Opposing SEC coach makes prediction for Tennessee in 2025 that won't be popular in the Vols' locker room

The Tennessee Vols reached the College Football Playoff last season for the first time in program history. 

Tennessee's playoff experience, however, was short lived. The Vols were bounced from the first round of the playoff after suffering a 42-17 loss to the Ohio State Buckeyes in Columbus. 

The next step for Tennessee to take as a program, of course, is to advance past the first round of the playoff. 

But that's not what folks are expecting Tennessee to do in 2025. 

Expectations, in fact, are quite low for the Vols entering Josh Heupel's fifth season as the head coach at UT. 

ESPN's Cole Cubelic, for example, recently suggested that winning eight games this fall would be a "solid" season for the Volunteers. 

The biggest reason for the low expectations surrounding Tennessee is the loss of quarterback Nico Iamaleava to the NCAA transfer portal (Iamaleava transferred to UCLA after spring practice wrapped up). 

Opposing coach doesn't think Tennessee will return to the College Football Playoff in 2025

An anonymous opposing SEC coach called his shot for the Vols in 2025 while sharing some thoughts on Tennessee with Athlon Sports. 

The anonymous coach told Athlon Sports that Tennessee won't be a playoff team this season. 

From Athlon Sports: “Losing Nico [Iamaleava] isn’t good. They’re not replacing him with a more talented quarterback, and they’re losing the QB who ran their system in a playoff game. But because of the way everything went down, I don’t think anyone blames the program or Josh [Heupel], and with the turnover on defense, Nico leaving makes a transition year a lot easier to stomach.”

“The offense won’t fall off a cliff; that system is effective at adjusting for personnel, even the quarterback.”

“The bigger question, even after Nico, is replacing the defensive starters who carried them in big games. The secondary is legit and probably their strength right now.”

"They’re going to take a step back and won’t be a playoff team this season, but the quarterback play won’t be awful.”

Tennessee obviously has some work to do to return to the playoff. But it's more than doable. 

The Vols essentially need to find a way to win 10 games in the regular season to earn a return trip to the playoff. The Vols' playoff hopes will likely come down to a trio of games against Alabama, Florida, and Georgia. Tennessee must win at least one of those games while taking care of business in the other nine games on their schedule (all of which Tennessee could be favored in). 

There aren't many favorable predictions for the Vols in 2025. But the good news for Tennessee is that those predictions mean absolutely nothing.