Tennessee’s Overhyped Season Mercifully Comes to an End

Originally posted on Mike Farrell Sports
By Mark Pszonak | Last updated Dec 31, 2025 10:49 AM ET

A little more than a week ago I wrote about how Texas A&M was the biggest fraud of the 2025 season. That is still the case, but after last night’s loss to Illinois in the Music City Bowl, Tennessee can also make a claim for this spot.

Last night’s loss concludes what can be defined as a pointless 8-5 season. How can an eight-win season be pointless? Because when you look at who these eight wins came against, it only proves that Tennessee is better than bad teams.

Tennessee coach Josh Heupel makes a face after Tennessee is called offsides during the 2025 Music City Bowl at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tenn., on Dec. 30, 2025. © Angelina Alcantar/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Only five of the eight wins came against P4 schools, with the other three coming against FCS East Tennessee State, G5 New Mexico State and G5 UAB. The five P4 wins came against the following:

Syracuse (3-9)
Mississippi State (5-7)
Arkansas (2-10)
Kentucky (5-7)
Florida (4-8)

Three of these schools underwent a head coaching change either during or after the 2025 season. A fourth can be added to this list if you include UAB, which finished 4-8.

Tennessee’s five P4 wins came against schools that had a combined 19-41 record. If you want to include New Mexico State and UAB, the seven FBS wins came against schools that had a combined 27-57 record. None of this should be seen as impressive.

This gets magnified when you take a closer look at who the Vols lost to this season.

Georgia, Alabama, Oklahoma, Vanderbilt and Illinois have combined for a record of 52-13, with the Bulldogs and Tide still involved in the Playoffs. Every chance that Tennessee had to prove that they were a better than average team this season resulted in failure.

Overall, head coach Josh Heupel has done well at Tennessee, but 2025 shouldn’t be seen as anything but a massive disappointment. The Nico Iamaleava situation created a difficult situation, but the Vols should have been better equipped to deal with it successfully. But they didn’t.

Another season like this in 2026 will likely put Heupel on the hot seat. Is that deserving? That’s up for debate, but with how limited patience is at a program like Tennessee, it will happen.

Tennessee needs to improve. Expectations, as usual in Knoxville, will be very high heading towards the 2026 season. But unlike 2025, they better be met.

This article first appeared on Mike Farrell Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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