The latest edition of the 2022 College Football Playoffs Rankings was released on ESPN late Tuesday night.
After a strong week from the best teams in college football, the CFP Top 5 remains unchanged. Georgia is still No. 1, Ohio State at No. 2, Michigan at No. 3, and TCU at No. 4.
That also means that Tennessee holds firm at No. 5 being the first team on the outside looking into the playoffs.
The Vols’ landing spot on Tuesday night was expected by most after the top five teams in the rankings all found wins on Saturday. And just like last week, Tennessee is still in a solid position heading into the final two weeks of the regular season.
With only unranked games against South Carolina and Vanderbilt remaining, and an SEC Championship game appearance out of the equation, the Vols will need a little bit of help from someone above them.
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That looked to possibly be TCU last Saturday night as the Horned Frogs were caught in a tough contest in Austin against then-No. 18 Texas. The Frogs pulled off the victory, though, and now have their sights set on a Big 12 Championship game appearance.
Fortunately for the Vols, two of the current top-four teams still have to play each other with Michigan traveling to take on Ohio State in the final week of the regular season.
Besides a TCU loss during the regular season or the Big 12 Championship game, Tennessee’s most-likely route into the final four will be by observing a Michigan loss. It feels like there would be a little more conversation to be had if Michigan beats Ohio State, therefore comparing the Buckeyes and Volunteers’ one-loss records for that (likely) final spot.
At the same time though, a one-loss Pac-12 champion, which would be USC, could present problems for the committee’s decisions down the road as well. So could a two-loss SEC Champion LSU, although, that’s a major wildcard.
Either way, despite how close we are to the end of the season, there are still some very critical games that need to unfold in order to fully see the whole picture.
No. 5 Tennessee is also ranked at the fifth position for the second consecutive week in the AP Top 25 and USA Today Coaches polls as well. The Vols are the second-highest team from the SEC behind No. 1 Georgia.
South Carolina will look to spoil Tennessee’s incredible run this season as they host the No. 5 Volunteers this Saturday night in Columbia.
The College Football Playoff Rankings Top 10 are as follows:
- Georgia (10-0)
- Ohio State (10-0)
- Michigan (10-0)
- Texas Christian (10-0)
- Tennessee (9-1)
- LSU (8-2)
- Southern California (9-1)
- Alabama (8-2)
- Clemson (9-1)
- Utah (8-2)
