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The Tennessee Vols will enter the 2024 college football season as one of the programs that's viewed as having a chance to reach the 12-team College Football Playoff.
Tennessee isn't included in most playoff projections, but they're singled out as a program that could reach the playoff if "everything goes right" this fall in numerous predictions from college football analysts.
In other words, there's not a lot of national pressure on the Vols to reach the playoff in Josh Heupel's fourth season as the program's head coach.
And that's a good thing for Tennessee. The Vols seem to play at their best under Heupel when they're being doubted (or flying under the radar).
Tennessee was at its best in 2022 when they were perceived as the "underdog" in games against Florida, LSU, and Alabama.
When the Vols started receiving playoff hype, they faltered on the road against South Carolina. After that game, the national media -- specifically ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit -- essentially stuck a fork in the Vols. Herbstreit even predicted that Tennessee would lose the following week to Vanderbilt.
The Vols, however, bounced back and crushed Vandy 56-0.
One of the reasons that Tennessee isn't getting much playoff hype this offseason -- despite the presence of game-changing players in quarterback Nico Iamaleava and edge rusher James Pierce -- is because of Ole Miss.
Lane Kiffin and the Rebels, instead of the Volunteers, are receiving a significant amount of playoff/SEC Championship game hype ahead of the 2024 season.
Ole Miss will be under significantly more pressure than Tennessee in 2024 because of the outside expectations.
If the Vols go 10-3 in 2024 and come up just short of the playoff, it will be a letdown for Tennessee fans, but it won't be a sign that that sky is falling in Knoxville. Heupel and his staff have done a great job of building depth and ensuring that Tennessee's championship window remains open for the foreseeable future. The Vols will likely lose Pierce to the NFL after the 2024 season, but they'll be returning plenty of talent in 2025. Even without knowing what happens in 2024, fans should feel confident that Tennessee will be in the playoff conversation in 2025 (and likely beyond thanks to some strong quarterback recruiting from Heupel and his staff).
Ole Miss, on the other hand, is receiving playoff hype largely because of the additions they made from the NCAA transfer portal. The Rebels have a playoff-caliber roster. And they have a playoff-caliber coach in Kiffin. But the way their roster has been built isn't exactly sustainable. No one knows where the future of the transfer portal/NIL is heading. Will it slow down eventually? Maybe, maybe not. But depending on the portal as a longterm solution to roster construction probably isn't a wise idea. High school recruiting, on the other hand, will always be the primary way to build a roster.
Ole Miss could struggle in some offseasons to build a playoff-caliber roster through the portal. The Rebels' window is essentially open on a year-by-year case. So if they don't reach the playoff in 2024, Kiffin is going to have to explain to a lot of disappointed fans/boosters/collectives in Oxford why big money didn't equal big results.
If not for Ole Miss, the Vols would likely be the final SEC team sneaking into the majority of playoff predictions. The Rebels, however, are taking that pressure off Tennessee, which should lead to the Vols playing at their best in 2024 (at least to start the season).
Former Alabama head coach Nick Saban was right when he called positive press from the media "rat poison". And that rat poison is making its way to Mississippi this offseason instead of Tennessee.
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