While the Tennessee basketball team fell just short of the Final Four in the NCAA Tournament this past weekend in Detroit, the Vols can hang their head high with a memorable run up the bracket with just their second Elite Eight appearance in program history.
Tennessee, the 2-seed in the tournament, took down 15-seed Saint Peter’s, 7-seed Texas, and 3-seed Creighton en route to a loss to 1-seed Purdue. The Vols operated out of the Midwest Region in the 68-team format.
But, weirdly enough, that’s where the basketball conversation ends. Imagine – just for a minute – a glorious yet unfortunately unattainable world that featured a 64-team March Madness-style college football tournament. ESPN’s Chris Low was crazy enough to do just that.
Prior to the start of the NCAA Tournament, Low mapped out what a 64-team tournament would look like for the upcoming 2024 college football season. So for Tennessee, we’re looking at Nico Iamaleava’s first team rather than Joe Milton’s final team.
Tennessee earned a 4-seed in the tournament alongside Arizona, LSU, and Utah. In this hypothetical, the Vols are being sent out to the West Region with 1-seed Oregon – one of the two non-SEC 1-seeds.
Let’s start from the top.
Tennessee’s first game is against 13-seed Duke. While the Blue Devils finished with an 8-5 record in 2023, Duke did bring in former Texas quarterback Maalik Murphy from the transfer portal in December. While Murphy vs Iamaleava would dazzle from a quarterback perspective, the Duke Blue Devils aren’t a Cinderella contender and won’t share their basketball team’s success. Vols move on.
While Tennessee would project to play the 5-seed in the second round, Low has a big first-round upset with 12-seed UCF taking down 5-seed Kansas State. Ah, drama! Storylines! A rematch between Josh Heupel and his former program. The Knights went 6-7 in 2023 with a loss to Georgia Tech in their bowl game but brought in SEC veteran KJ Jefferson after three years starting for Arkansas. While Jefferson and the Knights do make a good effort as the 12-seed, it’s no NC State as an 11-seed type of run.
Tennessee advances to the Sweet 16.
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And here’s where things get tricky for Tennessee. The Vols’ Sweet 16 opponent is 1-seed Oregon, who has gone 32-9 over the last three seasons. While this is a hypothetical world, it’s still a world of realism, and upsets are harder to come by in football than in basketball. Despite Tennessee’s best efforts with Iamaleava, the Ducks present a stout challenge for the Vols with former Heupel quarterback Dillon Gabriel.
“Iamaleava’s first season as the Vols’ starter is a testament to why he was so heavily recruited,” Low wrote for ESPN. “But as good as he is in this game, he’s the second-best quarterback on the field as Dillon Gabriel throws for 390 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Ducks a step closer to playing for the national championship.”
While Rick Barnes’ run fell short of the Final Four, Josh Heupel’s run falls short of the Elite Eight in Chris Low’s hypothetical inaugural 64-team January Madness college football tournament. Not a bad result as it means that Tennessee took care of business against the teams they were supposed to. And with Iamaleava, Jake Merklinger, and George MacIntyre all in the quarterback room the following season, Tennessee has a great starting point for the future.
(I have to routinely remind myself that this is not a real scenario while writing this, as tough as it is.)
With all this talk about hypothetical football, it’s a good thing there’s real football currently taking place on Rocky Top. The Vols are running through spring camp as they work towards the 2024 Orange & White spring game on April 13 in Neyland Stadium. Stay tuned to Rocky Top Insider for more Tennessee football news throughout the month.
To check out Chris Low’s full 64-team college football tournament, click here. To see the bracket for Low’s selections from ESPN, click here.
