NEWS:Former Championship Winning Coach Offers Darkhorse Projection For Tennessee Football and Nico Iamaleava…….. Read more 

 

 

Two of the members of the Triple Option Podcast were split between a pair of SEC rivals when looking at the darkhorse contender picks for the 2025-2026 College Football National Championship.

On the latest episode of The Triple Optionwith host Rob Stone, former championship-winning coach Urban Meyer and former Alabama running back Mark Ingram both gave their early sneaky picks for the champion next season. Ingram, a former Heisman winner in Tuscaloosa, unsurprisingly went with his Tide with +2000 odds.

Meyer, though, picked Tennessee. The former Ohio State and Florida coach was extremely high on Tennessee and quarterback Nico Iamaleava during points last season and is keeping his confidence in No. 8 heading into the 2025 season, too.

“Yeah, Nico, the quarterback at Tennessee,” Meyer said. “You know, I remember when I first started studying them last year and I called Brady Quinn and Matt Leinart and I said, ‘What am I missing here? This guy (Iamaleava) looks like a bonafide, he looks like Aaron Rodgers. The ball comes out like a tennis ball, man.’ And he got really inconsistent and that team around him got a little bit inconsistent. They still had a heck of a year. So if that kid grows as a quarterback, he could be a – you know, I asked the question after watching and I know he wasn’t playing great teams, but just his physical ability, his side speeds, athleticism, and the ball comes out, I saw him as a high first-round draft pick. Now, remains to be seen, but I’ll pick Tennessee.”

According to the odds chart from Bet MGM that the show was using, Tennessee is at +2000 to win the National Championship, which is the same odds as Clemson and LSU. Tennessee trails Ohio State (+500), Texas (+550), Georgia (+650), Oregon (+650), Penn State (+900), Notre Dame (+1400), and Alabama (+1500).

“100 bucks gives me $1,500 on the Tide? I’m going with the Tide,” Ingram said, prompting a grunt from Meyer in response. “We’ve got a lot of people coming back. Bro, whatchu mean? You’re going to pick Tennessee?! You’re going to pick, who, Michigan? Who are you going to pick, LSU?”

Tennessee (and the rest of the college football world, for that matter) has a long way to go until the start of the 2025 season with the completion of winter workouts, spring training camp, summer workouts, and fall training camp. But Tennessee does have one piece of the puzzle in their pocket with quarterback Nico Iamaleava.

Anyone who’s followed college football understands just how important the quarterback position is. And while a star freshman or transfer could come into a new program and make a splash, being able to return a starting quarterback is one of the most beneficial ways to enter an offseason. Tennessee most recently did it with Hendon Hooker from 2021 to 2022 and now has Nico Iamaleava in that position after his first year on Rocky Top.

Tennessee also has a leg up on many of its 2025 opponents in that category, too.

While Tennessee returns Iamaleava as its starting quarterback next season, five of the Vols’ eight SEC opponents are projected to have a new starting quarterback next season, including Georgia when the Bulldogs travel to Knoxville in Week 4 of the regular season.