Tennessee Volunteers

The Tennessee Volunteers compete in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Eastern Division of the Southeastern Conference. The Volunteers are currently coached by tsweezy.

2021 marked the Inaugural SFA Season. Tennessee opened hot with big wins against Syracuse and Memphis followed by rather embarrassing losses against Maryland and South Carolina to sit at 2-2 early in the year. The Volunteers then rattled off 5 straight wins before falling to Kentucky, then rallying to win the last 3 games of the year to finish 10-3 and 18th in the nation before their victory over Kansas State in the Texas Bowl. The highlight game of the year was a 4th quarter come from behind victory at top-10 rival Alabama to knock them out of the inaugural playoffs. QB Cedric Marsh was a 2nd team all-SEC player and finished with the 7th most passing TDs in the country, and their best players were WR Ray-Ray Thompson (10th most receiving yards, 5th most touchdowns, 1st team all-SEC and 1st rounder in the draft) and WR Alex Henderson (Returned for his senior year).

Following the regular season, Tennessee signed the number 1 recruiting class consisting of 1 5-star, 18 4-stars, and 6 3-stars. Tennessee Volunteers

2022 saw Tennessee build on their 2021 success. They started off strong, winning 3 of their 4 OOC matchups including defending national runner-ups Florida State and end-of-season #2 seed Bowling Green. They dropped a close away loss to Liberty, but stormed through the conference slate winning their first 5 including top-15 victories over Alabama, Missouri, and LSU back-to-back-to-back. They faltered in a trip to Athens, but won their rivalry games to finish the regular season 10-2, ranked #2 in the nation, their highest ranking in program history.

With an SEC East division title, they went to Atlanta for a re-match against Alabama, where they were bested 28-45.

However, they still earned a playoff appearance with a #8 seed. Their first matchup was the liberty bowl against #9 Michigan State, where they won 40-34 over Heisman finalist Wayne Murray. The next game was against #1 seed Texas State and Heisman runner-up Justin DeShields in the Orange bowl, where Tennessee won 24-16. The playoff semi-final took place at the Rose Bowl against Western Michigan and heisman winner Theo Scribner, where the season came to an end with Tennessee losing 26-34.

QB Brandon Savage was a top-10 QB in the country by QBR as a true freshman and RB Aldrick Ynoa placed 5th in Heisman Trophy Voting as the leaders of the team.

Following the regular season, Tennessee signed the number 1 recruiting class again, with 2 5-stars, 11 4-stars, 7 3-stars, 3 2-stars, and 2 1-stars. Tennessee Volunteers

2023 was the first year where Tennessee was expected to be a force. The preseason AP poll had them as the #3 team, as the country seemed to be believers in QB Brandon Savage stepping up in the absence of RB Aldrick Ynoa. There was also a lot of senior talent on the defense.

Week 2 was hyped up as a potential “game of the year” between #1 FSU and #2 Tennessee in Tallahassee. Tennessee took the win, 40-21 as they moved up to the #1 ranking for the first time in program history. The regular season saw them roll through their schedule. They had a scare in Lexington as Kentucky kept the game within 3 (27-24). The remaining 11 games saw Tennessee win by 17+ in every single game. With the introduction of garbage time, the backups played a cumulative 8 full quarters. They still averaged 42.66 ppg (most in NCAA history) and gave up 14 ppg (5th in the nation). They won the SEC East and went to the SEC CCG as the #1 team against Auburn with a Heisman frontrunner battle between Savage and Auburn's QB Moncrief. Auburn won, and Tennessee entered the playoffs as the number 4 seed. They defeated Marshall in the playoff quarterfinals, before ending the season with a 30-42 loss against TCU in the Rose bowl.

Following the regular season, Tennessee signed the number 1 recruiting class for the third time, with 6 5-stars, 6 4-stars, 8 3-stars. Tennessee Volunteers

2024 started with Tennessee ranked #2 in the preseason AP poll. Defending Heisman winner Savage looked set to lead a potent offensive attack with a deep if not loaded defense headlined by the DL.

The out of conference schedule was relatively easy this season, with dominating wins over Alcorn State, Liberty, and Louisiana along with a 20 point victory over a top-15 ranked Wisconsin team.

The conference schedule saw another consistently dominating performance with the exception of a shockingly big loss to UGA in Athens, the first team to notch 2 wins over the Volunteers. However, at the end of the season, Tennessee stood at 11-1 and in (after tiebreakers) first place in the new division-less SEC. After tiebreaks they played Oklahoma in the SEC Championship and won, securing the first championship in Tennessee football history.

In award season, tsweezy won SEC COTY, Brandon Savage came in 2nd in the Heisman voting and there were several All-Americans and all-SEC players.

They wound up ranked 2nd in the committee rankings for the playoffs and earned a first round bye. For the quarterfinals, they played West Virginia in the Peach Bowl. This game was not particularly close as they won 62-24 earning their third straight semifinal berth. The sugar bowl was played against number 6 seed Notre Dame and was also not particularly close, 47-26 (35-3 at the half). This earned Tennessee their first national championship berth against number 1 seed, undefeated Baylor.

The 2024 national championship was the lowest scoring game of the year for both offenses as the (underrated) defenses showed up to play. Tennessee staked an early 17-0 lead before the offense stalled and they gritted out a 23-20 win over the Heisman winner, Travis Knebel and the bears. This marked Tennessee's first national championship and was much rejoiced.

Following the regular season, Tennessee signed the number 1 recruiting class, with 2 5-stars, 14 4-stars, and 5 3-stars. Tennessee Volunteers

Tennessee and Alabama play each year in the “Third Saturday in October”, a game marked by some extreme passion and famous quote “They low down, they dirty, they some snitches”.

Tennessee's secondary rivalry is with Florida, sometimes known as “the Third Saturday in September”

Lastly, Tennessee has a rather lopsided in-state rivalry with Vanderbilt.

Tennessee Records

2022 SEC East Division Champion

2023 SEC East Division Champion

2024 SEC Champions

2024 National Champions

2021 - Texas Bowl, W vs. Kansas State, 38-10

2022 - Liberty Bowl, W vs. Michigan State, 40-34

2022 - Orange Bowl, W vs. Texas State, 24-16

2022 - Rose Bowl, L vs. Western Michigan, 26-34

2023 - Fiesta Bowl, W vs. Marshall, 34-24

2023 - Rose Bowl, L vs. TCU, 30-42

2024 - Peach Bowl, W vs. West Virginia, 62-24

2024 - Sugar Bowl, W vs. Notre Dame, 47-26

QB Brandon Savage - Freshman All-American 1st team - 2022

RB Joe Williams - Freshman All-American 2nd team - 2022

QB Brandon Savage - All American 2nd team - 2023

WR Matt Siri - All American 3rd team - 2023

SS Brandon Duffey - Freshman All-American 1st team - 2023

OT Myles Hernandez - Freshman All-American 2nd team - 2023

QB Brandon Savage - All American 1st team - 2024

WR B.J. Flash - All American 2nd team - 2024

Heisman Trophy winner - QB Brandon Savage - 2023