A handful of teams from the Southeastern Conference landed on the preseason AP Top 25 list on Monday morning.
If for nothing else, these preseason rankings are noteworthy as the final preseason rankings before major, major shifts come to the college football landscape including Texas and Oklahoma into the SEC and the dissolving of major names from the Pac-12.
All in all, six teams from the SEC made the Top 25 including Tennessee. Additionally, six teams from the SEC received votes but were left on the outside of the poll looking in.
No. 1 Georgia (1,572 points, 60 First Place votes)
No. 4 Alabama (1,398)
No. 5 LSU (1,276)
No. 12 Tennessee (868)
No. 22 Ole Miss (281)
No. 23 Texas A&M (227)
Receiving votes: South Carolina 73, Arkansas 22, Kentucky 14, Auburn 7, Mississippi State 4, Florida 4
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While it’s not information useful for the 2023 season, future 2024 additions of Texas and Oklahoma come in at No. 11 and No. 20, respectively, in the poll. The Vols will travel to play Oklahoma in Norman, OK during the 2024 season.
Three of the five other SEC teams in the Top 25 will be on Tennessee’s schedule this season.
The Vols will host No. 23 Texas A&M on Oct. 14 in Neyland Stadium and travel to Tuscaloosa to play No. 4 Alabama on Oct. 21. Tennessee will also host No. 1 Georgia in late November as the penultimate game of the regular season.
While Tennessee only has three ranked games scheduled right now, there are a handful of teams that could wind up jumping up by the time their week comes up. South Carolina is near the top of the receiving votes category while Kentucky has a fairly easy first five games of their schedule before a matchup with Georgia in Athens.
No. 12 Tennessee will kick off the season against Virginia on Sept. 2 in Nashville’s Nissan Stadium.
To see the full AP Top 25 preseason poll, click here.
