Tennessee football moves up in ESPN's FPI rankings

Tennessee football opened its 2024 season with a dominant 69-3 win over Chattanooga. The Vols looked elite in every phase of the game for all four quarters against a quality FCS opponent, who will be FCS Playoff contenders come December. 

As a result, the Vols jumped up a couple of spots in ESPN's computer-generated Football Power Index rankings. Tennessee came into week one ranked No. 9 in the FPI rankings and jumped two spots to No. 7 after drumming Chatt. 

ESPN created ESPN's Football Power Index (FPI) as a predictive rating system for measuring team strength and predicting game and season results in College Football. 

In the home opener, Nico Iamaleava showed up big for the Vols and his first career start in Neyland Stadium. The redshirt freshman gunslinger went 22-of-28 passing for 314 yards and three touchdowns in one half. 

He set the program record for most passing yards in a single half and took off the second half as the Vols subs continued to put on more steam and run away with the blowout win over the Mocs. 

Unsurprisingly, Georgia remained at the top of the rankings, but the rest of the top ten received a big shakeup. Alabama jumped three spots and skipped over Texas for the No. 2 spot, while the Longhorns stayed at No. 3. Ohio State stayed at No. 4, and Penn State moved up one spot to No. 5. 

The rest of the top ten did not stay the same. Notre Dame improved one spot to No. 6, Tennessee moved up to No. 7, Ole Miss took the biggest jump and advanced eight spots to No. 8, while Oklahoma dropped one spot to No. 9, and Oregon dropped eight to No. 10.