6. Tennessee Volunteers
Week 1 Opponent: Ball State
Coming off an impressive first season under head coach Josh Heupel, Tennessee comes in at No. 6 in our preseason SEC Football 2022 power rankings.
After a 3-7 2020 season, the Volunteers bounced back in a big way a year ago, going 7-6 with a 4-4 record in conference play. As mentioned previously, this was the first season of the Heupel era in Knoxville, and it certainly impressed at times, in particular offensively where the Volunteers put up a season average of 39.3 PPG.
Looking ahead to the 2022 campaign however, the Tennessee offense is once again expected to be among the SEC’s best, while the defense should continue to improve. As for the offense in particular however, Tennessee will have one of the conference’s top players at both quarterback and wide receiver in Hendon Hooker and Cedric Tillman, as well as a key running back returning in Jabari Small.
Essentially, Tennessee will be able to keep up with almost anyone in the SEC offensively. Yes, their defense should be improved, but the Tennessee offense is the biggest talking point in Knoxville entering the year and should allow the Volunteers to compete with almost any team on the field.
As for week one, Tennessee should make quick work of Ball State on Thursday night with a likely dominating win from start to finish for the Volunteers.