Tennessee's Good, But Are The No. 6 Vols for Real? All Things CW

Yes, UT is off to a 5-0 start and has shot up the rankings, but it was also favored in each of those games with two decided by a touchdown or less.

The All Things CW notes column by Christopher Walsh will appear in five parts this week, one each day leading up to Saturday's game against Texas A&M.

This is ...

Take 2 

We've reached the midway point of the 2022 college football regular season and while there have been some surprise results thus far, there hasn't been too much that could be considered really surprising. 

Ok, except Appalachian State stunning Texas A&M. That was a shocker along with Marshall over Notre Dame and Georgia Southern upsetting Nebraska. 

Nevertheless, the teams atop the rankings this week are still the ones everyone expected. The order may vary depending on which poll is being consulted, as Alabama is No. 1 according to the coaches, and No. 3 by the writers, with Georgia and Ohio State also in the mix at the top. 

The prevailing thought throughout the offseason was that those three teams would be the clear frontrunners for the College Football Playoff, leaving most of the arguments over which contender would be most worthy for the other semifinal spot. 

Clemson leading that charge shouldn't shock anyone.

The biggest surprises on the negative side have been the Aggies and Fighting Irish, who were exposed as being pretenders along with Oklahoma. They were all preseason top 10 and are no longer in the running for the national title.  

Some would claim Arkansas as another team that was overhyped, but if you looked close enough the Razorbacks had some real concerns that were exposed during the ongoing three-game losing streak. 

When BamaCentral submitted its picks for the annual FanNation preseason picks by SEC sites, here's how our ballot looked:

Preseason Predicted Order of Finish

East

1. Georgia
2. Tennessee
3. Florida
4. Kentucky
5. South Carolina
6. Missouri
7. Vanderbilt

West

1. Alabama
2. Texas A&M
3. Mississippi State
4. Ole Miss
5. Arkansas
6. LSU
7. Auburn

(Yes, we liked the Bulldogs third in the SEC West because nearly every starter was back, and Mike Leach with a returning quarterback is a dangerous thing). 

A reason why this is noteworthy this week is that both Alabama and Tennessee are in the top 10, both are undefeated, and the hype is growing about how the Volunteers appear to be back. 

Maybe they are, or they're at least on their way. 

But back? We really don't know. 

Both Alabama and Tennessee were favored to win every game so far. 

Yes, the Vols have played three ranked opponents at the time in No. 17 Pitt, No. 20 Florida, and last week No. 25 LSU. The latter two had new coaches, which was a big advantage for Josh Heupel and his coaching staff, which were on the other side of that last year. 

The first two games were decided by a touchdown or less. Thumping LSU in Death Valley was really the first win Vols fans could truly hang their hat on this season.   

The schedule makers didn't do Tennessee any favors when it put together back-to-back games against LSU and Alabama, but this next four-game stretch is when we're going to find out how good the No. 6 Volunteers really are as it includes No. 3 Alabama, No. 22 Kentucky and at No. 1 Georgia. 

Coming into the season, a lot of people thought that Tennessee had a good chance to be the third-best team in the SEC, and that's exactly where it appears to be heading into the Third Saturday in October rivalry game.

So the real question is are the Volunteers better than that? They'll have the advantage of a packed Neyland Stadium for Alabama, facing a wounded Crimson Tide quarterback who didn't play last week, and a weeklong buildup that will be punctuated by College GameDay and SEC Nation pregame shows broadcasting live from campus.  

Can they do more than take care of business?   

Christopher Walsh's notes column All Things CW appears every week on BamaCentral.

See Also:

Take 1: Rivalry Renewed For Alabama and Tennessee? Not Quite

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