Tennessee projected for bowl game against College Football Playoff team from ACC
Tennessee will begin fall training camp July 30 in preparation for the 2025 season. The Vols will return to Atlanta for their season opener against Syracuse at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Kickoff between the Vols and Orange is slated for noon EDT and will be televised by ABC.
"Obviously, a lot of our roster comes from right here in the state of Georgia and Atlanta area, but this is also where we kickoff here in the AFLAC Kickoff game here in Atlanta as we get ready to start the season," Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel said Tuesday at SEC media days. "Extremely appreciative of Gary Stokan, his entire staff, the organization, everything that they've done for us and our preparation to come down here, but also affording us the opportunity to play in this game inside of Mercedes-Benz against great opponents.
"I know there's going to be a lot of orange inside of that stadium when we kick off, Vol Nation, and need to make sure it's the right shade of orange."
More: Former Tennessee wide receiver Larry Seivers discusses being on 2026 Hall of Fame ballot
Ahead of the start of the 2025 campaign, Athlon Sports released preseason bowl projections. The Vols are projected to play in the Duke's Mayo Bowl versus SMU. The Duke's Mayo Bowl will be contested at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina on Jan. 2, 2026.
The projected matchup would feature two teams who played in the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff during the 2024 season.
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- USA Today
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As it stands right now, the Ohio State football team has put together a very good recruiting class for the 2026 cycle, but if we're being honest, it's a little behind where we've seen in past years, especially considering the Buckeyes are coming off a College Football Playoff national championship. And while many programs would love to have the class Ohio State has, there have been some pretty big misses as the program tries to figure out how name, image and likeness, and the House Settlement leading to direct revenue payments will work. The perception is that the Buckeyes have been conservative compared to other teams, and that has seemingly led to some misses on the high-priority targets. But there's another big one in play coming up with five-star running back Savion Hiter, who just announced his commitment date. According to the 247Sports Composite rankings, Hiter is ranked as the No. 1 running back and ninth overall prospect in the class. He will be making his college choice on August 19, according to an announcement on "X," and he'll be choosing among a final four of Ohio State, Georgia, Michigan, and Tennessee. To be fair, OSU doesn't seem to have the momentum in this race -- though that hasn't seemed to matter this year. Despite being on campus multiple times, the buzz is that it'll come down to Michigan and Tennessee, both of whom have been much more aggressive with NIL money than Ohio State has been. To date, the Buckeyes have just one running back commitment in the class of 2026, three-star Ohio product Favour Akih. It's beginning to look like he'll be the lone back in this class unless there's a surprise with Hiter, or OSU pivots and tries to find a diamond in the rough to round out the class. Contact/Follow us @BuckeyesWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Ohio State news, notes and opinion. Follow Phil Harrison on X.
