National media outlet names the ceiling and the floor for Tennessee Vols in 2024

The Tennessee Vols will enter the 2024 season with the goal of reaching the 12-team College Football Playoff. 

And that's exactly what On3's Andy Staples believes the Vols' ceiling will be this fall. 

Staples recently detailed what he believes is the ceiling and floor for each SEC program. 

For the Vols, Staples thinks reaching the playoff and advancing past the first round is Tennessee's ceiling. And he thinks going 8-4 is the floor for the Volunteers. 

From On3: Whether they can make the playoff likely depends on whether they can beat one of Alabama or Georgia. The N.C. State matchup in Charlotte on Sept. 7 should offer a glimpse of whether Tennessee is for real, and facing Oklahoma in its first SEC game in Norman on Sept. 21 will be challenging not just because of the other team on the field but because of the buzz that should envelop the town that day.

Staples thinks Missouri and Ole Miss have the same ceiling as Tennessee. 

The only programs that Staples sees with a higher ceiling than those three programs are Alabama, Georgia, and Texas -- three programs that Staples thinks are capable of winning a national championship in 2024. 

I think that's a fair view of Tennessee entering the summer months. The Vols have yet to compete for a national championship in the playoff era, so it's tough to put them in the same tier as Alabama, Georgia, and Texas -- teams that have been in college football's version of the "Final Four" in recent years. 

But at the same time, the Vols showed in 2022 that when they're at their best, they can hang with any team in the country. If everything goes right for Tennessee this fall, they could easily be one of the last teams standing.