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Where Tennessee Football is ranked in AP Top 25, Coaches Poll after the bye week

IMG_3593by: Grant Ramey3 hours agoGrantRamey
The Volunteer and Smokey start off the Vol Walk before a NCAA football game between Tennessee and UAB at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn., September 20, 2025. (© Angelina Alcantar/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)
The Volunteer and Smokey start off the Vol Walk before a NCAA football game between Tennessee and UAB at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn., September 20, 2025. (© Angelina Alcantar/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)

Tennessee Football on Sunday afternoon moved up two spots in both the Associated Press Top 25 and Coaches Poll on Sunday afternoon, going up to No. 20 in the Coaches Poll and No. 21 in the AP Top 25 after the bye week.

The Vols last week dropped eight spots to No. 22 in the Coaches Poll and nine spots to No. 23 in the AP Top 25 after the 33-27 loss to Oklahoma at Neyland Stadium.

Tennessee (7-3) hosts New Mexico State (3-6) on Saturday, with kickoff scheduled for 4:15 p.m. Eastern Time on SEC Network. After hosting the Aggies, the regular-season schedule closes with a trip to Florida on November 22 and Senior Day against Vanderbilt at Neyland Stadium on November 29. 

Tennessee ranked No. 25 in first CFP Top 25

New Mexico State lost 24-21 at home against Kennesaw State on Saturday. It was the fourth straight loss for the Aggies and sixth over the last seven games after a 2-0 start to the season. 

The Vols were ranked No. 25 in the first College Football Playoff rankings of the season Tuesday night. The College Football Playoff Top 25 will be updated on Tuesdays each week through Sunday, December 7, when the 12-team bracket is revealed.

Bowl projections earlier this week had Tennessee facing Miami in the Gator Bowl (On3’s Brett McMurphy and Athon Sports), Illinois or Iowa in the ReliaQuest Bowl (ESPN’s Mark Schlabach and College Football News), Illinois in the Music City Bowl (USA Today), SMU in the Mayo Bowl (ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura) and Michigan in the Citrus Bowl (CBS Sports).

Joey Aguilar: ‘Our next focus is our next opponent.’

Tennessee’s game against Oklahoma was widely viewed as a College Football Playoff elimination game, with both teams entering with two losses and needing to win out to stay in the conversation for the 12-team postseason field. 

“Ultimately, we’re not in control of any of those things,” Tennessee coach Josh Heupel said after the loss. “We’re in control of what we do. Disappointed. Thought they prepared extremely hard. There’s some things that were really good defensively early tonight. I thought they played really good football. 

“Got a choice to make. Life. How you going to respond? This group has competed, continued to try to get better every day. Expect and demand that as we get going here on the back end of the season.”

“Just keep fighting,” Aguilar added. “We’re blessed to have three more games, and you just got to take it week by week. College football is crazy, but our next focus is our next opponent.”