No. 9. Tennessee Volunteers
10-2 (6-2 SEC)
What’s next: vs. 8 Ohio State, Columbus, Ohio, Dec. 21, 8 p.m. ET
Head coach: Josh Heupel (fourth season at Tennessee, 37-14; seventh season overall, 65-22)
About Heupel: In addition to chasing Tennessee’s first national championship since 1998, Heupel — the quarterback of Oklahoma’s 2000 BCS title team — can join the exclusive company of Frank Leahy, Bud Wilkinson and Jimmy Johnson as national champs both as football players and head coaches.
Resume
Repeatedly coming through in the clutch, five of Tennessee’s eight SEC games were each decided by 10 points or fewer – including a signature win, 24-17, over fellow contender Alabama on Oct. 19.
Postseason history
The last of Tennessee’s six claimed national championships came in 1998, the inaugural season of the BCS. After more than a decade of disappointment, the 2022 Vols’ 31-14 Orange Bowl rout of Clemson matched UT’s best finish since 2001.
Road to Atlanta
Winning at The Horseshoe in Columbus is the first order of business for the Vols, and No. 1 Oregon is waiting in the wings. That game would be played Jan. 1 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif.
Names to know
RB Dylan Sampson
Despite already setting the program records for rushing yards (1,485) and touchdowns (22) in a season, Sampson was not named a finalist for the Doak Walker Award, given to college football’s top running back.
Speaking with radio host Jim Rome, Sampson was unfazed.
“My coach … knows the value and I know the value I have to this team,” he said. “They’ll see what I do as we continue to make this playoff run.”
DE James Pearce Jr.
A likely top-10 NFL draft pick, Pearce endured a slow start to 2024 as a result of opposing offenses throwing double- and triple-team blocking schemes at him. Vols defensive coordinator Tim Banks promised reporters in September that “the sacks will come.”
Banks was correct. Of Pearce’s 7.5 sacks, seven have been since the beginning of October. He has also racked up 10 of his 11 tackles for loss in that eight-game stretch.
CB Jermod McCoy
The most spectacular of McCoy’s four regular-season interceptions was also pivotal for the Vols’ playoff aspirations. In the finale at Vanderbilt, with Tennessee trailing 17-7 in the second quarter, McCoy battled Commodores receiver Junior Sherrill down the sideline in pursuit of a deep ball thrown to the end zone.
McCoy’s deflection and catch of the carom from his back denied Vanderbilt a score and helped ignite a Tennessee rally to a 36-23 win. It provided a highlight-reel moment in an all-around sensational sophomore season for the cornerback.
QB Nico Iamaleava
The former No. 1 overall ranked high-school recruit moved into the starting position full-time as a redshirt freshman and has endured growing pains amid flashes of brilliance. Iamaleava opened the season with a bang, throwing for five touchdown passes in the Vols’ first two games, but then went the next six games with a total of only four touchdown throws.
Ending the regular season with back-to-back four-touchdown games sends Iamaleava into the postseason on a high note. He has also used his 6-foot-6 frame effectively as a ball-carrier with 317 rushing yards, 124 of which came in the last four weeks.
WR Dont’e Thornton Jr.
Although the rush has been more reliable for Tennessee’s offense than the pass has, the Vols have one of the most-intriguing, big-play threats in the nation with Thornton at wide receiver. Almost a quarter of his 25 total receptions have gone for touchdowns (six), and his 25.9 yards per catch lead the nation.
Combined with 6-foot-3 Bru McCoy, the 6-foot-5 Thornton gives Tennessee a potentially dangerous physical mismatch against most opposing secondaries.
–Field Level Media