The Preseason Associated Press Top 25 released on Monday with Tennessee football landing as the No. 15 team in the country.
The AP Poll released a week after the Preseason USA Today Coaches Poll which also pegged Tennessee as the No. 15 team in the country and the seventh highest ranked team in the Southeastern Conference.
Tennessee is the seventh highest rated of nine SEC teams in the preseason AP Poll. The Vols came in behind No. 1 Georgia, No. 4 Texas, No. 5 Alabama, No. 6 Ole Miss, No. 11 Missouri and No. 13 LSU and ahead of No. 16 Oklahoma and No. 20 Texas A&M.
While there are nine SEC teams in the poll, Tennessee only faces three of them on its 2024 schedule. The Vols go on the road to face Oklahoma and Georgia, host Alabama at Neyland Stadium and also face No. 24 North Carolina State in a neutral site game in Charlotte.
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It’s the second straight year that Tennessee has landed in the preseason AP Poll. Josh Heupel’s team started the season ranked No. 12 a season ago and was unranked in the preseason polls in both 2021 and 2022. Tennessee received the most votes of any unranked team in 2022 before having a breakout 11-2 season.
Interior expectations are high for Tennessee football entering the 2024 season even though the exterior expectations are moderate. The Vols have talented and deep offensive and defensive lines and are breaking in a talented redshirt freshman quarterback in Nico Iamaleava.
How much Tennessee’s passing attack can improve with Iamaleava at the helm as well as how well the defensive backfield improves are some of the biggest questions facing the Vols entering Heupel’s fourth season as head coach.
Tennessee is 27-12 (14-10 SEC) in Heupel’s first three seasons as head coach including an 11-2 season in 2022 that included wins over Florida, LSU, Alabama and Clemson.
The Vols open the 2024 season on Aug. 31 when they host UT-Chattanooga at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville.
