Yes, 2021 is a Season of Change for the Tennessee Volunteers football program, and we’re turning to face the strange ourselves with this year’s preseason publication. We’re inviting you along for the process, asking for input on several key pieces of content.
First up is our Preseason College Football Power Rankings. We don’t usually publish these in any form, but use them primarily as a building block for much of the rest of the publication. Previews, projected records and standings, the stock watch, and other content depend to some degree on the Power Rankings.
The Power Rankings are compiled first using a formula, and then subjected to human overrides, which is where we (and you) come in.
Here’s the first draft, the formula-only results. It’s a baseline, and now it’s up to us to tell it where it’s wrong.
| 1 | Alabama |
| 2 | Clemson |
| 3 | Oklahoma |
| 4 | Georgia |
| 5 | Ohio State |
| 6 | Texas A&M |
| 7 | Florida |
| 8 | Oregon |
| 9 | Wisconsin |
| 10 | North Carolina |
| 11 | Cincinnati |
| 12 | Notre Dame |
| 13 | Texas |
| 14 | USC |
| 15 | Iowa |
| 16 | Iowa State |
| 17 | Penn State |
| 18 | Washington |
| 19 | BYU |
| 20 | Miami (Florida) |
| 21 | Indiana |
| 22 | Arizona State |
| 23 | Utah |
| 24 | Auburn |
| 25 | Oklahoma State |
| 26 | Coastal Carolina |
| 27 | Northwestern |
| 28 | Virginia Tech |
| 29 | Michigan |
| 30 | Mississippi |
| 31 | Louisiana-Lafayette |
| 32 | Nebraska |
| 33 | Minnesota |
| 34 | UCF |
| 35 | Appalachian State |
| 36 | LSU |
| 37 | West Virginia |
| 38 | TCU |
| 39 | Louisville |
| 40 | Liberty |
| 41 | Pittsburgh |
| 42 | UCLA |
| 43 | Maryland |
| 44 | Purdue |
| 45 | SMU |
| 46 | Tennessee |
| 47 | Buffalo |
| 48 | Kentucky |
| 49 | North Carolina State |
| 50 | Arkansas |
| 51 | Memphis |
| 52 | Boise State |
| 53 | Mississippi State |
| 54 | UAB |
| 55 | Tulsa |
| 56 | Virginia |
| 57 | San Jose State |
| 58 | Tulane |
| 59 | Ball State |
| 60 | Baylor |
| 61 | Missouri |
| 62 | Stanford |
| 63 | Michigan State |
| 64 | San Diego State |
| 65 | Houston |
| 66 | Washington State |
| 67 | Colorado |
| 68 | Georgia Tech |
| 69 | Marshall |
| 70 | Kansas State |
| 71 | Western Michigan |
| 72 | Army |
| 73 | Toledo |
| 74 | Nevada |
| 75 | Troy |
| 76 | Boston College |
| 77 | California |
| 78 | Florida State |
| 79 | Georgia Southern |
| 80 | Wake Forest |
| 81 | Texas Tech |
| 82 | Oregon State |
| 83 | Air Force |
| 84 | South Carolina |
| 85 | Central Michigan |
| 86 | Ohio |
| 87 | Georgia State |
| 88 | Fresno State |
| 89 | Wyoming |
| 90 | UTSA |
| 91 | Illinois |
| 92 | Colorado State |
| 93 | Florida Atlantic |
| 94 | East Carolina |
| 95 | Western Kentucky |
| 96 | Rutgers |
| 97 | Navy |
| 98 | Arizona |
| 99 | Rice |
| 100 | Southern Mississippi |
| 101 | Duke |
| 102 | Kent State |
| 103 | Syracuse |
| 104 | Arkansas State |
| 105 | South Florida |
| 106 | Miami (Ohio) |
| 107 | Eastern Michigan |
| 108 | North Texas |
| 109 | Hawaii |
| 110 | Vanderbilt |
| 111 | Florida International |
| 112 | Temple |
| 113 | Northern Illinois |
| 114 | Kansas |
| 115 | Charlotte |
| 116 | Texas State |
| 117 | South Alabama |
| 118 | UNLV |
| 119 | Louisiana Tech |
| 120 | New Mexico |
| 121 | Middle Tennessee |
| 122 | Akron |
| 123 | Bowling Green |
| 124 | Louisiana-Monroe |
| 125 | Utah State |
| 126 | Massachusetts |
| 127 | UTEP |
| 128 | Old Dominion |
| 129 | New Mexico State |
| 130 | Connecticut |
Don’t let us over-influence you, but here are some of the teams we’re thinking may be ranked too high:
- Texas A&M
- Florida
- Oregon
- Wisconsin
- Texas
- BYU!
- Northwestern!
And here’s a list of teams that are currently looking too low to us:
- Iowa State
- Michigan
- Ole Miss
- Louisiana
- LSU
If you have any opinions, leave them below.
Pretty good list. There might be a few changes I’d suggest. Of course I wouldn’t value my opinions too high lol. Moving down: Florida to 15-20 level Nothing concrete to feel better about a subpar defense. Losing a lot of offensive firepower. Getting Arik Gilbert to fill in for Kyle Pitts would’ve been huge, but that didn’t happen. Not saying they won’t be good, but I don’t see them being top ten. Notre Dame to 15-20 level Lost Ian Book and some good O linemen. They return some good running production, but that will depend on who’s going to open… Read more »
Good input. Thanks.
Once I get in front of my computer, I’ll need to check the returning production numbers against our own calculations. That whole mess has been a moving target, presumably for Connelly and whoever else is also attempting to figure returning production.
There’s no known cut-off time as yet. We will hit a point of no return at some point, but we’re not there yet.
ESPN released their “FPI” rankings recently. While I don’t trust any metric where they don’t tell you the recipe (well, I trust Win Shares but Bill James has earned that trust and ESPN certainly hasn’t), they had Mississippi State ranked 8th in the country for some reason. Your system ranking them 53rd makes a lot more sense to me. As for the rest, I apologize but between it being April and the near-total apathy that last season (or the last 13?) has finally driven me to, my knowledge of the sport may be at an all-time low.