University of Tennessee Athletics
Vols Ranked No. 12 in Preseason Polls
August 06, 2000 | Football
Tennessee is ranked No. 12 in both the Associated Press Preseason College Football Poll and the ESPN USA Today Coaches Football Poll.
The Vols No. 12 ranking marks the first time that Tennessee has not been ranked in the Top 10 by the AP members or the ESPN / USA Today coaches in 55 polls.
Following the Vols' perfect 13-0 national championship campaign in 1998, Tennessee finished last season with a 9-3 record and ranked No. 9 following a 31-21 loss to Nebraska in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl.
The Cornhuskers will begin the 2000 campaign as the nation's No. 1 team in both polls after receiving 36 first-place votes. Not far behind is defending national champion Florida State, who garnered 29 first-place ballots in the AP, and 21 first-place nods in the ESPN / USA Today polls.
Four of the Vols' 2000 foes are ranked in the AP's Preseason Poll. Alabama is ranked No. 3, Florida is No. 9, Georgia is No. 10 and the Sept. 2 season opening foe, Southern Mississippi, is ranked No. 23 to start the 2000 campaign.
Those same four foes are ranked in the ESPN / USA Today's Preseason Coaches Poll. Alabama is ranked No. 3, Florida is No. 7, Georgia is No. 11 and Southern Mississippi is ranked No. 25.
Tennessee hosts Southern Mississippi Sept. 2 at Neyland Stadium with the lidlifter slated for a 7:30 EDT kickoff. The game will be televised nationally by ESPN.
