The Tennessee Volunteers have taken a slight tumble in the latest College Football Playoff rankings after their 63-38 loss to South Carolina in Columbia last Saturday.
As announced on ESPN’s College Football Playoffs rankings show on Tuesday night, the committee dropped the Volunteers from No. 5 to No. 10.
The Vols come in as the fourth-highest two-loss team in the rankings. Additionally, Tennessee is the fourth-highest team from the SEC behind No. 1 Georgia, No. 5 LSU, and No. 7 Alabama, despite head-to-head wins against the latter two.
Tennessee is currently ranked at No. 9 in the AP Poll and No. 11 in the Coaches Poll.
With the loss to the Gamecocks last Saturday night, Tennessee is eliminated from playoff contention. South Carolina failed to enter the AP, coaches, or the playoff Top 25 rankings this week even with their win over the Volunteers.
Tennessee will now face Vanderbilt this Saturday night in the final game of the regular season before waiting to see what bowl game they will be selected to. With a strong win against Vanderbilt on Saturday, Tennessee still has every ability to make a New Year’s Six bowl.
“Coach Heupel stated it in the team meeting on Sunday,” Tennessee running back Jabari Small said about the NY6 games on Tuesday. “We still have a lot to play for. That is definitely a goal of ours, and getting 10 wins, which is something that has not been done in a long time. We have a lot to play for, and those are some bowl games that we are very excited about getting the opportunity to play in.”
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The latest bowl projections from around the country currently have Tennessee trending toward the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas.
The College Football Playoffs Top 10 is as follows:
- Georgia (11-0)
- Ohio State (11-0)
- Michigan (11-0)
- Texas Christian (11-0)
- LSU (9-2)
- Southern California (10-1)
- Alabama (9-2)
- Clemson (10-1)
- Oregon (9-2)
- Tennessee (9-2)
The NEW #CFBPlayoff top 25 rankings heading into rivalry week‼️
Which matchup are you looking forward to? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/HPRCgNRmbd
— ESPN College Football (@ESPNCFB) November 23, 2022
