National media outlets names the Tennessee Vols' most important game in 2025

The Tennessee Vols, despite losing their starting quarterback to the NCAA transfer portal in April, are hoping to return to the College Football Playoff in 2025. 

Tennessee will feature a three-man quarterback battle this summer between UCLA transfer addition Joey Aguilar, redshirt freshman Jake Merklinger, and true freshman George MacIntyre. 

If one of those quarterbacks takes a stronghold on the starting quarterback job, and if the Vols' defense can play at the same level that it did in 2024, then a return to the College Football Playoff is certainly a possibility. 

To get there, though, the Vols will likely need to beat Alabama in Tuscaloosa, something Tennessee hasn't done since 2003. 

CBS Sports named the Vols' road matchup against Alabama as Tennessee's most important game in 2025. 

From CBS Sports: The calculus for Tennessee's 2025 season changed a bit after a brutal spring that saw it lose high-upside starting quarterback Nico Iamaleava and whiff on some much-needed wide receiver reinforcements in the transfer portal. Yet the Vols still have a shot to make it to the CFP for a second consecutive season. In order to get there, they will need to show that they can hang in tough road games, including one against an Alabama team that they've beaten twice — both at home — in the past three years. 

Tennessee's road matchup against Florida could easily be lumped in with the game against Alabama. The Vols essentially have to win either at Alabama or at Florida to guarantee a return trip to the College Football Playoff. If the Vols lose both of those games, then they'd have to win every other game on their schedule to lock down a spot in the 12-team playoff (we saw last season that an SEC team likely needs to go 10-2 during the regular season to earn a spot in the playoff). 

Josh Heupel's teams have had trouble winning big games on the road. But that's something that Tennessee will need to overcome if the Vols are ever going to take the next step as a football program.