Fox Sports host: Tennessee football is going to win the National Championship

Tennessee football has been dominant since the start of the season. The Vols started the year 4-0 and outscored its opponents 216-28. 

The offense is the calling card for Josh Heupel, but the defense has been equally dominant to start the season. The defense went 19 straight quarters without allowing a touchdown before Oklahoma found the endzone late in the fourth quarter after the game was out of hand. 

Tennessee was really close to making the four-team College Football Playoff in 2022 and is now setting itself up to host a Playoff game in the first round. The defense held the 2022 Vols back, but that has changed this year. 

After Heupel and the Vols lost to Georgia in Athens in 2022, the defense was quickly reevaluated. The coaching staff made it a top priority, and it has been evident to start the 2024 season. 

The Vols' defense has proven it can be relied on to win games. Heupel did it against Oklahoma in poor field conditions. He pulled back the offense in the second half after Oklahoma suffered a season-ending injury and relied on his defense to get the job done—and they did. 

That has led people seriously to consider Tennessee to make a National Championship run this season. On "The Herd," Colin Cowherd made a bold prediction about the Vols' and the hype around the potential National Championship run. 

“I’m going to call it right now. Tennessee is going to win the National Championship. I came on this show before the Oklahoma game and I said that Oklahoma, they’re not going to score. Tennessee’s got the best defense in college football. Excellent coach. Explosive offensively. I think Tennessee is the best team I’ve seen.”

Cowherd was joined by Joel Klatt, who immediately pushed back, saying, "I think, and I have said this on my program this week – they are National Championship caliber. I do not think that they're the best I've seen, partly just because of the inexperience at quarterback."

Part of Klatt's reasoning is because of Tennessee's roster. The Vols don't have the blue-chip ratio that Klatt believes will be needed to win the National Championship. 

"They don’t have the requisite roster, you would say, to go win a National Championship. Like, for instance, did you know that Michigan’s roster was the worst roster as far as a composite to win a National Championship in the last two decades? They were ranked, like, 14th in the talent composite. Tennessee, I believe, is 16 right now.”

Before his exit from the show, Klatt was complimentary of the Vols and their defense, admitting the Vols are on the right track to building a program that can win a National Championship. 

Tennessee will be in action again on October 5 when they head to Fayetteville for a primetime night game against Arkansas. The Vols will have a chance to continue their dominance before diving into the SEC schedule, where they will play Florida, Alabama, and Kentucky after the Arkansas game.