The Tennessee Volunteers have had a great start to their 2024 season. Behind a balanced offense and a physical defense, the Vols have been firmly in control of every game they’ve played this year, including a 25-15 road win at Oklahoma on Saturday.
However, the SEC is particularly brutal this season, and while Josh Heupel’s team has clearly taken a big step forward from where they were in 2023, it’s obviously way too early to talk about the Vols as the SEC favorite at this point. That’s certainly in the cards if Tennessee keeps winning, particularly on October 19 against Alabama, but for now, the Vols at least appear to be solidly in the conversation for a playoff spot, at minimum.
That’s where multiple projections have put Tennessee – outside of the top four, but in the field. Two of those projections – On3 Sports’ Jesse Simonton and Action Network – have Tennessee as the #7 playoff seed and facing off against the same opponent – Penn State – in Knoxville…