College Football Rankings 2020: Projected preseason Top 25 sans Pac-12, Big Ten

18. Tennessee Volunteers

• Where they were ranked in the 2019 preseason: unranked (0 points)
• Where they were ranked at the end of 2019: 34th (8 points)
• Where they were in our way-too-early Top 25: unranked
• Where they ranked in the preseason Coaches Poll: 26th (111 points)

After a two-year run of losing records, Tennessee recovered to win eight games in 2019. The Volunteers returned to a bowl game for the first time since 2016, where they reversed a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter against a strong Indiana squad to win 23-22 at the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville. If not for opening the year 0-2 against Georgia State and BYU, the Vols would have reached 10 wins for the first time since 2007.

Those building blocks are going to convince pollsters that Tennessee merits a spot in the preseason AP Top 25. They were on the cusp of entering the Coaches Poll, finishing as the first team out in the land of others receiving votes. With a decent amount of returning production on both sides of the ball, the building blocks are in place for Jeremy Pruitt’s team to take the next step and challenge for bigger prizes.

Key to any chance of competing in the SEC East this year — especially a year where the league is only playing within the conference — will be the Vols defense. Tennessee finished top-30 last year in both points and yards allowed, in large part due to a secondary that nabbed 15 interceptions and allowed fewer than 200 passing yards per game. Now the front seven needs to step up more on running downs and get teams off the field more frequently.

Georgia and Florida remain the frontrunners in the SEC East, but Tennessee will get a boost of confidence from a preseason ranking and will take confidence from ending 2019 on a six-game winning streak.