Tennessee was left out of the way-too-early top 25 rankings done by ESPN last month, but the network’s metric systems sure love the Volunteers going into the fall. Tennessee debuted at No. 10 overall in ESPN’s Football Power Index this week, piggybacking off their No. 13 ranking in Bill Connelly’s S&P+ metric.
The Vols were given a 97.5 percent chance of reaching six wins. They were given a 38.5 percent chance of making the College Football Playoff field and a five percent chance at making a National Championship appearance.
Tennessee is being anchored by defense here, as evidenced by their ranking of seventh in S&P+.