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Five opponents on Tennessee's 2025 football schedule not projected for bowl game

Five opponents on Tennessee's 2025 football schedule not projected for bowl game

USA Today11-07-2025
The 2025 college football season will unofficially kick off July 14-17 at Omni Atlanta Hotel at Centennial Park and the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta, Georgia.
Fifth-year Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel, along with student-athletes Arion Carter, Miles Kitselman and Bryson Eason, will represent the Vols at SEC media days.
Tennessee will kick off its 2025 campaign with a nonconference matchup against Syracuse. The season opening contest is slated for Aug. 30 at noon EDT, and will be televised by ABC. Tennessee's other nonconference games in 2025 are against East Tennessee State, UAB and New Mexico State at Neyland Stadium.
The Vols will also host Georgia, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Vanderbilt in 2025, while playing at Mississippi State, Alabama, Kentucky and Florida.
Ahead of SEC media days and the upcoming season, ESPN Football Power Index released percentage chances for Tennessee's opponents to become bowl eligible in 2025. ESPN FPI determines a team's bowl eligibility chances by a percent of season simulations, in which a team won at least six games (typically bowl-eligible).
Five teams on Tennessee's 2025 football schedule are not projected to play in a bowl game: Mississippi State, New Mexico State, UAB, Syracuse and Vanderbilt.
More: 2025 win-loss record projections for all 16 SEC football teams
Chances for Tennessee's 2025 football opponents to become bowl eligible
*East Tennessee State competes in FCS and is not included
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