The 2022-23 college football season is in the rearview as Georgia defended its title by winning a second consecutive College Football Playoff National Championship.
With the season over, the AP released it final top 25 of the season. Tennessee came in at No. 6 in the final AP Poll, the program’s highest final rankings since 2001.
Georgia earned the top spot in the poll followed by TCU, Michigan, Ohio State and Alabama too round out the top five. Tennessee was No. 6 entering bowl season and stayed in that spot after the Crimson Tide torched Kansas State in the Sugar Bowl.
Tennessee had a strong bowl season itself, defeating then-No. 7 Clemson, 31-14, in the Capital One Orange Bowl with back up quarterback Joe Milton III at the helm.
The bowl win capped off an 11-2 (6-2 SEC) second season for Josh Heupel and his staff. It was the program’s first 10-win season since 2003 and its first 11-win season since 2001.
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Tennessee avenged its loss against Pittsburgh from the 2021 season, ended a five-game losing streak to Florida and went on the road and dominated LSU in Baton Rouge. The crowning moment of Tennessee’s resurgent season was undoubtedly its win over No. 3 Alabama.
Chase McGrath booted in a 41-yard field goal to knock off the previously unbeaten Crimson Tide in a thriller at Neyland Stadium. The win marked Tennessee’s first in the series since 2006.
The Vols floundered in November with a road loss at eventual champion Georgia and a road loss at South Carolina— which ended Tennessee’s playoff hopes.
Tennessee finished the season strong after Hendon Hooker suffered a season ending knee injury by annihilating Vanderbilt and knocking off Clemson in the Orange Bowl.
Heupel and the Vols kick off the 2023 season on Sept. 2 at Nissan Stadium in Nashville against ACC foe Virginia.
