Tennessee Volunteers Believed to Be This SEC Team's Most Important Matchup in 2025

According to this major college football analyst, the Tennessee Volunteers will be this SEC team's most important matchup of the 2025 season.

The 2025 college football season is fast approaching as teams ramp up their preparations for what many expect to be another exciting regular season with some monumental matchups. For many teams, a select few matchups could alter the course of their entire 2025.

For the Alabama Crimson Tide, the Tennessee Volunteers are predicted to serve as one of the Tide's most important opponents of the 2025 season. During his college football talk show, analyst Joel Klatt laid out how important it was for Alabama to beat Tennessee this season.

“If you’re losing to Tennessee, you probably lost to Georgia,” said Klatt. “So that would be your second loss. It would be your second loss in the SEC and then you still have to go to South Carolina, and then host LSU.

Klatt also stated that Losing to the Volunteers would place the TIde in an extremely difficult spot for the remainder of the regular season.

"If you were to just lose to Tennessee, who doesn’t have Nico Iamaleava. You would likely have to run the table to avoid a 9-3 finish."

The Volunteers bested the Tide in last year's matchup thanks to a strong defensive effort that held Alabama to just 17 points. The Vols will look to recreate last year's success on the road this season and win a game in their first game in Tuscaloosa since 2003.

The Volunteers and Crimson Tide will renew their annual rivalry on Saturday, October 18th in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. A kickoff time and TV network for this game has not yet been announced.