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Updated College Football Playoff predictions and bowl projections for Tennessee Football

IMG_3593by: Grant Ramey09/03/25GrantRamey
Bowl Projections AFI

The only agreement among the various bowl projections for Tennessee Football after Week 1 is total disagreement. The Vols are all over the board, including in College Football Playoff projections and on the outside looking in at the 12-team bracket, with various bowl games in the new predictions. 

Projected seeds in the College Football playoff include No. 7, No. 8 and No. 9. The list of bowl options include the Reliaquest Bowl, Mayo Bowl, Music City Bowl, Liberty Bowl, Citrus Bowl and Texas Bowl.

Tennessee (1-0) started the season with a 45-26 win over Syracuse in Atlanta. The Vols host ETSU (1-0) on Saturday (3:30 p.m. Eastern Time, ESPN+/SEC Network+) in the home opener at Neyland Stadium before hosting Georgia next week to start SEC play at home. 

ESPN has three College Football Playoff predictions for Vols

All three College Football Playoff projections come from ESPN.

ESPN’s Andrea Adelson has as the No. 7 Tennessee hosting No. 10 Florida State in the first round. ESPN’s Heather Dinich has Tennessee as a No. 8 seed at home against No. 9 Notre Dame and ESPN’s Bill Connelly projects a No. 9 seed — for a second straight season — and a road game at No. 8 Florida State in the first round. 

On3’s Brett McMurphy isn’t buying the Vols as a playoff team yet, projecting them to play in the Reliaquest Bowl in Tampa against Nebraska. CBS Sports has Tennessee in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl in Charlotte against North Carolina. 

College Football News has Tennessee in the Music City Bowl against Indiana and Sports Illustrated has the Vols in the Liberty Bowl against Kansas State.

ESPN also has two bowl projections for Tennessee, with ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura sending the Vols to the Citrus Bowl vs. Michigan and ESPN’s Mark Schlabach predicting a Texas Bowl trip vs. Texas Tech.

ESPN gives Tennessee 50% chance to make College Football Playoff

Tennessee is ranked No. 8 in both the updated ESPN SP+ ranking and ESPN’s Football Power Index, which gives the Vols a 50% chance to make the College Football Playoff.

That number is currently eighth highest in ESPN’s Playoff Predictor, trailing Ohio State (82%), Georgia (80%), Texas (70%), Ole Miss (66%), Penn State (58%), Oregon (57%) and USC (56%). The other six teams in the top 12 are LSU (47%), Miami (46%), South Carolina (43%) and Notre Dame (31%).

Tennessee finished the regular season 10-2 with road losses at Arkansas and Georgia last season, earning a No. 9 seed in the first 12-team College Football Playoff and a trip to No. 8 Ohio State. The Buckeyes won 42-17 at Ohio Stadium on December 21, starting their run to the national championship.

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