Where Tennessee Football is ranked after the 33-27 loss to Oklahoma

Tennessee Football dropped eight spots to No. 22 in the new Coaches Poll and nine spots to No. 23 in the Associated Press Top 25 on Sunday, following the 33-27 loss to Oklahoma Saturday night at Neyland Stadium.  

Tennessee (7-3) is off this week and hosts New Mexico State (3-5) on November 15, with kickoff scheduled for 4:15 p.m. Eastern Time on SEC Network. The Vols then close the regular-season schedule with a trip to Florida on November 22 and Senior Day against Vanderbilt at Neyland Stadium on November 29. 

Joey Aguilar on Saturday night completed 29 of 45 passes for 393 yards and three touchdowns, but he was responsible for three turnovers that led to 16 Oklahoma points in the first half.

The Sooners turned a strip sack into a fumble returned 71 yards for at touchdown to tie the game in the first quarter, then picked Aguilar off twice in the second quarter, leading to two field goals and a 16-10 halftime lead. 

Tennessee out-gained Oklahoma 456-351

Tennessee finished the game with 456 total yards to Oklahoma’s 351, had eight fewer penalties, nine more first downs, three more conversions on third down and 16 more offensive snaps, but still couldn’t find a way to win at home. 

The Vols rushed for just 63 yards on 35 attempts as a team while Oklahoma’s defense finished with four sacks and eight tackles for loss. 

Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer complete 19 of 29 passes for 159 yards and was intercepted once. He ran 16 times for 80 yards and a touchdown as the Sooners went for 192 yards and two touchdowns on the ground in the win. 

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

Saturday night’s game 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.”