Tennessee football is less than a month away from kicking off the 2020 season with a road trip to South Carolina.
As the Vols look to build off the 7-1 run that ended last season, South Carolina looks to show its 4-8 campaign under Will Muschamp in 2019 was not a sign of what is to come for the Gamecocks.
While the matchup could prove to be a tight one on Sept. 26, the two programs are not close in the eyes of ESPN’s SP+ rankings.
The metric takes “returning production, recent history and recruiting” into account when ranking teams. With all 130 FBS programs included, Tennessee is ranked No. 20 on the list. The Vols are flanked by North Carolina at No. 18 and Minnesota at No. 18. This puts Tennessee at No. 6 in the SEC, behind Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Auburn and LSU.
Meanwhile, South Carolina is at No. 36, one spot behind Virginia Tech and ahead of Boise State. Although the Gamecocks sit 17 spots behind the Vols in the SP+ rankings, they are only two spots back in the conference at No. 8, with Kentucky sitting in between.
Tennessee and South Carolina kick off in Williams-Brice Stadium at 7:30 p.m. ET on Sept. 26. The contest will be televised by SEC Network.