Tennessee football’s four ‘ifs’ to be a College Football Playoff team

Tennessee can be a College Football Playoff team this season if the Vols are able to answer four “ifs,” according to ESPN’s Bill Connelly. And those “ifs” are big ones. If Josh Heupel has a quarterback, Connelly wrote, first and foremost. If a young Tennessee defensive line holds up. If the NCAA Transfer Portal delivers a secondary. And, finally, if new defensive coordinator Jim Knowles “doesn’t need a year.” Knowles was hired to replace former defensive coordinator Tim Banks, who Heupel fired in December. He inherits a new-look secondary after multiple portal additions and also has a new-look defensive line. “Knowles has crafted brilliant defenses at Duke, Oklahoma State and Ohio State,” Connelly wrote, “but he needed a year to figure things out in each instance, and in his only season at Penn State, the Nittany Lions dropped from fourth to 23rd in defensive SP+. “Heupel is hiring Knowles to be an immediate firefighter, but that’s not what he has been to date.” Tennessee added Kansas State nickel Qua Moss, Penn State safety Dejuan Lane, Michigan safety TJ Metcalf and Auburn corner Kayin Lee in the secondary, along with Miami corner Jadais Richard to join sophomore Ty Redmond, who returns at corner. The additions on the defensive line Tulane’s Jordan Norman and Penn State’s Xavier Gilliam, with Daevin Hobbs, Isaiah Campbell and Mariyon Dye returning. ‘Why aren’t the Volunteers generating more buzz?’ The biggest storyline and the biggest question entering fall camp — since Joey Aguilar was denied another year of eligibility — will be the quarterback competition between redshirt freshman George MacIntyre and true freshman Faizon Brandon. The Vols return the majority of their offensive line, their leading rusher in running back DeSean Bishop and sophomore receivers Braylon Staley and Mike Matthews after productive freshmen seasons. But they have to find the right player at the most important position on the field. “Tennessee returns its leading rusher, two of its top three receivers and four starting offensive linemen,” Connelly wrote, “and Heupel hired one of the nation’s best defensive coordinators to fix his defense. Why aren’t the Volunteers generating more buzz? “Because the starting QB probably will be either redshirt freshman George MacIntyre or true freshman Faizon Brandon. Both are former blue-chippers, but they’ve combined for 69 career yards, and the Vols are scheduled to play four projected top-11 teams.” Tennessee is +2000 to win SEC, +5000 to win national championship Tennessee opens the season against Furman on September 5 at Neyland Stadium, then goes to Georgia Tech in Week 2. The Vols open SEC play at home against Texas on September 26, host Alabama on October 17, go to Texas A&M on November 14 and host LSU on November 21. BetMGM has Tennessee at +5000 to win the national championship, with Penn State and Clemson also listed at +5000. There are 15 teams with better odds, including Ohio State at +600 and Texas at +650 at the top of the list. The Vols are +2000 to win the SEC. Texas at +310 has the lowest odds, just ahead of Georgia at +310. Then it’s LSU at +650, Texas A&M and Alabama both at +85o. Ole Miss is +1000, Oklahoma is +1200 and Florida is alongside Tennessee at +2000.