KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — An off week did not cost the Knoxville, Tenn., Vols anything in the national rankings. Tennessee stayed put at No. 16 in Sunday’s AP Top 25, and the next test is a big one: a top-10 Kentucky team is coming to Neyland Stadium on Saturday.
Tennessee sits at 6-2. Its last outing, two weeks ago in Columbia, ended in a defeat on the final play against South Carolina. That game capped a run of eight games in a row, so the open date gave Josh Heupel’s team time to get healthy and gave his staff an extra week to plan for the stretch ahead.
The Wildcats used their own bye to climb. Kentucky moved up one place to No. 8 and is 7-1 in the first season under coach Will Stein, one of the surprise stories in the league this fall. Since neither team played Saturday, both border rivals get two full weeks to get ready.
The poll shows how crowded the top of the SEC has become. Six league teams sit above the Vols: Georgia at second, then Kentucky, Alabama at ninth, Texas at 10th, Ole Miss at 12th and LSU one spot ahead at 15th.
Saturday also brings a homecoming of sorts. Two offensive tackles who left Tennessee through the transfer portal this offseason, Lance Heard and Max Anderson, now play for Kentucky. Heard, a former five-star recruit who started his career at LSU, has started all eight games at left tackle for the Wildcats, while Anderson has seen limited snaps in a reserve role. Tennessee moved David Sanders Jr. over to left tackle to replace Heard.
Kickoff is set for 6:15 p.m. Eastern on Saturday, Nov. 7. The Kentucky game opens a closing run of four straight November games for the Vols, and a ranked win at home would go a long way toward keeping their postseason hopes on track.
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