Tennessee will open the 2026 season ranked No. 20 in the Associated Press preseason top 25, which was released Monday.
The Vols are part of a SEC-heavy field near the top of the poll, with Georgia leading the conference at No. 3.
Texas checks in at No. 5, followed by Texas A&M at No. 8, Ole Miss at No.
9, Oklahoma at No. 10, LSU at No.
11, Alabama at No. 13, Tennessee at No. 20 and Missouri at No.
Ohio State starts the year at No. 1.
Oregon is No. 2, Notre Dame No. 4 and Indiana No.
- Miami (FL) rounds out the top seven behind the Buckeyes, Ducks and Bulldogs.
For Tennessee, the ranking comes ahead of a season that begins Sept. 5 against Furman at Neyland Stadium. The opener is set for 3:30 p.m. EDT and will be shown on SEC Network+.
Josh Heupel enters his sixth season in Knoxville with a 45-20 record. Tennessee’s home schedule also includes Kennesaw State, Texas, Auburn, Alabama, Kentucky and LSU. On the road, the Vols will travel to Georgia Tech, Arkansas, South Carolina, Texas A&M and Vanderbilt.
Here is the full AP preseason top 25: 1.
Ohio State 2.
Oregon 3.
Georgia 4.
Notre Dame 5.
Texas 6.
Indiana 7.
Miami (FL) 8.
Texas A&M 9.
Ole Miss 10.
Oklahoma 11.
LSU 12.
Texas Tech 13.
Alabama 14.
USC 14.
BYU 16.
Michigan 17.
Washington 18.
Penn State 19.
SMU 20.
Tennessee 21.
Utah 22.
Iowa 23.
Houston 24.
Louisville 25.
Missouri
Others receiving votes included Clemson, Florida, Boise State, Arizona, TCU, South Carolina, Navy, Illinois, Oklahoma State, Vanderbilt, Pittsburgh, Virginia Tech, Minnesota, New Mexico, Georgia Tech, Louisiana, UNLV, Auburn, James Madison, California, Memphis, Virginia, Liberty, Tulane and Western Michigan.
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