make or break things for the Vols. That much was showcased with the new AP Top 25 coming out, as Tennessee is now the new No. 15 team in the country, moving up two spots from last week.
It sure wasn't pretty, but Tennessee managed to put together a 24-14 win over the Tigers in Week 5, with the defense once again looking sensational. You've got to give Jim Knowles credit for having his side of the ball looking so darn great, especially with it being totally up in the air who's going to be the Vols' starting QB moving forward.
BREAKING: College Football AP Poll🚨https://t.co/ZeYnSxjUiI pic.twitter.com/3wEByTQqqs
— On3 (@On3) October 4, 2026
No. 15 Tennessee has a difficult Faizon Brandon-George MacIntyre decision to make
As things stand, the Vols are 14.5-point favorites against the lowly Arkansas Razorbacks for a Week 6 matchup, but again, no one knows who will lead the offense out onto the field. Out of nowhere, there's a quarterback controversy back in Knoxville, with George MacIntyre looking much sharper than Faizon Brandon after the latter got benched.
Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.
In the past two games, Brandon has looked nothing like a 5-star prospect - it's on him to change how his Tennessee story ends. Come next week in practice, both Brandon and MacIntyre will likely split reps running with the 1s leading up to the road showdown against the Hogs next Saturday. From our chair, it may be G-Mac time, but that decision will ultimately come down to Heupel.
"Yeah, we'll go watch the tape," Heupel said when asked about who will start moving forward. "Faizon ultimately didn't play his best football. The turnover on the sideline and some of the things with his progressions... but I've said it a bunch to you guys, we're going to need them all throughout the course of the year. I alluded to that earlier with guys who had to step up, and we'll get back in the building on Monday and continue to grow. There's a lot of growth left for us on the offensive side of the football."
Soon enough, we'll all find out who Heupel will rock with, but fortunately, a meeting against a terrible Arkansas defense will be on the way to help either Brandon or MacIntyre light up the stat sheet. After that, though, a monster Third Saturday of October dance is going to be on the way with No. 6 Alabama, which is hoping to upset No. 2 Georgia in Week 6.
All of that sets up some pretty big weeks on the way for the Vols. Assuming they beat Arkansas AND Alabama, Tennessee will fire into the Top 10 and keep people believing that a trip to the College Football Playoff will be on the way. First up are the Razorbacks, however, and UT simply can't afford to look past them, especially with the unanswered question at quarterback hanging over everyone.
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