Is there a team in the SEC with an easier slate of games than Tennessee football?
According to KFord Ratings, the Vols' 12-game regular season schedule for the 2025 season is the easiest in the conference.
Here are the rankings.
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SEC strength-of-schedule rankings
From most difficult to easiest
1) Arkansas
2) Florida
3) Mississippi State
4) Vanderbilt
5) Oklahoma
6) Kentucky
7) South Carolina
8) LSU
9) Texas A&M
10) Georgia
11) Auburn
12) Alabama
13) Texas
14) Ole Miss
15) Missouri
16) Tennessee
National strength-of-schedule rankings
From most difficult to easiest
1) Arkansas
2) Florida
3) Mississippi State
4) Vanderbilt
5) Oklahoma
6) Kentucky
7) South Carolina
8) Wisconsin
9) LSU
10) Texas A&M
11) Georgia
12) Auburn
13) Alabama
14) Purdue
15) Texas
16) Syracuse
17) Northwestern
18) UCLA
19) Rutgers
20) Michigan State
21) Ole Miss
22) Missouri
23) Iowa
24) Florida State
25) Tennessee
What this means
Despite an off-season that was turbulent at times and plenty of question marks around the quarterback position, Tennessee is staring down an SEC schedule that couldn't be much better.
The Vols will get home games Georgia, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Vanderbilt in conference play. On the road in the SEC slate, Tennessee will travel to Mississippi State, Alabama, Kentucky and Florida.
Out-of-conference games include Syracuse in Atlanta and home games against ETSU, UAB and New Mexico State.
According to KFord Ratings, this schedule would result in an expected 8.5 wins for the average No. 12 power-rated team in the history of his model. You can compare that to Arkansas, the team with the toughest schedule, who has an expected 6.5 wins for the No. 12 team.
Ironically, Tennessee is the No. 12 team in his power-ratings from the preseason. This is the seventh-highest rated SEC team in that projection. He ranks the Vols' offense as No. 33 and defense as No. 6 in the country.
KFord predicts UT will win 5.1 games in SEC play this year, as well. He gives Tennessee a 1% chance to go 8-0, 10% chance to win seven games, 37% chance to win six and 71% to win five. The model gives the Vols a 90% or better chance to win at least four of its conference matchups.
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