The college football season is just three days away and Tennessee is 10 days away from opening up its 2024 season against Chattanooga at Neyland Stadium.
With the season on the precipice, national outlets are releasing their predictions for the 2024 season. ESPN released its College Football Playoff predictions on Wednesday, listing Tennessee football as one of the first four teams out of the field.
So if ESPN doesn’t think Tennessee is going to make the 12-team College Football Playoff, what bowl game do they think the Vols will play in this season?
ESPN released its preseason bowl projections on Wednesday with Mark Schlabach predicting Tennessee to land in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl against Michigan and Kyle Bonagura predicting Tennessee to land in the Taxslayer Gator Bowl against Louisville.
The Cheez-It Citrus Bowl is the top non College Football Playoff bowl game that an SEC team can play in. Tennessee played in the Citrus Bowl last season when Nico Iamaleava made the first start of his career and the Vols dominated No. 17 Iowa 35-0.
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Tennessee last played in Gator Bowl in 2020 when Jeremy Pruitt’s Vols used a late game comeback to knock off Indiana in Jacksonville.
The Vols have made bowl games in each of Josh Heupel’s three seasons as head coach. Tennessee fell to Purdue in the 2021 Music City Bowl, defeated Clemson in the 2022 Orange Bowl and then earned the win last season over Iowa.
Tennessee’s internal expectations are high for the 2024 season. The Vols expect to be good at the most important positions on the field including quarterback, defensive line and offensive line. Being stout at those three spots would set Tennessee up to have a successful season.
