We reached out to our writers and friends for their predictions for sports for the new year.
Here’s what they had to say.
John Moorehouse is editorial director here at I-81 Sports. You can follow him on social media at Instagram or Bluesky.
John’s Prediction: Josh Heupel lands on the hot seat after the Vols miss out on the CFP for a second straight year. Not that those expectations are realistic, considering Tennessee has a challenging schedule (Texas! At Texas A&M! Lane Kiffin and LSU come to Knoxville!) that gets tougher with the recent rise of Vanderbilt. The trap game on the docket: an Oct. 3 home game against Auburn, now coached by Alex Golesh, formerly the play-caller for the Vols in 2021 and 2022.
Mark Vicars is the owner of I-81 Sports.
Mark’s Prediction: A transfer quarterback will start for the Vols again this year. And no, that doesn’t count Joey Aguilar, who is part of a lawsuit that seeks to count JUCO eligibility separate from NCAA eligibility.
Scott Felts covers fantasy football here at I-81 Sports. Follow him on X and Instagram.
Scott’s Prediction: Clemson coming off its high ranking recruiting class goes undefeated and makes the College Football Playoff. Alabama misses the CFP for the first time since 2018. Kalen DeBoer is fired and replaced by Dabo Swinney, who loses in the CFP.
Mike Cox is Staff Meteorologist and Director of Radio Operations for Appalachian Radio Group in Bluff City. Follow WXMC on X and Instagram. Mike wrote an excellent retrospective on the NASCAR plane accidents in 1993 in the wake of the Greg Biffle crash.
Mike’s Prediction: The Calgary Flames are gonna make a run and win the Stanley Cup. Why would I think a seventh-place (next to last) team in the Pacific Division has a chance at the Cup? Well, you have to have a great goalie, and Dustin Wolf has the potential. The trick is to show it for a long period of time starting after the New Year. The rest of the team can be improved upon, of course, with trade deadline deals designed for a long playoff run. Those two factors and the C of Red (fans in the Saddledome) can carry the Flames a long, long way. The process of stringing together series wins will add the intangibles needed to get over the hump to the first Cup since 1989, and the first Canadian team to win the Cup since Montreal in 1993 .
Chris Dortch is editor and publisher for Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook — considered the “bible” of college hoops — for the last 26 years. Before that, he covered college basketball for four newspapers. His work has appeared in Sports Illustrated, The Sporting News, NBA.com, ESPN.com, The Athletic, Lindy’s, Athlon’s, the Washington Post, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and SECSports.com.
Chris’ Prediction: The NCAA Tournament will expand to 76 teams so they can have four pods of the first round at two sites.