Brady Quinn reveals shocking College Football Playoff dark horse

FOX analyst and former Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn revealed his shocking dark horse pick to make the College Football Playoff.

Even with the upheaval around college football to start the season, it still feels like a formality regarding the teams that will end up as the four earning berths in the College Football Playoff. For most, that comes down to Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State and probably Michigan.

There will be other challengers, to be sure, because that’s the way this sport plays out every single year. USC and Oklahoma could potentially make a run at a CFP berth and don’t sleep on the likes of BYU or even Clemson as well given the paths they have that could open up for those programs. But FOX Sports analyst and former Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn has another sleeper to watch.

On Big Noon Kickoff on Saturday ahead of Week 3, Quinn revealed that he believes that the Tennessee Volunteers could be a sleeper to make the College Football Playoff based on what he’s seen thus far in the 2022 season.

Tennessee football a College Football Playoff dark horse according to Brady Quinn

Here’s what Quinn had to say about his proclamation, via On3.

"“You guys are gonna think I’m crazy in saying this, but I love what Tennessee has done so far,” said Quinn. “Building off of the foundation they laid last year now. You look at Hendon Hooker, their quarterback — he’s averaging almost 300 total yards per game, six total touchdowns this season. He’s gonna be a big reason why if they can make a run through a gauntlet of a schedule.“Got a great win last week versus Pitt, a top-25 team on the road. Now they’ve gotta play Florida, they’ve gotta go to Baton Rogue, they’ve gotta play Alabama and Georgia … bottom line is though, if they can get through that schedule, they’ll be in the conversation.”"

That’s certainly a bold take given that the Vols currently sit at No. 15 in the latest AP Top 25 rankings and had to claw out a win in a dogfight against a backup quarterback against Pitt last week.

At the same time, the job that Josh Heupel has done in his brief time in Knoxville has been impressive and Hendon Hooker and the offense have looked undeniably impressive to this point. And if they can take on the likes of Alabama and Georgia and potentially score an upset, the path is there for a Playoff berth.

All told, it’s still Week 3, so any talk of the CFP is probably still premature at this point in time. But if you ask Quinn, it’s already time to start taking Tennessee very, very seriously.

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