I could live with either of those states leading things off, but I suspect many would object to another southern state being frontloaded.
Maybe another midwest state ... like... wyoming, nebraska, or kansas?
I see you point but a case could be made that Oklahoma is a Midwestern state. Heck, it's got a suburb of OKC named Midwest City! :-)
Although I still like Tennessee and then Oklahoma, if I ran things, I'd be willing to alter it to Tennessee and Kansas. There's regional balance there and a good mixture of country, suburban and city voters.