Tennessee moves up in both polls after blowout win on Saturday

The Tennessee Vols are moving on up on both polls after another dominating win to start this 2024 season.

Tennessee moved up in the AP Poll on Sunday afternoon by one spot. The Vols jumped up from 7th to 6th in the AP Poll, leaping Eli Drinkwitz’s Missouri Tigers. The Tigers held off a late charge from Boston College 27-21 at home on Saturday afternoon.

But that wasn’t the only place where the Vols supplanted the Tigers, doing the same in the coaches poll. The Vols jumped the Tigers and the idle Penn State Nittany Lions from 9th up to 7th.

Tennessee dominated its third opponent in as many games in 2024, drubbing Kent State 71-0, which set a program record in the modern era for points and total yards. And the defense extended its touchdownless streak to 16 quarters, the longest stretch since 1940.

So, yeah, pretty not bad stuff going on in Knoxville right now, wouldn’t ya say? And it appears as though the media and coaches around the country are certainly taking notice.

Some might say the rankings don’t matter this early in the season, but, well, they do matter for coaches and players trying to find areas of motivation for their teams. Coaches have found far more remote things to post on their bulletin board as material. They also have to be careful to make sure there’s no lookahead or getting too high up in the clouds on the praise. Rat poison, as Nick Saban would call it.

Tennessee will have a chance to impress even more people across the country on Saturday night, when the Vols invade Norman, Oklahoma to match up with the Sooners in their first ever SEC conference game. It’s the ABC night game, and College Gameday will be on the scene.