We’ve made it. Come Sunday, college football’s first full game week of the 2026 season — more specifically, the first full slate of action with Southeastern Conference teams involved — will have officially arrived.
Finally.
The time for guesswork, projections and predictions will now be replaced by actual on-field production.
There is no shortage of storylines involving new faces in key roles at the University of Tennessee, which has led to more uncertainty than confidence for the first time since Josh Heupel’s inaugural season as head coach of the Volunteers.
For the fan base, the outlook on the season is rooted in which of two very distinctly opposite camps they fall into. First, there are the NegaVols, a collection of Eeyores in orange overalls who are always searching blue-sky afternoons for a dark cloud on the horizon.