Vols open 2015 as concensus Top 25 team

The Bulldogs weren’t ranked in the Amway Coaches poll and also received more votes than any team that wasn’t ranked. Alabama, third, and Auburn, sixth, are the only two SEC teams ranked ahead of Georgia in the poll.

Missouri is No. 23 in the preseason coaches poll, which was released last month.

Tennessee, which finished last season with a 7-6 record, will open the year on September 5 against Bowling Green at Nissan Stadium. Only twice, Florida State in 1999 and Southern California in 2004, has the top-ranked team in the preseason poll gone wire-to-wire as No. 1. The SEC placed eight teams in the top 25 with four of those squads ranking in the top-15. One more sign that we are getting closer came today when the AP released their Preseason Top 25 poll.

The preseason poll was started in 1950.

Matt covers the Tennessee Volunteers from all angles as The Tennessean’s eyes and ears in Knoxville.

Two more SEC programs not appearing in the poll led the pack of the unranked in votes-received. Three of the Tide’s western division opponents ranked in the top 20 with LSU at number 14, Ole Miss at 17 and Arkansas at 18.

Missouri debuts at No. 24 for the second consecutive season. Defending national champion Ohio State received all 61 first-place votes from the AP panel of voters, becoming the first unanimous No. 1 choice in the AP preseason poll.